The Alpha's Unwanted Healer

After The Bond

The bond was a live wire between us.

It was not quiet. It was not soft anymore. It was electrical, hot, sharp and alive. Every time my heart beat, I felt his heart beat too.

I could feel everything Damien felt. His fear was so big it made my chest hurt. His relief that I was still breathing was making his hands shake.

"Don't move," he ordered.

His voice was rough. He was pressing a thick cloth to my shoulder. The cloth was already red. My blood.

Pack healers rushed in. Two women with old hands and herb bags. They did not look at me like I was human. They looked scared.

"Alpha! The bullet is silver-tipped," one healer said. Her voice was shaking. "It's deep. Silver is poison for human skin."

Damien's eyes went black. All the gold disappeared. I felt his anger through the bond like fire.

"Get it out. Now," he said.

It was not a request. It was an Alpha command. The windows rattled.

I hissed as they worked. They had no medicine that could make it stop hurting. Silver burns humans. The healer had to use small iron tweezers. Every time she touched it, white pain shot through my shoulder.

Through the bond, I felt him feel it too. He grabbed my good hand. His claws came out a little and cut into his own palm, but he did not let go.

"Breathe with me, Selene. Look at me, only me," he whispered.

I looked into his black eyes and tried to breathe. His pain for me was louder than my own pain.

When it was over, the healer held up a small piece of metal. It was black and smoking a little. Silver bullet. Made to kill an Alpha, but it hit me instead.

Damien did not wait. He picked me up like I weighed nothing. One arm under my knees, one arm supporting my back. My head fell against his chest. I could hear his heart. Fast, fast, fast.

He carried me back to his room. His room. The Alpha's room. It smelled like him. Cedar and smoke and rain.

"Sleep," he said, tucking me into his big bed. The sheets were clean and warm. "My kids are with my sister, safe. Sarah has them. No one will touch them."

He brushed hair from my face. His hand was so gentle.

"Rest, Selene. We'll fight tomorrow."

For the first time in three years, I let him take care of me. I did not run. I did not push him away. I closed my eyes and let the bond hum between us like a warm blanket.

Night falls fast in the mountains.

I woke up hearing shouts. Loud shouts from downstairs. Many voices. The whole pack.

The bond woke up too. I felt Damien's worry spike.

He was already dressed. Black shirt, clean this time. His hair was combed back. But his eyes were still black at the edges.

"Marcus called a pack meeting," he said. He helped me sit up. My arm was in a sling now. White and tight. "He escaped the cells. Jessica helped him."

My stomach dropped. "What?"

Damien's jaw was tight. "She stole the keys from the guard. Sarah saw her running. We caught Marcus at the gate, but he already howled. He called everyone to the hall. He is saying I am compromised."

He looked at me. "Can you stand? You don't have to come. But if you don't, they will say you are hiding because you are weak."

I thought of Luna and Liam. If I hide, they will never accept them as Alpha pups.

"I can stand," I said.

He smiled a little. A sad smile. "My Luna."

He carried me down the stairs. Not because I could not walk, but because I was still dizzy. Liam and Luna were waiting at the bottom with Sarah. Luna's fever was gone. Her eyes were bright. When she saw the bond glow faint around me and Damien, she gasped.

"Mommy glows!" she whispered.

Liam took my good hand. "We got you, Mom."

The pack hall was full. Every wolf in the territory was there. Old wolves, young wolves, mothers with pups. The air smelled like sweat and fear.

In the middle, on the dais where the Alpha sits, stood Elder Marcus. His robe was dirty. His lip was cut from the fight earlier. But he was smiling.

And next to him, holding his arm, was Jessica.

Her dress was still muddy from when she tried to run. Her hair was fixed now. Her face was clean. She looked pretty again, like a healer should. She saw me and her eyes went small and mean.

Marcus shouted when he saw us.

"There! The Alpha is compromised by a human!" he yelled, pointing at me. "Look! He brings a weak human girl, bleeding, to our sacred hall! He says she is Luna! A human Luna has never happened! It is against our law!"

Some elders nodded. Some young wolves growled low.

Damien walked forward. Me at his side, arm in a sling. Liam and Luna right behind us, holding each other's hands. We stepped up onto the dais.

Damien did not shout. When he spoke, the whole hall shook anyway.

"The goddess gave us a sign," Damien said. His voice was deep and calm, but everyone could hear it. "Many of you heard the howl this afternoon. The rogues ran because they felt it. The bond is formed. This is my Luna."

He turned to me.

People gasped. Because the faint gold light was still around us. The new mate bond. You could see it if you were a wolf. Thin threads of gold connecting my chest to his.

Marcus laughed. Loud and ugly.

"A forced bond means nothing!" he yelled. "He forced it! He is Alpha, he can make a weak human girl feel anything! He rejected her four years ago at the altar! The Goddess rejected her! This girl even had pups with another man while she was gone!"

My face went white. Liam flinched.

Jessica stepped forward. This is where she was most dangerous. She did not scream. She cried. Pretty tears.

"Selene is lying to all of you," she said softly, so everyone had to be quiet to hear her. "She came back only because she wants power. She let her daughter eat silver in her soup to make Damien feel sorry for her. I tried to heal Luna, but Selene stopped me. She wants us to pity her."

I could not breathe. "That is a lie! You put nightshade in her soup! You...."

"Enough!" Damien roared. The torches on the wall flickered.

He pulled me to him and kissed my forehead. Slowly. Gently. Not like an Alpha. Like a mate.

Through the bond, I felt everything. His love, so big it scared him. His regret for four years ago, like a wound that never closed. And something fierce, like a wolf standing over its family.

He turned to the pack, his arm around me.

"Does this feel forced to you?" he asked the pack. His voice was low.

The bond pulsed. Everyone in the first row gasped. Wolves can feel an Alpha mate bond. It is warm and strong and it makes your own chest hurt. It is not forced. It cannot be faked.

Sarah from the crowd shouted, "I felt it! When she said yes, the whole house shook!"

Liam stepped forward. He is only seven, but he is an Alpha's son. His little fists were tight.

"That's my mom. And my dad. So back off," he said. His voice cracked. "My mom took a bullet for my dad. She is not weak. My sister was sick and my mom never slept. Jessica is the liar. I saw her near the kitchen that night. She had a black bag."

Jessica's face twisted. The pretty tears stopped.

"You little brat!" she screamed at Liam. "You are not even-"

Damien moved faster than I could see. He was in front of Liam in one second, growling in Jessica's face. His eyes were pure gold.

"You will not speak to my son that way. Ever again," he growled.

The younger wolves cheered. They liked Liam. They liked that a kid was brave.

The elders didn't. Elder Marcus was still smiling.

"So you have a human Luna and two half-human pups. What happens when rogues come again? Will your human Luna shift and fight? No! You will die protecting her!"

That was his plan. Make them scared.

Damien looked at Marcus for a long time. Then he did something no one expected.

He knelt down. On the dais. In front of the whole pack. He knelt in front of me and took my good hand.

"Four years ago, I rejected Selene because I was scared," he said loudly, so everyone heard. "Marcus told me a human could not be Luna. I listened to him instead of the Goddess. I was a coward. And for three years, my pups grew up without a father. My mate slept in a small cabin, hiding, because she thought I would kill her."

He looked up at me. His gold eyes were wet.

"Today, she jumped in front of a silver bullet for me. A human girl, with no wolf, no claws, no speed. She ran toward the gun. Who here is weak?"

Silence. No one spoke.

Jessica was breathing hard. She saw she was losing. She grabbed Marcus's arm.

"Tell them! Tell them she is not your mate! Tell them you promised me I would be Luna if I helped you open the gate!" she screamed at Marcus.

Marcus pushed her away. "Stupid girl."

And that was it. The whole hall heard it.

Damien stood up slowly.

"Take them both to the cells," he said to his warriors. His Alpha voice was back. Cold and final. "Elder Marcus for treason, for opening the gates to rogues, for trying to kill his Alpha. And Jessica for attempted murder of a pup, for poisoning Luna, for conspiring with rogues. They will face the full council at full moon."

"No! You promised me!" Jessica screamed as they dragged her. She was not pretty now. Her face was red and ugly. "I did everything for you, Damien! I healed your wolves! I....."

"You tried to kill my daughter," I said quietly. But through the bond, everyone felt my anger. "You will never touch my family again."

They dragged them out. The doors slammed shut.

The hall was quiet for one second. Then a young wolf howled. Then another. Then all the young wolves howled, not in fear, but in welcome.

Luna ran and hugged my legs. Liam hugged Damien.

Damien looked at me, tired and relieved.

"The war isn't over," he whispered only to me through the bond. "The elders still don't like this. But we won tonight."

I leaned my head on his shoulder, careful of my sling.

For the first time, it felt like we had a pack.

And it felt like we would be okay.