The Alpha's Unwanted Healer

Mate Bond

I felt pain first as I was gaining consciousness.

A deep, hot pain in my shoulder that made it hard to breathe. Then warmth. A big, warm hand that I know too well holding mine.

Then I woke up.

The light was soft. Not the hard white light from the courtyard. It was the warm lamp from the bedroom.

I tried to move and cried out. My left shoulder was on fire.

"Don't move."

His voice.

I opened my eyes fully. Damien was there. He was kneeling beside the bed, so close his knees were touching the bed frame. His golden eyes were staring straight at me. They were red at the edges. His black shirt was still torn and had dried blood on it. My blood.

"Don't you dare die on me," he growled. His voice was low and rough, like he had been shouting for hours. He was holding my good hand with both of his hands. So tight.

I looked down. Blood was everywhere. Mine. The silk sheets under me were stained red. My shoulder was wrapped in thick white bandage, but blood was still coming through a little.

I moaned. "It hurts."

"I know. I know," he whispered. He pressed his forehead against my hand.

"The doctor gave you something for pain. But silver... silver is bad for humans. It stays."

Behind him, I could see the pack doctor washing his hands in a small bowl. The water was pink. Sarah was in the corner of the room, holding Ethan tight in her lap. Ethan's eyes were wide. He was not crying now. He was just looking at me.

And at the foot of the bed, my babies. Liam and Luna were curled up together on top of the blanket. They were asleep, but both were holding my leg. Luna's little face was still red from her fever.

"Are they... are they okay?" I whispered.

"They are safe. Everyone is safe," Damien said. "The rogues ran away. Marcus is in the cells. Your kids are safe. Ethan is safe. You saved us all."

Then his eyes changed. The gold in them started to glow brighter. Not angry like in the courtyard. This was different. Soft.

He leaned closer.

"Selene, feel this," he whispered.

I didn't know what he meant. But then I felt it. Under the pain in my shoulder, there was a warm feeling in my chest. Like a string being pulled tight. Like heat spreading from my heart to my hand where he was holding me.

"The bond," he whispered, his eyes never leaving mine. "It's forming. I can feel you."

I shook my head a little. It hurt. "What? We aren't mated. You rejected me. Four years ago."

"I know," he said. His voice broke. "I was a fool. I was young and I listened to my father's advice. He told me a human could never be Luna. He told me you were weak. I rejected you at the altar because I was scared. And I have hated myself every day for four years."

He took a deep breath.

"But the Moon Goddess... she doesn't let mates die like that. Not like what you did. You jumped in front of a silver bullet for me, Selene. A human with no wolf. You should have run. But you didn't."

I remembered. The man on the kitchen roof. The gun pointed at his back. My legs moving before my brain.

"You saved me," he said. "And the mate bond... when one mate is willing to die for the other, it can come back. Even after rejection. But only if both are willing now. And I am willing, Selene. I have always been willing."

He pressed his forehead to mine. His skin was warm. I could feel his heart beating fast.

"Selene Carter. Will you accept me? As your mate. As the father of your children. As your Alpha? Not because I am Alpha. But because I love you. I never stopped."

My shoulder burned. I was so tired. So tired of running for four years. Tired of hiding Liam and Luna. Tired of being scared that someone would find us. Tired of hating him.

Ethan was alive down the hall. My kids were safe. He was kneeling here, bloody, begging me.

For the first time, I didn't feel alone.

"Yes," I whispered tiredly. My voice was so small. "Yes, Damien. I accept you."

His whole body shook.

"Yes!" He shouted. It wasn't an Alpha shout. It was like a boy who just got the best news of his life. His golden eyes were full of tears. "Yes!"

He stood up a little and kissed my forehead, my cheek, the top of my head, careful not to touch my bad shoulder.

"That was the best thing I have heard in a very long while," he whispered into my hair. "The best thing."

I'm glad too. But I was still scared. Scared it would hurt. Scared it wouldn't work because I am human.

Then the light came.

It exploded behind my eyes. Not painful. White and gold and warm. It started in my chest where that string was and shot out through my whole body. I gasped.

Damien gasped too. He fell back to his knees, holding his chest.

I could feel him. Really feel him. His worry. His love. His guilt from four years ago. His fear when he saw me fall in the rain. It was all in my head, but not as words. As feeling.

And he could feel me. I knew it.

"The mate bond snapped into place," Sarah whispered from the corner, tears in her eyes. "Look, Ethan, look!"

Outside the window, even through the closed glass, we heard it. The remaining rogues that were hiding in the woods howled. But this time it was in fear. When a mate bond forms for a true Alpha pair, the power is strong. The other wolves can feel it. They fled for their lives. I heard their feet running through the wet grass.

Damien crawled back onto the bed, very gently, and put his arms around me, avoiding my shoulder.

"We're going to be okay. I promise," he whispered against my forehead. "No one will ever hurt you or the kids again."

For the first time in four years, I believed him. I felt safe. I closed my eyes and just breathed in his smell.

We stayed like that for maybe a minute. Just breathing. The bond was humming warm between us.

Then the bedroom door banged open.

Two warriors came in, dragging someone.

It was Jessica.

Her pretty dress was torn and muddy. Her hair was wet and stuck to her face. Her lip was bleeding. She was not fighting. She looked defeated. One warrior was holding her arm hard - the same guard she had knocked out in the east wing.

"Alpha! We found her near the old south gate! She had a bag. She was trying to run to the road!" the warrior said.

Damien didn't let go of me. But his golden eyes opened and they turned cold. So cold. The warm mate bond feeling got angry for a second, and I felt his anger in my own chest.

Jessica saw us. Saw me in his arms. Saw his forehead on mine. Saw the faint gold glow that was still around us from the bond.

"No," she whispered. Her face twisted. "No! That can't happen! You rejected her! Marcus said you rejected her!"

"Get her on her knees," Damien said. His voice was pure Alpha now. Not the soft voice he used with me.

They pushed Jessica down. She fell hard.

"Tell them, Jessica," Damien growled. "Tell your Luna how you opened the side gate for Marcus. Tell her how you told him where Ethan sleeps. Tell her how you told the gunman on the roof where to stand to kill me."

Jessica started crying. Real tears now, not fake.

"I didn't mean to! He made me! Elder Marcus said if I helped him, he would make me Luna! He said you were using Selene! He said a human can never be Luna and the pack would accept me instead! I just wanted to be Luna! I love you, Damien!"

"You put silver in my daughter's food," I said suddenly. My good hand was shaking. "The nightshade. You put it in Luna's soup. She has been sick for two days."

Jessica looked at me, scared.

"I just wanted her to be weak! So you would leave! I didn't want to kill her!" she screamed.

Damien roared. The windows shook. Liam woke up crying.

Sarah quickly took the twins and Ethan out of the room. "Don't look, babies, don't look."

The doctor stepped back.

Damien stood up slowly. His claws were out.

"Take her to the cells. Next to Marcus," he said to the warriors. Each word was like ice. "No food. No bed. She will stay there until the full pack council judges her for attempted murder of a pup, treason to the Alpha, and conspiring with rogues. If she tries to escape again, you have my permission to use force."

"No! Damien! Please! Selene! I'm sorry!" Jessica screamed as they dragged her out, her nails scratching the floor. "I was locked up! I was scared!"

The door slammed. Her screams faded down the hallway.

Damien came back to me instantly. He knelt again. The cold anger was gone. He was shaking again, holding my face.

"I'm sorry you had to see that," he whispered. "I should have seen what she was. I kept her in this house because Marcus said she was a good healer. I was blind."

I touched his cheek with my good hand. My hand was small against his.

"It's okay," I whispered. "You are here now."

The bond felt again between us. Strong and new.

He kissed my forehead one more time.

"We're going to be okay," he said again.

And this time, with his heart beating with mine, and my kids safe, and Jessica and Marcus locked away, I finally, truly believed it.