The Queen Alpha

The Aftermath

(Emma)

I’m sitting with Darlene and Felix under a large wool blanket by a fire when I hear shouting that the hunting party was making their way back. A lump forms in my throat as I hope everyone is okay.

A little over two hours ago I had been talking with a sweet young woman who worked at the bakery in town when suddenly she doubled over in pain, crying out that he was dead. Her mother and sister came to console her and after she was taken inside I asked Darlene what had happened. “Her mate must’ve died.” She whispered and then others began collapsing, sobbing for their mates. “Once your marked, your souls are connected, and when they die so does a part of you.” Shortly after, I felt that Kara was in trouble. Since then there’s been silence and my two friends have tried providing me comfort.

I wrap the ram robe tightly around my body and make my way towards where Kara had shifted earlier. There’s a crowd gathered, looking for movement in the trees. I see my mate’s silvery hair between tree branches and the lump that’s been in my throat finally dissipates, only to return as her full body is visible.

Kara is cloaked in a very tattered bear skin, but the parts of her body exposed are covered in dried blood. She walks slowly, and although he expression never wavers, I know she’s in a great deal of agony. A large brown wolf walks alongside her, and some men carry two bear cub carcasses on make shift sleds.

I kick my heels off and sprint to my woman, leaves and twigs sticking to the bottom of my dress. “Kara, oh my god Kara.” I cry and collide with her body. “Are you okay, you’re covered in blood.” I try to keep myself composed but when she whimpers slightly I can no longer hold back my tears.

“Calm down, most of this isn’t my blood. Take me to the stage.” Her voice is hoarse. I place my arm under hers and try to wrap my hand around her waist but she hisses. “Please don’t touch there.” I bite my lip and nod, the urge to tear this smelly pelt off her and check her wounds unbearable.

Once we make it to the stage, she grabs the microphone, careful not to expose herself to the crowd that’s gathered. “I’d like to start by thanking everyone for coming to my coronation, your respect and loyalty does not go unnoticed. Please forgive me for cutting my share of this celebration short. Although the Running of the Bear was successful, there are some casualties and injuries. A true leader always tends to their pack first and celebrations later. I hope everyone has enjoyed their stay at Silver Crest. If there are any questions, Elder Jorah will be happy to assist you. That is all, good evening.” Kara pauses for a short applause from the crowd then turns to me.

“Do you want to go to the hospital?” I ask, fighting the desire to help her down the steps.

Kara shakes her head no, her pale skin graying. “Take me home. C-call your mother and t-tell her to meet the injured at the hospital. I want the best for t-them. T-t-tell A-An-Anthony..” Her lips are shaking uncontrollably at this point and I grab her arm casually so no one suspects I’m holding her upright.

“Kara, stop talking. You need to conserve your energy. I’m taking you home and having my mother meet us there.”

Anthony has shifted and thrown his tux back on. He walks closely behind us, along with Darlene. “Darlene please go find Dr. Scott, tell her we need her at the house immediately.” He whispers to his wife. She nods and disappears into the thinning cluster of people.

We reach a black SUV and Anthony ushers Kara and I into the back. Once in the privacy of just her mate and Beta, Kara finally speaks openly. “Gods this sucks. I-I wanted to worship you tonight, now I’ll barely be able to mark you.” She groans and buried her bloodied face into my shoulder.

“Anthony turn the heat on full blast.” I instruct him and take my robe off to wrap around Kara but she holds her hand up.

“D-Don’t you dare s-stain that with b-b-bears b-blood.” Her eyes are glossy and she struggles to keep them open.

“How much blood has she lost? She’s freezing and shaking. Can werewolves get hypothermia?” I grasp her fingers and find them ice cold.

Anthony shrugs nervously, looking at us through the rear view mirror. “I have no idea, we don’t usually try to find out. Most of the blood on her face and arms is the bears, I think. She was sliced up on her side really bad, I don’t think our accelerated healing is going to be enough for it. She’s going to need stitches and lots of antibiotics. There’s no telling how filthy those claws were.”

I try to keep Kara talking but most of what she says doesn’t make much sense and as we pull into the drive her eyes finally drift shut and I can feel a panic attack starting. “Anthony we don’t have much time!” I warn.

Darlene and my mother pull in behind us. Anthony helps me get Kara out of the car and I accidentally grab her side, which causes her eyes to flash open and she screams in agony. I let go of her to cover to my mouth and my mother rushes to take my place. I try to speak but my throat is clamping shut and no air is coming in. “Darlene, please help Emma, she’s going to need a friend.” My mom says calmly over her shoulder. As they get Kara up the stairs and into the front door I finally take a gasp of air and wipe my eyes. Get a grip Emma, your mate needs you. I tell myself sternly and start up the steps after them but my mom turns around and stops me. “Baby girl, you don’t want to hear her when I start cleaning the wound, I promise you.” She closes the door behind her and for a few minutes of sitting with Darlene on the porch I think she’s right.

“f**k this I’m going in there.” I tell Darlene and storm through the front door. My friend waddles after me. There’s a trail of blood droplets leading to the downstairs dining table, where my mom has Kara laid out on. They have a blanket covering her lower half and a towel over her chest, but other than she’s bare. The heat is on high and there’s a strong smell of alcohol. My mother is so busy working on Kara she doesn’t notice me approach. She directs Anthony to get another bag of fluids out of her travel bag and he does as instructed, attaching it to Kara’s makeshift iv stand they had made out of the chandelier and a belt.

I come closer and Anthony’s eyes flash up to me. “Emma, can you go upstairs and get her some clothes?” He’s trying to keep me from seeing Kara’s injuries and while I appreciate it, I continue forward anyway.

All the color drains from my face as I look down at my now unconscious mate. Her rib cage looks like it’s been through a paper shredder. Four jagged, deep claw marks run from just under her arm down to her waist, luckily missing her organs but mangling her skin in a way that makes me want to vomit. “Oh my gods, how was she even walking?” I whisper, my heart too broken to speak any louder.

Anthony hands my mom more gauze and she starts prepping the skin for stitches.

He gives me a weak smile. “Walk? Your mate got this at the beginning of the battle. She fought and killed that bear with this. She’s stronger than any person I’ve ever met.” He seems to whisper the last part to himself.

I swallow, hoping to moisten my dry throat. “Is she going to be okay mom?”

My mother threads her curved needle. “She’ll live through this if that’s what you mean. Although I don’t think this will heal fast enough to prevent any scarring. She’s also lost a lot of blood and hypothermic. I gave her a good amount of morphine and now we’re doing warm fluids to get her body temperature up.” I wince as she begins meticulously stitching my mate’s wound, her expert hands never shaking.

I use this time to rush upstairs and find clothes for her. I grab a pair of flannel pajamas and a very loose long sleeve shirt, skipping panties and a b*a.

As I scamper back down the stairs I find Darlene curled up on the couch asleep and my mom is applying medical wrap around Kara’s entire midsection.

Anthony leaves the room while I dress her carefully, then returns to help me move her to the couch. I grab the comforter from our bed and bring it down to cover her with. “I’m going to go change out of this dress.” I tell everyone, finally realizing that I’m still in my golden ball gown and white robe. The bottom of the dress is tattered and filled with twigs and sticks, and my robe has blood stains along the shoulder where Kara had laid her head. “Go take a hot shower, she won’t wake up for a few hours or so.” Mom assures me and despite not wanting to be away from Kara for long, I agree to it.

Once in the privacy of my bedroom, I strip the dress off and leave it in a pile in the corner. I unclip my garters and slip off my lingerie I had worn for Kara. Next I start taking the pins out of my hair, carefully undoing Darlene’s artwork. My makeup remover easily wipes my face clean. Finally ready for the shower, I step gently into the hot water. I rinse myself thoroughly, scrubbing extra hard on my shoulder to remove the blood. I dry quickly and throw on some sweat pants and a sweater. Grabbing a brush, washcloth and some soap, I make my way back to the guest area of our home.

Darlene and Anthony are standing at the door, quietly arguing. “Anthony I want to stay here with you, I don’t want to leave Emma.” Darlene whispers harshly to Anthony, who is trying his hardest to convince her to go home and rest.

“Anthony, take Darlene and my mother home, please? Kara is going to be okay, I’m here to take care of her.” I give Darlene a hug, rubbing her belly softly. Anthony tries to argue but I interrupt, insisting he do what I ask.

“Call me if you need anything at all okay? I’m leaving you some potent pain medication, along with more gauze and medical wrap. Keep her wound clean, I’ll be back in the morning but if she bleeds through these please call me because that could be an emergency.” Mom gives me a worried expression before hugging me tightly. “I love you Em.”

“I love you too, get some rest, say hello to Marcus for me.” I wink, which warrants a glare from her.

“We’re just friends.” She grumbles defiantly before following Darlene out the door. I click all the locks into place then go curl on the couch beside Kara.

I drift off, finding comfort in laying my head on her hip. It’s a dreamless sleep, but much needed.

I wake up to Kara’s pained groan as she tries to roll over. “Oh f**k that hurts.” Her strained voice is music to my ears and I leap from my place on the couch to the floor in front of her, now wide awake.

“Kara, baby, are you alright? I’ve been so worried and when I saw what happened to you.. I thought I’d lose you.” I take her hand in mine and kiss it.

Kara’s eyes weakly open and her beautiful blue irises focus on me. “How long have I been out for? Are you okay?”

I laugh dryly and push a strand of hair out of her face. “You were mauled by a giant bear and your asking if I’m okay?”

She touches her fingers to my cheek, as if trying to make sure I’m real. “Oh the bear just scratched me, I’m fine. I just wanted you. I had to shift after a while because Keira was so tired, and it was so cold I figured it would help numb my cuts so they wouldn’t hurt as bad.” She chuckles at herself. “I don’t believe I was thinking all that clearly.”

“Of course you weren’t, you lost enough blood to kill a person!” I exclaim, slightly irritated that she doesn’t realize how close to losing her we all were.

Kara’s face softens. “I’m so sorry I scared you Kitten, I’ll never do that to you again.” Her nose scrunches suddenly. “Gods is it me that smells that bad?”

I roll my eyes playfully at her. “Yes it is, I brought some stuff down to clean you up with. We’re going to sleep down here tonight then we’ll move you upstairs.”

Kara argues briefly with me as I fill a bowl with warm water, telling me she’s capable of cleaning herself up. But once I start gently cribbing the blood off her arms and face, she gives in.

I spend the next hour washing all the blood and dirt from her, then I brush her hair and smooth it out. “You can have a proper bath tomorrow.” I kiss her nose and turn the tv on, curling up beside Kara’s now warm body.

We watch some re runs of old tv shows together in silence for a while before I get the courage to ask her a question I had been waiting a long time to ask.

“Hey babe?” I start, shifting uncomfortably against her leg.

“Hmm?” She continues petting my hair absent mindedly.

“What happened to your mom?” She freezes. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked you that-“ I immediately begin apologizing.

“No kitten, it’s fine. You just surprised me is all. My mother died when I was young. We had went out for a picnic, mom, dad and I.” She starts. “It was early spring but the second snow started to melt my mom thought that if we acted like it was summer it would somehow make it happen faster.” She laughs softly at the memory. “So we go out into the forest, probably a two hour hike. The entire time her and my dad were fussing. He wanted her to take things easy in her state, and she wanted him to understand she wasn’t made of glass.”

“Her state?” I ask, looking up at her through my lashes.

Kara’s lips purse slightly. “She was pregnant with my brother. She was only four or five months, we had just found out it was going to be a boy. My father was so excited and so was I. I’d finally have someone to play with at home.” She sighs. “We found a nice spot near the creek and started laying out our lunch. We had a fruit salad, salmon, some trout, spring food.”

Kara pets my head again. “I had to pee, but my mom didn’t want me to go alone, and she had to pee too. So we went a few yards away while dad continued laying everything out. I heard a noise, so I wandered off to investigate. Mom must’ve seen me slip away because next thing I knew, she was behind me grabbing me by my arm. ‘Little princesses can’t go running off alone.’ That’s what she told me.”

A tear wells in her eye. “It all happened so fast after that, there was a snap of a twig and suddenly this giant, monstrous bear was standing barely twenty feet ahead of us. I screamed and it charged. My mother shoved me away and told me to hide. I yelled as loud as I could for my dad. I watched in horror as the bear sliced my mom open from chest to waist, tearing into her like she was made of paper. I threw rocks and whatever I could find but the bear was so focused on making sure my mom and brother were dead. Then it turned to face me. I was fearless; I thought if I stood tall and made myself big I could intimidate the damn thing.” She scoffs. “Father showed up fairly quick. When he saw my mother and the bear closing in on me next, he lost complete control. The bear laughed at him, and said that our bloodline ended when.. when she ate his son right out of his mate’s belly. He killed the bear single-handedly, and still mourns for her. We all do, she was an amazing Luna and an even better mom.”

Kara sighs heavily, and I feel bad for making her relive the worst moment in her life.

“I’m so sorry that happened baby, I wish I could’ve met her.” I hug her leg tightly, resting my head on her thigh.

She shakes her head and caresses my cheek with her thumb. “No, don’t be sorry. I spent a few years seeing a therapist after it happened, so I’ve worked through my demons.”

I raise an eyebrow surprised. “You went to therapy? I thought most werewolves didn’t approve of that kind of thing.”

She rolls her eyes. “Most of them don’t, and that’s why there’s so many cruel and disturbed Alpha’s out there. My father knew what I saw was a horrible thing and I needed someone to help me come to terms with it. I’m grateful that he gave me that.”

“I am too.” I kiss her leg and we relax into each other, the tv providing a background noise as we fall asleep.