Moon Blessed Luna

Chapter 10 - Brianna

I sat on the floor in the waiting room for what felt like hours but could only have been minutes, before I was able to compose myself enough to go out and face the medical staff. Keena had retreated to a far corner of my mind, blocking me out after trying to kiss Sue while our mate was fighting for her life. I was ashamed of myself and hoped I could find a way to get my friendship with Sue back, I really couldn't do this without her.

Following my nose I quickly found the room the woman was in. Keena may have already accepted her as her mate, but I couldn't think of her that way. It must be some weird mistake, she-Wolves didn't get mated to she-Wolves. Doctor Steven came out of the room and walked straight towards me, giving a quick nod before getting to the point.

"The rogue is still unconscious. She has suffered a burn to the inside of her v****a, alongside many bruises and cuts over her entire body. Then there is the matter of the infected mark on her neck." He handed me a folder, Jane Doe was written on the front and inside was a single piece of paper with the doctor's findings. There were a lot of medical terms I didn't quite understand but the doctor's words were clear enough. A burn to her v****a? How did that happen? And did he say mark? How can she be marked if Keena recognized her as her mate?

"Do you know what could cause a mark to become infected like that? Mate marks heal to leave a clean scar, to show the wolves are claimed."

"I wish I knew. Maybe she is rejecting her mate, sometimes a single-sided rejection can cause an infection, but I've never seen it so far developed. I would almost call it necrotic, though it seems to have been made multiple times, the last bite I estimate to have been around 3 days ago."

"Will she recover?" I couldn't look the doctor is his eyes, Steven had always been very intuitive and I didn't want anyone to know the rogue was my mate quite yet.

"Yes, Alpha Blake, she should make a full recovery and quite quickly too I'd say. Her wolf is showing incredible healing abilities, she seems to just need a safe place to finally be allowed to rest." he pats my shoulder before taking the folder back and walking away, probably to find his mate and discuss this case. I watch him disappear around a corner before entering the room the rogue woman is in. She looks even smaller than she did in the forest, laying on the hospital bed with several machines and IV's hooked up to her.

Her pale skin is almost as white as the sheets, and her black hair is a dark halo around her round face. I drag a chair over so I can sit beside her, and almost on instinct I link my fingers with hers. She's so cold, and she looks so fragile. All I want to do is cradle her against my body and protect her from the world. A single tear runs down my face as I look at the little wolf and a sudden rush of emotions threatens to choke me. I can't reject this girl! She's mine, I want her to be mine just as much as I want to be hers! But how can she be mine when she is marked by another? I tighten my grip on her hand and rest my head on the bed, allowing myself to be lulled to sleep by her breath and the comforting smell of sugar cookies and moonlight.

Someone clearing their throat awakens me moments later, but the bright sunshine lighting up the room through the large window confuses me. Wasn't it supposed to be early morning?

"Rise and shine, Buttercup. It's a brand new day, " I groan when I recognize Ethan's voice, but I'm also glad it's him who walked in on me sleeping next to a stranger in the hospital. I release her hand, which has warmed up significantly, and turn to face my Beta.

"What do you want?"

"Sue told me you might need to talk to someone. She seemed quite troubled last night. I asked why she wouldn't be the one you needed to talk to, but she didn't answer, so I just came to find you as soon as I woke up." he looks over to the girl with an eyebrow raised in curiosity. But something he said didn't quite add up.

"What do you mean, she seemed upset last night? I saw her this morning?" Both his eyebrows shoot up and he looks puzzled before answering.

"You've slept here all night, Bree. You brought in the rogue yesterday." I feel my cheeks heat up. I hadn't slept since the rogues arrived with news of their missing daughter. Being with my mate must have calmed my mind enough to finally relax and get the sleep I needed.

"So are you gonna tell me why you're in the infirmary sleeping hand in hand with a rogue girl?" Ethan asks, not a hint of his usual teasing in his voice. I sigh and get up, it might actually be nice to get Ethans opinion about all this. Doctor Avery walks into the room and I ask her to tell me when the girl is awake, before simply making my way to my office. I know Ethan will understand and follow me so we can talk in private.

"So, what's up?" he asks, when he closes my door behind him. I pour two glasses of whiskey and take them and the bottle to the sitting area. Handing one glass to him, I gulp down my own and refill it quickly. My head starts to clear and I take a deep breath to calm down enough to tell Ethan about the girl.

"Promise me you'll keep an open mind." he raises an eyebrow at me but remains silent, allowing me to continue.

"I found my mate." his face darkens, he knows how I feel about the mate bond and how I have always been planning to reject him.

"Did he hurt you when you rejected him? Who was it? Was it that rogue leader? I thought he was looking at you a little too greedily. I swear I'll kill him if he even raises a finger at you." I shake my head to shut him up.

"I didn't reject anyone." confusion replaces the anger on Ethan's face and I continue quickly, wanting to get it over with.

"My mate is the rogue girl in the infirmary." he's quiet for a while before he grins widely at me.

"Bree! That's amazing! I told you the Moon Goddess would mate you to someone perfect!" he pulls me into a hug which I only allow because of my absolute confusion at his reaction.

"Wait, so you don't find it weird that my mate is a woman? She-Wolves are not supposed to have female mates." I say as I push him off me.

"Says who?" he laughs. "It makes perfect sense to me. You have been gay your entire life and never even showed the least bit of interest to guys. You are also the best Alpha ever, so it makes sense the Moon Goddess would bless you with a pretty little Luna to rule by your side."

I blink, the way he says it makes it seem so logical. It's true that I've never been interested in guys, which is probably why it was such an easy thought for me to reject a mate. In my head my mate would always have been a male, my father reminded me of that often enough. Telling me how I needed to be obedient and submissive to males, because my mate would prefer that. Good thing I'm too stubborn to have listened to him, or I would have never been the Alpha I am. And now I have my Luna! I smile brightly at Ethan.

"You have no idea how much I was panicking! But you're so absolutely right, even the Elders can't object to this. Can you imagine their stupid faces when they find out my mate is a girl instead of a powerful male Alpha that could push me out of their way?" I laugh out loud now, as relief and the full impact of finding my mate course through my body.

Keena! Keena! I'm so sorry for kissing Sue! I won't ever do anything again that could hurt our mate! She's ours!

Keena howls loudly, a joyous sound that almost escapes my lips as well. For a few minutes I'm just happy, but then anger burns its way to the front of my mind. My mate was in the infirmary with a necrotic mark on her neck! I growled loudly and started pacing, cursing the person who did that to her. It must be the same person that burned her between her legs. What kind of monster would do that?

"Bree? What's wrong?" I turn towards Ethan, he is the only one I can trust with this.

"My mate has been marked by someone else." I growl, and he looks confused as my words register.

"Wait, but, how do you know she's your mate if she is already mated?"

"I don't know. It's infected, nearly necrotic in Steven's words. He says it's most likely she's rejecting a mate who isn't accepting it, but he hasn't seen a mark get this bad."

"What do you need from me?" I smile in relief, glad he knows me so well.

"Keep her relation to me a secret for now, she isn't strong enough to be Luna just yet. Try to find out anything you can about marks becoming infected, I'll ask her about it when she wakes up." I give Ethan a quick hug when he walks by me to start his research.

"Thank you." I whisper in his ear before releasing him.

"No problem, Alpha." He replies with a mock bow, before he disappears out of sight.

"Alpha? The girl woke up shortly after you left but she passed out again. We're not sure what happened." Doctor Avery's voice pops into my mind. I growl at her words and rush out of my office.

They're hurting our mate! We should kill them! Keena growls at me. I'm tempted to agree with her but I am also working a bit more rational than my mate-struck wolf at the moment.

She is very injured. It was probably the shock of a new place that made her faint again. We will protect and comfort her. Keena grumbles but retreats and starts her pacing again. At least she's speaking to me again, I think with a small chuckle.

As I practically run back to the infirmary, I'm halted by doctor Avery at the door of the room my mate is in. I can barely suppress the growl, but manage to do so when I see the puzzled look in her eyes.

"What happened?" I ask instead.

"She was awake and seemed quite alert, if a bit disoriented by her surroundings. Everything was fine until I mentioned I would tell you she was awake." Doctor Avery's words confuse me, why would calling me make her faint? It was standard practice for a rogue to be interviewed by the Alpha if they were ever brought into a packs infirmary.

"Alpha? I can sense there's something you're not telling us about this girl. We need all the information in order to help her properly." Avery's gaze intensified and I felt my cheeks get hot. She and Steven had always been very intuitive, it was why they were such great doctors. I sigh but I have to tell her, if anyone can help my mate it's my pack's head doctors. But saying it out loud to them will make it official. Am I ready for this? Do I really want her? Keena growls at me and I make up my mind.

"The girl is my mate."