The Duty of an Alpha (Book 2)

Days

Chapter 17

Arden POV*

My body ached in ways that it hadn’t in years, with the excepting of having a claw lodged in my back. Since my healing kicked in, sore muscles were a thing of the past. And before that, I was travelling the world, not getting into fights or training with other warriors. I had honestly expected to never have to worry about feeling the aftermath of a battle or a strong workout ever again, but I took my healing for granted apparently.

Even after my ex-mate t0rtured me, my body recovered quickly enough that I didn’t feel too terribly.

Waking up in the infirmary, I could feel every movement make my body twinge uncomfortably. I opened my eyes to find Teo standing at the foot of the bed, trying his best to hide his concern and act professional. As soon as we made eye contact, a wave of relief passed over me.

I could sense the emotions of others in the room, and I turned to see who all was there. Ashton leaned against the wall behind his mate. Andrea was sitting on a chair not far away form him, elbows on her knees and her head bowed. I could feel her worry for me since she wasn’t able to see me with my eyes open. The most surprising sight was that of Roman with a chair pulled directly against the half comfortable hospital bed. I met his gaze, and was nearly overwhelmed by the worry, relief, and love that radiated from him.

“You’re awake.” Teo’s voice came out as nearly a whisper. “Thank the Goddess. We didn’t know why you weren’t healing like normal, and weren’t sure if you would recover.”

I could hear his voice c***k near the end and his professionalism went right out the window. Roman leaned over and grabbed my hand, squeezing gently. Even that little amount of pressure hurt, but I held back a wince so he wouldn’t feel bad for hurting me.

“What were you thinking?” Roman chastised me gently. “Why didn’t you call for help sooner?”

“Fae wouldn’t let me.” I said, my voice harsh and raspy sounding. Andrea jumped up and brought me a glass of water. I saw Roman’s eyes flash a little at my statement, clearly unhappy with Fae at the moment.

No one said anything for a few minutes, and I just stared into Roman’s eyes, basking in the love I could see in them.

“Eh-hmm” Andrea cleared her throat, not so subtly reminding us that there were other people in the room. “Can you two make lovey eyes at each other later? We should talk about what happened.”

“You’re right, sorry.” I said, and tried to push myself into a sitting position. I let out a groan at the movement, and Roman instantly jumped up to help me move. I felt my cheeks flush at his thoughtfulness, then wanted to smack myself for acting so silly.

We should be able to siphon energy now. Fae said. If we have the energy, I might be able to focus on healing.

Thanks. I told her, and then closed my eyes to start pulling energy from my friends’ emotions. I’m still mad at you.

I know. She answered and at least had the grace to sound like she felt bad about it. Jaxon is angry with me too. We can talk about it later.

I opened my eyes to face everyone else, still gently siphoning off energy. I could slightly feel Fae working on healing some of the injuries, but it wasn’t the same as what I was used to.

“I was trying to pass the time before the witches arrived, so I decided to do a couple laps around the perimeter.” I started explaining, ignoring the ‘wrong’ feeling of my stunted healing. “I came across a scent that wasn’t right. We had already passed the area a few times, and nothing was there, but the trail smelled faint, like it was old. I let Fae take over to see if she could figure it out better than me, and she blocked me from communicating with anyone. Stubborn wolf of mine has too much pride sometimes.”

I heard Roman growling lowly, so I placed my hand over his to try to calm his nerves before continuing.

“The rogue appeared out of nowhere. There wasn’t any warning, and his scent didn’t get stronger. Something was also off about his emotions. I tried to siphon off of him, but it was like there was a block up. And he was ridiculously fast, and strong.” I sighed and rubbed my brow. “Fae managed to get a lucky shot in, and that’s the only reason we survived.”

“Damn.” Ashton breathed out and pushed himself off the wall to walk to his mate’s side. He put his arm around Teo, letting him lean against his chest. “You collapsed right as we got there. We tried to wake you up, thinking you would heal quick enough, but I think you had lost too much blood. Jason carried you back. Matt and a few others went to check the area, but there weren’t any signs of other rogues.”

“Please tell me you kept the body.” My grip on Roman’s hand got tighter in fear of having lost such an important clue.

“It’s in the dungeon, don’t worry.” Andrea threw a wink at me, and I relaxed a little bit.

The soreness in my body was slightly better than before, but I could still feel something off about it. Fae was silent though, so either she was giving me space to be mad, or all her focus was on healing. Either way, I had no choice but to wonder about it myself.

“Did the witches make it safely?” I asked, remembering that I was supposed to be there to greet them and introduce them to the pack earlier. “Has the pack given any problems over them joining?”

“I came with them.” Roman reassured me. “There weren’t any issues with the travel.”

“And so far, everyone seems to be ok with them being here.” Ashton chimed in. “Most of them are staying at the pack house until we can get them a house.”

“Yeah, except Cas.” Andrea snickered. “Her and Luke are mates, and they have been locked up in his house for the last two days.”

I tried to recall who Luke was, and it took me a minute to remember that he the son of one of the kitchen staff. He was one of the better warriors in training, but liked to spend his time cooking with his mother in the pack house kitchens.

Then Andrea’s words clicked.

“Wait.” I said, shock apparent in my tone and on my face. “Two days? How long was I out?”

“Just the two days.” Teo reassured me, but it didn’t calm my nerves at all. “Your wolf healing didn’t kick in right away, and I don’t have an explanation why your abilities didn’t take over. Even now, I can see that you’re still hurting.” He gave me a small, almost pitying smile.

“Fae’s working on it now.” I grumbled, still stuck on the fact that I was out cold for two whole days.

Everyone got quiet for a while, and Teo went about checking some of the equipment I was hooked up to. My mind kind of blanked out for a moment, and before I knew it, only Roman remained in the room with me.

“Sorry.” I said and ducked my head sheepishly. “I spaced out for a bit.”

When I looked back over to him, I could see his gaze was focused on my arm. My bare arms. I was wearing a stupid hospital gown, and he could see everything that I didn’t want him to see yet.

The scars that the silver left on me weren’t pretty. Max/Robbie had wrapped tinsel like chains around my arms repeatedly, and it healed into angry red gouges that wound around both arms, from my shoulders all the way down to my wrists.

They didn’t hurt, luckily, but they were an eyesore, and I did everything I could to keep them covered. I definitely didn’t want Roman to see the scars. But there he was, looking at the overwhelming amount of damage that was done to my arms.

“Uhh.” I tried to get his attention, and hopefully avoid talking about it.

“Did you know I can draw?” Roman randomly blurted out.

“Uhm. What?”

“I can draw. I don’t know if we have talked about that or not.” He said before slowly reaching over and running his fingers across one of the thinner marks. “While you were out, I was thinking. I know you don’t like to show your arms, even though I think these scars just show how strong you are. But what if I drew you something so you could cover them up?”

My heart swelled at his thoughtfulness. He wasn’t showing pity or sorrow at the unsightly marks that littered my skin. Instead, he was offering me a way to own it and feel comfortable again.

“Well.” I pretended to think for a moment, but it didn’t last long since I could see he was nervous of me rejecting the idea. “I guess we would have to see how good you really are.” I joked and smiled at him.

His face lit up when he realized I wasn’t upset with the suggestion, and he climbed into the small hospital bed with me.

“Until then, I think if I don’t do this soon, I will burst.” Roman whispered and then leaned down.

He captured my lips with his and a small growl rumbled from his chest.

Scars and muscle soreness and pain were all forgotten. In that moment, all I could feel was the warmth of my mate, squished up against me in the small bed. His kiss was something that made me feel as if time stopped, and I melted into him.

It was nice to forget about responsibilities and attacks for a while, and just be able to spend time with him. Kissing him until we had to break apart to breathe, and then starting all over again.