The Rising Moon Pack

Chapter 30

Jake POV

Dr Jenkins rushed into the room, clipboard in hand. He lifted Matt’s eyelid, flashing a bright white light into his pupils. He felt his pulse, and breathed a sigh of relief.

“He’s still alive.” He told us, wiping his brow.

“Doc, why is his face like that? Maria healed his cut last night. When he came here there wasn’t a scratch on him.” I asked, concerned.

“Well, his scans came back this morning and he does have a frontal skull fracture. My current guess is that Maria is not yet strong enough to heal him fully. This is a case of medicine over magic, I’m afraid. Young Mathew is going to have to take time to heal. We will keep him in an induced coma for the time being, it seems to be the safest way to allow him time to heal.” He answered me.

I nodded, and felt Maria pulling at my arm.

“Jake, I need to talk to you.” She whispered quietly.

“Please excuse us, Doctor. Is there anywhere we can go to speak privately?” I asked politely, holding Maria’s hand.

“Of course. Down the hall, first door on your left. It’s an empty office, the key is in the door.”

“Thank you.” I responded, walking out of the room, Maria following me. We found the room Dr Jenkins was talking about, and walked inside. There was a solitary work desk that had chairs stacked on it. Maria grabbed the first chair, so I helped her lift it down. She sat down nervously, picking at her hair, rolling it up and down.

“What’s the matter?” I asked her, gently.

“Jake, I had the weirdest dream last night.” She began, quietly.

“Me too. But I think it might have been helpful.” I told her, and her eyes met mine, confused. “Maria, did you know that you can flip through people’s memories, and project them?” I asked her, and she shook her head furiously.

“No,” she said. “How do you know that?”

“I’ll show you.” I offered, and pressed my forehead against hers.

“Jake, this is dumb. I don’t know how to do this!” She protested.

“Just wait. Have faith in your abilities.” I whispered, praying my instincts were right. I settled in my seat, my forehead resting gently against Maria’s. I breathed in her warm vanilla cookie scent, and before I knew it, my memories were flashing before my eyes. She was doing it!

I closed my eyes, and gave Maria access to me entirely. It felt really funny, having a third person in the library of my mind. It felt as though I was seeing myself through her eyes. Flynn howled in delight as Maria bent down to scratch him under the chin, and I grinned to myself. She walked around, trailing her fingers across rows and rows of books, reading the covers aloud to herself.

“The day I met Maria.” She read, and before I knew it she’d plucked the book from the shelf, and set it down on the table. She opened it, and my memories from that night spilled out, projecting in front of her. She c****d her head to one side as she watched us meeting for the first time, and smiled as she heard my thoughts when I first saw her. She closed it placed the book back on the shelf.

“Maria, my dream.” I thought, gently reminding her what she was there for. She nodded, and began looking around. She found the section of the library labelled “dreams” and began to scour the shelf. A shiny, electric blue book sat at the end of the row, smelling like it had been freshly printed.

“Selene visit, Wyatt.” She read.”Jake, are you sure I’m ok to read this?” She asked me gently.

“Go for it. I don’t have any secrets from you, my love.” I answered honestly.

She took the book to the table, and opened it. She crossed her legs and sat on the floor as the memories projected themselves once more, looking as though she was watching her favourite movie. I waited until it was finished, allowing her time to process what Selene had said.

“Wow.” She said, shaking her head. “This is crazy.”

I nodded, and felt her disconnect from my mind. I opened my eyes, and she leaned back in her chair.

“Wyatt.” She said to me, softly. “He was your brother?”

“Yes.” I swallowed,looking to the floor.

“I’m sorry, Jake. I knew you’d lost someone from your pack, but I wasn’t expecting it to be your brother.” She said, her fingers winding around my own, tightly.

“It happened a few years ago. I had just become Alpha. Wyatt was out one day, and got too close to the territory line. It was way too late by the time we got there, but I always felt it was my fault. If I’d upped patrols, he would never have been able to get that close to the edge.” I confessed, guilt overiding me.

“He doesn’t blame you though. So you shouldn’t blame yourself.” She reasoned with me softly.

I cleared my throat, desperate to change the subject. “So, what did you dream about?” I asked her.

“Oh! Yes.” She exclaimed. “Can I try something?”

“Sure.” I answered, amused.

She placed her forehead against mine again, and together we closed our eyes. I cleared my mind totally, and before I knew it, I was seeing Maria’s dream.

I gasped aloud as I saw her wolf form. Emerald green, Opal eyes, the silver crescent moon on her forehead, she was stunning. I watched as another emerald wolf approached, and listened to everything she said. My mind was completely blown by Emeera’s admissions, and I didn’t know what to think. As Maria’s dream came to a close, I felt her disconnect again, and opened my eyes.

“Wow.” Was all I could say.

“It seems our goddesses knew we needed guidance.” She said, quietly, staring at her hands in her lap. “Where do we go from here?” She asked.

“Well, first things first. Matt isn’t going to get better until you have your full powers. When is the Alpha ceremony?” I asked her.

“At the end of this week.” She answered.

“Well, we’d better hope he can hold on till then!” I told her. “As for Kate, I don’t think there’s any need to interrogate her now. You can still visit her,if you’d like to though.”

“No, it’s ok.” She answered me. “I suppose we should get back to the Alpha meetings, and help my dad out. He’s going to want an update sooner or later.”

“That’s true.” I answered, thoughtfully. “Okay, let’s call in to the meeting now. We can speak to Jase and get your dad to one side as soon as we’re done there.”

Maria nodded, and we stood to leave, pulling the door shut behind us. We stopped in to say goodbye to Matt, and found Dr Jenkins in his room still.

“Everything okay, doc?” I asked.

“Yes, everything is fine.” He reassured us. “We’re appointing Beta Mathew a nurse to take care of him. I hope that’s okay?” He asked, turning to Maria.

She nodded. “Whatever it takes, just keep him alive until I’m strong enough to heal him completely.”

“Of course.” He agreed.

Maria walked over to Matt, and a concerned look crossed her face. “ He looks like he’s in pain.”

“Yes, unfortunately, because Matt is a Beta wolf, his metabolism is quick to burn off any morphine we give him.” Doctor Jenkins answered.

“Nope, I’m not leaving him like this.” Maria stated firmly, placing her hands on his face. She closed her eyes, took a deep breathe, and began to sing.

I watched her in awe, and slowly but surely, the purple bruising faded from Matt’s face, the swelling left his eye, and he looked like himself again. Maria finished her song, and kissed him on the forehead. I was so proud of her, I swept her into a hug.

“Doctor, if his face bruises like that again, link me.” She told him,firmly. “ I want to be able to heal him as much as I can. I need him to be alive at the end of this week.”

“Yes, Luna.” Dr Jenkins nodded. “Oh, by the way, Mrs Davies was in reception. She left you a package at the desk.”

“I wonder what that is?” I chuckled.

“Pancakes!” Maria squealed.

She grabbed my hand and pulled me along to the front desk. Sure enough, 3 plates with plastic domes sat on the front desk.

“Well, Matt can’t eat his.” Maria pouted.

“Noah might be grateful for them?” I suggested, and she rolled her eyes.

“Nope, I took care of him.” She said. “I had a croissant and a coffee sent to the meeting with him!”

I laughed, shaking my head. “Baby, he’s a wolf. He’s definitely going to be starving right now!”

“Fine!” She surrendered, “but we can’t go into the meeting with food for just us. You go ahead, I’ll get Mrs Davies to prep some mid morning snacks.”

“You’re the greatest,you know that?” I grinned, kissing her on the forehead. “ I love you!”

“Yeah, yeah.” She grumbled jokingly. “ I love you too.”

I grabbed the plates from the desk and headed over to the meeting room, happily. Things were finally falling into place, and I couldn’t wait to take Maria home with me.