Kieran POV
My eyes open and I can see nothing but a bright light. Am I dead? I search for my wolf, Karr, in my mind. I find him sleeping silently, trying to heal. If Karr is in my mind, then I must not be dead. I have heard when you die, your wolf reincarnates into another soul.
I blink my eyes repeatedly, trying to clear the sleep from my eyes. The world slowly comes into focus, and I am met with white walls. The smell of sanitizer is strong in the air, but there is also the faint scent of lavender around me. The scent of lavender makes Karr stir awake in my mind.
'What happened?' I ask him.
'You were shot in the stomach with a silver bullet,' Karr responds.
I groan aloud as the memories come flooding back to me. Francesca shot me in the stomach. Somehow, the recusants found me. I thought I had covered my tracks, but I guess not well enough. I curse myself for staying in one location for too long.
Now, I can only assume I am in a human hospital. Hopefully, I won't have to call my sister to have this covered up. I sit up in the hospital bed and look around the room. It is empty. The hospital room door is closed, and I can see three people talking through the window.
A low growl rumbles in my stomach when I realize one of those people is my father. "Fucking fantastic," I curse aloud.
My voice must catch their attention, and my father comes storming into the hospital room. He slams the door behind him and glares in my direction.
"Don't worry, Father. I am fine." I roll my eyes in his direction.
My father runs his hand down his face. "I am glad you are okay," he finally sighs. "But this would never have happened if you had come home when I asked you to."
"I don't think now is the time for an 'I told you so,'" I groan.
"You are right," my father agrees, leaving me stunned. "We can save that for when your mother gets here."
"You told Mom?" I whine as I throw my head back on the bed. "She is going to treat me like a child."
"You are acting like a child," Father laughs. "I hope you are ready to come back to the North Pack now and claim your position as Alpha."
"After what happened you expect me to come back? Now?" I gasp. "I have to find Francesca and make her pay for what she has done. No one attacks me and gets away with it."
"Fuck," my father groans. "It was Francesa? Are you sure?"
"Positive," I say, trying to get out of the hospital bed. "She knocked on my hotel door pretending to be housekeeping. Then whined and complained about how I had ruined her life. She had two goons with her."
"Why didn't you take them down?" My father grunts. "I trained you better than that."
"I… I don't know," I stumble over my words. "I should have attacked them as soon as I saw Francesca on the other side of my door. I know better than that. Maybe I am not ready to be Alpha."
"Don't be ridiculous," Father scoffs. "We all make mistakes."
Running my fingers through my hair, I try to calm myself down. But the wires and tubes coming from my body are just irritating me.
One by one, I rip the wires and tubes from my body. The machines behind me begin to beep loudly with alarms, but I don't care. I don't want to be tied down to the bed any longer.
Getting to my feet, they tingle oddly as I stand. "How long was I out?" I ask my father.
"A few days," he responds. "You have woken up a few times and mumbled something before going back to sleep."
The sound of the machines must have alerted the nurse on call, and she runs into the room. The scent of lavender flows behind her as she rushes in to check the machines.
She pauses as soon as she steps into the room. Her blue eyes meet mine and she stands there stunned. My father makes a move to remove her from the room, and a loud growl tears through my chest.
The door rattles on its hinges, and my father steps away from the nurse with his hands in the air. Carefully, he slips behind her and shuts the door to try and make this moment a little more private.
Wobblily, I stride across the room, wrap my around her waist, and pull her in close to me. "Mine," I growl at my father.
"I don't want your mate," my father says calmly. "But, Son, you have to let her go. You are scaring her."
I look down at the little blonde mate in my arms; her eyes are filling with tears. I immediately feel guilty for scaring her. Before I let go of her, I smell the top of her head. She is a human. Of course, she is scared. She probably doesn't even know about werewolves or mates.
I try to let go of her, but Karr won't let me. After losing our first mate, Elise, he has been yearning for our second chance mate. After how we treated Elise and my sister, I never thought the Moon Goddess would bless me with a second chance mate.
The nurse presses the palms of her hands against my chest and looks up into my eyes. "They told me you might be protective over me when you woke," she says timidly.
"Who told you?" I growl.
"Doctors Franklin and Bolder," she says as she wiggles out of my hold. "They explained everything."
"They told you about our world?" My father interjects.
"They didn't have a choice," my mate says quietly. "I saw his skin knit back together. I was here from the beginning. I have been sworn to secrecy."
My mate is standing just a few inches away from me, but she feels too far away. I reach out and brush my hand along her bare arm, feeling the tingles of the mate bond between us.
"Can you feel that too?" She asks quietly.
"I can," I say excitedly. "It is the mate bond trying to bring us closer together."
My father is grinning ear to ear as he looks at me and my mate. "I will leave you two alone," he says before slipping out of the room.
I turn my attention back to my mate, and she is looking me up and down. "Kieran," she says softly. "You need to get back into bed."
"Say it again," I smile.
"You need to get back into bed?" My mate questions in confusion.
"No, the part where you said my name," I laugh as I obey her and crawl back into bed.
"Kieran," she blushes as she repeats my name.
She attempts to fluff the pillows behind me, but I grab her wrist and pull her into the bed with me. "What is your name, Little Mate?"
I didn't think it was possible, but her face blushes more. "My name is Mae."