When the door closes, I push myself up into a sitting position. It takes a lot of effort, but Damon lets me sit up this time.
I can’t keep thinking of him as Alpha Scopus—not after he’s had his mouth on my skin. Not after he called me what he just called me. I glare at him. “What did you just do?”
Damon smirks. “I haven’t done anything…” He hesitates. “Yet.”
I shake my head. “I’m not your mate, and I’m not your luna.” That’s a term reserved for the alpha’s mate; not a role I’ve ever imagined for myself, even before my true mate rejected me.
The smirk doesn’t leave his face, but his hand cups my jaw. His thumb gently caresses my cheek, and I can’t help but close my eyes for a second.
He knows what he’s doing, and I hate it. If my wolf were on my side, she would help me to resist, but she isn’t. If anything, she’s making things worse. I can feel her straining toward Damon’s wolf in my mind.
“Your choices are pretty limited, Ember. My wolf won’t let another wolf touch you, and I doubt your wolf will either.
“Besides, you’re a member of my pack now. No other pack will touch you. Even if they did, what sort of future could they offer for a conduit such as yourself?”
My eyes snap open. “That…that’s blackmail! You said my secret was safe.”
Damon shrugs. “I said it was safe as long as you’re mine, Ember. Will you be mine?”
I narrow my eyes. I don’t have much choice, and he knows it. “I have conditions,” I warn.
Damon chuckles. “I don’t think you’re in any position to start demanding conditions, but I’m nothing if not reasonable.”
“Reasonable” wouldn’t be my first choice of words to describe Damon, but he’s right. My choices are pretty limited, and sometimes it’s better to stick with the devil you know. Better him than my former alpha, in any case.
I straighten my shoulders and try to hold a firm pose, even though I’m trembling inside. “I want my own room, and there will be no pups,” I state.
I never want one of my pups to suffer the way I have. To have to hide for fear of what powerful men might do.
I’m more than a little proud of myself when my voice doesn’t shake, but you know the old saying; pride comes before a fall. When Damon opens his mouth, I realize I might as well have fallen into hell.
I rub my chin slowly and gaze at Ember. She’s trying to put up a determined front, but I can smell the fear seeping out of her pores.
I shake my head.
“Not going to happen, little wolf. You won’t just be my luna in name. Both my wolf and I choose you as our mate.”
My wolf chose her first, admittedly. But I trust him. If he and Ember’s wolf both feel a mate bond, then it’s time for me to commit to that. I smile at her. “I’m sure you know what that means?”
Her face flushes pink, and her eyes, which were firmly locked on mine while she stated her conditions, immediately find something more interesting on the floor.
I walk slowly toward her, and gently cup her cheek in my hand as I tilt her head up toward mine.
I won’t agree with her demands, but I can make a small concession. “I will give you a few days before I mark you,” I offer.
She gasps. “Mark me?”
I can’t help but chuckle. “That’s what mates do. I know you are a little naïve, but surely even you know about the mating process?”
Her jaw clenches, and she narrows her eyes, but she doesn’t say anything.
She might be small, but she’s extremely feisty—or is that her wolf taking charge?
I don’t think it is, because her eyes remain the same vibrant blue. That’s one of the things I like about Ember. She may be small, but when she isn’t half scared to death, I can see the luna in her struggling to emerge.
Once she realizes she is safe, I hope that her fear will disappear so she can become the person she is meant to be.
My wolf huffs. “~Finally, you’re beginning to see what I saw when I first saw her.~”
I ignore him. There’s nothing worse than a gloating wolf.
“I need to freshen up,” Ember states.
She’s not very subtle in ignoring the conversation we were just having, but I let it slide. It’s a lot for her to take in.
If she had been a normal wolf, she would have had more time. But then, if she’d been a normal wolf, she would have jumped at the opportunity to be mated with an alpha like me.
The bond between our wolves is probably at least half of why I’m attracted to her, but I do also appreciate how different she is from any other she-wolf. She’s not trying to claw her way into my bed—but that is where she is going to end up.
I take a step back to give her some room, though I’m still ready to give her a helping hand if she needs it. Knowing Ember, she won’t ask even if she does.
I gesture toward a door with my hand. “Bathroom’s in there.”
She gives me a cursory nod before throwing back the duvet. I’m about to scold her, or come out with some sarcastic comment alluding that a thank you would be nice, but I stop myself when I see a look of consternation cross her face.
I follow her gaze, but I can see nothing amiss apart from the fact that she’s struggling to swing her legs over the side of the bed. Not really surprising; she’s been out for five days.
Her small legs dangle over the side of the bed and she takes an unsteady breath, shaking her head as she pushes herself from the bed.
As her feet touch the floor, she lets out a distressed cry and her legs buckle underneath her.
She collapses, but I’m able to catch her before she hits the floor. Wrapping my arms around her, I sink to the floor, gathering her into my lap.
Her face has lost all its color as she stares at me. “M…my legs,” she sobs, “I can’t feel my legs.” Tears flow down her cheeks as I rub her back.
“It’s going to be all right,” I whisper.
Her face morphs into a grimace as her distress turns into anger. “You,” she accuses, “You did this to me.”
Her small hands ball into fists. “I hate you,” she screams through the sobs.
She punches me, and I let her because what she says is true to a point. I had no idea she couldn’t heal herself when I branded her with the silver, but the lingering wolfsbane in her system surely didn’t help either.
I should have waited until she was reunited with her wolf before I performed the ceremony. I should have let her know in advance what the ceremony would entail; maybe then she could’ve let me know it wouldn’t be possible for her.
I should have done a lot of things. But now, all I can do is let her punch me.
It doesn’t look very satisfying for her, though. Each punch that makes contact with my body causes her to wince as if it’s hurting her as well. I don’t understand why; maybe her muscles are so stiff that it hurts to move her arms?
I mind-link Joshua, growling, “~Get the healer back here now.~”
My wolf is going crazy. He wants to know what’s going on. If I’m honest, so do I.
“~What’s happened?~” Joshua quickly replies.
“~I don’t fucking have time for this~,” I counter. “~Get that bastard back here, stat!~”
Wrapping my arms around Ember more firmly, I hold her arms against her body. I don’t want to restrain her, but her punches still seem to be hurting her a lot more than she is hurting me.
I slowly stand from the floor, sitting back down on the edge of the bed and scooping Ember up to cradle her in my lap there instead.
It’s only been minutes since I mind-linked Joshua when the door crashes open, although it feels like a lot longer.
The healer comes rushing in, followed by Joshua. No doubt Joshua relayed the urgency. Good man.
Ember is still sobbing. It seemed to get worse when I stopped her from hitting me, but that was for her own good.
She’s in no state to tell the healer what’s wrong, so I just relay what she said to me, excluding the “I hate you” part.
“She can’t feel her legs, and when she tried to stand, she just collapsed.”
The healer hums and begins to examine Ember’s legs. My wolf growls. He still doesn’t like the idea of another male touching her, healer or not.
“I believe this is a symptom of her not being able to heal herself,” the healer states.
I shake my head. “Explain?” I growl.
He swallows nervously. He isn’t exactly filling me with confidence, but this is unfamiliar territory for us both.
“The celestial silver that you use when you mark new pack members marks the skin. Once the brand is removed, the wolf will immediately start to heal its host.”
He sighs. “In Ember’s case, this didn’t happen. Because she didn’t heal, and because she still isn’t healing, it is possible that small particles of the celestial silver may have entered her bloodstream.”
I frown. “What can we do?”
The healer bites his bottom lip and narrows his eyes. “I’m not sure there is anything we can do, Alpha. Her body is slowly being poisoned. There is no cure, as far as I am aware.”
I clench my jaw. “There must be something?”
The healer looks between me and Ember. “I said this once before, but the mark of her mate will help. Mates have the ability to heal each other. The mark of an alpha would be even better.”
He lowers his eyes, hoping to avoid my wrath. He saw my reaction when he first proposed that I should mate with Ember.
But that was then and this is now. Things change. And he knows that—after all, just a few minutes ago I called Ember my luna.
I stare at the healer, then at Joshua. I’m met with stony silence.
I offered Ember the opportunity to wait a few days before I marked her. A few days where I could try to win her over. To make her realize that I wasn’t her enemy, and that I wasn’t claiming her for her gift but for her.
Now it seems I won’t have that chance.
“~Mark her. Mark her now. We need to save our mate!~” my wolf growls.
I close my eyes and sigh. A few days ago, both Ember and her wolf were craving death. Without my mark, it appears their wish will be granted.
Was this the Moon Goddess’s plan? That I should be the only one who could save Ember? I wouldn’t let her die when she first arrived and tried to bait me into killing her, and I’m not about to let her die now.
Not even if she hates me for it.