26 Mate bonds…
RamseyR
A week later,
I lay on the Healer’s table, drenched in sweat, my body shaking uncontrollably as I writhed in agony. My skin burned as if it had been set on fire from the inside out. My muscles clenched painfully and every joint felt like it had been ripped apart.
I groaned, suppressing the urge to cry out… if it was
⚫ with Lyla? I this terrible for me, then how would *had thought rejecting her would be the end of the whole charade. But the pain keeps getting worse every day making me realize the mate bond was more than an old wive’s tale that I could shrug off.
I clutched at my chest, hoping the pain in my chest. would stop, but it didn’t.
“You’re bad shape, Alpha,” the healer muttered, “I’ve never seen something like this. Can you remember if you had anything…” he trailed off.
Since this week, I’ve made several trips to the Healer
26 Mate bonds.
quarters and was secretly getting treated but I was also ashamed to admit it might be due to me rejecting my mate. I’d rather suffer in silence than let anyone know it was because of that.
“Just give me something for the pain!” I breathed clutching the side of the bed, as my breath came in ragged gasps.
The healer nodded and puttered for a minute with a lot of dark liquid before he brought one to me. “Alpha, please drink this,” He said.
His voice sounded distant but I wmyself to collect the potion he was offering me and owned the bitter liquid in one big gulp. I waited for a few minutes and the agony subsided. When I opened my eyes, I saw the healer staring at me, with a worried expression.
“We need to find the root cause, Alpha. Your body is beginning to reject all treatments. I don’t know what this is. Do you have any idea…”
“Thank you!” I murmured pushing myself down from the examination table. “I think this last potion is more effective than the rest. I’ll be fine in a few days. I’m sure. Just keep increasing the dosage or whatever.”
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With that, I stumbled out of the healer’s chamber. The walk back to the pack house felt like an eternity and it didn’t help that Lax had been quiet for a while now. Since the day Lyla had left the pack, he had stopped responding to my calls. He was there, alright, I could feel him but he had his back to me.
Maybe if he were here, I wouldn’t be putting up with this level of intensity of pain that I was feeling. But I knew he was trying to punish me and I didn’t have the energy to deal with him now
My mind wandered to Lyla – ag missed her, missed her scent, h
It always did. I presence. Every time
I closed my eyes, she was there in my mind: her soft, sad eyes, the way her lips quivered when she spoke. I hadn’t loved her, at least not consciously. I had pushed her away, rejected her but I was doing the right thing.
Sooner or later, everyone would come to appreciate my sacrifice.
As I arrived at the pack house, I met Seth at the door. His eyes flickered up and down my form, I knew he wanted to say something – had been dying to say something but something kept holding him back.
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26 Mate bonds
“Speak already, Seth,” I mumbled “Your silence is louder.”
“I don’t know what excuse to give to Miss Cassidy again, Alpha!” he sighed “This is the 7th time today she came looking for you. Even your grandfather.”
I patted his back and walked past him. “There are thousands of excuses to give, Seth, you just need to let your creative juice flow. I cannot meet anyone in this condition and you know that. I’ll be fine by tomorrow, tops. Just look for something else to tell them.”
He stared at me for a seconda
flicker through his eyes.
thought I saw fear
“I know it’s none of my business, Alpha but I could send some soldiers to Blue Ridge pack for Miss Woodland. You’ll be better if she’s here.”
“I know!” I chuckled sadly “Do you know how many times, I’ve contemplated driving there myself but I cannot keep using her when I don’t want her? It’s enough that she thinks of me as a monster…”
“You’re not a monster, Alpha!” he hushed me “But sharing your burden can help the people you love understand you. Perhaps, if you had made her see
26 Mate bonds….
reason in a good way,” he added. “I’m sure she would have stayed and you wouldn’t have to put up with this.”
“Yeah!” I said flatly walking to my room. “The pack healer said my body is beginning to reject the potions. Do you have any idea what that means?”
His eyes glazed in deep thoughts for a second before he shook his head. “It’s strange that you’re going through this Alpha. Usually mate bond rejection hurts but it doesn’t give you a fever. I’ve never heard of it in all the years of my living. I think something must have happened to her. Can Lax feel r mate mark?”
“He’s not talking to me, Seth!” I sighed reaching for the door of my bedroom. “And no more talks about Lyla… We cannot be together and I will overcome it. Lenny is coming over later, let him straight to my room, okay?”
He nodded.
As I opened the door to go inside, he stopped me again, giving me a box.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“It’s Miss Lyla’s I presume. The maids found it while cleaning her room. Maybe it might help you or should I have it sent to her pack?”
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26 Mate bonds
I took the box from him and opened it. Lax stirred within me as soon as her scent wafted up to my nose. It was her scarf in the box. I closed the box, feeling nostalgic suddenly. I handed the box back to Seth, shaking my head.
“Send it to her, Seth. I don’t deserve to …”
“I’ll leave it with you and send it back tomorrow,” he replied, thrusting the box back to me and leaving. As soon as I entered my room, I hurriedly removed the scarf from the box, holding it to my nose, inhaling her
scent.
.Lax stirred within me and I felt the pain from the fever slowly easing. Her scent was so strong, that I got lost in it and didn’t hear the door creak open.
“Seriously?” came Lenny’s voice. He was standing in my room, hands on his hips, glaring at me.
My head snapped up, the grip on the scarf tightening for a split second before I carefully folded it and placed it back into the box on my bed. My jaw
clenched in annoyance as I turned to Lenny.
“Does that belong to who I think it is?” he asked with a smirk playing on his lips.
26 Mate bonds..
My expression darkened as I narrowed my eyes at him, putting the box away.
Lenny plopped down into the chair opposite me,
shaking his head. “I’m just relieved it wasn’t her undies. Still,” he added casting a glance at the box. “It’s pretty weird.”
“You’re the one who’s weird for barging into my room without knocking. “What are you doing here by the way?”
“I’ve got the report from this week’s patrol but first are you okay? You don’t look go
“I waved him off. “I’m fine,” I lied “Tell me the reports.”
Lenny pulled out a small tablet and scrolled through it. “The Feral that appeared some weeks ago – they’ve disappeared. There’s been no sighting, no activity since this week. It’s like they vanished into thin air.”
I blinked. “What?”
“Yes Alpha,” Lenny nodded “I find it very strange but I think it’s very odd that they left just like that. I’ve poured through books, trying to justify their actions but it still doesn’t make sense.
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26 Mate bonds…
“What do you mean?”
“They showed up, attacked only warriors who tried to attack them, basically stayed in the pack doing nothing but then, why did they attack Lyla that day in the forest? I mean, she’s wolfless and harmless and I know she wouldn’t have tried picking a fight with them. She’s the only Feral victim we have except the warriors that we attacked and Omegas when they first arrived.”
“Come to think of it, they appeared only at the White Mountain region. Did any of the Alphas report seeing them around their packs?”
“No!” Lenny shook his head. “It is as if something was drawing them to the White Mountains don’t you think? And while I was on it, I did some digging on Lyla…”
I stiffened at the mention of her name. “Why do you think I would be interested in her? Is it because of what happened that day?”
“Far from it, Alpha!” Lenny shook his head. “Many people in her pack hate her,” he continued. “She’s wolfless and a deviant and because of her monthly pheromones, her father drove her out of the pack to
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live in the human world.”
My chest tightened as I remembered the letter her father had sent to me the other time.
“But it doesn’t make sense to me, Alpha. She’s an Alpha daughter, pure–blooded. How could she be wolfless? Why did the Ferals attack just her? Was it because of your mark on her neck?” Lenny said thoughtfully.
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