7 - Healing

MORDECAI

I thought that the bone decor adorning the trees was unsettling. His house topped it somehow. It was incredibly beautiful from the outside, painted a deep purple with black accenting the railings and large wooden circle bent to make the porch entrance. I'd almost forgotten how large wolves like to keep their homes.

Mira and Ashton were bouncing around the living room he'd left us in before going upstairs alone. There was a large skeleton of some sort of serpent like creature that took up an entire wall. Dark leather couches had been placed to make a seating area with a TV mounted to the wall. Huge canvases were lining the walls holding paintings of various macabre things. The whole place smelled strongly of frankincense and myrrh.

"Don't touch that," the large brown-haired wolf quickly pulled Mira's hand away from the collection of blades mounted next to the skeleton.

"I was just looking," she pouted.

He released her arm and shook his head," look with your eyes, not your hands. I'm still not sure which of these have poisoned blades or not." He mumbled the last sentence and she tensed up.

"Remember what I said about becoming sick or injured?" I glared between her and where Ashton had flopped onto one of the couches.

"That we'll just slow everything down," they answered in unison.

"What are you talking about?" the smaller wolf questioned. He had stayed quiet and away from us the entire time. I'd never seen an albino werewolf until now.

"They barely know anything about the mortal realm. Lugging around two sick fae while we're traveling will only make things harder," I shrugged.

The two wolves shared a glance before laughing. The brown haired one spoke up again," kid I don't think any of you are leaving. Especially you."

Right. Because he's supposed to be my "mate". I'll believe it when I feel it and then go from there. I wouldn't feel a thing until he removed the silver, and even then... well I needed to think about it. I had never encountered wolves so dark and it was making me uneasy. Almost as much as seeing Novu twice in one day did.

"He's here," the smaller one spoke. He removed himself from the wall he'd been standing against and opened the door. Mira stopped trying to get around the larger wolf and peered at the opening door. In walked a man nearly as tall as the large wolf. He had hair so red it looked like the curls were made of blood and amber eyes like the Alpha. He was more dressed up than the rest of them. With a pair of fitted brown and grey plaid slacks and a cream-colored dress shirt. Unlike the others around us he smiled brightly when he entered.

"Hello everybody," he greeted cheerfully and produced a leather bag from behind him. His eyes glanced around at us three as he strolled into the room. Ashton was the first person he made his way to, staring down at him curiously," you're interesting."

"Interesting?" Ashton sat up from his comfortable position on the couch. The man leaned in getting uncomfortably close to Ashton and making him shrink back.

"Forgive me, I've never met the fae before. They don't seem to really like this pack. Or wolves in general really," he straightened up and held his hand out for Ashton who shook it awkwardly. "Elias Krause."

"Ashton Feyleif," my companion flashed him back a smile.

Elias laughed at him and turned to see Mira peeking out curiously from the large wolf," Orion could you move to the side a bit? I want to see that wonderful creature hiding behind you."

Orion moved himself where Mira could no longer hide behind him. She was nervously fidgeting with the middle of her dress," Mira Fairlite." The fae tried to smile but looked a nervous mess.

"You must be our beautiful future Luna he told me about," Elias gently grasped one of her hands and kissed the back of it.

The shorter wolf burst into a laughing fit," Luna?! Pup he called you a Luna!"

Orion snorted," Elias, seriously? I'm pretty sure the Alpha called you here to remove silver bracelets off his mate. Do you see silver on that fae?" The red-haired man looked at her wrists before shaking his head. Orion pointed towards me and my face turned red in embarrassment from the number of eyes on me.

"Apologies," Elias quickly recovered and made his way to me. He flashed a smile, holding out his hand that was decorated in intricate rings. "What is your name Luna... er-, Alpha? I'm not sure how you'd like to be addressed."

"Mordecai. I have no intention of being called either of those things," I shook his hand for only a moment and watched a frown make its way across his face.

"I think you will feel differently when I remove these," his eyes danced around the scabs that had formed on my wrists. He walked over to one of the open couches and sat his bag down. "Are you coming?"

I looked at the other wolves who were one edge as they watched me walk towards where Elias was at. The couch sank beneath me and my body relaxed. These were so much more comfortable than anything the fae had provided. "What now?"

Elias dug around in his bag and pulled out a pair of thick padded gloves. He quickly put them on and grabbed my wrists to hoist them up. I let out a hiss of pain as my skin sizzled even more around them. "I'm not a wolf but my father is. He passed on the curse of silver intolerance to me," he once again smiled. "I'm going to remove these with magick. Please try to stay as still as possible."

I nodded slowly. They kept witches here? More so they allowed a wolf to breed with it? This pack was just getting odder by the second. My mind started to wander as Elias began chanting. Just how different were things here? And if we wanted to leave, what were they going to do about it? The Beta and Gamma seemed very certain that we wouldn't be allowed to leave, but what about the Alpha?

The thoughts kept swirling around getting worse and worse. I began to wonder who’s bones were hanging from those trees and why it was some of them were sporting haunted house worthy body paints. Was it just another omen from Novu that I was going to die again? Maybe they weren't actually wearing body paints and I hadn't ever woken up. Died in my sleep next to two fae who couldn't survive in this world on their own.

"Mor....Mordec....Mordecai!" Somebody yelled, shaking my shoulders.

I shook my head and met the eyes of Elias who looked frightened," are you alright? You weren't responding."

"Yeah, just uh..." I cleared my throat. "Got lost in my thoughts."

Elias studied my face and sighed," I've removed the silver." My eyes went down to my wrists that looked angry with scabs. I'd been so lost in my thoughts I didn't even feel it happen.

"Gideon still hiding?" the smaller wolf's voice filled the room.

I looked up when footsteps padded down a creaky staircase somewhere in the distance. Orion came into the room wearing a frown," he's coming back down. The packs that have arrived caught word of fae being in the area. Mountain Crawler were the first to call and Alpha Ryder is already on his way."

They all tensed up and my companions looked at them confused. "Is that a bad thing?" I looked over to Orion.

He pressed his lips into a thin line and Elias sighed," hard to tell." He pushed up his bag and walked through where Orion had just come from.

"Should we be afraid?" Mira took a seat next to Ashton.

"I won't let anything happen to you," the Alpha's voice filled the room and caused us to jump. It felt so different this time on my ears. Something about the tone caused my entire being to go rigid. I slowly turned my head to see him standing close behind me. My eyes studied his face that had been cleaned of paint. He looked good beneath it all. Almond shaped amber eyes now free of his chocolate curls with full lips that sported a stud I hadn't noticed in the middle of it. His nose had two glittering diamonds on one side and three horizontal black scars were on his right cheek.

The Alpha's chest rumbled and I met his eyes," you're making my wolf too excited staring at me like that." I tore my gaze away from him and cursed. I knew how this bond business worked to a certain extent. The condensed version. Basically, the more time I spent around him and the closer we were the tighter it would pull.

"Can I touch you?" he spoke and this time I shivered involuntarily. Fuck.

"What?" my fists balled up as the couch dipped next to me, accompanied with the strong scent of sandalwood suffocating me.

"Your wrists," he spoke softly as I looked up to meet his eyes that stared intensely back at me. "I want to dress your wounds."

"Oh um... s-sure," my voice shook and again I cursed myself. I'd never been a nervous idiot even on a date, but here I was starting to falter beneath the ties of a mate bond. He patiently waited for me to lift my wrists before beginning his work. Dulled sparks caressed my skin along with his light touch. The Alpha touched me so softly like he was afraid I'd break. I watch his fingers tremble while he worked to hurry this up. Maybe he didn't want to bow down to the threads that were pulling between us too.

"Alpha," Orion spoke when the last bit of bandage was placed. "They're waiting outside."

The man in front of me let out a shaky breath," I need to scent mark you Mordecai. It will make things go easier. Is that okay?"

"What? Um... o-oh... o-okay I guess," my heart thudded hard as he inched closer and started to lean into me as the door creaked open. It was like his presence was putting me into complete submission and my brain shut off. Happy chit chat filled the room with new voices but I couldn't even concentrate on it. I was doing my best not to turn into a puddle of goo feeling something as silly as this wolf rub his nose against my neck.