Alpha Raphael's Second Chance Mate

NORAI woke up to the sound of machines beeping softly somewhere close to me and a stillness in the room that felt wrong before I could even fully open my eyes. My head was heavy and my body ached in ways I did not have words for yet and for just a few seconds between sleeping and waking I did not remember anything.I turned my head slowly and looked at the empty space beside me on the hospital bed. No baby. No blanket wrapped around a small warm body. No sound of breathing that was not my own. Just an empty space where my child should have been and a silence in the room that pressed down on me like something physical.I pushed myself up onto my elbows even though every part of me screamed in protest. My lower abdomen felt like it had been torn open and put back together badly and my arms were shaking just from the effort of lifting myself. I looked around the room with eyes that were still swollen, nearly shut from all the crying I had done before I lost consciousness.The doctor wa

NORAI turned to walked out of the pack as I said, “My baby, I'll come back to get you!" That was the only thought I had when those gates closed behind me and the sound of them shutting echoed through the cold morning air and faded into nothing. I did not have a plan. Neither did I have a direction. I did not have anything except the clothes on my back and a body that had given birth less than two days ago and had no business being out in this kind of cold.The snow started coming down not long after I left the border. Slow at first, light flakes that melted the moment they touched my skin, and then heavier, thicker.My feet were already numb inside my thin shoes and the cold was climbing up my legs and settling into my joints and making every step harder than the one before it.My abdomen was still throbbing. That deep interior ache that came from being cut open and stitched back together was still very much present and the walking was not helping it. Every time my foot hit the g

NORA There were people close by. I could pick up on their scent before anything else registered, their emotions pressing in on me from every side, their voices were faint,it's like they were coming from behind thick walls. Whatever they were feeling was heavy enough that my body reacted to it even before my eyes opened. I could feel their worry, their pain and hurt but surprisingly, I don't know who they are nor do I know where I am currently.My body hits with surges of pain, the moment I move my hands.I tried to move again,but all I got when I pushed through was more darkness. I opened my mouth and nothing came out. I tried to reach for something, anything, just to show them I was still in here.Nothing moved.The blackness had me completely. There were no shapes, no light, no faces. Just voices floating somewhere above me that I could not get to no matter how hard I pushed."Why isn't she opening her eyes? What is going on with her? Doctor, talk to me." A deep masculine voi

NORA "This is your room. It is right next to mine so getting to you quickly will not be a problem," Raphael said, and I stepped inside and looked around, taking in everything slowly.My attention landed on the wall across from the bed. There was a portrait hanging there and I moved toward it without thinking. It pulled me in completely. The detail in it was striking and the eyes in the painting held something that was hard to read no matter how long I looked.I reached out to touch it and Raphael caught my hand before I could."Leave it for now. Your body still needs rest." His eyes stayed on mine after he said it and I felt the contact all the way up my arm.I stepped back and cleared my throat."Where is the bathroom? You can head out now, I will manage from here," I told him, pulling my hand back and putting some distance between us.He moved back with a slight awkwardness that I did not expect from someone who carried himself the way he did."If anything comes up, reach out to m

~NORA~Morning came in quietly and I lay on the bed for a moment before opening my eyes properly, just listening to the sounds of the pack settling into its day outside my window.It was the first time since I arrived that I woke up without pain being the first thing I noticed. My body was still working through everything but the sharpness of it had dulled enough that I could breathe without it catching. I sat up slowly and looked around the room and took it in properly for the first time.It was a good room. That was just a fact. Nothing about it felt temporary or borrowed and that made me uncomfortable in a way I was not ready to examine too closely.I got up and washed my face and stood at the window for a while watching the pack move around below. Pack members go about their morning routines, some in conversation,some just existing in the easy way that people move when they feel safe where they are.I wanted to know about this place,because I had decided to stay or maybe I haven't