Chapter Six

Walking out of the pack's hospital Brandon could feel Aero's sadness, neither Aero nor himself felt comfortable leaving their mate in a bed by herself. Rubbing the back of his neck, Brandon tried to control the anger growing in him. Even though Morana couldn't talk, her action made it clear that even if she could, she wouldn't have. Brandon could smell the fear coming from her, and he knew she was afraid of him.

Morana had only concentrated on Brandon when the anesthesia was in her system. He was never one to ask fora woman's attention, but he wanted Morana’s. Brandon wanted to memorize her face, he wanted to hear her voice. There were so many things he wanted to do, like telling his pack that Morana was his mate, not someone who forced their mark on her.

Brandon was her true mate, and Morana was hers. 'Do you think she is upset with us?’ Aero asked sadly. Brandon only frowned and looked at his house behind the pack house, ‘Why are we keeping her a secret? Why can't we say she's our mate?’ He asked. Walking towards the wooden steps, Brandon raced up the steps and onto the porch, fumbling with his keys to unlock the door, ‘Because we can't always be there to protect her. I have a feeling whoever hurt her is in this pack.’ he said to his wolf and walked towards the kitchen grabbing a bottle of orange juice and pouring a glass.

“I want everyone to know she's our mate-“ Brandon cut him off quickly by saying ‘It's because she's marked. Y-You're ashamed of our mate?’ Aero sounded sad and mad at the same time when he said the last sentence, Brandon could not deny that he was right. her was ashamed that Morana had been marked. To be seen with a marked female is truly scandalous, even if they were true mates.

Brandon’s reputation would be considerably damaged. But, the only way to remove that mark was to cut it out or to have the man remove it himself and Brandon couldn't bring himself to do that to her. Walking away from the kitchen her went up the stairs and into his office. Brandon took a look at the small stack of paperwork in bandages, piled on his desk. He could smell the lingering scent of his beta Jon all over his office, letting Brandon know that he had been there that day. He sat on his chair, finally taking the time to have a look at the texts that Alpha Kevin had sent, all making him disappointed. Brandon placed his head in his hand, clearly needing a break from hunting and caring for his mate, only one name rang through his head and he decided to call her.

Two weeks had flown by since Morana woke up and her wounds had head quite nicely, just yesterday Amanda had snuck in scissors and some combs to help cut her hair. Amanda however did not have a lot of experience with cutting and had cut her hair a bit too short, now it rested just above her shoulder, clinging around her chin.

Morana now sat in the bed by herself, looking down at her hands. Her back and chest were covered in bandages she now wore what Amanda has called scrub pants, they were black and comfortable. Brandon hated the socks they gave her and refused to wear them. Last week, she spent her time in bed crying over the pain. Morana cried for what had happened to her, and the nightmares plagued her nights.

This week however, Morana started it with ignoring the pain, ignoring the pain medicine Amanda tried to give her. She spent her time raging, Morana had her left foot over her right leg allowing some coverage as she looked at the scalpel in her hand. Morana had found it in one of the cabinets and was currently twisting it in her palm.

HHontas had returned just two days before and Morana was thankful to have her back tough something had changed in her as well. HHontas was mad that she wasn't there to see their mate. But she was even more mad at how he never returned to the room.

‘What do you plan on doing?’ HHontas asked as they stared at the sharp end. Her lip smirked as Morana looked at her shoulder wanting nothing more than to get rid of it. she could hear HHontas howl in approval, ‘Get it off our skin for good!’ HHontas said. Morana hesitated for a moment before walking towards the bathroom. The girl in the mirror didn't look like the girl she had seen in the lake. her reflection had changed.

This girl glared back at her, she had a swollen face and hateful blue eyes. She had on a short top which gave Amanda easy access to her wounds. Bandages still wrapped around Morana’s body as her blue eyes looked at the mark, she was ready to cut it out.

The girl at the lake held happiness in her eyes Morana couldn't even begin to describe, this one held anger and rage. Morana lifted my arm, HHontas purred in her chest as she brought the scalpel to her pale skin and dug the blade in. As soon as the blade pierced through the skin, she could feel the jolt of icy pain in her body. Her heart raced as she continued to pull the blade down. Morana’s breathing turned to pants and her skin turned sweaty as she continued to yank the blade down.

Accidently cutting some areas that didn't have the mark. HHontas cheered when she had finished cutting the mark. The area was now a gaping hole of dark red blood that flowed down the skin and onto the bandages.

The darkness however, that had been the mark was completely gone from her skin. HHontas howled in happiness, maybe mate will come back-' she started to cheer but stopped. “No HHontas.” Morana said in a stern voice, “Our mate hasn’t come to visit us for two weeks! He scares me, we don't want him. I want to go back to the forest-“

‘We need a mate Morana. We deserve a mate.' HHontas said, Morana could see her eyes shift to a gold color as she looked in the mirror. HHontas was in charge as she looked at their body. “We don't deserve a mate like that. We’ll only ring him pain” Morana whispered to her wolf. HHontas knew it was the truth as she let out a whimper and allowed her back in charge.

Morana’s face was growing rounder and my blue eyes seemed to shine in the white room. She had taken a shower this morning and her hair looked darker as it fell in wet strands. She took one of the rags and held it to the new wound. Morana watched the white rag turn into a dark red. Putting pressure on the wound for a while until her hand was covered in blood. She then let the rag go and threw it in the trash as she went out of the room to grab more wrapping gauze.

Locking herself in the bathroom, Morana wrapped herself from her torso to over her shoulder. She wanted to leave the hospital today, “no matter what” she thought to herself. Morana walked out of the bathroom and paced along the tile floor, putting the scalpel in her pants. ‘What if mate comes for us?’ Hontas asked in a small voice. Morana snorted at the thought, He hadn't come for two weeks. She failed to believe that she would come now. “Our other half sucks.” she added.

As if on cue Amanda walked into the room holding a tray of food. She looked at Morana with a raised brow, "Look at you. Pacing" She said and brought the food to the bed, "Come and eat." She said. Morana looked at the food on the tray, almost causing her to salivate, it smelt lovely, she was getting distracted, Morana then looked at Amanda. she pointed towards the door and Amanda sighed understanding her unspoken words, "You know I can't let you leave. The doctor has to approve your discharge." She said.

Morana nodded and pointed at the door again, they had this conversation every day, and every day it ended the same. Amanda looked at Morana and sighed softly as she shook her head, "Jane, just eat." But she continued to refuse, shaking her head and walked towards the door.

"What do you think you are you doing?" Amanda asked as Morana opened the door, surprised to find it unlocked. "Stop!" Amanda yelled and reached for her hand. Morana struggled against her hold and shook her head, "Okay, I'll get the doctor. But you have to eat your food!" She said. Taking deep breaths through her nose Morana nodded and walked towards the bed.

Amanda held her promised and went to find Dr. Linn while Morana ate as much food as she could sitting on the bed and waiting for the Doctor. She pushed the plate away and then finished the milk carton. It took a while but Dr. Linn entered the room with a small smile, "Someone has been telling me you want to leave." He said and raised an eyebrow. Morana nodded eagerly as she looked towards him.

"Well let's see if you are ready." He said. Hontas growled as he took a step towards them, but she allowed Morana to take charge as she tilted her head slightly. Dr. Linn took a physical exam, checking her heart, lungs and reflexes. He unwrapped her bandages, and didn't say anything when he saw the mess she had made of the mark.

He did eye her for a moment obviously worried about her. Dr. Linn then changed the dressing and placed some kind of lotion on her back and shoulder. The coolness instantly took the pain away as he tightly wrapped her body. "Alright, well everything looks good. You just need to wait for the Alpha-" Panicked Morana shook her head quickly, "I can't discharge you until he comes here. He brought you in."

What a complete lunatic! This time Morana growled as she looked at the doctor. ‘Morana, we should at least say goodbye.’

“I reject him.” in he said in a stern voice, she will reject him. ‘Morana-‘ This time her growl was louder as she fought with Hontas. Morana closed her eyes as she tried to take charge and gritted her teeth. She looked up at Dr. Linn with hateful eyes as she shook her head. He sighed and turned towards Amanda, "Nurse, get the Alpha here." He said in a stern voice. Morana growled again in warning as he looked at her, "And restrain her." He added. Amanda grabbed her wrist and Morana jerked away from her, letting out a shout as she pushed against the bed.

"Calm down Jane, you will hurt yourself." Amanda said in a calm voice. But calm was the last thing she was as she looked at Dr Linn grab a syringe, "We don't growl at people." He said. Morana only growled louder as she kicked the man away from my her. Shielding herself from him. Amanda wrapped an arm around her neck trying to hold her still.

Dr. Linn grabbed hold of her arm; a growl resonated through the room but the growl that filled the room wasn't hers. Dr. Linn immediately stopped what he was doing. Amanda continued to place Morana in restraints as she looked away from the door.

"What is going on here?" Brandon’s voice growled out; his aura was thick with tension. Hontas howled at the thought of her mate being in the same room as her, and then stopped once he was close enough to smell. Then she growled at the stench that lingered around him.

"Alpha, we were restraining her." Dr. Linn said as he looked at Morana, "She wanted to go." He said.

"So, knocking her out is the way to go? You couldn't just ask me to come here?" Brandon's voice asked as

he got closer to her, "I’ll take her home with me." "Alpha, I’d advise against that." Dr. Linn said as Brandon grabbed the restraint and ripped it off, "Alpha, you don't understand-" Dr. Linn tried to say, but he stopped talking as Brandon continued to remove Morana’s restraints.

Her breathing quickened as he released the last restraint. Everyone was still as she laid on the bed for a moment. Then jumped from it and pushed her body against Brandon's large chest. Morana pushed with everything she had but it wasn’t enough and she fell to the ground, she grabbed the scalpel and pushed it against Brandon’s neck as his hazel eyes widened. She could smell multiple female scents on him, and Hontas took charge. Morana’s teeth were replaces with long sharp canines as she growled loudly, her legs straddling his waist as she leaned down to him. Hontas leaned her face down to Brandon’s neck and took in a deep breath, growling once again. Tears threatening to leave her eyes as she stared at Brandon's face. "I.." she pronounced and took in a deep breath, "R-r-reje-e-ect, y-y-0-ou." Morana said and allowed Hontas to shift as they took off towards the open door.