Chapter || 7

Chapter 007

Lucas' POV

Allison Foster would be the death of me. Up until now, I didn't know she was diabetic and asthmatic. At least I brought her to a real hospital, where the doctors would check her and convince me she'd be alright. She lay on the bed, looking frail as fuck, with an unsteady heartbeat that I couldn't place.

The urge to protect Allison had risen to the extent that I wanted to be with her. To implant myself into her life and make her realise she was stuck with me. It didn't matter if she wanted me or not, she was mine.

My mate.

My little wolf.

The reason why waking up and training didn't seem like a chore to me anymore. Why? I had to be stronger than I was. If I wanted to protect Allison and keep her from getting hurt, I needed to be more than I was. Not only being strong physically, I had to be strong emotionally.

Alpha Mireille, like I like to address her, has summoned me today. When I got her letter, sealed with the blue steel stamp, my heart jumped. When last did my mother request my presence in the packhouse? Why did she suddenly want to see me now?

Memories that had no business with my current living resurfaced and I couldn't fight it before it slipped over me, making me numb and washing over me.

I blacked out.

**"Mama, look what I made," three-year-old Lucas gazed up at the silhouette of a mother he knew and grew up with. He was aged 5, a little child with no blemish and completely innocent of all the vices in the outside world.

But the woman staring down at the boy was blurry-eyed, hate consumed her features as she grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and whipped his delicate face with the back of her hand.

"Mama!" Lucas cried out in agony and despair.

"I will not say this again, do not ever call me your mother. Spiteful child."

Lucas cried out and watched his mother hug and pat the head of her cat. Then another voice called out to her. That was Jaxon, his younger brother. He watched as his mother hugged both Jaxon and her furry cat.

While he remained in the shadows.

Forgotten.**

♦♦♦

"Lucas! Lucas!! Lucas!!!"

I opened my eyes, then squinted them again at the rays of sunlight that attacked my pupils. I turned to see that I was still in the hospital. And Allie was awake. Did she wake me? Pull me out of the darkness and one of my awful childhood memories?

I wiped a hand over my face and sat upright in my chair. "Are you okay?"

Allie nodded curtly. But then her reply didn't match her words. "I... I don't feel so well. But don't tell my mum anything. Don't tell Jess as well. I've been having nightmares and I can't sleep."

Her voice sounded strained and weaker than she looked. Of course, she hasn't been getting enough sleep. I cursed under my breath and looked around the walls of the hospital. Allie didn't need this. I was no expert in how transition worked but I knew what she needed was a healer.

The pack healer will lay out the process for both of us. To assure us that she'd be fine, even if I doubted it. The last time a human turned in the pack, she didn't last in the human world for a day. I heard from the others that her first shift took her life. The more reason why I wanted Allie beside me.

Who knew when she'd shift for the first time?

"Lucas... your hand." She muttered, staring at my unhurt palm.

"What about it, love?" I asked her.

"You are unhurt. I... I remembered the water hurt you. Why is there no blood? W...where is the..." She looked up at me and her eyes squinted. "Right. Werewolf."

A lazy smile touched my lips.

"Good. So I turn 18 and suddenly I can't go to bed without thinking that supernatural creatures exist, and that I am turning into one? I... I have a lot of questions. Which one do I ask first? I... I... Don't know in which order to layer them. If I'm turning then what does that mean? Why did you bite me? Is it like that for everyone of you? To bite the women you sleep with? Oh my God! Oh. My. God." Allie placed a hand on her head, while her chest rose and fell rapidly.

It ached me to see how this way. Confused. Scared.

"Allie, you're freaking out." I started.

"How can I not freak out? I am going to be a... Oh no. Am I going to die?" Her eyes met mine and I could suddenly feel every one of her emotions. The fear, the pain, the anger, the hurt, the adrenaline rush in her veins... Everything was heightened.

I sat beside her on the bed and grabbed both her hands. "Look at me," I told her.

"Don't ask me that," she retorted, her voice rising.

"That wasn't a request, Allie cat. It was an order. Look. At. Me." This time, she did. "Breathe. We did this before, remember? Whenever your emotions are all over the place... focus on one of them."

Her voice dropped to a whisper. "I... I can't. It's too much," unshed tears pooled at the base of her eyes.

"Yes, you can. And you will. Open your mind, Allie cat. Breathe. Again. How do you feel now?"

"Scared,"

Damn girl. I had her head pressed to my chest in seconds. Of all the emotions she had to feel, why the fuck was she scared? Her lips quivered as she held on to me, clinging like we could be one. Heck, we were one. I patted her hair, running my hand through the length of it. I felt an ache in my chest, a hollow. And a gut feeling of something so strong that needed to be done.

Once the plans were made, it would be over. For now, I had my girl to tend to. And nothing was more important than being with Allison. Caring for her. Protecting her.

And that I'd do. I've never had anything worth fighting for in my life. As fucked up as my life was, I wondered what I had done to deserve a pure-hearted rose bud like Allison Foster.

With the dark and dangerous world I'd lived in, somehow, the moon goddess managed to sneak in a ray of sunshine.

My Allison.

My Allie cat.