Chapter 5: Lucas

The corner of my lip twitched. It was an elegant name. Regal. It suited her. I couldn’t lie that I was equally as impressed by her defiance as I was frustrated. I wouldn’t have her injuring herself again, but I liked the fire I saw blazing in her eyes. Any Luna of mine would need that.

I returned to my feet, taking a few steps back. She wasn’t comfortable with me yet. She still didn’t know who I was. Who she was to me. She couldn’t feel our bond. It was an excruciating mystery. Rhonen still couldn’t sense her wolf. Perhaps she had retreated so deep that all of her abilities were suspended.

“Well,” I said, leaning on the dresser casually, trying to put her at ease, “it’s nice to meet you, Sutton. And yes, I am the Alpha of the Ironpaw Pack.”

She chewed the corner of her lip. It was infuriatingly adorable, even if it was a tell she would need to break.

“How did I get here?” she asked softly.

“You showed up at my uncle’s farm. We had you treated by the local doctor,” I explained. “We weren’t sure when you would wake up. So I brought you here where you would be more comfortable. Anything before that, I was hoping you could tell me.”

She looked around the room again, trying to discern where here actually was. I waited to see if she would tell me what happened, but I started to believe that was going to be more difficult than I would like. I was about to say something when there was a knock on the open door.

“Knock, knock,” Dr. Callahan announced. “Our patient is awake. I hope I’m not interrupting anything?”

“We were just getting to know each other,” I said. “Dr. Callahan, I’d like you to officially meet my guest. This is Sutton.”

“It’s lovely to meet you, my dear.” Callahan approached the bed, setting her bag at the foot. “We were worried we may not get to know anything about you. I’m glad we could keep you with us.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Doctor,” Sutton replied politely.

“Do you mind if I examine you?” Callahan asked gently.

Sutton nodded. Callahan ushered her to scoot further up in the bed while she removed her equipment. She started by checking her vitals, commenting on the lack of IV port. Sutton blushed, hanging her head. I watched intently as she checked the visible bandages before coming to the wounds hidden beneath the pajama top she wore. Callahan asked her to lift her shirt and Sutton blushed deeper, glancing my way briefly.

The doctor looked at me. “May we have some privacy?” she requested.

“I’ve been changing her bandages since she got here,” I replied. “It’s nothing I haven’t already seen.”

Callahan pursed her lips sternly before starting to speak again. “Alpha…”

“It’s fine,” Sutton said through gritted teeth.

She grabbed the hem of her top and started to lift it with the doctor’s help. Still refusing to look in my direction. But I could still her flinch when she was touched. My knuckles turned white from my grip on the dresser. I had been the only one to touch her since she was declared stable enough to move. Not being able to help her through this was difficult, to say the least.

‘You’re hurting her,’ I linked Callahan.

‘No, you’re making her uncomfortable,’ she snapped, ‘Alpha. She doesn’t want you to see this. Please, leave.’

My jaw clenched. I looked at Sutton. Her cheeks were a dark red and she seemed to shrink every time she acknowledged I was watching. My chest burned. I was causing her pain.

Pushing off the dresser, I left the room, shutting the door behind me. I immediately started to pace the hall. This had better be quick. I hadn’t stepped away from her for more than ten minutes since I found her.

“How is she doing?”

I didn’t even look up as my Beta, Jaden, came up to me. I kept pacing.

“The doctor kick you out?” he chided. I shot him an irritated look. “Whoa. She did, didn’t she? Why…”

“She’s awake,” I informed him. Followed with a sigh of frustration. It wasn’t Jaden’s fault this was such a mess. “Her name is Sutton.”

“That’s progress,” my best friend said. “This is a good thing, man.”

“She doesn’t know, Jaden,” I told him. “She hasn’t sensed I’m her mate.”

“Oh, well… we still don’t know who her first mate was,” he said. “If her injuries were from an attack on both of them and he died… that bond may still be lingering for her.”

I shook my head. “No,” I said, my fists clenching again. “He did this to her.”

“What? How can you know?”

“She didn’t ask about him,” I said. “She said… she said she wouldn’t be a plaything for another wolf. Her scars, Jaden… She’s been suffering for a long time. He did this to her.”

Jaden stifled a growl. “We have the bastard’s scent, Luke,” he insisted. “We have trackers still out looking for him.”

“She could have driven for miles,” I stated. We had found the car pretty quickly that first day, but it didn’t tell us anything. Only that it likely belonged to him based on how strong his scent was. “I doubt he’s in our territory.”

“There’s only two possible pack lands she could have come from,” he said. “We’ll make inquiries. We’ll make sure whoever did this is dead.”

“Wait on that,” I said. “If they’ve started to search for her, I don’t want to tip them off that she’s here. Not yet.”

“Why not?”

I glanced back at the door to my bedroom.  

“Because I think my little mate killed him,” I said, a hint of pride in my voice. “She’s a fighter.”

The door opened again and the doctor nodded at me. I entered without waiting.

“She’s doing well,” the doctor said. “It’s still a tough road ahead, but she’s on the mend. I’ve sent for something to eat to be brought up for her. We’ll leave the IV out for now. If she can keep some food and drink down. She can also start to move around a bit. Short walks will do her good. You know where I’m staying if you need me. Otherwise, I’ll be back in the morning.” She looked back at Sutton. “You get something on that stomach. And don’t push too hard. Light exercise only.”

Sutton nodded, giving her a small, tight smile. It was a polite gesture. It wasn’t a real smile. Otherwise, I may have banished Callahan back to Wildmore immediately. I’d been robbed of so many things from our first meeting. That’s not how mate bonds were usually discovered. Yes, it was an intense experience. But normally, it was joyous, erotic, overwhelmingly blissful. It was supposed to be the most poignant moment of our lives. So, I had been told. I suppose it still was. But not in the way it should have been. Not in the way I had been waiting so long for. That was stolen from us. Stolen from her.

So, I would make sure to experience every other happy moment with her from here on. I would be the first to see her smile. The first to inspire one. I would heal her to the Luna she was meant to be.

A guiding light to our pack.