In the BedroomRichard’s POV: It had to be Arielle’s goal to solely and slowly drive me crazy. There was no other explanation for it in my mind. She had to know what she was doing to me. Currently I was sitting on the edge of my bed, and trying my best to not move too much. Her fingers made quick work of cleaning my wounds. Though it stung a little I did not even flinch. I was too busy trying to stop my desires from manifesting as the raging boner that it slowly but surely was. After I had stopped her from leaving, and she had successfully managed to deflect his questioning - to my obvious annoyance - the beautiful doctor that I had just discovered a day ago to be my mate, followed me back to my bedroom. And now, she was doing what Esme had offered to, which was to clean my wounds. “How do you feel?” Arielle broke the silence with her soft voice sounding in my room. She seemed to be unsure for some reason, and it made me feel even more protective over her. “Alright,” inreplied, b

Arielle’s POV:I was still thinking on how to respond to this woman - Esme, I reminded myself of her name - when she spoke again.“It’s alright, dear. I know it is quite an uncomfortable topic for you in the first place,” she said softly to me, making me turn to look at her through the corner of my eyes. “But I know that you have experienced such trauma, because you close yourself off from the prospects of finding something good.”I stiffened. Of course she meant Richard.“I don’t know what you mean,” I told her, feigning innocence. I’m not sure it worked out well, by the look on her face. I continued, “Besides, he doesn’t love me. This entire bond thing is a mistake... somehow. I know it.”The elderly, sagelike woman sighed, and I saw her shaking her head at me.“It seems that I can not convince you today to open your heart to Richard. But perhaps... I could tell you to not distrust whatever he says. I don’t know if he has told you how much he cares for you, but I am certain that he

Richard’s POV:I was still running through the forest. My heart was beating fast, almost in time to the throbbing of the Alpha bond.Hold on, I thought desperately, as I felt another sharp pain in combination with the throbbing.Your Alpha is coming to help you.I continued to move deeper and deeper into the forest, trying to trace out the location of my injured pack member.I still had not even gotten to think about who or what might have been the cause of such pain in them.But I would find that out, as soon as I found them.I paused, trying to figure my way out from left to right in the darkness of the night, when a piercing scream shattered the silence that had been all around me.At the same time, the pain doubled in intensity, almost making me bowl over with my hand over my heart.“Damn it,” I growled out loud, before then looking up at the sky, devoid of stars and the moon in its waning crescent. “Where are you?”It was then that I heard it; my ears pricked up at the sound of

Richard's POV:"Why the effing hell would you wake me up at this time?!"I watched as my annoyed Beta ranted as he got dressed, and I fought within me to not snap at him. After all, Darren was right; I had woken him up in such a quiet time of night, just after midnight.I also suspected that he had to leave behind a disgruntled Lilian in bed. However I did not wish to apologize to him in any way."Would you hurry up then?" I finally shot back at him, my body tense. Ever since I had taken Devin to the clinic, I had been unable to relax. My own pack member and warrior was injured brutally, and I had just barely been able to save his life, with the incredible help of Arielle."You still haven't told me what happened," Darren grumbled as he finished lacing up his shoes and was walking towards me. We both left the living room of his own in unison, and stepped out into the cold dead night. "And why the hell are you wearing that shirt?"I looked down at myself, already knowing that I would f

I was restless now; despite being very tired, that my eyes hurt and felt strained, I was pacing up and down the hallway of the clinic, passing the door of the room that Devin, the injured pack member, currently was. Richard and Darren were also inside, and that was what made me feel this anxious.Were they interrogating him?I brought my hand up to my mouth to stifle a yawn.I didn’t know whether or not Richard thought that Devin had done something that caused him to be injured.No matter what, I felt very protective of my patient, also because he was a pack member. I had felt his pain through the pack bond that I had in my chest.No matter what, his safety was somehow important to me.I was so endorsed in my thoughts that I didn’t even notice when the ward doors opened. I only noticed when the footsteps sounded in the hallway and I turned my head around, feeling the strands of my hair that had come out of its ponytail fan my face. I used my hands to tuck the strands of hair behind my