Chapter 6- pain
I woke up with a throbbing pain at the back of my head.
I opened my eyes with a grunt.
“Thank the goddess,” Samantha said hovering over me.
I touched my neck where the pain was. It burned to even touch it.
I hissed, removing my hands from my neck.
“You shouldn’t touch that,” she said, giving me a nervous look.
“What happened?” I looked around. I was no longer in the woods. I was back in the infirmary, the white walls staring back at me, mocking me
“Kaden found you in the woods. It was a good thing he did. You were knocked out cold and from what he told us, you had been forcefully marked”
I felt this bitter feeling in the pits of my stomach.
“He marked me Sam” I said in a pathetic voice.
I felt, for lack of better words, violated.
“Lucia!” she said in a scolding voice. “You can’t say that! I know you were in shock back there but you can’t defame the Alpha’s name that way” She looked furious.
I couldn’t believe my eyes.
“You really think I would lie?” I hated how I lay on the bed, unable to even move my head to face her and watch as she thought of something like that. “You really think I would drag his name in such a way?” I hated how a lone tear fell down my cheeks.
It hurt. It hurt to raise my hands to my face to wipe away the tears.
It hurt that the pain in my neck would not stop, not even for a second just so that I could think straight. But worst of all, it hurt that my friend, my best friend, couldn’t even believe me.
“I don’t think you’re lying Luc. I just think you were in so much shock as to know who it actually was. It’s the mating season, a lot of wolves are here to find their mate. It could have been anyone. Besides, Kaden would never lie, not like this,”
I almost snorted at her words.
Never lie? Yeah right..
“Please leave.”
I almost couldn’t recognize my voice. It sounded weak, broken. I hated it. I hated feeling this way.
“Lucia...”
“Please, just leave! I want to be alone” I was scared and she was not helping.
“I’m sorry..” there was a pregnant pause like she wanted to say something but didn’t know how to say it. “I’ll... I’ll let you be.”
She left, closing the door quietly behind her.
I lay in the bed, alone with my thoughts. I was scared. He had basically rejected me, and now he marked me.
What was that going to mean? A part of me knew that I would always be bound to him except I found a way to remove the mark.
I sighed.
“ This was so not how I planned this day to go,” I said aloud to myself.
The door swung open. I didn’t have to see him to know he was the one there. My body began to vibrate, his scent. It was the most obvious thing I could smell, even though he was at the door and I was very much away from there
“Hey” he said, taking cautious steps in my direction.
I said nothing. There was nothing I could say.
“How are you?” he asked again coming to sit beside me
“Lucia,” he said, holding my hand in his. I removed it instantly wanting nothing more than to curse at him.
“Don’t!” I said as he moved to take my hands in his again.
“I am worried about you.” He said in the most innocent voice ever. “When I found you on the floor. I thought-“
“Kaden,” I said stopping him before he said any more frustrating thing that would make me say something I might regret later. “Please leave.”
He didn’t say anything, he just stayed, looking at me like I had grown another head. “Lucia...” he let out a tired sigh. “You know I can’t do that”
I bit my lips from the frustration. He touched my mark admiring it a bit. I hated how much I felt pleasure as he was the one to touch it.
“You marked me last night, didn’t you?” I said even though I already knew the answer. “Why did you tell Samantha otherwise?” I cut him off, not even waiting for him to say anything.
“I love you, Lucia.”
“And yet you went and chose another mate”, I rebutted, his father’s words running through my mind. There was no way I was going to forget it that easily.
“You’ll understand soon enough”
“Kaden,” I said able to sit up and generally have energy since he was around me. “You can remove the mark, you know ....” I didn’t miss the way his eyes darkened as I said that. “It’s not fair...”
“Enough” his voice became deeper as he talked to me. “You want to leave me? You think that would be enough?” He threw his head back and laughed “How do you possibly want me to let you go?” he said in the softest voice ever. It reminded me of the good old days when we were just us.
“Then why? Why did you do this.. to us?”
“I didn’t want to tell you this but I’m not going to mate with her. It’s an alliance for a short while. After which she is meant to go back to her pack.”
He wasn’t looking at me as he said it. For some reason, I didn’t think it to be true, but another part of me, the bigger part of me believed it. It hung on to the words that poured out of his mouth.
“For real?” I looked at him with pleading eyes. Begging him to not lie to me.
“Of course.” He said, hugging me to the bone and rubbing his nose at the crook of my neck
**
Samantha’s p.o.v
Two days, it’s been two days after the mating day and I couldn’t find Eric. I knew he was the one.
Right from that morning. His scent was like a moth to the flames.
I tried to ignore it because it had to be him finding me and not the other way around. There was no way I was going to be the one finding my mate.
I packed the plates that contained the food I wanted to give Luc.
I sighed. I genuinely hope she will forgive me for not letting her know about Kaden choosing another mate
I made my way to leave when he walked Into the kitchen. He tried as much as possible to avoid looking directly at me.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, trying to play it cool.
“It’s the packed kitchen,” he said flippantly, grabbing something from the fridge and then leaving.
That was it. I watched his well sculpted body walk out the door as quickly as he came in.
I tried not to let it bother me, but that was easier said than done..
I walked back to the infirmary, hoping to see Luc. Hopefully she wasn’t as mad as before.
“Have you found her yet?” It was Alpha Kaden. His voice was firm but somehow still had a soft touch. He reserved this voice for those close to him. “Your mate?” I stopped dead in my tracks so as not to make myself known.
Luckily, the food I was carrying was going to mask my scent a bit, except they were really looking for my scent.
“Not yet.”
It was Eric, Undoubtedly. I swallowed trying not to let the whine out of my mouth.
“I hope you find her soon.” I heard steps coming my way so I immediately ran away not wanting to be seen.
I choked back the sobs that threatened to fall.
‘Did he not like me?’ I thought, sitting on the floor waiting for them to leave the front of Luc’s room.
**
Lucia’s p.o.v
I tried to keep myself from snapping at Kaden or falling for his words. I was torn between doing both.
I was so happy when he stood up to leave, leaving me alone to my thoughts.
I let out a breath. I heard him faintly say something to someone but I could not be bothered about what he was saying.
I just wanted to rest. That also seemed impossible at this point, because as soon as he left, the pain came back in three folds. But I would rather die than let him know that I needed him
I sighed. If at all I survive this, it was going to be a fucking miracle...
♡♡
Somewhere in the middle of the pain, I slept off. I was woken up with a quiet hmm.
I could feel it from within, it was difficult to explain.
“Don’t move,”
It was the same voice of that man. I had come to know that velvety voice of his.
I tried to look at his face, to get a grasp of what he looked like but his face looked blurry.
He moved to touch me, only this time, it wasn’t soothing
I let out a scream before I fully understood what was happening.