Chapter 97

Az opens our bedroom door, and much like the other past days since we got here, he doesn’t say a word as he approaches me lying on the bed. And when my son, this little person I would give my life for without question, wraps his arms around my neck and presses his cheek against my own, I break down once more. 
The tears fall, but it’s not because of the physical pain—over the last few days, I’ve healed enough to walk without limping and use my injured arm normally, and the migraines have faded, leaving only occasional headaches. But even so, I still feel it. Instead, I cry for the person I wanted and needed but never got. 
I cry for myself. I had an amazing family who had loved me more than life itself, and I cry because I lost them too soon, and Az will never meet any of them. Instead of the wonderful father I had, I gave my son a horrible person to call as his father. 
And then I cry some more because I hate crying for my ex-husband, that vile man who doesn’t deserve an ounce of my sadness. 
“It’s okay to cry, Mom.” Az soothes me like he can read my mind. He’s been by my side almost constantly every day, and when he’s not in the room, he’s out in the hallway playing with Lily. Emma, Vi, Arthur, and Maggie visit me every now and then; they bring me food, but I rarely eat. I need to get out of this depressed state, especially since Az’s classes start in a week, and I need to take care of my son and not the other way around.
But it’s so damn hard.
I hear my son planting a kiss on my hair. 
“I love you, buddy,” I whisper. 
“I love you too, Mom,” He says, squeezing me.
Az is the best son a mother could ever have. I wish I could have given him a better family.
Seemingly betraying myself, my thoughts go straight to Ethan. Emma let it slip that he was the one who had made the food Vi had been brought to me. After I told him to stop entering my room without my permission, I thought he would refuse it, but despite the pain in his eyes, he didn’t fight about it; on the contrary, he did what I asked.
*Be gone, foul thoughts of Ethan’s eyes and his sudden stupid understanding! Be gone*, I chide myself.

🐺 🐺 🐺
***Alpha Ethan*** 

My wolf is on edge, restless, and unsettled.
It is common knowledge that humans do not heal as quickly as werewolves, but I have never closely followed the recovery of an injured human before.
And the worst part is that the human is my fated mate.
Every day, I find myself wondering when she’ll finally heal completely. It took weeks for the delicate color of her face to return to normal and for the bruises on her neck to fade through every shade imaginable—dark purples, greens, yellows.
It hurt so fucking much to see her healing so painfully slowly. 
It hurt my soul. 
All this time, I’ve wished it were me in that condition instead of her. She doesn’t deserve to suffer like this. It’s desperate and agonizing to watch the slow process, knowing there’s absolutely nothing I can do to make it better.
At least now Little Dove’s starting to feel better, and I can finally try talking to her again. Over the past few days, I’ve been trying to give her space because I couldn’t bear seeing her cry out in pain or telling me to leave every time I showed up in her room. I realized I was only making things worse, adding to her suffering. She hasn’t eaten in days, and if she refuses again today, I’m done respecting her wishes. 
I’ve had enough.
I can’t just stand by and watch her starve.
Az barely talks to me anymore. He’s always with his mom, and whenever I try to start a conversation, he just ignores me and walks out of the room. Az’s shut down every attempt I’ve made to get us back into our training routine. Right now, I’m stuck here in the living room, waiting for him to finish eating in the kitchen. If I step in there, he’ll stop eating altogether and leave immediately. And he needs to eat properly today because he and Lily are going back to school.
When he told me that I’ve been looking at his mother differently, I immediately thought about telling him the truth, but I need to tell Little Dove first. That’s why not even Lily knows; otherwise, she would have already told her little mate. The only people who know are Josh, Vi, and my parents.
“Come on, Lily, take a bite for me.” 
“I don’t feel like eating, Az. Also, there are no cookies on my plate. And I can’t go without it. Or else I’ll die!” 
Az says, “You won’t die.” 
“I might! So I don’t think we should risk it!” 
“You need to eat everything,” he informs her. “Mom always says that I need fuel to get strong and healthy. So do you.” 
“Lily, you need to eat the damn food right now!” I hear Vi say.
“You don’t care about what I do!”  
“Lily! Don’t say that to your mom,” Az says to her. And I hear Lily’s dramatic shocked sound. 
I never heard the little boy get so stern with her before. Even though Az and his mom move in to my pack again, Lily is still upset with Vi, mainly because her asshole dad hasn’t visited her in months. 
“All right, all right! See? I’m eating!” 
“Good. Another bite, please.” I hear Az say before letting out a sigh of relief. “I sound like Mom,” he adds, making Vi and Lily giggle. 
I open a smile. This isn’t the first time I’ve seen Az mirroring exactly what Little Dove does to him with Lily. He’s always taking care of his little mate. Little Dove raised him very well.
Just the mention of her makes me breathe easier. To say that the last few days have been stressful would be an understatement. With Little Dove gone in her room, I’ve been drowning in my pack’s problems.
However, it’s absentmindedly the way my body climbs the stairs and goes to the wing of the packhouse where her room is, and before I know it, I’m already knocking on the door. But I don’t care, I’ve had enough. It’s time for her to leave this damn room.
“Yeah?” she asks from inside the room, sounding slightly off. 
Grouchy. 
That isn’t like my sweet Little Dove at all. 
She is a ball of sunshine. 
Perhaps she has her period. 
“It’s me, Little Dove.” 
“No!”
Goddess help me. 
Usually, everyone goes out of their way, falling over their feet, to give me whatever the fuck I want. 
And this little thing just says ‘no’ to me without thinking twice. 
Unbelievable. 
And what am I doing? What is wrong with me?
I’m her damn fated mate!
The urge to claim her is so fucking strong. 
I breathe. “Little Dove, Let me in.” 
“Or what?” she asks, sounding a little amused now. 
“Or you’ll be in trouble.” 
“No, no, that’s not what you’re supposed to say.” 
What? 
“You’re meant to say, or you’ll huff, and you’ll puff, and you’ll blow my house down.” 
Right now, Kral’s having the damn time of his life in my mind.
This wasn’t what I’d expected she would say after days without talking to me. 
“Little Dove, are you implying that I’m *the big bad wolf*?” 
A sweet giggle hit my ears, making me smile. “If the shoe fits.” 
I let out a happy growl. The irony of the situation! Little does she know...
I open the door. She’s perched on the couch, facing the TV, which is playing silently. Her eyes stay glued to the screen, not even glancing my way, as she says, “I didn’t let you in.”  
I walk into the room and close the door behind me. The bed is made, and the room is clean. She’s wearing the same pajama set that I helped her put on the day she arrived. Her face is completely healed, and she has a single braid.
Fuck. Me. 
Just the sight of her makes me hard in all the right places.
“You need some sunlight. You need to get out of this room and get something to eat,” I say in a low voice, repeating my mantra in my mind to stay calm at the same time just because I am trying to win my precious mate back. “Come on, I’ll go with you.”
She just ignores me like I’m talking to a wall.
I step in front of the screen, facing her. She angles her body around me so she can see the TV. 
“Damn it, they were just getting to the good part,” Little Dove grumbles. “Your big body is blocking my view.” 
“I’ve been talking to you for the last five minutes and you didn’t even reply.” 
Small exaggeration, but I feel like it was an eternity.
How is it that I can hardly keep my fucking eyes off her, and yet she barely even notices I exist, for Goddess’ sake?
I lost my patience. 
“Look at me, Little Dove.” 
When she obeys me, I sit down next to her. 
“Let’s stop fighting, baby. You’ve been driving me crazy all these days,” I say softly. “I want you so bad I can’t even think straight. You’re on my mind all day. I want you back. Whatever it is that you want, it’s already yours.” My heart. My soul. “Just tell me, Little Dove, how to fix it. Tell me what you want, and I’ll give it to you.”
I say from the bottom of my heart, but she fails to appear impressed as she turns her eyes back to the screen.

🐺 🐺 🐺

“There’s no way I can eat all of that,” Little Dove giggles. 
I savor the sound. 
I’ve been wondering what my packhouse has been missing. 
Her. 
It has been missing her. My Luna.
Even though she ignored me in the morning, she finally emerged from her room this afternoon, and only because my sister went in there to drag her out. 
I can always count on my pushy sister. 
Vi mindlinked me before they even left the room, and now I’m packing everything I used, pretending I didn’t set down the plate for her. The one she’s complaining to my sister.
She is thin, overly so. 
“Good to see you, Allie,” Josh says as he walks into the kitchen and grabs a drink from the fridge before leaving. To me, he mindlinks, ‘Well, well, well. Are you finally trying to please your mate? You in the kitchen? Never thought I would ever see it.’
‘Life is too short to always make the same choices,’ I say.
Little Dove flashes a smile in my Beta’s direction before he leaves the kitchen. I clench my teeth in jealousy. Her smiles are mine.
Vi waits until Little Dove has eaten at least half of everything on her plate before saying, “You know what I’ve been missing? Your cookies, Allie. Why don’t you make some?”  
I’ve been pacing around the kitchen, rearranging the same items in the cabinets three times over just to have a reason to stay near her. She’s been ignoring me, but at least she didn’t bolt the moment she saw me here. That’s progress.  
“Sure,” my sweet little mate replies. “I’ll start right now.”  
Vi stands up at the same time as her and grins. “Great! I’m going to make a call. Let me know when they’re done. Byeee!”  
As Vi leaves, my sister throws me a smug look over her shoulder and mindlinks me, ‘Go help her, Ian. You’re welcome!’
I smirk and shake my head slightly.  
Little Dove doesn’t acknowledge me as she starts gathering ingredients, methodically placing everything on the counter. She grabs a sharp knife and begins chopping up a massive bar of chocolate—probably because we ran out of chocolate chips earlier when I made pancakes for her.  
At the exact moment I turn closer to help her, the big knife slips from her small hands, tumbling straight toward the top of my tiny human’s sensitive bare foot.   
Instinct kicks in. 
I lunge, grabbing the blade midair by its tip just before it can slice her skin.
Her gasp is loud and panicked. “Ethan! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!” Her voice is high-pitched, horrified, and frantic. “Your hand! You hurt your hand!”  
What?  
Making sure she doesn’t see, I open my palm quickly, just enough to check. Nothing. The knife barely leaves a scratch that is already healed. I’d need to stab myself with real force to penetrate my skin and make a wound, but my skin would heal before she could even blink.  
“You were so so fast! Let me see! Oh my God, let me see!” Her hands hover, unsure where to touch, her eyes darting from my hand to my face in complete distress. “I—I didn’t mean to! I’m so sorry! Oh God, oh God, it’s all my fault!” 
Well, hell.
Thinking fast, I drive the knife into my palm, hard enough to penetrate my skin until I grunt in pain as blood wells up and spills over my skin. Then I yank it out, clenching my bloody fist to make it look worse before standing back up. I feel the cut on my palm already healing.
“It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it,” I say smoothly, flashing a smile to calm her down.  
“Nothing?!” she practically shrieks. “What do you mean it’s nothing? You’re bleeding, Ethan—oh my God, it’s all my fault! You—you have to sit down—Oh God, we need to wrap it! Where’s the first aid kit? Do we need stitches? We might need stitches!” She’s spiraling, hands trembling as they reach for me, then hesitate, then reach again.  
I bite back a smirk.  
“No, it’s not your fault. Don’t worry, Little Dove,” I assure her. I would never let that knife touch her skin. “Besides, I don’t even feel—”  
My words die in my throat as she suddenly grabs my hand, both of hers cradling it like it’s something fragile and precious. Her fingers brush against my skin, soft and frantic. Her touch instantly calms me down. 
My Little Dove’s so close to me that I feel like air is finally in my lungs and life in my empty soul.
Wait a damn minute.  
“Oh,” I groan, milking it for all it’s worth. “Yeah, it’s… pretty bad, Little Dove.” I wince dramatically. “Now that you mention it... Might need stitches… Definitely severe.”