The healer

At first, I hadn't even realised that it had left my mouth. In fact, it was not until Damon craned his neck and glanced over towards me with a look of shock on his face, that I actually realised what was said by me.
"Could you repeat what you just said to me please. My ears are playing tricks on me it seems."
I blushed deeply at how serious he sounded and I realised I could play this out in two different ways: I could pretend I said something different to what I had just said, or, I could repeat it.
My mouth, however, chose before my mind did, and I found myself choosing the latter.
"I said that I love you."
He remained silent for a while before uttering, "Could you repeat that again please?"
By now my fear and terror and embarrassment had all meshed together and transformed into a severe case of annoyance.
"Damon I will throw you off of here myself if you ask me again."
He chuckled, and then said, "Well, I will indeed ask you again, once I can see your face and that adorable blush, I’m sure you must be wearing. But for now, I will obey you, I don't feel like dying tonight, not after hearing those words from you."
Damon then began walking again, with me practically on top of him, watching his every step. Once we finally made our way to the body, Damon let out a low sigh of relief, until he got a closer look. There was blood everywhere and the unconscious woman was practically soaked in red. I noticed that in her side, a dagger was still lodged in, preventing her from healing. At this rate, she would have bled out long before forty-eight hours, and I wondered whether the time limit was truly a calculation of the time she had left to live, or if it was a time limit on how many hours he estimated it would take for someone to discover the body.
"We need to rip it out so she can start healing," I said to Damon.
He nodded, and then said, "But not here, let's wait until we get her back to safety. Then we can pull it out."
I agreed with him and held onto his waist tightly as he began untying the ropes around her body and it was there that I saw a package peeking out from under her. I leaned in and carefully took it with one of my hands, before the rest of the ropes were untied, careful not to let the package, myself, or Damon fall.
Once Jade was completely free of any restrains, he picked her body up, as though she weighed no less than a rag doll, and carefully hoisted her over his shoulder.
"Hold onto her with one hand, and then place the other on my shoulder. It will help keep you slightly steadier." I said.
He placed a hand on my shoulder, and then began following me as I led us back. I had to keep my eyes on the beams and therefore on the ground as it was the only way I saw myself not slipping.
"Are you alright?" I shouted once we had made it halfway across the various beams of steal.
"Yeah, I'm alright, I'm not looking down..." He uttered. But I could still feel his hands shaking and hear how his breath hitched as he spoke. We needed to make it off of these steel beams and as fast as possible, before he slipped again.
By the time we made it back Damon let out a cry and let Jade's body down before hunching over and taking large, deep breaths and then he placed his hands against the sides of his head.
"We're safe, Damon, safe." He uttered under his breath, almost as though he were convincing himself that he had nothing left to fear- if only it were so simple.
I, on the other hand rushed to Jade, threw the package to the side, and immediately pulled the dagger out from her side. It only caused her bleeding to worsen, sending red gushing out like a raging river. I removed that piece of her shirt to take a closer look at the wound and I winced as I saw just how much she was bleeding and how deeply the dagger had pierced through. Immediately I took my hands and placed them on top of the wound, applying as much pressure as I could. But it wasn't enough, and the blood continued to drip down my hands and her body.
"Damon, I need some help here please." I yelled out in a state of urgency. He nodded, and then rushed to my side, placing his hand over mine and then placing pressure on as well. But it was still not helping, and Damon turned towards the dagger I had taken from her body. He placed his finger against the surface of the wet blade and then winced and pulled his finger away.
"Wolfsbane. She won't heal because it's entered her blood stream. We're going to need a healer." He uttered out.
"A healer?" I asked, ripping my shirt and tying the material tightly around her torso. I then pulled her shirt down and clutched her to my body, frightened by the coldness of her skin.
"Yes, remember I told you that her mother used to be one? They are like werewolf specialists. I have a healer on my packgrounds, but we will need to be quick, before Jade bleeds out."
I nodded and then clutched her to my body tightly before picking her up and carrying her in my arms.
"I'm warmer so I will carry her. You take that package over there." I motioned with a nod.
Damon walked towards the sealed package and took it in his hands before following me down the stairs.
Once we were at the car, I got into the back as there was more space for both Jade and I.
"Are you okay?" Damon asked as he began to turn the key in the ignition.
"Yes, I'm alright. But Jade is freezing cold so step on it." I said, feeling her icy skin. It was then that I began to take in her features more carefully. Jade was, admittedly quite beautiful with shimmering red hair in loose curls cascading down. She had red, rouged lips, a cute button nose, high cheekbones and a little beauty spot at the side of her mouth. It was no wonder Damon and London fell for her.
It did have me thinking though, whether Jade and Damon would have fallen for each other if she had not left the pack with her mother. It was no secret Damon was a very wanted man. Even at work with his dragonish attitude and raging insults, he still had his fair share of admirers, just itching to find their way into his pants. And now that I had managed to get into them, I could definitely understand what all the hype was about.
"I think I should warn you about something before we make it back to the packgrounds," Damon uttered, bringing me out of my thoughts and causing a deep, red blush to form across my cheeks, as though I had been caught in the act of doing something inappropriate. "Tonight, is one of the sacred werewolf festivals so, the healer will be amongst other pack members in the Grand Hall- the venue we use for special gatherings and celebrations. As such, you will be exposed to quite a few of my pack members, if not all of them. If you would not like to step out of this car and be bombarded by new faces I will complete-"
"A festival? Why didn't you go? And why are they still celebrating at this hour?" I interrupted.
He sighed and hesitated before saying, "First off, I was busy with work today. I also do not follow the way of the Moon Goddess, although I use her name quite often. My mother was human and even though my dad exposed us to the sacred traditions of being a werewolf, I chose to choose the more human path. And as for your second question, the people in my pack enjoy late-night functions."
I frowned at the former part of his answer and began to say, "You know you don't have to skip functions because you hate your dad. That's the real reason, isn't it? Besides, I'd love to get to know your pack and I'd love to be exposed to different werewolf traditions. I mean, if you and Oliver are serious about me being descended from alpha wolves, well then it is a part of me too."
Damon stayed silent for a while, but I could tell he was listening and had heard all that I had said.
"Perhaps next time, you and I could go." He said softly. I smiled at his response, and then resumed clutching onto Jade to keep her warm.

Damon was right when he said that his pack enjoyed late night events. The Grand Hall- nothing short of a giant brick and marble structure pouring with luminous lights and music which escaped every single window and even through the glass sliding door up ahead. Damon hesitated by it for a moment and turned towards me before gripping my shoulders.
"My pack can get a little... overbearing. Some may even call you Luna and-"
I frowned and said, "Uh uh, no Luna. If they call me Luna then I'll correct them by saying I'm your mate, nothing more, nothing less."
Damon nodded in approval and then gripped at my bloodied hand with his before we entered the doors.
The hall was, as its name suggested, a giant hall with glazed porcelain floors and walls covered in a sheet of shimmering gold and silver wallpaper. Towards the back of it was a wooden stage, at which an underdressed, long haired DJ sat hovered over his equipment. Nearer to us were an array of circular tables at which Damon's pack members were seated. Immediately when we walked in all eyes turned towards us... well, more specifically, towards me, and then towards my hand which was still intertwined with Damon's. They staired at our hands as though they were staring at a miracle, shimmering and hopeful. But despite these looks of awe and hope, I could still catch a few ugly sideways glances. I was, perhaps not what *everyone* was expecting with my plain face, bloodied clothes and short hair, and somewhere in between the glances I could catch a few jealous stairs as well.
"Alpha! Is she our-"
"My mate. Everyone, this is my mate, Jasmine Spectra." It seemed I did not need to explain anything, much to my relief.
I waved and gave a smiled and suddenly the whole room swarmed toward me and tackled me into a suffocating, bone-crushing hug, whisking me away from Damon. The hug continued for moments before Damon yelled out loudly, "Could you all get the hell off of her, and can someone tell me where Teressa is?"
Immediately the crowd split in two leaving myself and the beautiful black-haired woman now known to me as Teressa, in the centre. She glanced at me before smiling genuinely and taking my hand, leading me to Damon. Teressa was not what I expected. I expected her to be an old, grey and wrinkled woman with trinkets hanging from her ears, neck and arms. But she was not. In fact, she was no older than I was. She had a gorgeous, curvy figure which filled out her black dress quite nicely, long legs, tattooed arms and beautiful dimples which appeared every time she smiled.
"Teressa, we have an emergency. I'm going to need you to come with me." Damon whispered before turning to the rest of his confused pack members. "As for the rest of you," he began, "I know you're all very excited to be meeting Jasmine, but right now she needs her space so I'd appreciate it if you forget you ever saw her."
No one said anything, leaving the three of us to exit the hall silently. Once we made it to the car, Damon opened the back door, revealing Jade. Teressa immediately frowned and uttered, "wolfsbane".
Damon nodded.
"Well, we'll need to get to my home immediately, she has no time to lose, I need to start counteracting the wolfsbane."
I got into the back, and Damon and Teressa got into the front. I was already covered in blood, but she was not.
Teressa's home was cottage-like, similar to London's, but instead of plants decorating the exterior, Teressa had strings of beautiful LED lights. Damon stopped outside and I took Jade in my arms, carrying her to the door.
The interior did not match the exterior of Teressa's home, and I was surprised to see so many plants growing under one roof. Even more so, when I realised that these were plants I had never seen before. They ranged from luminous yellowish heart-shaped flowers to neon green ladle-like bulbs and brownish, chain-like vines crawling up the walls. I stared at them all in silent wonder as we were led down towards the basement. Once we reached the bottom of the stairs, Teressa switched on the lights to the dark room revealing its contents. The walls were lined with shelves on top of which stood rows and rows of vials, bottles and containers of strange coloured liquids. To the centre stood a surgery table and next to it, a mayo stand on which various contraptions were placed. I also noticed that the room smelled strangely sweet with a subtle antiseptic undertone, quite different from a hospital.
Teressa turned towards me and took Jades body from my hands before setting her down on the surgery table and turning towards Damon and me.
"You both can go home now; I have everything under control from here. If any emergencies arise, I will call London."
"But-"
"Alpha, if I may, you and your mate are strikingly pail, tired, hungry and evidently in shock. You two should go home and get some rest."
Damon hesitated for a moment, shifted his eyes to me, hovered them there a while before placing them back on Teressa and giving a quick nod.
"Fine, but I will be here first thing in the morning."
"Me too!" I uttered.
Teressa smiled at me and then bid both Damon and I farewell.
Damon and I had hardly spoken from the time we had left Teressa's home, right until we arrived at our own. Even when we reached inside, with the package held tightly in Damon's hand and went to the kitchen, Damon and I still refused to speak, still in a state of shock at all the events of today. Damon set the package down on a chair and it was then that I managed to get a closer look at it and noticed something quite strange about the lock which held the material packaging together.
"It's a timed lock. We have until tomorrow evening before it opens." Damon uttered as he went to the fridge and took out some containers of food, no doubtedly left by Andrea.
I nodded at him and took a seat. Damon began warming the food: spaghetti and glazed butternut, in the microwave. He then took out the containers and began dishing the food before setting the plates down on the table and taking a seat across from me. We ate in silence, and then, once I was finished, Damon took our plates to the sink.
"Are you... going to bed?" I asked.
Damon turned towards me, looked around hesitantly and then rested his eyes on mine before saying, "I don't think I can sleep."
I sighed deeply, "Me neither. I think I'm still highly disturbed by everything..."
We then stood across from each other in awkward silence, before Damon's facial expression changed drastically to one of mischief.
"Jasmine, there was something you said to me earlier. Do you mind saying it again for me?"
I played dumb, "I say a lot of things to you. You're going to need to be more specific."
He frowned and then crossed his arms over his chest before saying, "Are you really going to make me beg?"
A wicked smile emerged on my face when I heard this, and my eyes began to darken. "Well you do seem to like begging, don't you, my *good* boy."
Damon froze for a second, chuckled and then said with deep, lust filled eyes, "That's it, you've done it this time. You want me to beg? Well then punish me mistress... and then say those words to me, the ones I want to hear while you're rewarding me after my punishment."
"But what will I be punishing you for?"
His smile deepened and he began to take threatening steps towards me, sending thrilling shivers up my spine.
"I'll give you five seconds to get to the bedroom before I show you what a bad boy I can be. Now you better start running Jasmine before I do some really naughty things to you right here on this kitchen table."
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Is that a little slightly dom Damon I see up ahead? Perhaps it will be short lived, perhaps it won't, all I know is that there will be two solely sexual chapters coming up. And why two? Well, you'll see.
Stay safe! Stay healthy! Sending all my love!