Page 14 of Aching for His Mate (The Wolves of Luven #5)

We don’t know each other very well, and while I’ve never been a follower of the Moon Goddess, I have a lot of respect for deities. And if yours says we are meant to be together, that I am meant to love you for the rest of my life and find all my happiness by your side, I believe her. So, fight for me. Fight for all the days we haven’t spent together yet, all the adventures we still need to experience. There are so many things I want to do with you. So many things I want to tell you. Fight Iota. Stay with me, my wolf.

*

Iota felt like he’d been stomped on by a beast the size of a mountain. His ribs ached, his abdomen felt too tight and throbbed. His arm still hurt like hell, but that felt like the least of his worries at the moment.

Was he alive?

He blinked a few times against the bright light. Did the other wolves leave him for dead and he somehow made it through the night? His head pounded awfully as he forced his eyelids apart.

He was in the hospital. He should have known from the beeping machines, but he’d chalked that up to whatever was going on in his brain right now. He tried to sit up, but his torso enflamed at the attempt.

Iota looked around the room and settled on a figure beside the bed.

Domitia. She sat in a chair at the foot of the bed, a blanket tucked around her while she slept. Domitia was here?

Domitia was safe. He focused on that. And he was in the hospital. Gamma and Xi must have heard him, come to him. The wild wolves didn’t make it to Luven. They didn’t hurt Domitia.

He tried to sit up again, get closer to her, but the pain was too much.

“Hm,” he grumbled and settled back down.

Domitia’s eyes popped open and she threw the blanket off her body. “You’re awake? You made noise?” She searched his face.

“I am,” he muttered. Hell, his throat was dry.

“Okay. I am supposed to press this button when you wake up.” Domitia fidgeted with a remote. “Are you in pain?”

“Yes,” he huffed a laugh.

“Stupid question. Of course, you’re in pain. You were in surgery less than twelve hours ago.”

“Surgery? What time is it?”

Domitia leaned her head back. “It’s four-thirty in the morning. And Dr. Tau repaired your spleen and liver. She could explain it better but she said that your wolf genes should hopefully do the rest. You’ll need surgery on your arm.”

His arm. That fucking wolf had taken a chunk out of it. And his sides had taken more than one claw stabbing.

“Are you all right?” he asked her. “When did they get you? Did you sleep at all?”

“I’m fine, please let me worry about you. I slept a bit. Came to find me right after Xi brought you and Gamma back.”

“Wait, Xi brought Gamma and I back? Is Gamma hurt?” His heart sank.

“Not as bad as you. He’s been up for hours. Keeping him for observation overnight, and I think Dr. Tau is mostly concerned Jaine is going to worry herself into labor.”

“Xi ok?”

Domitia nodded. “By the time he got to you, you’d…killed two of the wolves. He only had one to finish off. And Gamma had killed two as well, the last ran off.”

Iota blew out a breath. So, he had killed two wolves. Fuck. He’d never killed a wolf before. Deer, small mammals, fish—never a wolf.

But he couldn’t feel guilty about it. Those wolves, they were coming for Luven, the home of his mate. He couldn’t have let them cross into his city.

Plus, they had straight up tried to kill him first. And nearly succeeded.

“You look better,” Domitia said. “Yesterday, when they brought you in and then I came to see you, it wasn’t a pretty sight. And then Dr. Tau…” she looked down.

“Dr. Tau what?”

“She wasn’t sure if anything could be done. If you were a human, you’d be dead.” Domitia’s voice was still laced with worry.

“I’m not a human. I’m okay.”

“You’re wincing every time you move. You fought three wolves.”

“I thought I was going to have to fight six, so it ended up not being as bad as I expected.”

“If Xi hadn’t come—”

“Yeah, I’d probably be dead. But those two wolves who were looking for more than trouble in Luven would be dead, too. And I’d do it again. My job is to protect Luven. More than that, it’s to protect you.”

“Are you going to risk your life every time you go to work? How am I supposed to make peace with that?” Domitia’s voice rang higher than usual.

“Sounds like you want me around for a while,” Iota teased.

“I’m being serious. You didn’t see Jaine. She’s about to have a baby and Gamma almost died. She has two kids already. If he had died, she’d be all alone.”

Iota shook his head. “She wouldn’t be alone. She’d have all of Luven to support her.”

“You know what I mean.” Domitia crossed her arms in front of her chest. “I’ve known you less than three days and you’ve got several gaping holes in your body.”

A knock on the door silenced both of them.

“Come in,” Domitia called.

Dr. Tau walked in. She looked like she hadn’t slept in days. Her hair was piled into a messy bun on the top of her head and her glasses slid down her nose.

“Iota. You gave us a scare. How are you feeling?”

“Not great,” he answered truthfully. He turned to Domitia. “You should go home and sleep. Get something to eat also.”

“No.” Domitia sat back down in her chair and crossed her arms and legs. “I want to be here to see what Dr. Tau says. Plus, you’re having another surgery today. I’ll go home and change and shower after that.”

Iota started to refute her but she raised an eyebrow as her scent changed from annoyed to something along the lines of “I dare you to cross me.”

He did not.

“Well, then.” Dr. Tau cleared her throat. “Surgery yesterday was successful. With your quick healing, you should be back at full capacity in a few days. Today, we’ll repair what we can of your arm. That might take a little longer, as—”

“A big chunk of it is decomposing in some wolf’s stomach?”

“Exactly. But, your muscle should regrow, your bone will heal. I am going to recommend Alpha take you off security rotation for half a year.”

“Half a year?” Iota exclaimed. “I should be fine in weeks, not months.”

“Maybe. But,” Dr. Tau hesitated, “I’ve been treating more and more injuries from scuffles with these smaller packs. Yours were by far the worst. The council is meeting tomorrow to come up with a new plan.”

“What kind of plan?”

“I’m a tertiary member, but I believe we will count the far patrol area as lands lost. Concentrate on the land between Luven and the wall, and the lands closer to us. More density in terms of wolves staying together.”

Iota closed his eyes. No security for half a year? That was bullshit. What was he supposed to do?

“I know it’s a lot to take in. And you need to rest. I’ll have Kappa come give you a fresh bag,” she looked over his IV, “but no food until you’re out of your next surgery.”

Iota nodded but his mind was still stuck on what Dr. Tau had said. The borders of Luven were changing? They were losing land rather than taking more—that wasn’t supposed to happen.

“Domitia—”

“Dr. Tau wants you to rest.” She pulled the blanket back over her. “I am going to do the same. It’s been a long night and I think we’re just beginning a long line of them.”

Fuck. Iota rubbed his head with his good arm. He was supposed to be taking care of his mate, not putting her through hell. These days were meant to be nothing but pampering her, showing her what a good protector he could be.

Instead he was lying in a hospital bed missing a chunk of his arm and a lot of his blood.

“I’ll try to sleep,” he conceded and pulled his blanket up.

“Good. Tell me if you need anything.” She shut her eyes and burrowed her face against her own shoulder and slumped in her seat.

“I will.”