Page 40 of Alpha's Revenge Luna

Doc glances at Emery before answering, he leans down with a Q-tip taking a swap of her blackening mark.

“High doses of wolfsbane which without a wolf would kill her, another is Belladonna, maybe. It could very well be because she hasn’t shifted, and her body can’t recognize you as her mate, therefore she is rejecting the mate mark.

” I bite my lip at his words, knowing she hasn’t shifted.

“She was supposed to shift on her birthday, she never got her wolf,” I explain. Doc sighs.

“Alpha Dion, you need to remember she has been through a lot lately, she lost her family. You know yourself, from Anastasia, that trauma does things to the body. It took what, a year after you saved her, for her wolf to come forward? And she had Alpha blood. Emery, however, is an Omega, her will power isn’t as strong. ”

I scoff, “Believe me, it’s stronger than Anastasia’s. She fights me at every turn.”

Doc glances at Emery, who is passed out.

“For now, just keep her close so the bond grows. Are you feeding on her?” Doc asks and I chew my lip nervously.

“Yes, is that a bad thing?”

Doc shakes his head.

“No, you’re a Hybrid, you need blood, but maybe don’t feed from that side of her. Let her mate mark heal or dissolve. When she gets her wolf try to mark her again. You have to be patient, Alpha, some things can’t be forced.”

“And if she tries to run again?” I ask him.

Doc unflustered, maintains eye contact.

“Calm, Alpha,” Doc urges, his voice a low, steady current amidst the storm of my rage. “She needs her wolf. Without it, the bond is incomplete, it’s fragile.”

I cast a tormented look at Emery. “Then bring her wolf forward.”

“It’s not that simple, Dion,” Doc counters with measured patience. “Trauma, pain, they can suppress a wolf, make it hide. Emery needs time, healing.”

“Time is a luxury we might not have, Doc!” My voice reverberates in the sterile silence of the infirmary. Emery remains unmoving, silent to my potent rage.

“Did you force the mark, Dion?” Doc asks, his gaze piercing.

“I…” I hesitate, the words strangled in my throat. “It’s not about force, it’s about claiming what’s mine. She’s my mate.”

“Respectfully, Alpha, it’s about consent, it’s about a bond nurtured not enforced.” Doc’s words are a slap, cold and jarring.

I cast another look at Emery, her vulnerability, her silence.

“Patience, Dion. Love, care and nurture. These are your weapons, not force, not dominion,” Doc’s voice is both chastisement and counsel.

Doc sighs, “I understand your instincts, your need. But she is a person, Dion, not a possession.”

I look at him, caught between the force of an Alpha’s will and the vulnerability of a mate’s fear. “Every second, every moment I’m not with her, it feels like suffocation, Doc.”

“I know, but that’s the mate bond. It’s powerful, but it has to be mutual.” He sighs heavily. “I get it, I do.” Doc reasons, but I cut him off.

“Do you though, Doc? Because this isn’t a chosen mate but a fated one, the things I crave and want to do to her are not normal. I need…” I shake my head.

“I can’t let her run off.”

Doc watches me for a second, then smiles.

“It’s okay to need her, Alpha, it is also okay to love her.

You’re supposed to, she is your mate. I may not know what a fated mate bond is like, but I do know what loving my chosen does to me.

Sometimes emotion gets in the way of reason.

I understand you being a Hybrid makes it ten times more heightened for you, and you’re becoming addicted to her blood is another issue.

But if you keep forcing her, she’ll keep running. ” he warns me.

The cold steel of the infirmary bed digs into my palms as I lean over Emery, my breath catching at the sight of her pale, motionless form. Shadows play across her face, thrown by the harsh overhead lights that seem to burn away any hint of color from her cheeks.

“Vulnerability is a cruel master,” Doc murmurs, his voice heavy with empathy.

I remain silent, unable to tear my gaze away from her.

“Alpha,” Doc continues, his tone gentle but firm. “You must accept that sometimes, we must allow ourselves to be vulnerable in order to heal and grow.”

My jaw clenches, the words grating on my nerves. I know he’s right, but the thought of exposing myself–both physically and emotionally–chafes at my instincts, at the very core of who I am.

“Emery needs you now more than ever,” he implores, his eyes dark with concern. “And you need her.”

Kyrio’s knock interrupts my thoughts, the sound jarring and sudden. I turn to see him standing in the doorway, papers clutched tightly in his hand.

“Something to think about, Alpha,” Doc grips my shoulder, giving it a squeeze. “I’ll get these sent off straight away, but for now, let her rest,” he tells me and I nod as he packs up some things and then leaves. Sitting next to her, I run my fingers through my hair.

Kyrio breaks the silence, a rustle of paper underscoring the gravity of his next words.

“Alpha,” he begins, but I halt him with a raised hand. My gaze is fixed on Emery, and on my fading mark.

“Give me a moment,” I mutter, my voice barely audible as I stare at the bruises on her neck.

Emery’s chest rises and falls shallowly, her breaths labored and uneven.

“Alpha,” Kyrio ventures closer cautiously, his voice hesitant. “There’s something you need to see.”

I tear my gaze away from Emery’s unconscious form.

“Show me,” I growl, tension coiling in my muscles as I brace for whatever news Kyrio brings. He wanders closer and extends the papers toward me, and I snatch them from his grasp, scanning the words with a predatory focus.

“The results from the morgue, one of Farren’s pack members was able to hack into the database, he sent these.” My eyes scan the papers and I flip to the next one, noting all his injuries when the last line on the next page catches my attention.

Cause of death: Drained of blood.

My head lifts to look at Kyrio.

“It appears you may not be the only Hybrid after all,” Kyrio tells me. My eyes return to the papers in my hand.

“This is why the council is covering it up. They know if this gets out, it will cause hysteria,” I tell him, leaning back in my chair.

“What do you want to do?”

“Organize a meeting with the council or send word for an elder to come here. Tomorrow, we’ll hold a funeral for our men,”

“But we have no bodies,” Kyrio reminds me.

“I know, but we are hardly in any state right now to retrieve them, that’s even if they’re still there. I’d say they’ve been disposed of by now.” Which is a hard pill to swallow because that means never truly bringing them home.

“And what about Emery?”

“What about her?” I growl and Kyrio sighs heavily.

“The pack is nervous. She got eight of us killed,” Kyrio says gently.

I swallow guiltily. “I’ll figure it out. For now, I only want you and Tara near her, the others need to stay away. At least for now. For Emery’s safety,” I tell him, and he nods before leaving me alone with my mate.