Page 15 of His Blue Moon Princess (The Silver City #1)

“Just a bit tired... What about Alec?”

“We caught him. Boyan is taking him to one of our houses as we speak.”

“Are we heading there?”

I want to settle things with my brother now. After selling me, and trying to kill me twice, I think it is high time we have a little conversation. Tonia stops me in my reflections.

“No, we are not. We’re going to the hospital. Nora, in case you haven’t noticed, you are bleeding.”

“Well, I know, but I figured I would just... heal.”

“I meant you are still bleeding.”

I realize Tonia’s tone was a bit worrying for a reason. I check the cut on my thigh, and it is indeed still leaking a bit of fresh blood. And it stings, thanks to the seawater. It may be deep, but I thought my wolf would have taken care of that by now. Why am I not healing fast? Any werewolf is supposed to do that! That’s part of the checklist: Shapeshifting, enhanced sense of smell, mind-linking, night vision, and healing fast! Why don’t I?

I try to get to my wolf to explain this, without success. Meanwhile, Damian lifts a bit of the coat, too, checking my injury with a frown. I bite my lip. Okay, this deep cut is worrying. Liam is looking, also, a bit curious until realizing that this is still my bare leg, and thus, his brother is glaring at him. He quickly looks away, but I’m pretty sure he is blushing. Sorry, Liam.

“Why aren’t you healing?”

Asks Damian.

“I wish I knew... I thought I would heal like any werewolf now that my wolf is fully awake, but... I don’t get it. Maybe it’s the salt from the seawater?”

“You’re not a bad spirit, Nora, salt doesn’t affect werewolves...”

sighs Liam.

“Maybe a Witch’s curse, then?”

“You mean the ones that our father would be stupid enough to keep living in a city full of werewolves instead of exterminating them...?”

I feel Damian stiffen all of a sudden, but Liam doesn’t notice it. I knew about their father having chased all vampires out of Silver City years ago. That’s not a secret for anyone. He made sure it was... blatant. I don’t think I have heard anything about witches, though. Is it the mention of their father that makes him react then...?

“Liam’s right, I don’t think we have any witches in the area, and anyway, I don’t see why a witch would have anything against you. You were under the radar until a few days ago,”

says Tonia.

Well, I don’t have any other ideas. I keep looking at my cut, disturbed, but Damian puts his hand on it, slowing the bleeding. I sigh and rest my head on his shoulder once again. He presses his lips against my forehead gently.

“It’s okay, we’re almost there, baby girl.”

“Thanks, Tonia, but... I don’t get it. Why don’t I heal? There is already enough going on, with my brother and all the mystery surrounding my birth, and now this...”

Nobody answers, but I feel Damian tensing up. I should have known. If it appears that I am really unable to heal myself, my already very protective mate will probably not like it at all... We finally arrive at the hospital, but no VIP room this time. Damian carries me straight to the ER, and an old lady doctor comes to examine me. She is tall, skinny, with long white hair. She seems acquainted with Tonia, judging how they are openly conversing about my injuries and sharing her notes. Apparently, other than my apparent cuts, I have a broken rib and a few bruises. After a few stitches and the bandaging, I’m only left with some swelling and an ice pack. Liam gives me a wink. “Not bad for a first battle.”

“Nana, any idea why Nora isn’t able to heal herself?”

Tonia asks the doctor.

Wait, what? Does this mean this woman is actually Bobo and Tonia’s grandmother? She does look a bit like the siblings now that I think about it... She has the same chocolate-colored skin and Bobo’s greenish eyes. Well, that would explain how Tonia knows so much medical stuff without being a medic herself.

“I don’t know, sweetie. This is the first time I see such a thing. Well, you are healing a bit faster than a human, to be honest, but a regular werewolf would already be healed by now.”

“Then what is it? Maybe a spell?”

The doctor rolls her eyes at Tonia.

“What’s this idiotic idea? No witchcraft can prevent a werewolf from healing herself. Trust me, I know enough about black and white magic to know this has nothing to do with it.”

I’m even more curious now. Bobo and Tonia’s grandmother seems to be acquainted with magic, how cool is that? She smiles at me and shows my banded injury with a comforting smile.

“It’s going to be fine. You just have to bear it the human way.”

“I can do that. It’s not like this is my first time...”

Liam smiles, but his brother is clearly not happy about it. Damian remained silent until the doctor came and was next to me for the whole examination. Now though, I think it might have been better for him to stay outside. He reacts so negatively each time I’m wounded...

We exchange a look, and he exits the room without a word. Tonia’s grandma watches him go, but she clearly isn’t affected by his Alpha aura.

She is not one of us, whispers my wolf.

Oh, that certainly explains it. I wonder how she got werewolves grandchildren then? After all, she still seems to know quite a lot about werewolf specifics.

“He probably just went to call Nate or Neal,”

explains Liam.

I nod and turn to Tonia and her grandmother.

“Then, can I go now, doctor? I have spent enough time in the hospital as it is, recently.”

“Oh, you can call me Nana or Granny Adriana, sweetie. And yes, just make sure you take your medicine, and you’re free to go. Rest well tonight, and make sure you eat enough, sweetie. Antonia, tell your brothers they have to come to see their old Nana sometime.”

Granny Adriana gives us a smile and exits the room. Liam and I turn to Tonia with the same smirk.

“Antonia?” I tease.

“Oh, shut up, you two. I hate my first name,”

she grumbles.

About an hour later, I finally exit the hospital. It is dark outside, but Damian carries me straight to the car despite my protest. I want to see my brother, but the three of them are against it.

“You need to go home and rest baby girl, you heard Nana. Your brother can wait.”

“Don’t worry, Bobo and Nate are watching him. He’s not going anywhere,”

says Liam.

Damian doesn’t say a thing, but he clearly agrees with them. He’s barely said a word since the hospital. I wonder what he is thinking. But to be honest, I’m too tired for any deep thinking right now.

Once we finally reach the apartment, Damian carries me all the way to my bathroom before exiting to take a call. I can finally take the hot shower I dreamed about on the road. It was high time; I really do stink after the battle and that short swim. Tonia comes in to help me wash my hair, as I’m too tired to stand after all that. I really have to work on improving my stamina.

When I’m done, I finally feel clean in my blue pajamas. I arrange my hair in a low bun for the night and prepare myself to sleep when Tonia comes back carrying a tray with a three-course meal on it. I frown.

“No, don’t you say you don’t want it,”

warns Tonia. “If you do, I can call the Boss and have him spoon feed you like a baby.”

I can’t really say anything after that. Tonia puts it in front of me on the bed. Well, it does look good. Vol Au vent, pesto pasta, and even an almond cake for dessert. I bet all of this came straight from one of Nathaniel’s restaurants.

I start eating under Tonia’s close surveillance. We don’t really talk since she is busy texting someone, and I’m lost in my own thinking. I haven’t forgotten about the she-wolf that helped me during my fight and pulled me out of the water. Seeing how she called him “Nate,”

I guess she is related to the second brother somehow. But then why wouldn’t she want him to know she was there? He didn’t seem to have anything to say when she was with us at the Jade Moon territory... I wish I knew her human form or saw her Clan marking. She said we would meet again soon, but how? I don’t even know her name!

“Nora?”

Damian came back to the room, followed by Liam. Apparently, I’m not the only one that showered, the youngest brother also smells like soap. I’m not done eating, so he sits in front of me on the bed while Liam walks to the window, standing next to Tonia with his arms crossed.

Damian’s silver eyes are glowing scarily, and I’m instantly worried. Did something bad happen?

“What is it?”

“Why does Bobo say that your brother is the guy that attacked you?”

Oh, crap.

I forgot about that. I didn’t even think Bobo would be able to identify him, considering how it was raining that day. Still, he did chase after Alec and hurt him. He must have identified him then, and that also explains how he recognized his scent as quickly as I did earlier today. I bite my lip. Damian looks really angry, and Tonia is staring at me with wide eyes, too. I put my fork down. How do I handle this now?

“Nora!”

“Don’t yell at me! Yes, Alec is the one that tried to kill me.”

They all look at me, shocked.

“I thought that Marcus guy was the one!”

Yells Tonia.

“No, the guy you saw that night in the alley was Alec.”

“I thought you only wanted to find your brother to ask him about your birth thing?”

Says Liam.

“Yes, that, too, but Alec hates me, and yes, he tried to kill me.”

Twice, actually, but they don’t need to know that. Gosh, Damian looks furious. I feel bad for not telling them the truth earlier, but I’m a hundred percent sure he would have killed him on the spot if he knew everything.

“I knew something was odd about your brother,”

exclaims Liam. “When we were at the Jade Moon Clan that day, your former Alpha and that weakling girl did mention he had been wronging you, and you said he lied, too.”

“No wonder he wanted to avoid us so badly now,”

says Tonia.

The only one that remains silent is Damian, despite his fuming eyes on me. I try to reach for his hand, but he gets up. Both of his fists are clenched.

“Damian, say something, please.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because I didn’t want you to get mad at him.”

“Really, Nora?”

Okay, I do realize it is way too late now. Damian is obviously furious and mad at me, also. I sigh, trying to find my words.

“Damian, I need to solve things with my brother. Yes, Alec hates me, and he tried to kill me. But that’s my problem, okay? I need to talk to him and solve things with him. I can’t do that if you kill him first!”

“I want to kill him, Nora!”

He yells. “I don’t give a damn about him being your brother! I’ll slaughter anyone who touches you, and he fucking tried to kill you! You would be dead if it wasn’t for Tonia and Boyan! You lost your voice, and you were in a coma for days! How do you think I felt after I finally found you, and yet I had to watch you while you were unconscious in a hospital bed day after day!”

“I am mad, too! How do you think I feel after my own brother tried to strangle me? Damian, for the last ten years, there wasn’t a single day Alec was nice to me! He was the worst, but he is still my only blood relative left, and I need to know why he is like this! I’m not protecting him; I just want to face him myself! Damian, I need you to let me do this!”

He stays silent, and I can tell he is seriously thinking right now. Gosh, why do we always end up yelling somehow? I’m even more exhausted now. And in front of Liam and Tonia, too, though they both seem concerned.

I get up and grab Damian’s arm. He ignores me, but I still hold his hand and look at him.

“Damian, please. Alec’s attitude changed after my parents’ death, and I need to know why. He is the only one that can help me know why my birth was kept a secret. After I talk things through with him, I promise he will be out of my life.”

He stays silent for a while, then turns to me, with his ice-cold eyes.

“That’s why you didn’t want me to hurt him.”

“Yes. You promised me, Damian.”

“That was before I knew he tried to kill you!”

“Damian!”

He can’t go back on his promise now! We both glare at each other for a long time. I’m not going to let him touch Alec. Then, I see his eyes shift slightly, and he points at my scar.

“Is he the one who did this?”

“What? No, Alec has nothing to do with my scar, I swear.”

I’m telling the truth this time, and I really hope he will believe me. He keeps staring at my scar, and I hate it. He usually ignores it, so why is he curious about it now? I tighten my grip on his hand, seeing how conflicted he is. Can’t he stay here with me? I just want to go to bed, sleep in his embrace, and forget about all this for a few hours. But the anger in his eyes is not reducing in the slightest. I bite my lip.

“Damian, please. You promised me you won’t hurt him.”

He looks at me again, and all of a sudden, leans in to kiss my forehead, before storming out. I stay there, completely blank. Where did he go now? I turn to the others, but a long silence follows for a while.

“Don’t worry,”

says Liam, “my brother never breaks a promise.”

I wouldn’t be so sure about that. Damian looked really, really angry. What do I do? I turn to Tonia, worried. What if he really kills Alec? I need him to talk! After staring for a while, she rolls her eyes and takes out her phone.

“All right, I’ll call Neal. But I can’t guarantee the Boss will listen, Nora.”

I nod, biting my lip anxiously. It’s better than doing nothing... I haven’t met Neal yet, but seeing how mad he was just now, I doubt even Nathaniel will be able to stop him if he really decided to kill Alec. I just need to talk to my brother. Why do I have to worry that Damian will actually slice him or something?

Tonia exits the room to call her brother, and I sit back on the bed, exhausted by all this tension. Liam comes to sit with me, pushing the tray towards me so I can finish eating.

“Your brother is a real piece of shit.”

“He wasn’t always like that... When we were kids, he was nice to me. My mother never really liked me, but Alec and my dad did. He changed when she died.”

“Do you have any idea why?”

I shake my head and finish eating my pasta while thinking. Why, indeed? How did my brother come to hate me overnight?

“He said something like it’s my fault we are orphans.”

“About your parents’ death? You said it’s just your mom that went nuts. How could it be your fault? The police report Nate found was the same.”

I sigh. I really don’t understand either. I was there when our parents died, and that was the most horrifying thing I ever saw. Alec was there, too, we both saw the same thing. So why does it feel like I’m the one missing a piece of the puzzle?

Liam takes a bit of my cake, frowning. He looks a lot like Damian when he does that. The three brothers really look a lot like each other despite their different personalities. Nathaniel is the only one who is blonde with blue eyes, and he’s about the same size as Damian. Liam’s eyes are a mix of blue and grey, and since he is younger, he still has room to grow, but I bet he can get taller than them in the future.

He notices I’m observing him and frowns again.

“What? Is it because I took your cake?”

I laugh a bit and shake my head. Liam may be the same age as me, but he can be really childish sometimes.

“No, I was just thinking. You guys are close.”

He shrugs. “We had to. Our father was... He never gave a damn about us. He was obsessed with his Alpha stuff and never cared about his family. The only one he ever cared about was his mate, our mom, but he changed a lot after suddenly becoming the Alpha. He became more and more of an asshole... And our mom was sick for as long as I remember, but she loved us. She was the best.”

Looks like Liam was really fond of their mother... I wonder what she looked like. Did they take after her? As for me, I didn’t resemble my mother, nor did I ever feel close to her... She clearly always preferred Alec, but she wasn’t cold to me either. Until... Liam takes a new piece of the cake and keeps talking while eating.

“We took it hard when she died... But the worst was our father; he got even more violent. Her death really made him snap.”

I frown and get closer. I recognize that dark look in Liam’s eyes. I know it all too well. Could it be...?

“He beat you?”

I ask softly