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The doctors push me to the side a little so they can see Skyler better, but I’m so weak that I almost fall over. Jaxon catches me and pulls us back a little more. He doesn’t seem as angry as he would be if someone else touched me in the middle of all this.
I see blurry action with tears in my eyes. A doctor is getting paddles ready to shock his heart back into action. I just lost Felix; I can’t lose Skyler as well.
I remember when we first met. He offered me his pen when he saw that mine was out of ink. He was so kind that he gave money to a stranger who he didn’t even know was his Luna. I didn’t pay attention to him even after I found out what he was, and he stayed. Shopping trips were just as embarrassing, annoying, and fun for us.
He has to be fine.
As I think about all the times we’ve talked and how little time we really had to spend together, I hear one of the doctors groan and throw the paddles across the room.
Shouldn’t they be used to keep Skyler alive? What are they up to?
I scream at them, “Do something!” and my voice automatically becomes commanding, which I always seem to forget I have.
It doesn’t take me long to figure out why they stopped.
Skyler is laughing. No, he’s not just laughing; he’s cracking up, snorting, and rolling around in laughter.
“You guys f*****g fell for it!” he yells, wiping a tear from the corner of his eye. He’s the only one who is laughing.
The doctors all leave the room, grumbling about their Beta’s mate and his terrible jokes. I had never seen one of his pranks in action before, but now that I have, I can see why everyone hates them.
I really thought he was going to die.
Ezra and Jaxon must have been too excited to hear Skyler’s heartbeat. It’s beating very clearly now that he can laugh so loudly. Now that my eyes are dry, I can see that Skyler unplugged his heart monitor so that the machine would think he was dead.
I yelled at him, “That wasn’t funny!” I’m not sure if I’m glad or really mad that he scared me so much. I’ll take something in the middle.
Ezra looks like he’s okay with being very angry. He storms out of the room without saying a word and doesn’t look back at his healthy friend.
“Ezra, come back!” Skyler yells after him with a guilty smile. “I thought only Calla would fall for it! Couldn’t you hear my heart beating?”
Ezra is long gone by the time Skyler is done talking.
Jaxon shakes his head, and then he seems to come back to his senses enough to remember that I’m standing when I shouldn’t be. His eyes get bigger, and then he gently but quickly picks me up and puts me back in the stupid wheelchair that I already hate.
“Your little stunt could have hurt Calla more,” he growls, sounding broody again. He seems just as excited about Skyler’s prank as Ezra was.
“Shit, sorry! I thought it would be funny… I now realize that maybe that wasn’t the best prank to play right now.” He frowns when he sees me clearly. I probably look awful; I have bruises all over my arms and neck, and I know I have a big purple mark on my face that Marlowe gave me.
Skyler says, “You look like shit.”
I give him a dirty look, but he gives me a dirty look back with fake anger. We look at each other until the corner of my mouth turns up just a little bit. Skyler’s glare gets stronger, and he smirks at me, knowing that this is his chance to break through my anger.
I finally give up and smile at him while shaking my head. I’m so weak. I should be mad at him for his mean prank, but all I want to do is get up and hug Skyler. When Jaxon looks at me, I mumble under my breath and wheel myself over to the side of the hospital bed, even though I don’t want to.
I smile when Skyler moves to the side of the bed and pats the empty space next to him. I think that sometimes not listening to Jaxon keeps him on his toes. I grunt in pain as I lean forward in the chair and try to get up.
When I try to stand on my own, Jaxon makes a noise from his throat that doesn’t mean anything.
He grumbles, “What the hell are you doing?” as he lifts me onto the bed. I won’t lie, it’s nice that Jaxon carries me and helps me get around. That means he has to touch me more, which I’m not at all upset about.
“I want to sit here,” I mumble as I sit down next to Skyler. Skyler then raises his arm so I can hug him on the side. I almost miss his short breath when I lean in. I immediately let go of my weight.
He smiles and says, “I’m fine,” which I can see right through. It’s clear that he’s not okay. “Just don’t lean right here,” he says, pointing to his stomach, where the magic hit him the hardest.
I nod my head and lean very lightly against his shoulder.
Broody just stands there with his arms crossed.
“Should I just go and cuddle with Ezra, then?” he says, groaning and looking at every part of my body that touches Skyler’s. He can be so over the top at times.
“Yeah, you should,” I tease him. “He looked pretty upset earlier. I think your hugs could really help him feel better.”
Skyler laughs at the idea of our friends cuddling up together, while Jaxon throws his arms up in the air.
“That’s not what you’re supposed to say!” he yells, but all I can see is a toddler with a pouty face who is upset because someone took his toy.
I smile and say, “You know I love you.” Then I lean back on the bed and close my eyes. I can smell cedar and pine, and I don’t need werewolf senses to know that Jaxon is right in front of me.
He kisses me and then says, “I love you, too.”
I hear his footsteps fade and the door click shut, which I assume means he’s going to check on Ezra. Skyler speaks up about a minute after Jaxon leaves.
“Did I just screw up with Ezra?”
I rub my eyes with my palms and sigh.
“Yes,” I say honestly.
“I didn’t think he would fall for it, too. He should have been able to hear me breathing. I really didn’t think anyone else would believe the prank, and I thought they would just catch me right away.”
We sit in silence for a little while longer, comfortably thinking about how crazy the last 24 hours have been. I can’t remember the last time I just hung out with Skyler. He’s always doing something funny and sneaky.
“You know,” he says, breaking the silence, “I didn’t know how strong mate bonds were until I met Ezra.”
I open my eyes a little and see Skyler lying there with an arm over his eyes, blocking out the bright fluorescent lights. I also close my eyes.
He goes on.
“I was in a really bad place when I met Ezra. I won’t go into too much detail, but Ezra changed my life. The mate bond is a bridge between two souls, and that’s some important shit. The pain you feel when your mate is hurt…”
Skyler seems to be speaking from experience. Just thinking about Ezra or Skyler being in any kind of physical, emotional, or mental pain makes me so angry. The best people have to deal with the worst trauma and problems.
I take a deep breath and tell myself that the past is behind me. I don’t want to think about anything that’s behind me anymore; I only want to think about what’s in front of me. Now I will be concentrating on getting better.
I will help my pack by learning everything there is to know about werewolf culture and being the most honest and respectful Luna I can be. I will help my family heal from the supernatural trauma they went through, like my mother learning about my new werewolf family and Maisie dealing with her kidnapping. I’ll be there for Skyler while he heals, and I’ll also help Ezra through it. And I will love Jaxon with all my heart.
I’ll also work on healing my own body, but the others are more important to me right now.
We can only take life one step at a time.
*********
The next few weeks are going to be very stressful and frustrating for me. It’s dumb and unfair that Skyler is up and walking around while I’m still stuck in bed. Skyler and Ezra seem to have made up, but it took Ezra a few days to stop ignoring Skyler and forgive him. Skyler began to tell me how they made up, but I put my hands over my ears and began to chant “la la la” until he stopped. They’re so… dirty.
Jaxon has been with me a lot, but I know he wishes he could sit next to me all day and night. My mom has helped me and Maisie a lot. She took some time off work, and when I asked her how she got permission from her boss and how we were going to pay our bills, she said not to worry because Jaxon had connections at the airline where she works. I let it go because I’m happy that Jaxon and my mom are talking more, but I will definitely need to talk to him about it later.
I spend my days studying for tests and taking care of Luna. I’m learning a lot about what will happen when I fully mate with Jaxon, and I’m getting worried about when that will happen. Jaxon still checks on me all the time and gives me hugs and cuddles, but since Marlowe took Maisie, he hasn’t teased or touched me in a s****l way.
I’m pretty sure Jaxon wants to do more, but he might be afraid of hurting me even though I’m mostly better. I have some yellowish-green bruises that won’t go away, but I’m fine.
A few days ago, the doctor told me it was okay to start moving around the pack house, but Jaxon told me to stay resting for a little while longer. Why does he think he knows more than the pack doctor?
I’ve been in bed for way too long, and even my mom thinks it’s fine for me to walk around downstairs.
She jokes, “Just don’t tell Jaxon I told you that.”
Today, I choose to visit the daycare where Maisie has been spending her time. I’ve been following Jaxon’s orders and staying in bed, but I have to walk around campus to take my tests next week, so I can’t stay in bed much longer. Also, Jaxon has been a little distant with me and won’t talk about what happened at the coven house, so I don’t think he gets to tell me what to do. This is something I learned in my Luna studies.
I’ve asked him about losing Felix, but he hasn’t told me anything else about how bad that day was for him. He won’t talk about it and always says, “We’ll talk about it later.”