Shy, Scared, and Weak. I'm the Alpha's Mate.

Through the Pain

A faint but noticeable knock on the door made us separate. I opened the door for Otis, the doctor, to enter. He pushed up his glasses and walked right in toward the bed where Jillian lay helpless. "Hello, Alpha, Luna" he nodded at me then my mate. Jillian tried smiling back but it came out as a pitiful grimace instead. Otis placed his little doctor bag on the bed by Jillian's feet, "Permission to touch?" He asked Jillian, "Uh...yeah...I guess" she stammered and clenched her hands in the bedspread. Otis looked back at me, making sure I wouldn't flip out when he placed his hands on my mate. "You specifically asked me to bring ointment for silver burns and there is some in my bag. Would you mind if I further inspected your burns, Luna?" when Jillian gave her nervous reply Otis looked at her legs and the pink scars very intensely, "These are by far the worst silver burns I have seen in my career, I will prescribe some lycanthrope in pill form along with the healing ointment. May I see your wrists?" The check-up went on as such until Otis asked Jillian to lift her shirt so he could see her stomach and use his stethoscope thingy. I nearly growled with possessiveness but Jillian's wolf, Gladys butted into my brain, Hey, I get that you feel all manly ego, or whatever, but she's hurting and nothing you do will stop her from getting the treatment and care she needs. So lay off.

Jillian looked at me apologetically while she lifted her shirt to expose her belly. My eyes widened at the sight, huge red and purple splotch went all the way from her ribs to her hip in varying brightness. The magenta mark moved up and down with Jillian's steady breaths, but the doctor and I stood in shocked silence upon seeing it. This wasn't just your regular I-hit-my-arm-on-the-table kind of bruise, it was the deep severe kind that indicated massive internal bleeding. "Jillian" I gasped breathlessly, "Why didn't you tell me about this?"

She looked down, "I didn't want to complain...it was my fault anyway-"

"Excuse me?" I took a step closer and pivoted her chin up so she could meet my eyes, "This was not your fault. None of this was in any way your fault. Look at me, Jillian, this and everything else that I've seen was not a consequence to what you did. You did nothing wrong, you got it?" I hated to be so harsh on her, but I had to make her see that she was not the problem it was everyone else that was. Tears welled up in her eyes, but before they could spill over she tried to swallow them back. I wished that the doctor wasn't there just watching us awkwardly while we had a deep conversation. "But I tried to run away so I was punished, Damien. I shouldn't have done that..."

I shook my head harshly, "Yes, you had every right to try and escape. It's your life they got in the middle of, and they are the ones in the wrong, he was wrong not you. Repeat what I said, Jillian, he was wrong not you"

"H-he was wrong not you" Her words struck me and I kissed her forehead, "We will get through this and you will feel better soon, alright?" I moved back so Otis could re-assume his position over my mate, "Get back to work"

She had at least one broken rib, but her lung had not collapsed which was a marvelous thing and no surgery was necessary. "If you could come down to the office tomorrow so we can do x-rays that would be awesome. Here is the ointment, apply it every 6 to 8 hours so put some on before bed, and take the pills daily, the amount I gave you should last until the end of the week and if your wolf doesn't naturally regenerate give me a call and I can administer the shot." Otis wiped his hands dry from washing them and smiled gently at Jillian, "every single member of this pack is extremely happy to have you back, we wouldn't have it any other way" He said his piece and left the room.

"What so you want for dinner, I can ask Josie to make you something real quick" I suggested while trying to fix one of the pillows Jillian sat on. "Isn't it a bit late for dinner?" she smiled and continued her job of rubbing the green gel on her wrists and forearm. "It's never to late for dinner," I touched her stomach playfully, "You know that" I took the jar of ointment and began to massage the cream into her ankles, rewarded with a relieved moan of ease from her lips. "What do you have?" she inquired of the refrigerator's contents.