The Pack

by Donna Flynn

  “Easy boy, she’s fine, sleeping soundly,” Gregory said keeping his hand on his shoulder, forcing him to remain on the bed.

  “Mercy,” his voice trembled with fear as he glanced over at her sleeping form on the bed next to his, pale and lifeless, her chest barely rising with each breath she took.

  “She’s fine,” his father said again removing his hand now his son seemed to be in a more reasonable state of mind.

  “Who did this?” he asked sitting up slowly, still disoriented and shaken.

  “We are still working on the details, but the bullet had been dipped in Mandrake, a sure sign they wanted you dead. If not for Mercy you would be.”

  “I felt her inside me,” he told him, awed by the experience. “I can still feel her, as if she is part of me.” It sounded crazy, he knew but now he felt more bonded to her than ever.

  “Lucan is stunned. No one imagined she had healing abilities, but I suppose we should have given her circumstances of her birth.” Gregory glanced over his shoulder at the girl in question wondering how she managed to hide it from everyone around her.

  “I have always thought she was special because she is mine, but it seems that there is more to her than that.” Alec said swinging his legs over the side of the bed to stand with help from his father. “Will you give me a few minutes alone with her?”

  Gregory nodded and helped him towards her bedside before walking to the door, but once there turned back to look at his son. “You should know Kirk was the one who found the healer who saved her. Lucan gave him permission to come by later today.” He expected an outright no or some form of denial, but his son surprised him with his calm reply.

  “He did what I could not when she needed help, so I agree with his decision, but it changes nothing. Mercy is mine and nothing will stop me from pursuing her until she admits she wants only me.” He sat next to Mercy and took her hand, his eyes changing to amber as he thought about her and Kirk together. “I won’t let him win, not when I have waited so long for her to grow up and be mine.”

  His father chuckled and left the room thinking that his son might find that not all women fell with ease for his good looks and charm. The lesson would be a good one for his heir, it would teach him some humility and make him understand what a precious gift he had been given.

  As he walked down the hall, he recalled his own bond mate, the woman he had lost far too soon in life. The familiar ache that always plagued him when he thought about her returned and he placed his hand over his heart feeling her loss as strongly as he had the day she died.

  *****

  “Angel I don’t understand how you worked your magic, but thank you for saving me.” Alec whispered leaning down to kiss her cheek. Her head moved slightly, so instead of kissing her cheek, he meet her soft warm lips. She responded instantly to his touch, her lips parting, giving him access to her full soft mouth. He moaned, pulling her against him as the kiss lingered on and might have never let go, but the loud slamming of the front door brought him back to reality. Regretfully he pulled away despite her soft murmur of protest.

  He heard Lucan’s soft footfall on the stairs then the thump of his heels as he walked down the hardwood-floored hall towards the room. Hurriedly, he stepped back tucking Mercy under the blankets and moved to a nearby chair. By the time, the door swung open he had a book in his hands and was pretending to read.

  “It’s good to see you up, you should have called for one of us.” Lucan told him as he strode towards the bed where Mercy lay sleeping.

  Alec didn’t bother to make excuses, Lucan had been aware he was awake and had given him a few minutes of alone time with his sister, before charging upstairs when things grew to quiet for his liking.

  “You’re better?” Lucan asked noting the slight flush to his face.

  “Yeah, I’m good. I just want Mercy to be alright too.” He looked to the bed where she lay, her eyes closed as if she was asleep, which he suspected she wasn’t.

  “I just came back from a run, so I am going to shower and get something to eat, but I’ll be back soon,” Lucan warned, his meaning clear, he would be listening and keeping watch over them, whether he was in the room or not.

  After Lucan walked out of the room, Alec turned to the bed were Mercy lay just opening her eyes, the panic in her eyes easy to read. “Everything is okay. You’re fine, I’m fine.”

  “What happened?” she whispered raggedly, her throat sore and aggravated.

  “Apparently I was shot,” he said placing a staying hand on her shoulder as she struggled to sit up. “Don’t worry you got the bullet out, but there was some poison and when you tried to save me it got into your own blood stream, but we are both going to be alright.”

  She nodded staring at him quizzically. “You kissed me?” she said touching her lips with the tip of her finger in wonder. “Why did you kiss me?”

  Alec froze, unsure how to respond. He wanted to tell her the truth, that he kissed her because he had been longing to since he had seen her the year before, so beautiful and grown up, but he was afraid to scare her. Fortunately, Cade came through the door carrying a tray of food saving him from having to answer.

  Cade walked to Mercy’s side smiling down on her, relived to see her awake and healthy. He set the tray down and came to her side hugging her close. “God when I thought we had lost you…,” his voice broke and his eyes grew moist just thinking how close they had come to that reality.

  “I’m fine,” she told him.

  “Are you hungry, I brought food?” He fluffed the pillows behind her, got the tray, then handed her a bowl of soup. Still tired and worn from her illness, her hands shook uncontrollably and he had to grab the container before she spilled some on herself.

  “Alec, I cooked a steak for you.” He pointed to a large plated where a piece of meat, that could have easily fed four people, rested.

  “You didn’t need to go through this effort soup would be fine,” Alec told him, but the hungry leer he gave the steak betrayed his words. He wasted no time grabbing the plate and digging into the rare cut of meat.

  “Your father thought you would be starving by now,” Cade said, holding the soup bowel and placing the spoon to Mercy’s lips. She swallowed a few spoons of the nourishing broth then gave up lying back against the pillows and closing her eyes, too tired to stay awake any longer.

  “She did not eat much,” Alec said worriedly.

  “She never does when she is sick,” Cade told him, placing the bowel back down on the tray. “We will be moving her to her own room now since she is better.”

  “By tomorrow I should be able to move back to my place, so I won’t be a bother anymore.” Alec took his place on the twin bed opposite of Mercy’s and let out a weary sigh. With his stomach satisfied and his mind eased now Mercy had woken and spoke to him, he felt better about taking the rest his body needed.

  “Your father will be here soon. He brought some of your pack along with him and is getting them in place, so there won’t be a repeat of this incident.”

  “I do not need baby sitters,” Alec replied sharply, immediately defensive. His pack would kill to keep him safe, but he hated that his father thought, he was unable not protect himself and his mate.

  “Your focus is on Mercy right now, having a few extra people around to keep their eyes open won’t hurt,” Cade, said understanding the young man resentment of his father’s interference. He himself wasn’t happy to have more of their pack around his sister, but someone wanted Alec dead and Gregory would not take chances with his son’s life.

  “You’re right of course, but I hate the thought of my every step being followed.” He ran his hand though his hair in frustration and turned his attention to Mercy. “Of course, this also means I will get very little time alone with her.”

  “And the bad side is?” Lucan asked sarcastically from doorway, smirking at the young man who would one day be his brother in-law. He never doubted the outcome, he could tell his sister cared deeply for the y
oung Alpha, but he wouldn’t be averse to seeing him fight to obtain her affections.

  “Luc do you even remember what being young is like?” Cade asked with a chuckle.

  “Why do you think I worry so much? Don’t you recall dating when we were young?” He tried not to laugh at Cade’s expression as he thought it over.

  Cade’s laughter died immediately. He remembered all of the trouble they caused with the many girls they dated through their teenage years and he turned and glared at Alec with new regard for the young man’s intentions.

  “I would never do anything too compromise Mercy,” Alec promised. “She is my future mate and I respect you both too much to do anything to anger you.”

  “I suppose we are going to have to trust you,” Lucan sighed walking to Mercy’s side and looking down on her with a frown. “Did she eat?”

  “Not much,” Cade told him. “I’ll get these cleaned up.” He gathered the tray and left the room leaving Lucan to deal with moving Mercy.

  “I’ll take her to her room you get some rest,” Lucan told Alec scooping her up in his arms and carrying her out.

  Alec lay back in the bed thinking about the kiss he had shared with Mercy. She had been so soft and warm in his arms and he couldn’t wait to have the right to kiss her like that every day of his life. The challenge now though was too make her understand how important she was to him. He realized he had a lot of work to do before that day came and suddenly the idea of his father calling in some of the pack didn’t seem so bad.

  Chapter Nine

  Mercy woke the next morning bolting upright in her bed, her heart pounding wildly. Vividly recalling everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours. Alec on the ground dying after someone shot him, her trying to heal him, and the excruciating pain right before she passed out after the last attempt.

  Jumping from her bed, not even bothering with her robe, she ran into the hall her only thought to find Alec, to make sure he was alive. Familiar male laughter floated up from the kitchen reassuring her all was well and she stopped running. She took a minute leaning against the wall to catch her breath, before moving down slowly down the stairs listening to the easy conversation between her brothers and Alec.

  No one seemed surprised when she walked into the kitchen, almost as if her arrival had been expected. She might have questioned it on a normal day, but she had bigger things on her mind. Her eyes moved to Alec who seemed unharmed and in very good humor for someone who suffered a traumatic injury so recently. She stared at him uncertainly, but he just smiled warmly as if nothing had happened.

  “Good morning Angel.” He pulled out a chair for her, which she walked to slowly inspecting him for any sign of injury.

  “Are you feeling better?” Lucan asked placing a cup of tea in front of her as she sat down.

  “I…” She stared at their expectant faces, laying her shaking hand on the table, confused by thier calmness. Could it have been a dream? Had she fallen asleep and imagined the last twenty- four hours? She shook her head confident that was not the case.

  “Mercy,” Alec said, concerned by her continued silence.

  “You were shot… I healed you,” she said accusingly.

  “Yes but …” She pulled at the hem of his t-shirt lifting the material to stare in disbelief at the slightly puckered scar where the bullet had entered his chest. “Sweetheart I know you’re dying to see my body, but your brothers are here,” he teased placing her hands back on her lap and pulling his shirt back down.

  “No one recovers from a shot like this, even with my healing them.” She gasped realizing she said it aloud for everyone to hear.

  Her mother had been terrified of her healing ability, she made her swear never to use her gift or tell anyone what she could do. She warned that there were people who would do anything to posses her just for her healing abilities, even kill for it if necessary. The warning had been enough to frighten a young impressionable child. She never told a soul or used her healing ability, except to save a few animals in the forest that surrounded their mountain home. It had seemed harmless enough at the time, but the very reason her parents were dead was because, she had used her healing to save a wolf in the forest behind their home.

  She had found the animal caught in a hunters trap. The metal monstrosity had mangled his leg and he was howling in agony. One look into his icy blue eyes and she was captivated, she never thought twice about saving him. Miraculously she managed to release him from the trap, and then she healed its injuries and hid him in the woods under the shelter of some trees to heal.

  After his recovery, he visited often, becoming her only friend in the solitary world, which she lived in.

  One afternoon, she heard him howling in the woods and she brought lunch to share with him, but instead of her blue-eyed wolf, another waited. This wolf was scraggly, almost ragged in appearance and his onyx eyes were cold, filled with nothing, but the promise of death.

  She dropped the basket to the ground hoping it would take the food, and give her a chance to run away, but he showed no interest in the scattered sandwiches. Instead, the beast bared its teeth, saliva dripping from the long sharp canines as it began to circled, her looking for an opportunity to attack. She looked away for a brief moment and he pounced knocking her to the ground his teeth gripping her leg, pulling her towards the deepest part of the forest.

  She knew if he managed to take her to his den, she was certainly dead, so she let out an ear-piercing scream, and kicked him hard in the side with her free leg. Her actions took him unaware and he fell to the ground a few feet away stunned she had been able to shove him off.

  Mercy had scrambled to her feet running as fast as she could to get away, praying someone would hear her shouts for help and rescue her, but the scraggly beast was quick to rebound. He ran close behind waiting for the right opportunity to jump her.

  She was out of breath and had come to a wall of rock that blocked her path, when the sound of another growl filled the air drawing the attention of the wolf away from her. Taking advantage of the distraction, she scrambled up the rugged face of the large rock formation balancing herself on top to stare down at the wolf below who watched the wood line warily.

  Out of the dense forest the blue-eyed wolf she had saved pounced, leaping to her defense, his massive paws and teeth tearing into the other wolf. The scraggly smaller wolf fought back, but he was no match for the larger, more aggressive one and soon he was bleeding profusely, dragging one leg behind, barely able to stand.

  The blue-eyed wolf came to stand before the boulder, his massive body hovering before her, tense and ready should the other decide to attack again.

  The bedraggled wolf however, made no move to attack, he slunk off like a beaten dog, but before he completely cleared the area, he looked back his eyes meeting hers with promise of retribution.

  She never once doubted that wolf had killed her parents, but she couldn’t tell anyone, not even her brothers who loved more than anyone in the world did. No one would understand or believe her story. No, her punishment was living everyday of her life knowing the gift she had been given, killed the two people she had loved most.

  That day she had vowed to herself to never to use her healing ability again, but seeing Alec dying had been enough to break that vow and now she feared their recriminations. Would they fear her as her mother rightfully had or would they accept what she was and be thankful? Her fear must have shown in her face because her brothers rushed to ease her worries.

  “Everything is alright,” Cade said from across the table sensing her unease.

  “You saved Alec, how wonderful is that?” Lucan added noting how pale she become while lost in her musings.

  “Wonderful?” she asked shocked they so easily accepted what she had done when her own mother had been horrified.

  “I’m alive, thanks to you,” Alec said at her side. “How could you not believe your gift is a great one?”

  Mercy looked him over critically. She possessed
little knowledge of her abilities and had no real experience healing humans, so she was unsure if his amazing recovery was normal or not. It baffled her he appeared so healthy after being so close to death. She’d been inside of him knew, he had been ready to give up, felt him fading as she worked fixing the damage to his body, but now it was if none of that had ever happened.

  “There is no shame in your gift,” Gregory said reaching out to take her small hand in his large one.

  His piercing blue eyes shined with pride as he stared down on her, so unlike the fear her mother often had. At once, she was reminded of the wolf she saved so long ago, he had the same wisdom in his gaze and she felt the same connection with Gregory she had with him, but she shook it off as coincidence. Obviously, Gregory and wolf had nothing in common. One was human and the other animal, so there could be no connection between them.

  “You saved my son, you will always have my thanks, but what’s more you have an extraordinary talent that should never bring you shame,” Gregory told her.

  Alec’s hand fell to her knee and she turned him, seeing nothing fearful in his warm gaze. Their confidence in her healing gave her knew confidence. She began to wonder if her mother had been wrong to force her to hide what she could do from the world, but memories of the finding her parents dead made her feel shame for even thinking it.

  Tears flowed down her cheeks and Alec pulled her close hugging her to him experiencing her pain as his own hating the torment she was going through. “Angel, your healing is a gift.”

  She pulled back and stared at him with worry. “You’re sure you are alright?” she asked. He nodded and she turned to Lucan. “How did I get sick?”