Chapter 14
While we waited for Lucy to arrive, Ryker wrapped a bag of frozen peas around my ankle. He replaced it every few minutes to keep it iced and the ice numbed the pain long enough that I didn’t feel it, or maybe it was just that my b*dy had gotten
used to it
Lucy arrived after almost an hour and she was sweating profusely and in a doctor’s coat. I would assume that she just came from something or somewhere important.
“I am so sorry, I was in surgery,” she took the bag of peas off my leg and analyzed the swelling. “I don’t think it is broken but I’m going to have to check but it might hurt.”
She slowly lifted my ankle and squeezed it between her pointer and thumb. Squeeze is too harsh of a word for what she used, I am pretty sure she just held it a little firmly but it hurt so bad that I had to bite down on my bottom l*p to stifle my scream. I bit down on it so hard that I drew blood.
She did her little tests and which each one, I could feel my ankle throb more. By the time she finally put my foot down. there were tears streaming down my face and into the pillow.
“Thankfully it isn’t broken,” she said and I heard Ryker sigh in relief, “I think you just twisted it badly. I advise that you stay off it as much as possible and keep it elevated at all times.
“If it hurts this much when it isn’t broken,” I forced out, “How much will it hurt when it is and why does my thigh hurt so bad:”
“Let us hope you never have to find out about a broken bone,” she gave me a small smile, “And as for your thigh, I think you may have pulled a muscle on your way down. All you need to do is ice it up and you will be fine.”
She reached into her bag and took out a roll of bandages that she used to tightly wrap my ankle. I winced the entire time she was doing it because it was tight as hell and it was throbbing by the time she was done.
She placed a pillow under it to keep it elevated and told me that I would be fine in a while. I didn’t quite believe her because my leg felt like it had been run over by a carriage and I could not see a possibility in the nearest or farthest future when I was
fine.
She gave a curt bow to Ryker and was about to leave when Ryker asked her to call in Eve. Eve arrived and Ryker instructed her to feed me breakfast and to watch over me until he returned.
He waited until Eve had brought my breakfast tray before he walked out of the room. I wondered where he was doing and what he was going to do but I didn’t have time to think about it as Eve delved into a fit of apologies.
“How is it?” she asked
“It hurts like hell,” I admitted, “But Lucy says that it will be fine in a while; she says it is just sprained. I hope she means a week plus.”
“When my brother sprained his ankle he was healed in a day but,” she trailed off and lowered her voice to a whisper. “There are rumors from Lauren that you don’t have a wolf. If that is true then it will take longer but you do have some werewolf blood in you so I assume it will not take as long as it would a human.”
“How did Lauren know about that?” I asked and she shrugged.
1 mentally face palmed as I realized that Ryker must have told her. If Eve knows then probably the entire pack knows. That would explain why they were staring at me weirdly the day I went to the pack house. They were probably wondering how Ryker could have picked someone like me for his mate.
I let out a loud groan.
“It is not a terrible thing.” Eve tried to patronize me, “It just means that you are different and sometimes different can be good.”
“Not this kind of different”
She gave me a weak smile and gestured to the food tray. “You should eat. You will need your strength if you are to heal”
I had lost m appetite but I knew that I had to force myself to eat everything on the tray or else Ryker would get upset and force me either way. The last thing I wanted was to see him after realizing that he had told Lauren my secret.
RYKER’S PO.V
I was fuming as I made my way down the stairs. It took my entire willpower to leave Camilla there alone knowing that the was fragile and in pain but something else needed my attention and that something was currently sitting on the dining table snacking on an apple.
“She is going to be fine, thank you for your concern,” she jumped when she heard my voice and tried but failed to hide the apple, “Come with me, Lauren.”
She followed me quietly until we were in my home office. It is one of the few rooms where I know we will not be disturbed and there is no risk of anyone overhearing because as much as she deserves what she is about to get. I do not want to disrespect her position by giving other people the chance to hear it.
“What happened?”
“I was training with her just like you asked and she was running laps but she refused to pay attention. She kept on zoning out and I told her over and over again to focus or she will get hurt and she wouldn’t listen to me. She never ever listens to me.”
“So you’re telling me that this was her fault.”
“No,” she waved her hands frantically, “it was a horrible accident but she never listens to me. She knows about us and she thinks it is a reason to not listen to me.”
“There is no us Lauren,” I could see the hurt flicker on her face at my words, “And Camilla does not know anything. I did not tell her about it.”
“I don’t know how she figured it out then but she does. I notice the way she looks at me and I swear that is exactly why she doesn’t listen to me.”
If there was one thing I knew about Lauren, it is that she is a very skilled liar and sometimes it is extremely difficult to know if she is telling the truth or not but this time, it is extremely easy for me.
First of all, Camilla is not the kind of person to defy any kind of authority and although Lauren has no real power or status over her, she would still listen to everything she says. It is very unlikely that Lauren gave her instructions and she refused to follow them.
Second, Lauren has a bad habit of always wanting her way with things and I know it is more likely that she tried to force her way and it didn’t work out the way she had planned and she panicked.
“Do you know how I realized she was hurt?” I ended up asking.
“I assumed you were just around and heard her scream.”
“No, she drew energy from me,” Lauren’s eyes widened, “It is a rare phenomenon but it happens sometimes between mates when one of them is at their physical end, they begin to draw from their mate. I knew something terrible had to be wrong for her to unknowingly draw from me and I felt her life force begin to flicker.”
I had to shut my eyes to push the feeling away, “Do you know what it feels like to feel your mate’s life force fading away? It feels like absolute hell. I was in a meeting with the elders and I ran out of it like a man possessed because I thought she was dying. I had barely gotten through the gate when I heard her scream.”
“I didn’t,” she began but I cut her off
“You didn’t realize she screamed that loud,” I chuckled darkly. “I figured; I got in when I heard you arguing with Eve I didn’ hear what about because I was too focused on getting to my mate and praying she was alive. So I will ask you one more tits,
hat the hell happened?”
“It was an accident,” she stuck to her original story. “I didn’t realize she was actually in pain; she wouldn’t tell me. All she said was that her thighs burned and I thought that was normal.”
That did sound like something Camilla would do. She would pretend that she was fine unless you forced her to tell the truth.
“You were in charge of her and you should have noticed,” Lauren bowed her head in shame, “You are stripped of your general duties for a week.”
“But I apologized-,”
“You will no longer be taking her training courses; I will handle that myself,” I ignored her pleas, “For your week of punishment, you will also be on community service; when you return, if your behavior is satisfactory then I will consider reinstating you as general.”
“But I earned that position; you said so yourself.”
“And now you lost it by letting your future Luna get hurt on your watch. A good general would not do that,” I deadpanned, “When you finish your service; we will consider your reinstatement.”
Lauren was upset now, it was obvious but she knew better than to speak out against me at this moment so she settled for silently stewing and nodded, “Yes, Alpha.”
She turned to leave but I stopped her, “One more thing Lauren; the next time my mate is in pain under your watch and your first instinct is not to get her to safety you will be stripped of your duties permanently.”
She clenched her jaw but nodded and exited the room. I gave myself a single minute to calm down before I made my way back
up the stairs.
Lauren can wallow in her anger for as long as it takes her to learn her lesson. My mate needs me right now.
