Chapter 11
-Lisa's POV-
I could hear a new voice. A woman named Lili apparently. She was Alpha Sebastian's Luna. She surprised me to be honest. When the nurses came in to clean me, a male nurse and a female, she insisted the male nurse step out and she herself helped the female nurse, Cyndi her name was, clean me head to toe.
She was very gentle touching me as lightly as possible. I could feel a warm cloth going over my head and hair, they even washed my hair and Lili gently combed and detangled it and put it into gentle braids to keep it from getting matted. And I could smell soaps, the shampoo, some sort of sweet strawberry lotion that Lili rubbed gently into my skin that wasn't open or damaged.
When Laurie came back, I smelled nail polish. I could feel Lili painting my toes while talking to Laurie.
"Her palette is much more of a soft frosty blue, don't you think? I think this color really suits her. Here, get her nails. Leave the index fingers undone though, they need those for the pulse monitors."
"Yes, frosty blue really does suit her. She's so beautiful. What do you suppose she is? Wolf? Some sort of water being? Siren? I personally wonder if she is a member of the Fae. She just…. I don't know… sparks something in me. A kin of some sort. But, I don't know how that could be when all the legends say the fae in that region were killed off. Unless…. She was reportedly abandoned right? What if, what if she was taken before the raids? That could very well be…. I would have to consult my cousin Lena and my friend Kingsly. He was the one who trained my wolf side, but he has a remarkable understanding of my fae side too. Perhaps once she's awake we can arrange a meeting for them to see what they think."
"Well, they did some sort of testing on her, not only for poisonings and such, but genetics too. They're supposed to be ready by this evening, I know Sebastian, Jasper and I will be sitting in on it, I could ask if you could too. If she has any sort of fae in her, you'd best know how to help with that situation."
"I could do my best, but honestly, we're going to need Lena for any sort of training, and it will greatly depend on the type of fae she is, if she is."
I wanted so bad to let them know in some way that I could hear them. I could feel them. I was grateful they were here, being so gentle and making me look at least somewhat decent. I know I must've looked like a giant mess. My hair matted with blood, my skin was dry, my lips looking so terrible. The doctor of course kept the wounds clean, but my body hadn't been cleansed properly since I got here. It felt amazing to be getting cleaned up.
They kept up idle chitchat about some gala coming up at the Mooncliff pack house, an annual end of summer fall festival. It was also a mating ball. A chance for all the unmated wolves of each neighboring clan to meet and possibly find their mate. They were discussing color themes, blue and gold, and I thought it should be crimson and gold, that screamed fall to me. The colors the leaves turn. I wished I could speak. It felt maddening to be stuck in my own head.
-Sebastian's POV-
Jasper was really losing the plot. I know he's anxious to get back to Lisa but I need his head in the game here. We had meetings and alpha trials to deal with. I was a little surprised to only have 5 names on the sign up sheet. Most people would jump at a chance to take over a pack, but not these ones.
If I were a betting man, I'd be willing to bet that it was because they've had such terrible alpha's no one really knew what an alpha was supposed to be like. It was clear that Lucas and his predecessors ran this place with an iron fist and fear tactics, and when those failed, cruelty and punishments. I was going to make damned sure whoever I handed this pack over to would lead fairly and be a good Alpha. No bullshit.
The pack members that wanted to leave were sorted quickly, they were granted status and entry to the packs they sought to join. Many of which were packs they or their families came from. It seemed that if someone mated outside of this pack, Leon would make the outside mate live here, and granted only few monitored visits between families outside of the pack. Probably didn't want word of what happened in his pack getting out, can't have any bad publicity and rumors of abuse out there.
What a pompas ass. I look forward to getting my hands on him during interrogations. From what my guards tell me he hasn't shut up nor stopped making outrageous demands since he got there. I guess he thought it was supposed to be the four seasons or something. Yeah, keep telling yourself that buddy, you're really not going to like MY idea of concierge service.
I cuffed Jas on the shoulder and mindlinked him to get his head back in the game. We were going over the files on the five hopeful alpha picks. One was already out of the running. His aura and wolf were way too weak, the alpha power would crush him. He didn't take it badly at all and I had a feeling that the pinched face mate clinging to his arm was more to do with him entering in the first place. They walked out with her berating him about being such a weak pushover and I felt bad for him.
The four candidates left had potential. Their backgrounds were clean, their auras and wolves showed ability to handle the power of alpha blood. But a physical trial would be needed. They'd have to fight both in human and alpha form. They'd spar one on one in the arena and the two that were left would face off and whoever was left standing, would be alpha when all was said and done. No blood, no fouls, just a match of wills, strength and stamina.
"We should set up for sometime tomorrow, don't you think?" I asked Jasper, but of course, he wasn't paying attention.
"Wha? Huh?" he said his brow furrowing in confusion. He held a file in his hand and had been reading it very steadily. I recognized it as Lisa's file.
"I was saying," I said taking the file, "that we should set up the alpha trials for tomorrow. That way we can get it out of the way and get the new alpha crowned and someone in to help train him and his luna so we can get on back to our pack."
"Yeah, sounds good, but I don't want to leave without Lisa, do you think she'd be stable enough to have her moved to our pack hospital?" he asked
"I believe she should be, if we have her flown over on a medivac helicopter."
"You'd do that for me? For her?"
"Well duh, man. She's your mate. You're my beta. Ergo she's mine too. I already think of her as a pack member and a family member. I actually might've kinda sorta already set mom and Sarah to start shopping and gathering things for her. Mom wants to come down later on and see her for herself so she can get an idea of what size clothing she wears and such. You know mom and Sarah are always looking for an excuse to shop."
"Oh goddess! My credit cards! I can hear them screaming now!"
"Nope. Mom's paying. She insisted, and they're only going for some basics right now. They'll take her out shopping once she's back on the up and up. They're hoping she's good in time for the fall gala."
It was evident by the grimace on his face that he'd forgotten about the gala. He hated wearing a suit. But on the upside at least he won't have to deal with overzealous she-wolves throwing themselves at his this time. Particularly one persistent redhead who just can't seem to understand that she had exactly zero place in his life and certainly none in his bed. Not that that didn't stop her from constantly trying to put herself there. She even went as far as to sneak into his room, strip herself naked and lay in his bed waiting for him to come in. He booted her right back out nude and cussing him.
I offered to put her on punishment for being so brazen but he just shrugged it off and said watching her un-tanned ass running naked through the hall of jeering and laughing pack members and guests was punishment enough. Goddess I pray she finds her damn mate soon. She was a menace.
After making the announcement for the alpha trials for the next day we knocked off and headed for the hospital to meet with mom and Sarah. I could see the relief on Jasper's face to finally be heading back to Lisa.
Upon arriving we met with mom at the door. She was just getting there. Sarah bounced out of the Expedition behind her. Her blonde hair in messy buns and her sundress flouncing around her knees. Sarah was every bit of a girly-girl. She was sixteen and a cheerleader at the pack high school, miss popularity, and surprisingly, Seamus her twin and my little brother, slid out behind her. If ever there were two more opposite, it was those two.
For twins, they were NOTHING alike. Seamus was brown haired and though he was tall and well muscled, his whole demeanor screamed nerd. He was an introvert who preferred coding and gaming to football and crowds. He wore his shaggy hair in his eyes and a final fantasy tee with khaki cargo shorts with his favorite ancient converse high tops.
"He Seamus, how'd they manage to drag you out of your cave?" Jas said while pretending to noogie him on the head.
"Heard that your new mate was a total babe, was hoping to steer her my way before she fell for a loser like you." He said joking back.
"You could only hope you pathetic, tiny little worm!" Jasper laughed.
I loved that about our group. His mom was like my second mom, mine was like his. our siblings were like each others too. We were family.
Mom grabbed Jasper and pinched his cheeks. She gave him a good looking over and clicked her tongue at him.
"You're not eating enough, nor, I suspect, are you getting enough rest." She tsk'd over him. "And," she continued, "it's hardly any wonder. How's she doing? Any progress?"
"Doc's still got her in a coma. She's healing but not as fast as she should be, IF she's a wolf, it doesn't seem like she's a strong one or perhaps she's been separated from her wolf. Laurie's got some interesting theories. She's tugging some lines and calling in some people she knows to dig a little more into it. I just wish she'd wake up. It's driving me insane to feel the bond and not have it connecting to her."
"All in time, son, all in time. She'll wake up and we'll get this whole mess sorted."
We walked in and met with Lili and Laurie in Lisa's room. They'd been busy. They'd washed Lisa down and she looked a lot better already. She was getting her color back.