POV: Gasper
"Wolfsbane. It'll weaken her wolf to slow this down until I figure out what is happening."
Suddenly, his mate snapped.
She leaped from the pool and threw Gasper's father out with her. Then she knocked the doctor back into the door. She ran to the farthest corner of the room, trying to make herself small.
"Stay," Gasper commanded everyone.
He went to her, pulling her against him.
"No more." She whimpered into his neck, trembling.
"What? What is it?"
She searched his face, her eyes wide with terror.
"They are going to lock me up again. I won't go."
Who had locked her up? When? For how long? Questions for another time.
"No one is going to lock you up, darling. I promise."
Gasper looked over. His father had his arms firmly around the doctor while he lowered his mask.
"I need to smell..." The doctor stopped and froze. "Oh, Goddess."
Gasper's father pulled the doctor's mask back up and held him until the doctor indicated he was okay.
"What?" Gasper asked.
"This isn't natural heat. Someone forced her into this with drugs. That's why it feels wrong. I have no idea where this person got it. It's highly illegal and carries a death sentence for using it."
"Illegal? She-wolves sometimes need drugs to go into heat."
The doctor cut him off.
"That is different. That's when there is some imbalance, and it's done with consent. Usually, a she-wolf would take it in the presence of her mate. I think this is one of the other drugs that have been outlawed. It will keep a she-wolf in heat to the point of pain to get them to submit to their mate when they are unwilling. My guess is someone slipped it to her, and I am assuming it wasn't you."
"No, it was not. I found her like this. Alone."
The doctor sighed and looked between them.
"She's your mate? You are sure of that?"
Her eyes changed to gold, and they answered yes at the same time.
"If you don't mate and mark her soon, she will burn to death from the inside out. Nothing else will work. At least, nothing I know of. It's the only way to get her hormone levels back down. I'm sorry I don't have a better option."
"Son, it's okay." His father walked over to him. "She will understand."
Gasper was openly crying now. This was not how this was supposed to go. He was supposed to meet her and fall in love. Prove himself worthy of her. Create a beautiful day and night for her. This felt dirty and desperate. He loved her before he even knew her, and hurting her felt worse than dying. Mating and marking her without even a single conversation might hurt her.
Not doing it will hurt her more.
Azreal's voice cut through his anguish. The wolf was right. Gasper needed to follow through whether he liked it or not.
"Alpha, there is no other option. If you want her to live." The doctor's tone was grave. "It might take a few days of mating, but you need to move forward like one normally would. You need to complete the process."
His mother chimed in.
"The Moon Goddess gave her to you to care for, no matter what that means. And she needs you right now."
"We will go." His father squeezed his shoulder before walking out. The door closed, sealing them off from the rest of the world.
Gasper looked into her eyes. They were golden again.
"I love Azreal. I promise she will love you in time. She always does."
"Does she want to be with someone? Pups?"
"Everyone wants to be with someone, don't they? And she has one of those things inside us. She can't get pregnant right now."
An IUD, probably. Gasper nodded. For a few seconds, jealousy flared. He wondered why she needed one, but he pushed the thought away. The past didn't matter. Humans didn't have fated mates they waited for, so she would never have understood she should save herself. As long as he was her last, it was fine. Her eyes turned green as he carried her back to the bed. For the first time, she seemed slightly coherent.
He kissed her gently.
"Please make this stop." She begged.
"I can fix this." He ran his hand down her front gently. "And if you don't want to be mated to me, we can part ways. I will reject you. I won't fight it."
Once bonded, a wolf's soul was complete. The power needed to rule and thrive unlocked. Losing that was like losing half of yourself. It was more complex than simply going back to before being mated. Not having his fated mate would leave him at a disadvantage, if he survived the rejection at all.
But he wouldn't force her to stay. He would risk his sanity for her happiness if it came down to it. She was, after all, his mate.
She flinched when he said that.
"You don't think I'm pretty, do you?"
"What? Of course, I do."
And damn, she was. He couldn't look away from her. Her hair was so soft, the waves reminding him of the ocean. Those eyes. Could a green be more clear? It was like looking at grass under icy moonlight. She was incredibly fit and strong for someone so small. At first glance, there was innocence, but if you took a second look, she was pure power. It was as if she was the pup of two alphas, which made this even more confusing. Alphas would not let their daughters be alone and unmated. It was too dangerous. They were coveted to produce stronger pups. But if she didn't know of her wolf, maybe her mother didn't either? Her father could have abandoned her. Or they died, and a human adopted her. Hiding her wolf would keep her protected while living amongst humans. Maybe her family was running from something. He wasn't sure they were wrong, either, if she had been given drugs to force heat. Someone wanted to breed her. That was not a good sign. He needed to investigate this quickly.
"You're very pretty." She ran her hand down his chest. "You deserve someone better. Not a psycho who talks to a wolf."
"We are both psychos, I guess." He smiled and kissed her shoulder. "I've waited for you for so long. There is no one else I could ever want."
The heat hit her again. Her skin was so hot it burned his. The calm Randolph had brought her was completely gone. Her back arched, and she screamed.
"Easy, girl." He climbed on top of her. "Can we pretend we just went for a walk through the woods? I brought you flowers, and we swam under the waterfalls." He kissed her deeply. "And you looked so beautiful when the sun went down."
"I don't care for flowers." She told him, which made him laugh. It seemed like a silly thing to latch onto from everything he had just said.
"Jewelry?"
"Or chocolates?"
"Hmm, let's pretend I brought all three to cover my bases." He moved to her neck and then to her breasts, kissing and biting gently there.
"What did I bring to this date?" She asked.
"Yourself." He cupped her with his hand and slid his fingers inside. With how wet she was, no preparation was needed. All he could think was how much he wanted to be inside of her. He released the hold on his control, and his desire consumed him. "It's all I could ever want."
That was not a line. He had everything else but his mate. Now that he had her, he would give it all to her and never let her go.
The heat built between them, overwhelming and necessary. What followed was instinct and need, the bond pulling them together with a force neither could resist. She pulled him closer, and he gave himself over to the moment, to her, to the fate that had brought them together.
When the moment came for the marking, she moved with surprising strength and speed, flipping him beneath her. The power in her shocked him, made him want her even more.
"Cum for me. I need to make you mine." He kissed her, dragged his teeth down her cheek to her neck, and licked her marking spot.
"I will make you mine first." She growled before sinking her teeth into his neck.
The bite sent him over the edge. He bit down into her neck, completing the bond. She moaned against his flesh and drank from the wound, making him feel dizzy. When she finally retracted her canines, she licked him clean, sealing the wound. He did the same, kissing the mark longer, drawing out her pleasure.
She let out a hissing sound when he pulled away, keeping her arms and legs wrapped tightly around him even as he could feel her drifting off to sleep.
"Sookie. Sookie. My name."
It was quite an unusual name. He was sure there was a story behind it that he wanted to hear.
"Gasper." Her eyes closed.
He laid her down on the pillow and covered her with the thinnest sheet he could find.
There was no sign of the heat coming back, so Gasper grabbed some shorts from the drawer. He knew his parents wouldn't leave. They were waiting downstairs, scared.
He walked into the kitchen, and his mother was busy cooking. It was weird to see her cooking like that. Cooking was not something the luna of the pack would do besides baking for fun on occasion or a Sunday night dinner. They had a large kitchen staff to cook for the entire pack, so it wasn't a good use of her time. Still, it was nice of her to do it for Sookie.
When his mother looked at him and saw his neck, she didn't comment. She knew his decision and seemed proud of it. He didn't know what he felt as he dropped into one of the kitchen chairs.
"I don't know what she likes." That was his mother's explanation for why she was making every cuisine in existence.
"I don't either," he admitted, still in a haze.
"Son." His father touched his shoulder, and Gasper jumped. He hadn't registered him there before.
"What type of person does something like that?" Gasper asked, tears flowing again. He had never been so emotional. Alphas weren't allowed to be, but he felt shattered. Every movement and every thought was painful. It felt as if someone had injected silver directly into his veins, rendering him powerless to do anything.
He heard the burners click off, and his mother sat in the chair next to him. She pulled him in for a hug as if he was still a child.
"I don't know." He knew that would be her answer, but he had hoped for more. He pulled away and leaned on the table, his head in his hands.
"We need to find who did it." His father's tone was deadly serious. Gasper felt his anger growing. How dare anyone harm what was his? This was a direct challenge, and he could not let it go unpunished.
"I want them brought to me. I will rip their hearts from their chests."
"You have to keep your calm, Gasper." His father warned. "I will have the area searched to see if we can pick up anything. Until then, you stay here. It could come on again over the next couple of days. She'll need you to help her. And it's safe here. We will have warriors posted around until you come home."
"You go back to her." His mother instructed, holding out a plate with the weirdest assortment of food he had ever seen on one plate. "I look forward to meeting my daughter."
"Mom, what if..."
"The mate bond is very powerful. Trust in the Goddess." Gasper inwardly rolled his eyes. He believed, but he didn't think the Goddess was as infallible as everyone assumed. It seemed more likely that she set up these bonds, but they sometimes went differently than she planned. Money, power, lust, and pride all tested the bonds. Fear, anger, betrayal, and trauma all broke the bonds. Not everything was forgivable.
He went back upstairs and placed the food on the nightstand closest to her. She didn't wake, so he crawled in from the other side and pulled her into his arms. She whined a little and was starting to feel warm to the touch.
Azreal. He called to his wolf.
Azreal reached out to Katherine and wrapped himself around her, trying to calm the storm inside her.
Don't have much stamina, little human, do you?
Please just let her sleep. Gasper begged him to help calm her down and not lose control.
Get that thing out of her. We have to give her a pup.
Slow down. No one in this foursome is prepared for that. He didn't even know if she wanted pups, let alone if she wanted them with him.
It's the only way to protect her. She has to be completely ours. Azreal growled. Someone can still take her from us.
What do you mean? She's marked now. Why would that not be enough? No one could take her now, at least not without much effort.
Stupid human. Azreal scoffed and shut him out.
Horny wolf. Gasper almost laughed. Almost.
He closed his eyes, focusing on her energy mixing with his.
"Be calm, darling," he whispered. "Everything's alright."
If he kept himself calm, she might follow suit.
Her eyes opened and flashed gold.
"Katherine."
"She's hungry, and I smell food." Then she looked sheepish, as if afraid to eat without permission.
"Okay." They shifted to sitting, and she stared at the plate.
"She doesn't want you to watch us eat," Katherine said.
Gasper's eyes widened.
"Why?"
"She doesn't want you here at all." The words seemed as painful for Katherine to say as they were for Gasper to hear. "She thinks you think she's a whore. Seeing her eat as much as she wants will make you think she's fat. I never really understood why Sookie thinks that being fat is bad. If you are as thin as she likes to keep us, you look poor. Anyway, she is sensitive about stuff like that when she gets too emotional. And she's about as emotional as she has ever been right now."
"What if I shower and come back?" He offered as a compromise.
"Yes. Do that."
He got up but stopped to ask one more thing.
"Katherine, where did you come from? How does she not know who she is?"
"Her father was an alpha who raped Sookie's mom in the city." She told him. "After his mate was murdered, he went mad. Sookie's mom didn't know the man was a wolf. I think that her mother wasn't fully human and may have had a wolf. They called her crazy, and she lives in a hospital. Sookie lived with her grandmother after they took her mother away. I don't remember the last time she saw the old woman. Guess before we moved out. Honestly, I'm not sure any of it is true, though. It's just what Sookie was told."
"Didn't you talk to Sookie? Explain things?" He asked, and she rolled her eyes at him.
"They kept me away with poison." She said. "They called us crazy too. Poison was the key to leaving the hospital."
So that was why she freaked out about the wolfsbane. They probably drugged her extensively when she was in the hospital.
"I haven't spoken to Sookie in a very long time."
"Do you know who gave you the poison that caused the heat?"
"No. I don't." She picked up the fork and pointed at the shower with it.
For now, he would play along. But he didn't plan to shower every time his mate was eating. That would be too many showers. Plus, when he looked back, seeing how happy the food made her, he didn't want to miss that sight. He agreed with Katherine. She was way too thin to be his mate. All the other alphas would think he was abusing her or that he was too poor to support her.
A problem for another day.