Nigal and Virgle were the two brothers stuck watching over me. I picked up that they were wolves when our scents were isolated in the elevator that seemed to be the only way in and out of that pint house. The aroma of the place seemed like it was used to being visited as the many scents that spread out in that place confused me. Nigal was the one that let me borrow his phone. They took me to the hospital in a set of vehicles that multiplied the security on me.
The hospital was fifteen minutes away from where I had been staying. It was a huge building about six floors high with a huge cross on the center of its entrance side. The hospital's name was Silverback Medical Center. We stepped into a lobby where I instantly made eye contact with Artyom. He was standing nearby in a changed outfit from the last I saw him. He was thuggish looking in my eyes now. The way he stood and the men that surrounded the room but were not looking at him. They all looked the same. The uniform was black tie and earpieces connected them. I could feel tension growing in the air. This wasn't just a pack that lived here...
"Jossie," Artyom said as he held out a hand for me to take as he greeted me with a welcoming smile.
I get it now... I think... Artyom wasn't just an alpha but a mob boss.
My throat was tightening with fear.
"You're taking me to see Aimee, right?" I urged.
"Of course."
I took his hand as he pulled me close and wrapped my arm to interlock his as I rested my hand on his muscular forearm, and he guided me to the elevator. We went up a few floors and exited onto the third floor. It was a short walk to a patient's room where he let me go inside. I entered the room and immediately put my hand over my mouth to stop me from gasping.
Aimee had bandages running along her limbs that were elevated. She was in a hospital gown but underneath I could see there were more bandages. She seemed freshly changed. Her hair looked silky clean, and she smelled like wolfsbane as an IV was hung up and feeding into her veins a sort of medicine I knew was made from wolfsbane. I felt tears rush to the surface as I went to her side. She was unconscious. A dark bruise was over her neck and running down her throat into the badges. She was alive! She was alive! I grabbed her hand as I rubbed it.
"You're alive," I breathed out a sigh of relief to see her with my own eyes.
"She'll recover," I heard him say as he came in and shut the door behind him. I could see beside her a table full of kid's drawings and get-well gifts. She was loved and did have a family. I wanted to meet them... She tried to save me.... I leaned my face down to her hand as I trembled in happiness.
"How long until she wakes up?" I asked him as I looked over my shoulder to see him staying by the door. He nodded as he came further into the room and took a seat in the guest chair.
"I'm not sure... She almost didn't make it. It's a miracle," he muttered as he pullet the chart off the table next to him. "In her examination they found traces of an unknown substance that created an allergic reaction in her bloodstream. They had to do a transfusion that almost cost her everything." He shook the chart in the air. I gasped as I looked her over. I couldn't tell... she looked so peaceful now. "It was from the bullets. They had released some type of chemical compound upon impact. Really, she should be dead." I shivered as I heard some type of aggressive growl toward the end.
"Do you wish her dead?" I trembled at the very thought.
"I wish them dead.... The ones that did this to my dearest cousin." He reached out and took my hand to spin me around. "He.... Did this..." His eyebrows scrunched into a cold dark stare into my eyes. I was shaking now out of control. I knelt in front of him as I nodded. My body was submerged in his sickening pheromones. He took my chin as he made me stay up. "I want to kill him more than anyone."
"I do too," I told him as I tried to compile myself. "I want him dead for what he did to Cas."
"That's good... But you can't kill him like you are now."
"I'm too weak," I agreed.
"I will be your backbone, your armor, and your weapon." He pulled my hand to his lips and kissed it gently. "I need a luna and you need a pack," he whispered toward me. "What do you say?"
I recoiled as I yanked my hand away from him. How could he ask me that? Now, when all of this is happening to me. It's like he's taking advantage of my situation.
"No," I told him as I shook my head. I don't care... even if he kicks me out of his pack, I don't want to mate with anyone else in my lifetime. I can't go through another round of pain and suffrage. I still feel the burdensome weight of my mate's death on my heart. "Every second..." I whispered as I tried to explain to him how I feel right now with Cas gone.
"I lost my mate too," he told me as he shook with anger. I could sense his emotions full of some deep hurt. Was he connected to how I was feeling suddenly? "I lost her before I even knew her. I know what it feels like better than anyone in comparison. Nobody will ever understand you the way I have," he told me as he reached for me, but I avoided his hands. "I'm not asking for much... Just meet me halfway."
"Fuck you," I growled as I stumbled backward onto the floor. "How can I trust anything you're saying right now? This feels like you're manipulating me into saying yes! Who was that man you let fall to his death? I saw that side of you, its vicious!" I felt it slip through my lips as my heart pounded in my chest. Who is he? What kind of man is he? What kind of beast is he!? I saw what he done on that field the day we met. All those men he was able to obliterate....
"My pack affairs are my own business- "
I cut him off as I waved my hands into a cutting motion to stop him from talking. How dare he even try to shut down what happened back there after wanting to make me his Luna. I refuse to be apart of lies.
"Yet you want me to stand by you in your pack? I wouldn't know anything that is going on. I would be useless to the pack at that point you don't need anyone but yourself."
I stood up as he started to come closer to me and I started for the door.
"Where are you going?" he asked as he laughed and ran his fingers through his hair to get it away from his eyes. "Get back here and stop running away."
"Fuck no," I said as I threw open the door and was met with his goons blocking me from leaving.
"Jossie this is a simple conversation," he told me. I watched as a goon grabbed the door and started to close me back in.
"I'm scared of you," I whined out. "Please stop." I couldn't face him, but I heard him stop halfway across the room. He sighed. The room felt calmer as his mood changed.
"I'm sorry... you're right... I can't start off like this. If you are to join us as Luna, we must do things a bit differently. That man you saw earlier was responsible for leaking your location to Camren's spies. We were trying to capture to interrogate him further when... well I suppose you saw the rest."
"I don't even care," I mumbled.
"No, you don't care about that," he chuckled out. "This is all excuses. You want to find a reason to say no. But you were born from alpha blood, and you understand the importance of that. We don't have to do things right away. We can date at first and when you're ready all I ask for is a son and you can live here peacefully the rest of your life while I give you everything you could ever want... including my pack strength as I deliver Camren's head on a silver platter and anyone else that ever wronged my luna."
My throat swelled in pain as I felt mixed emotions of disappointment with myself. I was falling for his promises. He was a savage with the way he spoke. It reminded me of my family back home... my pack... except he wasn't wanting to hurt me. He was threatening them to me. I looked down at the floor as I fiddled with the hem of my shirt.
"I'm so scared," I whispered to him. "I don't want to agree."
"I'm looking out for you in your best interest. There is nobody else worthy enough to be your alpha or replace Casimir besides me. Think of what I can provide you," he told me as he came over. I shrunk against the wall, but he walked past me as he opened the door to peer out at his goons. They split apart as they saw it was him to let him through. "Let's go out to eat. You don't want to wake her up, do you? She needs her rest."
"I can't love you," I told him weakly. He paused as he glanced back at me.
"Ditto. That makes this so much sweater of a deal. We both can take advantage of each other."
I couldn't respond but his eyes told me to come now as he left my view. I stood up slowly and followed him out as he waited for me at the end of the hall. I wrapped my arms around myself as I felt terrible... like I was cheating. I was considering his offer. He was right... the idea of getting to stay here was appealing. His pack was clearly powerful, and their eyes welcomed me in nods when I passed by. I was for the first time seeing welcoming smiles at pack mates. Sure, it was creepy here... The pack was structured weirdly, the environment was harsh, but I was far away from danger. I was feeling safe... even when he made me so afraid. I wasn't really scared of him but of his... offering.
I flinched as he brought his fingers up to my eyes and wiped away tears as he took me into the elevator. I remained silent on the way down as I kept my distance from him to think it over.
Was he meaning me harm at all?
No... I don't think I sensed anything.
This was all in my head.
It was in my head.
I was overthinking because I was afraid of replacing Cas.
Artyom knows I could never accept him as my mate, but he still wants to be so generous. He's giving me a chance to take advantage of something that could become good for me. He didn't have to offer this to me... He could have kicked me out by now.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," I whispered as we reached the ground floor. "You're not trying to manipulate me... I know this... You're a good person trying to offer me a better life here."
"That's not an answer," he told me with a sigh. He sounded impatient.
"I've seen something about you," I whispered as I thought back to the dead created with his own hands. Each time... It must have been in defense. This was all in my head to begin with. My mind was creating reasons to say no. But when I thought about what he said it was nothing but kindness to me.
"What's that?"
"That this is neutral grounds. This was purely to benefit the both of us. So... I will meet you halfway."
"That's you agreeing, right?"
"Yes..."
Alpha Artyom stepped off the elevator as his goons bowed their heads toward us as if shocked to see us so soon. The room fell silent. He held out a hand for me to take as I came out to be with him. He held my hand up as if victoriously showing me off. He pulled out a ring suddenly from inside his pocket and slipped it onto my finger.
"Meet your future Luna, Josephine." I tensed upfrom his words as he already decided to announce it without warning. He let myhand go and I held it up to my face to see the ring he slipped on. There was amoon rock wrapped in white gold leaf plating. It looked like inheritance jewelry.I heard the room start to clap in celebration as a few congratulations rotatedamongst the room. "Treat her well," he growled out the order into the air. "Andeveryone will put their life on the line if it means saving hers." He watchedas they nodded and agreed to his order. He turned to look at me as he pulled myface to look him in the eyes. "Our consummation will be on the next fullmoon."