Mazelina felt a warm body around hers as she came to, feeling dizzy and with a slight headache. She groaned and the body shifted. She felt hands on her face, fingers stroking her cheekbones. "Open your eyes, Lina."
Mazelina blinked, flinching at the bright overhead light in the room. Soon, though, her eyes adjusted to see Turk's worried grey eyes right in front of her. "My head hurts," she croaked. She tried to swallow and found that her throat hurt too as if she'd been screaming.
"I know. It will go away in a few minutes." He stared at her, eyes fixed on hers with an intensity she had never seen on him before.
"What's wrong? What happened?"
"Something that shouldn't have happened until we got home," he said, eyes narrowing.
"Did I do something I wasn't supposed to?"
He shook his head. "It wasn't your fault." He brushed a thumb over her cheek where a tear had slipped to. "Lina, I want you to listen to me very carefully, okay?" She nodded, then cringed as the movement made her head flare up. "Do you remember hearing voices in your head?" he asked.
Mazelina thought and nodded. "They were loud. Too loud."
He nodded. "What you heard were those of the pack, my pack." Her brows furrowed in confusion. Turk went on. "When you and I got mated, it created a bond between us. Because I am Alpha and you are Luna, that means you also have a bond with the pack. You can hear and sense their thoughts and feelings. It just wasn't supposed to happen so far from there."
"I don't want to hear them!" she breathed. Her heart began to race. "It's too much! Turk, I can't handle all that in my head!"
Turk wiped her tears away and kissed her head. "You can, but not all at once. I blocked out all the voices except mine so that I can teach you to open your mind to certain others you want and block all those you don't."
Mazelina squeezed her eyes shut and still felt as if there was a ringing in her head. She was grateful for his help and felt weak that she needed it. As Luna, she guessed she should have been able to handle the stress, but she failed. "I'm sorry," she whispered.
"Do not apologize, Lina. It wasn't supposed to happen. It wasn't supposed to hit you all at once."
She shuddered a little, then breathed deeply for a few minutes to get her bearings. When she opened her eyes once more, she saw they weren't alone in the room. She blushed and ducked her head in Turk's shirt.
From somewhere behind her, Rudi said, "Don't be embarrassed, Luna. We were even balling our eyes out when we got the pack bond."
"No, you balled your eyes out. The rest of us just shed a few tears," she heard a female say. "What confuses me is why the bleeding?"
"Unlike the rest of us, she got hit all at once with every voice in the pack," Turk explained. "It was so violent, her mind couldn't handle the pressure." He kissed Mazelina gently. "If I hadn't come, she would likely have died from it."
This scared Mazelina so much, she began shaking.
Turk tightened his arms and said, "It's alright, Lina. It won't happen again. I've made sure of it."
Mazelina nodded but didn't stop shaking. It took a few minutes for her to calm down, but her body continued to shudder.
Then, a knock made her jump, it was so loud. Turk growled deep in his throat and stroked her hair. "Easy," he whispered as someone answered it.
Moments later, she heard, "Dinner time."
Turk covered Mazelina in a large coat to keep her warm. He could still feel her body shaking as if she were in the northern mountains, yet it was quite warm where they were. He knew she was in shock and still processing what had happened to her, so he stayed close, holding her hand and leading her to where firelight played with the shadows of the night.
He felt her cringe as they got closer to the crowds of Skrimir's pack. She halted and took a step back, giving a small whimper again. He enveloped her in his arms and made soothing noises in her ear, to which she relaxed.
"It's loud," she said into his shirt.
"I know. Take a moment and get used to it. No need to rush, Lina."
Mazelina did take a few long moments of deep breathing and listening to voices around her to get used to how loud everything seemed to her. Turk held her as she quietly did this, nodding to passersby and watching his warriors spread out around the food to gorge themselves for the first time in a while.
Compared to him being alone and entering the pack territory, having his mate was different and everyone knew it. Once newly mated, the couple wouldn't want to be away from each other for long, especially in unfamiliar territory. Also, males tend to want extra protection for their females, and depending on if they are Alpha, they are allowed to bring in their accompanying warriors to guard her as an extra backup. If an Alpha was not allowed to bring protection while he is newly mated, said alpha would be allowed to punish those who dared to deny him. It would be considered a threat against his mate, which isn't tolerated. Of course, the new mate must be with the alpha for the extra guard to be there.
If a mate of alpha had finally allowed her mate to mark her and consummate, then she would be allowed a guard to enter any territory with her if a mate was not present. Because a mate is most important to a wolf, except for pups, the mate is always protected wherever she goes. Sometimes, even the males take an extra guard if the female is worried. But newly mated wolves have been given this privilege when packs kept attacking an Alpha's mate in their territory. It was a deadly time for females mostly, and there had to be a way for everyone to be happy and at least extra safe when entering other territories.
"I'm ready," Mazelina said a few minutes later, lifting her head. She still had a look of pain on her face, but Turk could tell it was slowly ebbing.
"Are you hungry?" She nods and lets him lead her to the food where she stacked her plate with salads, fruits, meats, and desserts. Turk piled two plates then found a table for them and sat.
He noticed in time that she wasn't eating as much as he'd hoped and looked down at her. She pushed a strawberry around while her face contorted with pain again. He grimaced.
"This is hurting you," he stated, grabbing her plate and pouring her food onto one of his.
She sat up and scowled. "What was that for?" she asked loudly, then flinched.
He scowled back. "I'm taking you to the cabin. We'll eat there. You're hurting."
"No. It's fine," she said, but blood began to ooze from her ears.
Taking a napkin, Turk wiped it away and felt his anger rising. "Lina, you are not fine. Being here is hurting you too much."
She opened her mouth to protest, then flinched again when Skrimir's voice boomed, "You can't leave! The party is just about to start!"
Turk growled at the alpha for bringing tears to Mazelina's eyes. "We must. My mate is not well!"
Skrimir scoffed and grabbed Mazelina by the wrist to pull her to her feet. She gave a surprised and fearful squeal before the alpha pressed her to his side. Turk stood and gave a low, menacing growl at the male, ready to pounce.
"Turk, no!" Mazelina cried, still trying to get away. "Don't do it!"
Skrimir grinned. "Cone on, Turk! Go ahead and attack! You know you want to!"
"Turk!" Turk glanced at his mate who was looking at him with pleading eyes.
"You're hurt and he's taking you from me!" he growled.
She opened her mouth to respond but Anju came up behind Skrimir and whacked a bat over his head. He dropped to the ground, nearly taking Mazelina with him, but Anju caught her with an arm around her waist. The warrior female looked around at the wolves circling them. "No one touches my Luna except me!" she snarled. "Back off!"
This order was enhanced when the others of Turk's packmates stood around Mazelina and got into a fighting position.
Skrimir's pack backed away, knowing their alpha had done the wrong thing and the warriors were only defending their leader.
Anju gave Mazelina to Turk, who had to lift her in his arms because she had passed out from either pain or the intensity of the situation. "I'll get the food," Anju said. "Get her somewhere quiet. We'll follow."
"Thank you," he said. The female only nodded, so he ran with Mazelina towards his cabin.
Instead of going inside though, He set her down on the grass and ran to grab the quilt from the bed, laid it out on the ground, then put her on top of it. He lay on his side beside her, wiping away a little more blood that had dribbled from her ear.
A few moments later, Anju and the other five arrived and sat in a half-circle in front of him, handing him two large plates of food. Anju was murmuring to herself about untrained alphas who didn't know their manners as she ripped a chicken breast apart.
She stopped when Mazelina shifted and opened her eyes.
Mazelina looked around at everyone, then noticed the silence. Her head wasn't hurting anymore and she could sit up. "How do you feel?" Turk asked as softly as he could.
"Much better," she said. "Why was being there so painful to my ears?"
"Because all the voices you heard in your head made your ears sensitive. In time, you won't hurt as much." Turk handed her a plate and she took it gratefully.
She looked at him. "What happened to Skrimir?"
Turk gestured over to Anju. "Ask her."
Mazelina looked at the female with surprise who said, "I hit him with a bat." She didn't seem bothered by this fact and took a bite of her chicken. When she swallowed, she said, "No one is allowed to touch you except us. The Alpha broke the law by just touching you, but did worse when he tried to take you from Turk without permission."
"Is he dead?"
Rudi chuckled. "No. It takes more than that for an Alpha to die, Mazelina. No, Anju just hit him hard enough to be out for a few hours."
Feeling relieved, Mazelina began to eat greedily. Before, she felt sick from all the noise and commotion. Now, in the quiet, she was starving. To her surprise, the voices of Turk and the others weren't painful to her ears. In fact, they were soothing. While she didn't pay attention to anything being said, she did relax in the soothing tones each made. It made her eyelids heavy, her body feel like it could fall back with a light breeze. It felt good.