My arm throbbed as I tried to sit up. A warm hand stopped me and gently pushed me back down. My eyes flew open to see Doctor Lucas sitting beside me.
"What … what time .. is it?" I croaked.
"It's around ten o'clock," he smiled.
In a panic, I tried to shoot up again but again he stopped me.
"I need to go!" I insisted. "The kitchen will need cleaning up and …"
"You're not going anywhere, Willow. I have informed your father," he told me.
My eyes widened and a sudden beeping sound alerted me to the monitors beside me. Doctor Lucas looked concerned as he placed a hand on my leg.
"Willow?" he asked. "What's wrong?"
I shook my head and tried to get up again. I shouldn't stay here. The longer I was away from my duties the worse the punishment would be. Once, I'd studied all night for a test which meant I had slept in causing me to miss my alarms. Breakfast hadn't been done and my father had refused to allow me to eat for three days.
"Willow?"
I turned to see Max leaning against the wall. He walked over and sat on the bed beside me.
"Willow," Doctor Lucas spoke drawing my attention back to him. "I need to ask you something and I need you to be honest with me. I promise you, nothing you say to me now will get back to the Alpha if you don't want it to ... Okay?"
I nodded, dread filling my stomach. Max took my hand and it soothed me a little.
"Why do you do all the cleaning and cooking?"
"Father ordered me to take over the cleaning and cooking. He said that I should be able to do it alone so he sent all the other staff away. He said I wasn't good at anything else so I better make myself useful. He said his new mate couldn't be expected to do all of that. I had assumed she would take over but it never happened."
"Why didn't you choose to go to university?"
"Father wouldn't pay for me to go and I couldn't get a scholarship. I'm not sure why."
Doctor Lucas stood and paced for a moment. I kept my head down not wanting to meet his eyes.
"I've always wondered. A few pack members questioned your role at first since you were so young. The alpha told everyone that you insisted on taking on some of the Luna's duties to honour your mother and that you refused to go to university so you could continue to stay here to serve the pack."
I sighed, I figured he'd done something like that since no one seemed to question me.
"Now tell me why your wolf is absent, why she's not healing you."
My heart froze as I stared into my lap.
"I can't …" I told him.
"Tell me, Willow, I need to understand everything so I can help you."
"I … I …" I started.
Max squeezed my hand and I took a deep breath.
"I ... found my mate," I whispered.
Max and Doctor Lucas gasped as a single tear ran down my cheek.
"He rejected you?" Max asked and I shook my head.
"He was going to. Father even told me to accept the rejection if I found my mate. He was sure my mate wouldn't want me, and of course, he was right. My mate said that he wouldn't accept me but he also wouldn't reject me. It would be more fun that way."
My body sagged against the bed.
"I found out why later. He wanted me to feel when he slept with his girlfriend. I collapsed before when you helped me Max because he mated with her, without rejecting me, without breaking our connection."
"What!" Max growled. "It's the beta's son, isn't it?"
I nodded. Doctor Lucas sighed and patted my leg gently.
"That explains why your wolf isn't healing you. The mate bond is powerful, a true mate bond is even more so. Your wolf is in pain and slowly disappearing inside you," he explained.
"Why haven't you rejected him?" Max asked.
I furrowed my brow as I stared at him.
"He has to reject me first before I can accept it … doesn't he?"
"No Willow," Doctor Lucas started. "You have every right to reject your mate just as much as he does. The Goddess would not only give the wolf a choice and not the mate."
He patted my arm with a warm smile, hope filled my chest.
"Repeat these words, I, Willow Benoit, reject Trip Billings as my fated mate."
That pang grew larger, could I be free from this pain? I nodded and took a deep breath.
"I, Willow Benoit, reject Trip Billings as my fated mate."
As soon as the words left my mouth, something snapped and I felt a weight lifted. The constant pain in my chest eased and my body felt lighter.
"Will my wolf return?" I asked.
"Yes, eventually. It will take your wolf a little longer to understand this was the right choice. Though she was hurting because of the bond, to her, he was her mate. So, when she sees that her mate wasn't right for either of you, she will return. However, your healing should get better now that the bond isn't dragging you down."
I smiled weakly at him as he patted my leg once again and then left. Max smiled at me and for the first time in a long time, I smiled back.
"How do you feel?" he asked.
"Better," I sighed happily.
"That explains his reaction when he caught me holding you," he guessed.
"Yeah, it's funny, isn't it? He doesn't want me but won't allow anyone else to have me."
"It's the classic asshole move. It happened to me in a way too."
I tilted my head at him and he smiled sadly.
"A few years ago, we had a visiting pack. I was in my last year of high school and had just started my training to be the next beta. The visiting Alpha, Luna and his daughter, Sophia, arrived with their beta and beta's son."
Max looked like he was staring straight into the past with such a sad longing in his eyes.
"I had only met the Alpha, beta and his son. The son was a piece of work just like Trip. He tried to appear like the big man and even talked over his father when my alpha asked him a question. Luckily, his alpha put him in place and he shut up for the rest of the meeting."
"The next morning, I saw Sophia across the compound. At the time I was in another meeting and was pulled up about my lack of focus. I explained why and everyone seemed happy, except the beta's son."
Instinctively, I reached out a hand and placed it over his. He smiled sadly at me, twisted his hand in mine and squeezed. The heat from the touch made me gasp a little and the heart monitor beeped loudly. Max smirked at me as I blushed.
"Anyway, I had planned to go see her that evening but before I could, a sharp, shooting pain gripped my heart and I collapsed. My sister and best friend were with me at the time and rushed me to the doctor."
Worry settled in my stomach as his grip tightened.
"When I woke up my father was at my bedside. I insisted on seeing her, I knew something bad had happened. My father told me, the beta's son had been pissed that she had a mate and forced her to mate with him. He'd always wanted her because she was the alpha's daughter but she had insisted on waiting for her mate. So, instead of living with him as his mate, she killed herself. She died before I could …"
I sat up and wrapped my arms around him. He pushed his face into my neck and sighed heavily. My heart broke for him.