Chapter 6

I hesitate for a moment, panicking. Should I chase her down and try to make her stay or should I tell Francis to get out? He has about 6 minutes if she continues to limp her way to the pack house, about three minutes if she runs. She stumbles in the distance and a wave of guilt washes over me. She took my pain as a penance for an injury she didn’t prevent. I lied to her and allowed her to take it, knowing exactly what she would feel. I jog over to her, watching as she steadies herself. Her skin is pale and sprinkled with sweat. She looks at me with determination. 

“I don’t need your help,” she says, her words clipped.

“I thought I would walk with you since I’m heading the same way.” I offer. She just nods as she looks forward and trudges on. She is about as tough as she is stubborn, and after only a few days, I can say with complete confidence, she is one of the most stubborn people I have met.

“Can I ask you some questions?” I ask.

“Depends on the question.”

“Guardian-related questions.”

“That’s fine.” She says through clenched teeth.

“How did you become a Guardian?” I ask.

“I was selected.” She clips out.

“Well, that much is obvious, but I mean how?”

“Samuel, The Lead committee member, found me in the woods when I was a kid. The next day I was in guardian training.” She shrugs.

“Ok, but what is a Guardian exactly?”

“Have you not heard the stories?” she stops to looking at me bewildered.

“I don’t pay attention to Lore.” I respond. She laughs at me. Even when she laughs, she is intimidating. I want so badly to allow myself to be impressed by her, but I hold it back. She has to have some ulterior motive. 

“You are a werewolf. You ARE lore.” she taps me in the forehead with her finger and then sighs. “Guardians are an elite group of people who are trained to be the best in every respect. We are the ultimate weapon and gift.”

“So a glorified bodyguard, then?” I snort. She stares at me, lost for words, and scoffs.

“No. We provide more than safety. We provide guidance, healing, both mental and physical, safety and companionship.” She says it with so much conviction I can feel how much she believes in what she does. She loves her occupation even if she seems stoic and bitter about it.

“Companionship?” I wiggle my brow at her. She rolls her eyes.

“Friendship, we are great for giving advice and confiding in. You will see Alpha. We will be great friends, even if I find you obnoxious.” She looks forward and continues to walk again. I glance down at my watch and take a moment to tap into the mind link.

          “Francis. Be done. We are coming back,” I say, quickly ending the link and starting back up behind her.

“So when will you give me my pain back?” I ask her 

“It will slowly leak back to you through the night. I only have partial use of my trained abilities until you agree to do the ceremony.”

“Who says I will agree?” I ask, scoffing. I’m being stubborn, I know that, but I can’t help but feel like I don’t have enough information about what I am getting myself into if I accept her as my guardian. 

“Oh, you will agree. Everyone always does. It would be stupid to refuse help in your situation.” 

“what’s that supposed to mean?”

“I don’t mean any offense. I’m only stating the facts.” 

“And what facts are they?” I ask angrily.

“You are clearly injured still. Your warriors are barely average and you repeatedly keep getting attacked by the rogue king himself.”

“There is no rogue king, he is just a myth,” I snort in annoyance.

“Oh, there is definitely a rogue king, and with your denial, I would say he is the least of your problems. You seem to lack a functioning view of reality.”

“So that’s why you are here, then? To protect me from the big bad rogue king?” I say in a mocking tone. She stops and winces, her hand flying to her leg, where my phantom pain throbs.

“I am here to protect you, help you. They sent me here with nothing more than a ‘Keep him alive, he is important to the order.”

“They had to have told you more than that, given you a little file or something that you can refer to,” I ask her, growing desperate and angry. Why is it so hard to get answers?

“What don’t you get? I have given you all the information I was given.” She throws her hands in the air in defeat. It would appear she gets grumpy when she is in pain. I just stare at her as she stands fuming before me waiting for me to question her further. She grows impatient and stalks off with her limp leg.

“Wait,” I call out to her, pinching the bridge of my nose. “Why didn’t you intervene earlier when the rogues attacked me?” I chase after her, coming up to her side as she pants.

“I thought you would be a better fighter.” She says simply. I can’t help but scoff at her as her jab hurts my pride. I’m an excellent warrior. When my bum leg doesn’t act up, that is. But she doesn’t know that the pain she is carrying for me is many years old and steeped in wolfsbane. Though I have to admit it’s satisfying watching someone of her status struggle with the pain I’ve come accustomed to.

“It was like twelve to 1 and I was injured.” I retort quickly.

“I’ve had worse odds,” she mutters. Stopping again to catch her breath. 

“Oh yes, big bad Guardian” I jest. Her eyes snap to mine, a look of anger and annoyance sitting on the surface of her hazel eyes. A small amount of fear runs through me as I swallow hard.

“Is this all some joke to you, Alpha Wade?” She fumes. “It is not fun for me to have to come here to protect an egotistical male who refuses my aid and experience all for the sake of his manliness. You know what. Fuck it.”

She reaches out, thrusting her hand roughly to my arm. I gasp out as pain radiates from her hand in waves ebbing at the edge of my sanity. I suck in my breath and close my eyes tight. She releases a breath in relief as she steps back from me. I notice the pain is not nearly as bad as it had been, and I look at her in shock. 

“Twenty questions is over, I will see you on the pitch bright and early for training tomorrow at Seven.” and with that, she storms away, the limp she had taken from me completely gone.

I take a tentative step, feeling the pain present in my leg again. It radiates up my thigh and into my back as I breathe deeply. The pain is not as debilitating as it usually is, and I look up in shock at her back as she grows smaller in the distance. The pain she felt is my everyday pain, the pain I have grown accustomed to over the last 5 years. I could see her struggling under the weight of it but without the help of the alpha strength she was still able to walk around and move, and albeit angrily, she was able to talk and answer questions. I’ve never experienced a pain share before, in truth, I hadn't even known it was a thing. 

 “Francis,” I say through our mind link. 

“Yes Alpha?” He responds

“Update?” I ask hoping for something

“I found a small locked box but I saw her through the window and stopped to get the scent dampener”

“Good. Now, what do you know about pain shares?” I ask him as I make my way back to the pack house.

“You mean the healer’s hand?” He asks in excitement. Of course, he knows the actual name for it. Guardians are a kind of celebrity to some wolves, apparently, my Beta is no exception.

“Sure.”

“Pretty much they can take the pain of the person they are assigned to. They absorb it and by doing so it allows the body of the injured person to heal while the guardian simultaneously heals the injury through their own body. I don’t fully understand it, but it's a crazy concept.” Francis answers.

“In theory, if Ali were to do the healer's hand to me, how would the wolfsbane in my wound affect her?”

“You have enough wolfsbane in your injury to keep it from healing, even with alpha strength and abilities. I would think it would render her unable to move, if not put her in the hospital. But I’m just spouting off assumptions here.” I close the mind link and walk directly towards the packhouse. It seems I have some more guardian research to do.

By the time I arrive at the pack house, Ali is already here. I walk into the kitchen taking a seat at the large island in the middle of the open area. Ali sits quietly at the table with her laptop and an apple as she looks completely sucked in. Her keys are clacking as she types, followed by a lull while she reads and takes a bite of her apple. I can't help but watch her movements, the more time I spend with her the more intriguing she becomes. For someone so blunt she still remains such a mystery. I hadn't noticed the scar above her eye until today, a faint thin white line running the length of her brow and stopping just before her temple.

"You are staring, Alpha," she says without looking up as she types away at her keyboard.. 

"I'm trying to understand you" I admit not taking my eyes off of her. She sighs heavily.

"What is there to understand, I have told you everything I know." she finally looks up at me with curiosity. "You are the one who refuses the bond that will allow us into each other's head"

"Sounds like a mate bond," I say as I scoff at her. She shakes her head.

"Leave it to an unmated alpha to assume what either bond feels like when he has had neither." she scowls at me. She has got me there. I have yet to meet my true mate and I have never had a guardian, I know she aims to make it an insult, but is it possible to be insulted by these truths?

"Look you need to understand, I want to find my true mate. But I'm running out of time." I find myself feeling defensive. 

"You are an Alpha. Find the strength to resist your wolf." She says as if this is an easy task.

"You of all people should know wolves with power need to fight the animal instincts more. We are stronger because we have a more primal connection. My wolf needs to mate, and my true mate continues to elude me!"

"If you say so, Alpha." She mutters, turning back to her computer and taking an extraordinarily loud bite of her apple. This woman is infuriating. How can she not understand? a wolf with her abilities must struggle to stay in check especially since she also is mateless. Unless she is lying to me about something. My wolf perks up at the thought growing angry at the thought of someone trying to deceive us. We refuse to be made a fool of.