Chapter 5

5

Adriel

"You're an asshole, Ad," Charlotte complimented. I winced when she finished stitching the last wound once again. This time she began with sewing the smallest one so I could lose enough blood as a penalty. A stupid grin was sitting on my lips, if not she was my only sister, I would have slit her throat for cussing me and behaving this way, but knowing she was the queen of my realm, I couldn't fight back. I let her chide me. I thought that she would stop in a minute or two but the lecture went on and on until she asked her mate to fetch her some water.

"Babe, forgive that poor soul, he had to do this to save a dying girl," William tried to defend me, but successfully earned a glare from her vexed mate. Charlotte's jaw was clenched, but I feigned unbothered about it. My concern was dripping for the pitiable girl lying beside me. She looked bony, barely surviving on the breathing mask. It was my hundredth's time gazing at her scraggy face, yet I couldn't look away from her, nor was I bewailing how thin she was.

"What do you think happened to her?" I found myself questioning both of them as Charlotte handed me a pill which I swallowed flowingly. Charlotte's gaze followed mine behind her glasses. She blinked thrice before turning toward me.

"I don't know until the blood result comes, but what can I tell you guys is she's been whipped, pretty awfully," She answered back, walking close to examine her. "Yeah, we can see that," William, who stood near me with his hands crossed against his chest, murmured, eyes on his mate. Charlotte pushed her eyelids down to inspect her stoned blue eyes.

"She has been through a rough patch, which has shaped into a trauma somewhat. Her vital signs aren't regular. Plus, there are scars on her neck, back and limbs, more like someone scratched her. I don't even want to imagine what's been done to this poor soul. She must haven't had enough energy to fight back. Look again, her body, she seems like someone who's been a victim of a vampire's blood-sucking," Charlotte set forth her scars that she wore proudly. Blue blemishes were prominent, as well as scratches.

My blood pressure accelerated, more because Zion was out of my hands. He couldn't stand by the fact his 'supposed mate' was hurt. He was ready to burn the whole town and find out who treated her this way. He acted as if she solely belonged to him, but we both somehow knew it's just a result of our frustration, we were tired of finding our beloved mate.

"She could be ours!" He argued back. He was so full of hopes yet I didn't count on any. The hope only kills a person more than soothing him if proved wrong. Moreover, an alpha like me could not exercise leniency in terms of calling any impuissant girl my mate.

"How can you say that? We would have known it if she was ours!" It was our hundredth time arguing on the same topic. If I felt her being mine, I would have torn Jackson in halves the same moment, but that time only uncertainty filled me. On the other hand, he just couldn't get off the fact we found her. I just wondered how badly he would be hurt to know she was not ours. I felt sorry for him in advance.

"Maybe she is not an adult enough to shift into her wolf, that's why we couldn't detect any pulls, nor smell any familiarity," He reasoned. Mates were supposed to share the same scent and if she was ours, she would have been smelling like us, but wasn't. That's what Zion couldn't sink down his chest.

But still, to wipe away his scepticism, I nonchalantly asked Charlotte, who had pinned a needle in her vein to inject the blood drip. "How old do you think she will be? She looks... quite young... isn't it?" I hoped I didn't come off as an obsessor.

She kept an eyes on her and other of the bag of blood when she replied, "She is hardly seventeen, that's my quick guess, by observing her for an hour and calculating all of the medical measures, I came across the realisation she is a human and been in a tough place...a bloody tough one," She turned to glance at us; me and William. "Maybe all her life,"

"Oh shoot. Who do you think could do this to her? Tyson? Jack? Roger?" William questioned me, revising name on his tongue. I was buried in my pensive thoughts. My head forming notions of various possibilities. "I think Tyson, he has a fetish for abusing women. He is fucking sadist," William added. As long as I kept going further in imagining ways of how someone tortured her, I kept growing impatient. A sense of keeping her under my protection overruled every suggestion in my head.

I was ready to keep her in my pack as long as it meant to keep her safe, and close to my perception.

"When will she wake up?" I enquired, ruggedly.

"Depends on her metabolism, if the medicine has started to kick in her system, then I can tell in an hour, if not then I'll have to look out for a different way," Charlotte replied, gaining a nod from me. Suddenly, the door was knocked and I commanded the requestor to get in only to find Sarah coming in with a slight bow when she saw me.

"Alpha," She murmured.

"Sarah," I replied back.

"I apologise for the intrusion, Alpha, but we need Dr. Charlotte in the laboratory, there are some problems we are facing that we all think Dr. Charlotte can settle down," Sarah announced. Charlotte turned toward her, her forehead forming lines while holding an injection in her hands that she was about to give the poor one.

"What is it about?" She asked, blinking twice. Her excessive blinking was telling me she had become anxious on Sarah's word.

"I can't be certain, Ma'am, but there sure is some problem," She replied. Charlotte sighed loudly before injecting her and threw the syringe into the dustbin.

"Alright, let's go," She announced and walked with her out of the room, leaving William, me and the poor soul. I was sitting on the bed beside hers, discussing business we had in Las Vegas, he exchanged details for some long moment until I handed another task to handle, which left him leaving the room.

William was about to walk out when I made him face me for a second, "Hey, Will, can you tell Helen to hand me my laptop," William nodded his head and walked out. I sighed loudly, tipping my head back, resting against the headboard. I forced my inner self to go silent so I could relax my mind, but there was Zion not willing to submit.

His tail was erected, he found ways to gain my attention but I tried my best to avoid him which was withdrawn after two minutes.

"Alright, I see you, calm down," His enthusiasm was affecting my body, which was why I couldn't feel relaxed.

"Take me to her, sit beside her. Hold her hands for once, please! Adriel for me, once!" I was flabbergasted to find him this desperate to be around her. I would lie if I said this didn't bother me, it did, immensely. It was like he was hellbent on making me fall in love with her, yet I resist pulling my guards down.

"Zion, this is out of manner. What if she wakes up?" I schooled him.

"She won't. Charlotte told you that. It would take her a minimum of an hour to open her eyes. Just goo!" Zion's sudden limerence had me experiencing butterflies in my stomach, my heart rate exceeded an alarming level, yet I was only left to follow his command.

"Alright, you lovesick pup. This one is for the first and last time. Next time, I won't even go close to her," I told him, but he was too engrossed to listen to me. I rolled my eyes as I stepped down from the bed. Zion was an unsympathetic wolf, yet today he had shocked me. I didn't know he had stored such depth for our mate.

I walked towards her, sitting beside the edge of her bed, "Go closer, hug her," He instructed, I scoffed annoyingly.

"Aren't your demands getting shameful? I repeat she is not our declared mate, if we hug her it will mean we are cheating on our mate and she would feel hurt if I touch another woman," I reminded him of the theory, and that's how I got control on him, otherwise he wasn't ready to behave.

"That's after we mark her. Just be close to her, hold her hand at least?" Zion requested like a toddler.

"Still cheating," I jibed.

"Just once, her hand, please!" He insisted, leaving me no choice but to obey him.

I stepped closer and sat beside her uncovered legs. Her knees were visible in the medical gown. Last night when I brought her in, I was shocked to see her in a revealing dress, each inch of her body was accessible to ogle, but Charlotte respected her privacy and tossed us out of the room until she changed her.

Her skin was milky pale that consciously called my unconscious brain, making my hand raise to feel her skin that was nothing but soft like a feather. I ran my hand over her thighs, a weird sensation started to ball up inside me and ended in my pants. I knew what I was doing was wrong but I could keep my hands off her. She was magnetic, and I was being pulled, effortlessly.

Zion purred in affection when I circled my index finger on her right knee. "She's beautiful," I didn't register I told him until he replied, "You're right, she is beautiful, exactly like a Luna is supposed to be,"

"Shut up," I rolled my eyes in my head.

"What do you think her name will be?" Zion's questions were also unpredictable, just like his actions. I furrowed, thinking deeply.

"I don't know. Maybe Ava or Bella? I really don't know," I replied back, scooting my ass closer to her hand. I couldn't deny I felt nice being around her, it was pulling me crazily, but I had to control it. I was an alpha and adoring her like this could ruin my reputation, leading to a scandal.

"I think Bella will suit her. Even if her name is not Bella, we will still call her by this," He planned his intentions. At one point, I was in awe of my own wolf but the second, I could not imagine the amount of pain he would suffer if anything would go wrong.

My hands were now on the mattress, inches away from her sleek fingers. I internally practised being soft because she seemed breakable even if I held her hand with my usual strength, I would still hurt her. "Just, fucking hold it, Adriel. She won't bite!" Zion shouted in my head, enough short on patience.

I tipped my fingers towards hers and brushed my hand above hers, eventually ending up grabbing. I pressed her hand a little to feel her tender skin, she felt like a glass that was supposed to be protected from the venom of the world. I had this unstoppable urge to bring the back of her hand closer to my mouth and put a kiss, which I ended up doing.

I delicately raised her hand in the air, leaned down and plucked my lips on her skin. The sensations inside my core went crazy. I felt full out of the blue and my wolf... he was shivering in heat. It was his wish that I'd hold her hand but I did more, I kissed it and now, I couldn't afford fulfilling his other forbidden wishes, growing in our brain.

"No! Zion!" I gritted at him, but he wasn't listening to me. His intensity to mark her was overwhelming my physical body, I had my member growing huge, my body was dampened in my sweat and my hands shivered. It became so hard to stop myself.

And before I could lose control and hover over her body, I jerked up to run out of the room, but was hung in the air, when I heard a mute moan.

Turning around, I found her waking up.

"Oh, God!" Her fisted hand rose in the air, her eyes squeezed as if she was witnessing a nightmare. I couldn't decide whether I should go close to her or away from her. But her wincing had me rushing to her. "Ahh!" She tossed her head sideways, erratically. "L—L—Leave M—Me!" She babbled, I put a hand under her head to stop her shaking.

"Hey, it's alright. You are okay, nobody's touching you," I found myself cooing. This had happened to me before.

"He—He—K—Kill—M—Me!" She squeezed her eyes even more and struggled. I had no idea how to wake her up. Calling Charlotte seemed the right idea but thinking she was at a considerable distance, I refrained myself from walking away from the girl.

"No one will kill you, open your eyes. I'm here!" I didn't know what I was saying or did it even make any sense, but I kept on babbling to her. She threw her hand at me, breathing rashly. I glanced at the monitor that displayed her heart rate increasing. I pulled her head with both of my hands and held her close to my face. "Hey...it's enough, it's okay...open your eyes...it's gone!" Just as I mumbled, she emitted out a gasp and gradually opened her eyes.

Her mouth escaped another gasp, and she squinted her eyes, making me shut the curtain to refrain the sunlight sweeping in her eyes. "It's okay...you can open your eyes now," I told her and she took a minute to obey me.

Her mouth was wide open just as she opened her eyes and muffled, "Water,"