Filed to story: The Alpha’s Pen Pal Book
“I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not,” she says, her eyes locked on my wounded abdomen. “I need to mindlink Dr. Russo and—“
“Can’t mindlink him,” I grunt. “Have to call him. Hospital policy.”
“Where’s your phone?”
“In your guest suite.”
“Fuck!” she says, her hands trembling and her eyes watering as she covers my hands with hers, applying more pressure with her body weight.
“It’s fine. Just mindlink Wesley and the others,” I say.
She nods and squeezes my hand, her fingers tangling with mine. The tips of them brush against the torn skin, and a soothing warmth spreads through me from her touch. I close my eyes for a second, swallowing, relishing in the light that trickles over my body as she continues to run her fingertips over my wound.
“Reid…” She gasps and yanks her hand away from my body, stealing the warmth and light as she does.
I groan again from the loss of that comforting sensation and open my eyes to find her staring at her hands, where a golden, ethereal glow emanates from her fingers and her palms. Her gaze travels to my abdomen, to her hands again, and then back to my abdomen. Her eyes widen, and she shoves my hands out of the way, covering my wounds with both of hers.
The warm golden light floods through me with the speed of a bullet train and the strength of a raging fire, taking every trace of pain with it and replacing it with peace and love. I gasp from the shock of it, watching as my wounds knit themselves back together beneath Taryn’s fingers.
She bites her lip, her focus on her hands and my body, pure energy pulsing through her and into me. My body relaxes and I let it wash over me, accepting every drop into the depths of my being.
The pain stops, and she removes her hands. The only remaining trace of my injury is the dried blood on my skin, the rips in my shirt, and the pool of blood on the floor. Taryn’s heart races and her breathing is heavier than normal, but she smiles at me, her hands shaking as she moves closer to my face.
“That was a cool trick,” I say, sitting up, examining the no longer injured spot on my abdomen. She throws herself at me, wrapping her arms around my neck and I catch her, pulling her into my lap. “Hey, it’s okay.” I cup the back of her head as she cries into my shoulder. “I’m okay.”
Her body trembles in my arms from both the force of her tears and the weight of her relief as the adrenaline leaves her body. She presses rapid pecks to my shoulder and up my neck, planting a deep kiss on my lips when she reaches them, her hands grasping my face, more warmth and light flooding through me again as she pushes more of her healing energy into me.
“I’m fine,” I tell her again as she pulls away, her fingers tracing my face as she searches for any other injuries. “You saved me, and we’re even now.”
She laughs through her tears and kisses me again as Wesley, Nolan, and Sebastian enter the kitchen, all three of them halting in their tracks as they take in the scene—Taryn crying and laughing in my arms between the kisses she gives me, the bloodied floor, and my dad’s crumpled body where he lays passed out on the floor.
“Take him to the hospital,” Wesley says to Nolan and Sebastian, jerking his chin at my dad. “Can you walk?” Wesley asks, looking at me.
“Yeah, I’m fine now,” I say, getting to my feet and bringing Taryn with me, keeping my arms around her.
Her body still shakes—at this point, I’m guessing it’s from the shock of everything—and neither my wolf nor I have any inclination to let her out of our reach.
His eyes flick to my torn shirt stained with blood and the congealing blood on the floor, and he frowns. “Taryn said in her mindlink that you were—“
“I healed him,” she says, her voice weak, and Wesley’s eyebrows shoot up. “I didn’t know—” She clears her throat and takes a deep breath, trying to strengthen her voice. “I didn’t know I—“
“We can talk about that later,” Wesley says, waving her off as Nolan and Seb leave the kitchen, carrying my dad. “Right now, we need to get you both to the hospital, too.”
“I’m fine,” I say again, rolling my eyes.
“That may be, but you still need to be seen by a doctor, or at the very least, a nurse. And the scratches on Taryn’s arm aren’t healing at all,” he adds. “Now let’s go.”
He rushes out of the room, his phone already in his hand as he calls Dr. Russo, not checking to see if we’re following. I scoop Taryn up into my arms, not giving her the choice to walk. But where my girl would usually try to argue with me and tell me she’s fine and doesn’t need me to treat her like a fragile princess, she instead leans her head against me, cradling her injured arm to her chest.
Everything around us fades as I walk to the pack hospital in Wesley’s tracks on autopilot. She is my sole focus, the only thing in this entire world that matters at this moment. My eyes catch on the scratches on her forearm from my dad’s claws, and my wolf snarls as my blood boils. I know he didn’t mean it, that he wasn’t in his right mind, but it doesn’t change the fact that he hurt my mate.
The scratches aren’t deep, but Wesley is right—they aren’t healing like they should be. Which is odd, given she just healed even deeper wounds on me until it was as if they were never there in the first place.
“Dr. Russo wants to see Taryn first,” Wes says as we reach the hospital and walk through the automatic doors. “He’ll check your dad out once he’s finished with Taryn, and there is a nurse waiting for you in the triage area,” he adds.
Charlotte, the same nurse who aided Taryn the night of the rogue attack, waits for us with a wheelchair, gesturing for me to put Taryn in it. I frown and growl, clutching her tighter to me. “I can carry her to the room just fine,” I say through my teeth.
Charlottes winces but doesn’t back down from my possessive anger. “It’s hospital policy, and—“
“And she’s my mate!”
“Reid,” Wesley says, putting his hand on my shoulder, pushing out a hint of his alpha aura. “Just put her in the wheelchair. She will be fine.”
I grit my teeth at his subtle order and lower her into it, taking her hand in mine. “Fine, but I’m going with her. I don’t need anyone to check me. I’m healed and my place is with my mate.”
Taryn squeezes my hand and Wesley frowns at me, rubbing his hand over his face before crossing his arms. “Reid, I understand where you are coming from. I do. I’ve been there. But even though her scratches aren’t healing, they are just scratches, and based on what Taryn told me in her very brief mindlink, you were gravely injured with your guts almost spilling out of your stomach. So excuse me if I think, as your alpha and your best friend, that you should at least have a quick examination by a medical professional so they can clear you before you join your mate in her hospital room!”
He raises his voice to a yell by the end of his rant, and thank Selene the hospital is empty aside from the four of us standing here in the entrance and the two medical assistants behind the front desk who both pretend they’re not paying attention. Charlotte begins to wheel Taryn away and I growl again, keeping Taryn’s hand in mine and following them.
A louder growl echoes through the waiting room, and we all bow our heads and bare our necks to Wesley as his aura pushes out of him. His arm points in the opposite direction of the hallway, his body drawn up to its full height as he laces his words to me with an alpha command. “Triage area. Now. You can join Taryn once the nurse there says you’re cleared.”
I glare at him and drop her hand, stomping towards the bay of curtained beds used for minor injuries or to determine if a wolf needs further treatment or admission to an actual room. I’ll go, since I don’t have a choice, since he alpha commanded me, but he’ll know I’m not happy about it.
“Don’t be too mad at him,”
Taryn says to me through the mindlink.
“He just wants to make sure you’re okay. He’s worried about you.”
“I’ll be with you in five minutes,”
New Book: Veiled Desires of the Alpha King Novel
Dayson was the alpha of the largest pack in North America. Powerful figures from other packs sought to offer gorgeous girls as potential mates for Dayson. He steadfastly rejected these advances, he was not a pawn to be manipulated. But eventually there came a mysterious girl he could hardly say No. Who was she?