Mateo and I sit on the chairs in front of the surgical door. Neither of us say anything, we just sit helplessly. He is crushed over his mate. He barely had her for a few minutes, before he killed her in order to save Kat. The she-wolf’s words replay in my head, and I remember what Jasmine said she felt. Jasmine had explained it to her father, who was shocked to hear his daughter was dead before miraculously recovering. Yet, she said she could feel Kat. She didn’t know how, but she said Kat was bleeding into her and pulling her back from death.
Nurses race around everywhere. Many of them are racing to stop more of my Pack members sliding into death's embrace. The only thing I hate about being Alpha is my tether to the Pack, feeling their deaths and then being the one to tell their families. Nevertheless, I am relieved I don’t have to deliver that news to Mathias and his mate.
At the moment, I have thirty-one other families to notify. That number is only likely to grow.
The doors beside us open and we look up, jumping to our feet at the same time. Mathias walks out, brushing his fingers through his graying hair, his blue eyes sparkle with unshed tears.
It makes me panic. The heavy hand of fear that gripped my heart from the start of this shit show continued to squeeze. “Is she alright?” I ask, my heart skipping a beat at his sad expression.
“Oh, yes, sorry, Alpha, she is fine. She should be up in a few hours,” he adds, and I let out the breath I was holding, the fear fades.
“Sorry, I am just shocked about the situation with Jasmine. I owe our Luna a great debt,” he says, rubbing his face with his hands. “Why didn’t you tell the Pack you found your mate, Alpha? Especially one as special as her,” he questions, motioning to the chairs we were just sitting in.
He flops in a chair looking exhausted, and Mateo and I both sit back down in the hard blue chairs we had just gotten up from. “I only just found her. She doesn’t know I am her mate yet.”
“Because she has no wolf yet, I didn’t see your mark on her neck,” he explains, making both Mateo and I look at him.
“I don’t understand,” I admit.
“Her wolf, she is a Lunar Healer or to make it simpler, Healer."
“You’re saying she is a healer? She is blessed with special abilities?” I ask.
“Yes, how else do you explain her bringing Jasmine back from the dead? Whenever she heals someone, she takes it from them, giving it to herself. Have you noticed anything odd about her? Can she heal herself?”
I shake my head. “No, she hasn’t got a wolf to heal her.”
“Just as I thought, her wolf will come. She is a Lunar Healer, a blessed wolf. She will probably come on the next full moon, but Alpha, even with her wolf, she will never be able to heal herself. I have done extensive research on healers over the years, I honestly didn’t think I would live long enough to meet one. One thing I do know, most seem to share the same characteristic,” Mathias pauses.
“What is it?” I ask him.
“All research I have done, it has said the more she uses that power the weaker she will get, if she uses it as she did today it can kill her.”
“So, her healing people can kill her?” I whisper, looking toward the door where Jasmine and Kat are. Mathias nods, bracing his arms on his knees and leaning forward.
“Which one of her parents did she inherit it from? I would love to meet them. Do some research of my own?” He asks, making me look at him.
“Pardon?” Mateo asks before I can.
“Healers, it is usually passed down the bloodline by a biological parent, though I could be wrong, but in every report I have ever read it is passed down. I honestly thought we would never see one. The last known record of a healer was in the 1800s.”
“How though? If it is passed down, how aren’t we crawling with healers?” I ask him. I really need to touch up on my history.
“Rarely do any make it past their twenties. Healers used to be hunted and used to heal the rich and powerful. From what I have read, they were slaves to their masters. Used as their own personal life support, until they healed too much, and they all died.” Mateo and I both look at each other, horrified. This ability could very well turn into a curse if people found out about it. It makes me think of Mateo’s mate and how crazy she became. Did she know Kat was a Lunar Healer?
“We must keep this secret, Alpha, people will come for her if they know what she is,” Mathias warns us. I nod, a little shocked, but now I have more questions than answers.
The main one is, if this ability is passed down from a parent. Then who the hell are the people who raised her if they aren’t her parents?
“Something is not right,” Mateo mindlinks me. I nod.
Doc gets up, walking back to the door.
“I will have her moved to the ward, Alpha then you can see her,” he says, and I nod, watching him walk back in to check my mate.
“Want me to go and question, Shirley and Derrick?” Mateo suggests, making me look at him.
“You just lost your mate to save mine. It can wait.” He looks away, and I can tell he is barely holding himself together.
“She may have been my mate, but Kat, I...” He doesn’t finish, though I already know. His mate he had only just met, the bond was weak.
Luckily for me, his love for Kat was stronger. I don’t know how I would have fared in his position. I know I would pick Kat over anybody, even if it meant going against someone I considered family.
Shirley walks down the hall toward us. She is covered in Angie's blood. “Kat?” She whispers like she's too afraid to speak louder.
“She is fine,” I tell her, not knowing how to broach the subject of Kat’s paternity. It is odd though, her parents smell like her, so it confuses me. Mateo sniffs the air as well.
“Ah thank the Goddess, I will mindlink her father,” she closes her eyes, tears trailing down her cheeks. She certainly looks like a relieved mother.
Getting up I head to the wards. I walk down the hall, stopping when I don’t hear Mateo following. “Are you coming?” I ask over my shoulder.
Mateo lifts his head and stares at me. There's a haunted look in his eyes. “I’m allowed?”
“Why wouldn’t you be?” I question.
“Because of what I said, that I..”
“That you love her? Since when is that a crime?” He thinks for a second and he nods once before following me.