Chapter 18 Accepted
Accepted
Felix
I’d miscalculated. Badly.
It was still hard to grasp just how poorly I had handled the Hunter situation, right up until the end.
There were a hundred things I could have done differently, from keeping him on a tighter leash to taking more of an active interest in his recent activities.
I had failed as a brother, and it was a miracle that anyone trusted me to be Alpha now.
And yet, I found it impossible to fall fully to despair. When Monte was in my arms and at my side, I found all my fears melting away. It was as though everything would turn out alright so long as we were together.
“Is something the matter?” Monte mumbled, still half asleep. It had been several full, busy days since the convening of the council and Hunter’s banishment, and we had made the most of our time together as true spouses.
“No, just my injury acting up,” I lied quickly.
However, that just made Monte spring up. In an instant, he was on top of me, gingerly adjusting my shirt so he could get a good look at the cuts I’d sustained while fighting Hunter. With a sigh, I relaxed and allowed myself to be fussed over.
“Goddess, you did clean this out, right?” Monte whispered in a horrified tone.
“Of course,” I said with a frown, then caught myself.
I’d grabbed for the first lie available so that I didn’t burden Monte with my sordid thoughts, but now that I really thought about it, something did feel a little off.
It wasn’t that the skin and muscle stung, which had been the case when the injury was fresh, but something was off deeper under the surface.
There was a throbbing and mildly unpleasant sensation that I had brushed off as general nerves and dissatisfaction about my brother’s fate.
Monte startled a hiss out of me as his fingers probed against the edges of the ragged flesh. I’d thought it had been healing well, but that seemed absurd now.
“It’s odd…” Monte said. “It looks like it’s scabbing well, and yet…”
With a grunt, I gently pushed him away and eased myself up from the bed. I was going to need a full mirror for this.
Monte silently followed along as I turned the lights on and examined myself more thoroughly.
As he’d said, the cuts made by Hunter’s claws had begun to heal, but they were oddly tender to the touch.
I’d thought that the combination of the Goddess’s blessing and thoroughly cleaning them at home had been enough, but perhaps an infection really had taken hold.
However, when I probed them with my fingers, the cuts didn’t feel particularly sensitive or inflamed. Most curious.
“Just to be on the safe side, I’ll clean them up again,” I reassured Monte. “I’ll also wrap them up in a bandage this time.”
He seemed satisfied with that, returning to the bed and settling down to watch while I made good on my word. In the mirror, I caught the movement of his lips as he began to speak, then caught himself.
I considered coaxing him to speak his mind as I readied the rubbing alcohol, but ultimately decided against it.
“I’d rather you stayed home,” Monte said at last, his voice muffled as he spoke into his folded arms.
I waited until the blistering pain of sterilization was over, then turned back to him.
“What do you mean? I wasn’t planning on leaving your side anytime soon, but I suspect you aren’t referring to spending more time in bed.”
That won a snort out of him. “No, I mean that you’re injured. I’d… I’d prefer it if you stayed home until you’re sure it was totally healed. If you went out like that, then I’d spend all day worrying.”
Warmth flickered within me. Truly, no one had ever cared about me more than he did. Sure, people were loyal to me and respected me, but this was different. This was raw, emotional, and passionate.
“Well I certainly have no intention of going out like this,” I said with an all-encompassing gesture towards my complete nudity. “But I do take your point. I’ll stay home with you, at least until this is healed. Will that please you, Monte?”
This time, when Monte buried his face in his folded arms, it was to cover up an exceedingly obvious blush. I couldn’t help but grin. He was lucky that I was too preoccupied to go over there and tease him further.
However, I still had options for toying with him.
“In that case, I also want you to stay home. After all, things are still a bit chaotic out there, and I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“Oh.” Monte considered that carefully. “Do you really think it’s that likely? I thought Hunter left immediately and hasn’t been seen since. Are there people that would want to take revenge on his behalf?”
I bit back another hiss as I took yet another pass at my wound.
At least it didn’t feel like there was a deep infection, but that just left me at a loss as to what was the matter.
Perhaps it was just the underlying heartbreak that my own brother had been the one to do this to me.
Perhaps that was the only reason why this wound troubled me so.
“No, there aren’t many who would stand up for him in particular,” I said once the pain had dulled down to manageable levels.
“But there are plenty that would want to oppose me on principle. Loyalists from the old days, and so on. Additionally, there are also rowdy sorts that are just drunk on the mood and might accidentally hurt you while they celebrate the council’s ruling, regardless of what the specific ruling was. ”
Monte looked up and met my eyes in the mirror, his curiosity winning out over his embarrassment. “Is that really how it works? Wolves getting excited and violent over the council banishing someone? So excited that they might accidentally hurt people?”
Hm, my Omega was even more perceptive than I’d thought.
“It happens,” I said with a shrug. “It’s rare, but it always happens when there is drinking and celebrating.
They’re just happy to have any excuse to gather and have a good time.
I suppose I’m just not interested in taking any risks with you at the moment, reasonable or not.
I have learned your value, and I will cherish every day and every hour I get to have you all to myself. ”
To my delight, that proved to be far too much for Monte to handle. After sputtering for a moment, he buried himself in the bed once more. Now I just had to finish wrapping this damnable wound, then I could make good on all my promises yet again.
Perhaps a little more gingerly this time though. Wouldn’t want to cause my Omega any further stress. We had already dealt with enough lately.