CHAPTER 4
Justice
“WHAT AM I TO DO first?” I asked.
The man Alice claimed to be my “mate” lay in the bed unconscious. He was covered in six or more blankets, but his skin was pale as if he couldn’t get warm enough. He appeared cold and ashen.
“You don’t feel anything, Justice?” she asked.
What did she expect me to feel? “No. Alice, you’re the nurse. You know more than I do.”
“I’m not a nurse. I’m a healer, and none of my powers have worked to heal him. I’ve kept him from the brink of death but that’s all.” Alice walked over to me and reached for my hand.
If it was true that Seuss gave his life for mine, the least I could do was try whatever she thought it was that would work. I rested my hand in hers, and we walked closer to the bed. I could feel the cold radiating from his body. It made my skin crawl as if it were running toward warmth. Being so close to whatever ailed him made me feel sick, too.
“I can heal you, but I can’t heal him.” Warmth moved over my body like the first sip of hot cocoa on a teeth chattering day. I exhaled. She could heal me. “You’ll have to wait until this is over, though, before I can do that again.”
I took a moment before I nodded. That feeling wasn’t something you wanted to ever know. Whatever she’d been doing stopped, and the horrid feelings rushed back in. Alice placed my hand on his, and his eyes opened briefly. He looked into my eyes, and for a moment I knew what it felt like to be whole. It was warm and cozy, different than anything I’d ever felt. My pulse quickened. I sniffed the air, and the aroma of cognac and amber mixed with earth heightened the atmosphere. It was him. He had that scent that I craved. I leaned closer needing to inhale more of it.
A rope I couldn’t comprehend to be real, but a figment of my imagination slowly began to wind around my arm. The rope’s end slid across my hand into his, escalating the rhythm of my heart. Warmth spread over my skin where the rope wound. I felt like a predator about to pounce Seuss. I wanted him so badly that my soul ached. The moment that the rope began to wrap along his arm the tension lessened, and I could feel the essence of Seuss as it entered my body. He invaded my mind first, and I closed my eyes momentarily to revel in the sensations. Satisfaction on a completely different level washed over me until suddenly Seuss jerked the rope, pulling it from my grasp, burning my wrist and palm.
I screamed, and Alice pulled my hand from Seuss. I blinked to see him still asleep, no signs of rope, yet the burn was angrily visible on my skin. Alice rushed to wash the wound with cool water before she mended the skin with a balm.
“It will only heal the outer skin, the rest will have to cured by your body. You were burned by magic.”
“What happened?!” I exclaimed. It hurt like the dickens, and the only response she had was that it was magic. Why in the hell did Seuss purposely burn me?
“It was a binding spell to bind your souls the way that a mating would. You could cure him faster that way. Seuss just rejected that idea.”
The flinch must’ve been noticeable because sympathy stared back at me. How can my mate, someone that is destined for me, reject me? Pain from the rejection stung more than the damn burn did. He could rot in that bed for all I cared.
Alice began wrapping my wound. As soon as she was finished I was headed home. Alpha or not, I wasn’t dealing with his foolery.
“I need a taxi to take me home,” I explained. I’d had enough of this whatever it was. It was time to go home where the people were normal and not wolves and witches.
“If you need to lay down there are plenty of places here that you can rest. This land is yours. You’re his mate.”
“No! News flash! In case you just missed that scenario, he clearly doesn’t want to be mated to me. Who can blame him? We don’t even know each other.”
“Your souls do. Your hearts. Justice, he needs you,” Alice pleaded.
“And while he gets the little wife and his strength back, what do I get? What does this mean for me?” I yelled all my frustrations directing them at her. Seuss wasn’t around to take the ass chewing.
“Whatever you want it to mean. Justice, you can lay down and take whatever is thrown at you, or you can make this an opportunity.”
“Did it work?”
Startled, Alice and I turned to see a tall man approaching us from the hall. Maddox was big like Seuss, but his steps were quiet and careful. His hair was long and swept his broad shoulders as he moved. His jeans were worn and dusty like his soiled work boots. The sleeveless black t-shirt on his back wasn’t much better. The hopeful expression on his face made me look back at the resting Seuss.
“No. He rejected the bond again,” Alice said.
“Again?!” I shouted. “When was the first time?”
Maddox closed the door behind him and walked over to Seuss. “You’re one stubborn fucker, Alpha.” Maddox bowed his head and raised a fist to his heart and held it there. He then turned to me and repeated the action.
It made me stand straighter and prouder. Honored. “Thank you, Maddox.”
“I know that you must be starving. Allow me to escort you to dinner?” I could tell that Maddox was tired, but he held firm, bearing his strength and honor first.
It was difficult to deny him after that. Dinner and then I’d leave. I looked over at Alice who was busy checking Seuss’ vitals.
“Yes.” The small gesture seemed to delight him. Alice finished what she was doing and led the way to the kitchen.
The girls running around the kitchen looked frantic and out of sorts. Smoke rose from the frying pan before flames ignited. Maddox sprang into action grabbing the extinguisher and killing the grease fire. Alice opened the back door to let out the smoke while the alarm whirled. I chuckled at the mess of things and wondered whose bright idea it was to have a bunch of teenage girls cook.
“Justice?” Alice asked.
I held up my hand as the tears poured from my eyes. “I really appreciate the gesture but …” I spread my arms out to indicate the mess in the kitchen.
Maddox spoke up first. “It’s tradition that dinner is made for the lady of the house on her first night. You were bed ridden last night so we moved it to tonight. These girls are responsible for caring for the queen.”
“They can’t be more than sixteen!” I exclaimed.
“The prior Alpha kept only a few people around to maintain the house, and when he moved to the other house, he took them with him.”
“But …” I stopped short of the list of reasons why this wasn’t a promising idea. This wasn’t my problem. Everybody stood looking at me, waiting. “Nothing. Let’s get this mess cleaned up.”
Everybody started cleaning, and I looked at what they’d started. I threw away whatever was in a bowl that looked spoiled. The ground beef looked untouched, but everything else needed to be trashed. Maybe that yellow concoction was mashed potatoes, but I wasn’t chancing it. Once the dishes were cleaned, and I’d surveyed ingredients on hand, I had a decent meal in mind. I’d been introduced to the girls during the cleanup and had a promising idea of who was who.
“Anna, you’re on bread duty. Ree, you’ll make the pasta. Tina is on sauce. Beth will brown the beef. Lisa, you’ve got the salad. I’ll show you all how to do it step by step. Alice can you set the table?”
Alice nodded, and Maddox stood by the door observing. I made homemade butter cookies while keeping a close eye on each of the girls. The appliances looked brand new, and there was plenty of space for everybody to spread out. They took turns helping me when they had to wait for portions of their meal to cook. Maddox kept stealing cookie dough when he thought I wasn’t paying attention. We pulled the meal together nicely with fewer errors than I’d hoped for.
I’d had fun with the girls, and Maddox ate like a king at the table. The homemade garlic bread was my favorite part. Hot bread, melted butter, tangy garlic seasoning to compliment the spaghetti and meat sauce. Using the bread to dip into the salad to gather the dressing for the crisp bite of vegetables only added to the meal.
“I’m so full.” Maddock leaned back and rubbed his stomach.
“I bet! You had three plates!” Anna joked.
Everybody laughed, including me. “Alright girls, we need to get cleaned up so that you can get home at a decent hour,” Alice chimed in.
Everybody stood to clear away the plates. Beth loaded the dish washer, and Alice agreed to put them away in the morning. With no left overs, clean up was easy. The girls filed out the back door, and I yawned.
“Let me show you back to your room,” Maddox said.
“Maddox, I appreciate everything, but I really need to get home,” I explained.
“I’m not sure what Alice told you about your stay, but we really need you here. The Alpha needs to take his mate to restore order around here. After he’s better, he’ll need an heir and for all of that to happen, he needs you.”
“I’m not the one that keeps pushing away from the bond. That was your Alpha,” I pointed out.
“I don’t exactly see you looking for ways to make it work either. At the first sign of resistance, you’re ready to run. Without you, he could die. If you decide that you don’t want to be his mate after this is all over, that’s fine. You’re the key to healing his life force. All I ask is that you help do that. After he’s better, you can do what you want.”
Maybe he was right. I didn’t want to be bonded to someone I didn’t know, but I wasn’t the one trying to burn Seuss with magical rope either. On the other hand, he’d given up his life force for mine. All Maddox was asking was that I nurse him back to health. I needed to speak to Ms. Sandy to let her know that I was safe so that she didn’t worry. I could do that tomorrow. I didn’t know how long I’d been in that hospital, and I didn’t know if she knew where I was. She had to be sick with worry.
“Deal,” I said.
Maddox smiled and motioned for me to follow him upstairs. I walked into the master suite and was taken back immediately. Seuss was in a smaller room right next door that I’d assumed was the master bedroom, but it paled in comparison. This was big enough to fit two of those in and still have space. Who needed a house this big?
“The room you stayed in last night was the spare room that Seuss sleeps in when he’s too exhausted to come upstairs.”
“And this room?” I took another look around.
“This is where the king and queen will sleep.”
Maddox took all the linen off the huge bed that seemed to take up most of the room then remade it while I went into the bathroom and showered. When I came back out, he was long gone, and a pine oil burned in a corner. It smelled similar to what I’d smelled on Seuss. Not having any clothes to wear, I’d taken one of Seuss’ cotton pj shirts from a drawer and claimed it. I stared at the huge bed and wondered how many people it would take to fill it. I climbed into the freshly made bed with maroon fleece sheets and buried myself deep before relaxing into sleep.
***
“Justice …” I fought to open my eyes, but the faint voice called out to me until I was awake.
I looked around the moonlit room to see no one there but me. I frowned and sat up but continued to see nothing. I laid back and closed my eyes, and the calls began again. This time I listened harder and realized that they came from Seuss through echoes of my mind.
I used the adjoining door to enter his room where he lay asleep. His lips appeared to be bluer than earlier, and the chill coming from him pierced the room. I looked for more blankets and put them over him.
“Justice … lay … with … me …”
The words reverberated throughout my mind. Damn it Seuss! I knew he was going to be cold and there was no amount of preparing for it, but I could try. I ran back into the master suite and grabbed the blankets from the bed and put them over him before climbing in beside him. I put my hand against his and I pulled the blankets over me to keep me warm. The chill was bone aching, but slowly he started to warm. I moved closer hoping to spread the warmth.
“You’ve got some nerve asking me to warm you up after you tried to burn my arm off,” I mumbled.
I felt his chuckle more than I heard it in my mind, and I smiled. His laugh was stronger than his voice had been when he’d reached out to me. That was a good sign.
“We’ve got to get you better. Your people need you.” I yawned, feeling drained. I rested my head on his shoulder before succumbing to sleep.