Chapter 9 - Damian #2
The discomfort is written all over her body, her expression grim as she keeps her lips pursed.
“I’ll show you back to the cabin,” I relent, and begin heading up the way we came, Sophie following close behind me.
A flicker of relief tugs at my heartstrings, just because she hasn’t asked to go back home again. She needs time to process what she’s learned, accept this as the truth, and I will have to give her space to come around.
***
“We have reason to suspect that Sophie is no ordinary human,” Anastasia announces at the council meeting the next day, after being called in from Silver Stone to report her encounter with Sophie the other night.
“She’s displayed signs of wielding magic, and this isn’t something that can occur from a fated mate bond with a werewolf. ”
Amos nods, adding, “If she received powers through the mate bond, it would have been powers like yours, Alpha Damian.”
While I digest this information, I scan the room, seeing how the skeptics remain unconvinced as Amos continues to explain, “We’ve done more digging, and we’ve found that the Ashclaw Pack was linked to a coven of witches hidden somewhere in Florence.
We found letters that we’ve connected the dots to, and the Ashclaw alpha’s mate was a witch. ”
“There was a child…” I speculate, and Amos nods.
“The child of the Ashclaw Pack’s alpha survived the demon attack when his witch mother fled the valley,” Amos concedes. “And we believe that Sophie is a descendant of that child. A descendant of the Ashclaw Pack.”
“But she’s not a wolf. She’s only human,” Conan protests, and Amos turns to him.
“The wolf bloodline must have thinned out, or perhaps the witches did something to hide the child’s wolf abilities. It doesn’t change the fact that Miss Torres is likely from the Ashclaw bloodline, and perhaps a DNA test can confirm this.”
“Is it even necessary?” I ask Amos, to which he shakes his head.
“From what she has displayed, by burning the demon to ashes, there is really no need for a DNA test. I think it is no coincidence that she is your fated mate, Alpha Damian.”
“Yeah…it’s no coincidence…” I murmur, processing this information.
For a long time, the werewolf packs in the valley heard about the Ashclaw Pack as legend.
We’d heard about the demon attack that wiped out the entire village in the south as if it had never been there.
We didn’t even know what the demons looked like until they appeared almost a century later, haunting us now, threatening the remaining packs.
“So, she’s a descendant of the Ashclaw Pack, which means she wields fire she doesn’t have a clue about,” Conan sneers. “And if the demons were after the Ashclaw Pack, then that’s why they’re hunting her now. She sounds like a liability to us. She shouldn’t—”
It’s Anastasia who cuts Conan off with a snarl. “Sophie might be linked to the Ashclaw Pack, but she’s new to all of this. It seems her powers have awakened because the demons are after the valley.”
“And fire was the only thing that could kill a demon,” Amos adds. “If anything, Miss Torres is the key to defeating the demons. She already killed one. The demons must know she exists. They knew even before her powers awoke.”
“They do now,” Heinrich speaks for the first time since the start of this meeting, and he turns to me. “Silver Stone stands with you, Damian, as you serve to protect your mate.”
“And train her,” Anastasia adds, and I nod my gratitude at the members of the Silver Stone Pack.
“Perhaps it's time Conan and I proceed with rituals to find our fated mates,” Heinrich suggests, and I feel Conan's anger seeping through the air.
But that's not why I say, “Not just yet, Heinrich. While it will be ideal to find your mates, we shouldn't put Silver Stone and Iron Breath in more danger than you already are.”
Uncle Joel adds, “Damian is right. Until Sophie's powers are controlled, we need to tread carefully. The demons knew about her before she arrived here. They might have been alerted during Damian's ritual.”
“That's what we believe,” Amos concedes. “We can only perform the next ritual when it is safe.”
As the meeting comes to a close, I can’t stop thinking about what Anastasia said, about Sophie training her newfound powers.
I don’t even know how to reveal this news to her—that she’s a descendant of a werewolf pack with fire magic.
She hardly believes that wolves exist at all, and she’s going to blame me for this.
I can just feel it.
But there’s something else I feel on my way to the pack clinic—a tug on my heartstrings, a hum under my skin that signals Sophie is close by. My inner wolf stirs when I catch her scent in the air, and I pause to fill my airways with her sweet essence.
I continue into the clinic, following her scent like a breadcrumb trail that will lead me to the ultimate treasure. I find that treasure close to James’s room, my brows furrowing as I approach.
“Thank you, Sophie…” I hear my sister’s voice from inside, and I stop outside the door. “Damian’s gonna be ecstatic when he hears about this.”
“Where is he, by the way?” another gruff voice asks, and my heart skips a beat, prompting me to rush in and find James awake.
“James?!” I exclaim, hurrying to his bed and flinging my arms around his neck.
He chuckles and croaks, “Whoa, man, careful. I just woke up.”
“How…?” I whisper in shock as I pull back and meet my best friend’s glowing brown eyes.
He’s still chuckling when he nods to the corner of the room. “I think she did something to me.”
Dianna giggles as she slinks her arm through Sophie’s and glances at her with twinkling eyes of wonder. “All Sophie did was check his vitals, and then his pulse, and his eyes sprang open.”
My jaw drops as I meet Sophie’s eyes, her cheeks flushing with bright color as she averts her gaze shyly.
“You healed him…” I whisper in awe, and Sophie shakes her head.
“I’m not a healer. I’m a nurse,” she denies, but Dianna clicks her tongue.
“She’s an asset to this clinic, and I’m gonna treat her to coffee,” Dianna says cheerfully as she pulls Sophie toward the door. “You two can catch up.”
Sophie steals a shy glance at me before she leaves the room with my sister.
I follow them to the door, watching them walk down the hall until a kid stops them, and Sophie crouches to check the scrape on his knee.
Instead of going to the cafeteria, they head to the first aid room, and I’m standing in James’s room with a stupid grin on my face.
Is Sophie embracing who she is, or is she escaping into familiar territory as a nurse in the clinic?
Still, she seems to have healing abilities, on top of having the fire power that burns a demon to ashes. It’s how she healed my arm the other day.
It wasn’t simply because of the fated mate bond, but because of her own gifts.
“Ahem!” James clears his throat deliberately loudly, prompting me to turn with heat crawling up my cheeks.
I chuckle as I head back to his bed, dragging a chair with me and swinging it around so the backrest is in front when I sit down.
“It’s about damn time you woke up, James,” I snicker, and James laughs.
“You should have brought Sophie to the valley sooner,” James titters. “Would have saved us a lot of trouble.”
I arch a brow at my beta. “Do you remember her from Hamilton?”
“You think I could ever forget the nurse who stole my alpha's heart?” he scoffs, rolling his eyes, and more heat creeps on my cheeks.
I never told him what happened between Sophie and me back then, but he must have suspected that I had good reason to steal away to Hamilton every chance I got during those months I'd been seeing her.
He isn't my best friend and beta for nothing.
“Now tell me…what is she doing here, and why did I miraculously wake up after…what? Two months in a coma?”
“Three months,” I correct him with a chuckle, before sighing and going on to explain everything that happened since that last attack.
“Now they're suspecting that she's a descendant of the Ashclaw Pack.”
“The Ashclaw Pack…?” James murmurs. “It would make sense how she burned that demon to nothing. But it’s not something to be afraid of. She has healing powers, too. Just look at me.”
“Yeah, I know,” I sigh, smiling wistfully at the beta. “Except, she’s been having trouble accepting any of this. I don’t think she wants to hear that she’s a descendant of an ancient, extinct wolf pack.”
“So don’t tell her,” James offers with a shrug. “Not yet, anyway. If she’s a descendant of Ashclaw, that means she’s also a descendant of witches. That’s gonna be a tough pill to swallow. Just let her be in her element. I heard she’s doing more than just waking comatose soldiers in the clinic.”
“Well, that’s what I thought, too. I’m just worried that she’s gonna hate me even more, and blame me somehow.”
James blows a breath through puckered lips. “If she hated you so much, she wouldn’t have agreed to marry you, Dame. She would have put up a bigger fight. But she didn’t.”
I frown as I contemplate this. “Maybe you’re right.”
“I know I am,” he grins proudly. “You just gotta give her some to realize that hate can’t exist without love. All you can do is be there for her, ‘cause it sounds like that’s what she needs to transition into this new version of herself.”
I nod thoughtfully, then turn the conversation to James, encouraging him to rest before he leaves the clinic and returns home, and warning him not to hurt my sister, who’d been by his side while he was comatose.
“I guess you could say we both have reasons to be better men,” James says when I’m about to leave.
“Yeah, and more reason to win this fight against the demons. We can't lose. We have to keep them safe.”
“And we will. If Sophie is the key, then we'll do whatever it takes to win.”
My chest puffs with pride and renewed resolve as I hear James's words of conviction, not just as my best friend or the man my sister is in love with, but as the beta of the Red Moon Pack.
He'd been chosen as my second-in-command because of our shared values and vision for the pack, and because of his loyalty to our people and me.
I'm glad he's awake now, almost back in action, but I have one person to thank for that when all hope seemed to be lost a few months ago.
She miraculously healed him and returned him to himself, but she also strengthened me in ways that I couldn't be strong even before the demons began attacking us.
I make my way through the clinic to find her in the first aid bay, treating some of the trainees with smaller injuries after their daily training, and I stop by the doorway, watching Sophie as she checks her next patient, working diligently, focusing with her tongue pressed into her right cheek.
“She's really extraordinary, isn't she?” Dianna says as she joins me, carrying two cups of coffee.
I smile as I continue watching my mate, crossing my arms as I lean against the beam. “Yes, she is. She's something else.”
“She fits in so well here. It's like she was born to be the Luna of Red Moon.”
“She was born to be here. I just hope she sees that, too.”
“She will, brother. If she can see herself through your eyes, she'll see it, too. I've never seen you so enamored with anyone.”
“Do you blame me?” I smirk as I throw my sister a wink, and she giggles. “Was it your idea to bring her here?”
Dianna shakes her head. “I found her here this morning when I brought in one of the kids for a sprained ankle. She was making herself useful, and oh! How useful she proved to be!”
I grin proudly, returning my attention to Sophie.
“I'm gonna take this to James,” Dianna says, gesturing to the cups.
“I'm gonna head home,” I say thoughtfully, and my sister throws me a smile before walking away.
As I pass the bay, Sophie and I exchange glances, a dozen thoughts flashing past her eyes, a million words left unspoken between us.
I know I should give her space, but I'm going insane with this mountain of resentment between us, and it's about time I did something about it.
Not just something to thank her for what she's doing at the clinic, or for being here to strengthen me and, in turn, strengthen the pack.
But to make up for lost time, precious time, and for hurting her the way I did.