Chapter 8 - Sage
I couldn't stop thinking about lunch with Noah. Not because of the burger, which had been great, but because of the man himself. At first, I'd agreed because it would be nice to just be out
of the house for some time, and I'd been fiercely craving red meat, but soon enough we were talking like we were old friends.
Which, I guess, we were...except he ruined our friendship and any other possible connection by rejecting me. I had to stop forgetting about that, because it was all too easy to forget when faced with Noah's handsome face and smile.
Then there was the way he spoke about his broken memories, and the fact that I might have had a solution.
Being a healer meant that I was an expert at fixing physical ailments—broken bones, bruises, burns, and things like that.
Injuries to the mind were a different story, but it could be done as long as the healer was confident in their skills and very, very careful.
Noah likely wasn't under a spell or anything similar that made him forget; he'd simply been concussed severely.
It was damage I thought I could fix, but it would be risky.
If I messed it up, he might end up worse off than he already was.
And then there was the fact that I shouldn't be doing Noah any favors, anyway. He'd kidnapped me. I should just let him suffer.
But as the days passed, my resolve weakened, and eventually, I decided I'd give Noah a chance.
Maybe if I helped him, he'd see that he was wrong to marry me out of obligation.
I'd grown into the talented healer that I was in my new pack, the pack that accepted me, and he'd torn that away.
I had no idea what to expect, but the moment the thought popped into my head that maybe there was a possibility, I couldn't stop thinking about it.
I needed some time to figure out the right spell to heal Noah anyway, so I didn't rush things.
Noah had been spending more and more time out of the house, fortifying the pack borders against potential attacks and investigating what was wrong with the land and waterways.
It left me a lot of time alone to think, and also a lot of time to consider escaping.
I seesawed between the two options constantly—running away and trying to heal Noah. My mind was a battlefield, and I was exhausted, torn between wanting him and wishing I could get away from him.
That exhaustion shifted into something a lot more dangerous last night.
Noah was once again out on pack business, checking on a disturbance near the border, and I was running myself a hot bath.
I'd been dealing with some pretty intense stomach cramps, and I thought that maybe the hot water would help.
But when I dipped my toe into the water and started to sink in, I was struck by a familiar, but wholly unwelcome sensation. A jolt ripped through me, both painful and needy at the same time, and worry followed right behind it.
Oh no. I'd felt that same jolt before. It was my heat cycle getting ready to start.
Being so close to Noah had triggered it, and I was suddenly even more sure that I wanted to escape.
Having to deal with the pain of my heat around my mate when my body would be begging me to let him help me through it would be agony.
But every time I considered running, I was hit by another wave of pain, like my body was rejecting the idea of leaving.
My mind might have wanted to go back to the Brokenclaw pack, but my body, gearing up for a heat cycle, wanted nothing more than to stay with its mate. The pain would likely grow worse if I tried to leave him, but if I waited until I was in full-blown heat, he'd definitely be able to smell it on me.
I washed quickly, distracted by my new problem, doing my best to scrub the scent off me even though I knew it was impossible to truly get rid of. I was in the middle of dousing myself in scented lotion when I heard the doorbell ring.
Ignoring it was my first instinct. No one would be visiting for me, and Noah was still on his mission, so I hoped whoever it was would just leave. But that didn't happen, and the person rang again before resorting to pounding on the door with their fist.
Cautiously, I looked through the peephole, and when I recognized the wolf on the other side, I opened the door.
It was Noah's Beta, Cal, and his face was streaked with blood and dirt. Suddenly, my heart was pounding.
"What happened? Is Noah okay?"
Cal spoke at the exact same time, our words getting jumbled together. "Noah is at the infirmary with our injured pack members. There was a bear attack. He wants you there as soon as possible."
"But is Noah injured?"
"He's fine, but the others need healing. Come with me. Now."
I grabbed my jacket and slipped on some shoes before following him out the door. My brain was racing with possibilities of what could have gone wrong, and how I was supposed to treat wounds in a pack that hadn't been expecting me. Would they accept my help?
Cal's car was waiting, and he slid into the driver's seat without a word. I sat next to him, still trying to process, and barely noticed the drive.
I only knew we were there when Cal parked and climbed out, gesturing for me to follow.
Inside, there were a few people patching up the injured pack members, but not an ounce of magic in the air.
That made sense, considering they'd been so eager to run me out of town when my magic manifested, but it was obvious that they needed more help than mundane medical care could provide.
At first, everything faded into the background, and the only person I found myself looking for was Noah.
Despite the things he'd done to me, despite the life he was trying to force on me, the frantic need to make sure he was okay overrode everything else.
I cared for him. Denying it anymore was useless. I just had to keep reminding myself that affection wasn't an excuse for him to exert his will over me.
But dammit. I just had to make sure he was okay.
Finally, I spotted him coming out of the back room, and everything clicked back into place as my panic faded.
He hadn't come away from the accident totally unscathed, with one sleeve of his flannel removed and a wound that obviously needed either stitches or magic haphazardly duct taped together, and a bruise forming on his cheek, but besides Cal, he was in the best shape out of the four of them.
The other two were a different story. One was laid out on a bed, his skin pale and his white t-shirt drenched in blood, and the other was on a chair, and I could see that he had a splint on his arm and three vicious slashes across his face.
They both needed help, and fast, but the man on the bed looked more dire.
Noah came straight to me, putting a hand on my shoulder. "Hey. Are you okay?" "I'm fine," I insisted. "Cal told me the situation, and I'm here to help."
"Good. I'm going to let you take the lead, alright?"
I hesitated, looking around at the pack members there in the infirmary, and felt my magic curl up into a little ball inside of me. These people hated what I was, so why did Noah think they'd let me heal them?
"Noah, I—"
"I've already told them that trusting you is nonnegotiable. Please." When I looked closer at him, I could see guilt swamping his expression.
"What in the world happened?"
"The border disturbance wasn't someone trying to sneak into our territory.
It was a mama bear and her two cubs making a home in a nearby cave.
The attack came out of nowhere, and their scent had been washed away by the rainstorm last night.
We didn't realize what was going on until we were practically right on top of them.
I can't have two more pack members die, not when I could have prevented it. Not when you could save them."
He was pleading, and I couldn't believe it. But, looking at his expression, the pain and desperation there, I could tell he meant it.
"Okay. Let's do this."
I moved quickly, going first to the man on the bed. Cal assisted me in cutting away the man's shirt, and I gasped at how badly he'd been mauled.
"What's his name?"
"This is Dane," Noah answered.
"Hi, Dane, I'm Sage. Can you hear me?"
Dane's eyes struggled to open, and he managed a weak, "Yeah."
"You've been badly injured, but I'm a healer and I'm here to help. I'm going to get to work, but tell me if you need a minute or if something hurts too much, okay?"
Dane nodded, and I laid my hands over the worst of his wounds, calling my power forward as I settled into a calm place within my mind. My healing was messy when I was panicked, but I'd spent years learning how to be zen when the situation called for it.
As the minutes ticked by, the bloody gashes started to heal. Dane winched every once in a while, but his pulse barely rose. He was likely in shock and wouldn't remember most of what happened by the time I was finished.
I couldn't heal him completely in one session, especially if there was another man who needed healing, but Dane's wounds were closed, and he was stable when I pulled my hands away. He looked down at his previously injured body and then up at me in awe.
My confidence soared, and any worry I carried about the pack's opinion on my magic faded. I smiled at Dane and then turned to Noah. "Let's move on."