Page 66 of Alpha's Revenge Luna
“Then what do you suggest, Doc?”I growl, my fingers digging into my palms.
“Patience,” he replies simply.
“Patience is not my strong suit,” I admit, the weight of guilt heavy on my shoulders.
“Alpha, it’s a complex process.If Emery’s body can’t recognize you as her mate, it could reject the mark.”
“Reject?”The word is a blade, slicing through the taut silence.“Is that it then?She just rejects me, and it’s over?”
“Calm, Alpha,” Doc urges, his voice a low, steady current amidst the storm of my rage.“This sort of thing, usually it only happens if the wolf is dying or from other influences.”
“What do you mean other influences?”I ask.
Doc glances at Emery before answering, he leans down with a Q-tip taking a swap of her blackening mark.“High doses of wolfsbane which without a wolf would kill her, another is Belladonna, maybe.It could very well be because she hasn’t shifted, and her body can’t recognize you as her mate, therefore she is rejecting the mate mark.”I bite my lip at his words, knowing she hasn’t shifted.
“She was supposed to shift on her birthday, she never got her wolf,” I explain.Doc sighs.
“Alpha Dion, you need to remember she has been through a lot lately, she lost her family.You know yourself, from Anastasia, that trauma does things to the body.It took what, ayear after you saved her, for her wolf to come forward?And she had Alpha blood.Emery, however, is an Omega, her will power isn’t as strong.”
I scoff, “Believe me, it’s stronger than Anastasia’s.She fights me at every turn.”
Doc glances at Emery, who is passed out.
“For now, just keep her close so the bond grows.Are you feeding on her?”Doc asks and I chew my lip nervously.
“Yes, is that a bad thing?”
Doc shakes his head.
“No, you’re a Hybrid, you need blood, but maybe don’t feed from that side of her.Let her mate mark heal or dissolve.When she gets her wolf try to mark her again.You have to be patient, Alpha, some things can’t be forced.”
“And if she tries to run again?”I ask him.
Doc unflustered, maintains eye contact.
“Calm, Alpha,” Doc urges, his voice a low, steady current amidst the storm of my rage.“She needs her wolf.Without it, the bond is incomplete, it’s fragile.”
I cast a tormented look at Emery.“Then bring her wolf forward.”
“It’s not that simple, Dion,” Doc counters with measured patience.“Trauma, pain, they can suppress a wolf, make it hide.Emery needs time, healing.”
“Time is a luxury we might not have, Doc!”My voice reverberates in the sterile silence of the infirmary.Emery remains unmoving, silent to my potent rage.
“Did you force the mark, Dion?”Doc asks, his gaze piercing.
“I…” I hesitate, the words strangled in my throat.“It’s not about force, it’s about claiming what’s mine.She’s my mate.”
“Respectfully, Alpha, it’s about consent, it’s about a bond nurtured not enforced.”Doc’s words are a slap, cold and jarring.
I cast another look at Emery, her vulnerability, her silence.
“Patience, Dion.Love, care and nurture.These are your weapons, not force, not dominion,” Doc’s voice is bothchastisement and counsel.
Doc sighs, “I understand your instincts, your need.But she is a person, Dion, not a possession.”
I look at him, caught between the force of an Alpha’s will and the vulnerability of a mate’s fear.“Every second, every moment I’m not with her, it feels like suffocation, Doc.”
“I know, but that’s the mate bond.It’s powerful, but it has to be mutual.”He sighs heavily.“I get it, I do.”Doc reasons, but I cut him off.
