Imogen is her pack's runt. She was a surprise to her family, and a disgrace. Her father is the gamma of her pack so her existence as the runt is a disappointment and disgusting.
Her family wait for the moment when she can find her mate, leave the pa...
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Tobias gently leads me towards the shower. I can barely feel my feet moving or the distance I am travelling all I can do is focus on my breathing.
"They're not coming back?" I shakily ask as Tobias turns on the hot water before turning back to face me.
He frowns sadly and strokes at my cheek with his bruised knuckles.
"Yes baby, he's gone. He's not coming back."
Carefully, I remove my soaked top and leggings and let them slop down on the tiled floor by my feet. Tobias follows me and pulls of his jeans, the ones he pulled back on as we were walking back home.
Tobias smiles down at me with a heartfelt ache in his eyes. We are both hurting, and we need each other to recover. He takes my hand again and lightly pulls me towards the shower. I need some encouragement to help get me moving.
The warm water tips down my back but I'm careful to keep my face out of the water. I still haven't recovered from the feeling of drowning, I'm not sure I ever will.
Tobias steps in front of me and wraps bis arms around my waist. I eagerly relax into his touch and rest my face against his chest, his heart thumping under my chest.
We stand in silence until my legs begin to buckle under the weight of the day. As always, Tobias knows what I need. He takes my hands and rubs away Amy's blood. Once my hands are clean, I take his and wash away Blake's blood.
By this time we are both breathing hard with tears escaping down our cheeks.
"I thought you were dead." I finally whisper over the water, the fear in my chest at loosing my mate is still unbearable.
"I thought he had hurt you."
Tobias tilts my face up to look at him with the underside of his hand. I smile sheepishly up at him as his eyes stare at me with a combination of pride and adoration.
"But I guess we were both tougher than we think." He adds with a halfhearted smile before he reaches behind me to switch off the shower water.
Slowly, I step over the rim of the bathtub and reach for a towel. After wrapping my body, I hand another over to Tobias.
Neither of us know what to say as we dry ourselves side by side. All I know is that I want to curl up in bed with Tobias' arms around me.
It seems Tobias has the same thought as I do because his hand falls heavy on my shoulder and he directs me towards our bedroom. I am beyond grateful that Tobias is in control at the moment, because I know I am inches away from spiralling in guilt.
"We'll deal with everything tomorrow," Tobias finally decides as he opens our bedroom door, "right now we both need to rest."
I smile happily when I see Inky awake on the bed and chewing on a ribbon I left out for him to play with. Tobias rolls his eyes and laughs at my joy over the kitten, but I don't care. Right now I need some joy to fight the bad and that is Tobias and Inky.
With exhausted hands, I drop the towel to the floor and find a T-shirt of Tobias' in the drawer. I no longer feel worried about being exposed and bare to my mate, I know he loves me no matter what.
I collapse onto the bed in a sort of daze. It feels as though my body has given up, my legs are lead and my chest is heavy. I can't even find the strength to lift my body under the covers, everything feels like too much.
Tobias' weight as he lays on the bed causes me to roll slightly into the gravity of him. When I feel he is under the protective warmth of the duvet I let out a whine which makes Tobias huff out a chuckle.
"Ok baby." His arms find my body and he gently lifts me up so that he can pull the covers over me. I let out a happy note and burrow my face into his chest.
"You tired?" He asks, his hands stroke through my hair and his voice has a worried lilt to it.
"Sooo tired." I agree as a yawn pulls at my jaw. It feels like I'm falling with exhaustion, like every muscle in my body has given up.
"Hmmm," Tobias still sounds worried as I fight sleep to keep answering his questions and soothe his worries, "what did Amy try to do to you?"
I grimace, not exactly overjoyed to have those memories whirling around my head right before sleep but I need to tell him. After all, I saw what happened to him.
And more than that, I want to show my mate, the new alpha, that I'm not just some useless runt who can't do anything. I took on the chosen Luna of the pack, and came out on top. I want my mate to be proud that I didn't give up or wait for him to save me, I fought back, for myself and for our future.
"She-she tried to drown me." I mumble shakily, my breathing starts to tighten as if I am trapped under the water once again.
"She wanted to kill me, but I fought back." Tobias must realise that I fought against Amy, but from the way he tenses slightly I guess he was still surprised to hear it from me.
"I fought for you, for me, and for our future. I wasn't going to let anyone take that from us."
"Well baby, as crazy as it may sound to some, I'm proud of you." He bends down and kisses my forehead as my eyelids finally flutter closed under the permission of the rest.
"Sleep now?" I murmur aloud for Tobias to hear as I shuffle my face under his neck until all I can smell is my mate and safety.
