Beauty The Beast

33 | The Alverales

"How did this suddenly happen?" Alphard worried.

"With our marks and all that we've been through and experienced till now, I wouldn't say I'm surprised," Luna smiled weakly as she lay on the bed under Alphard's care.

Somewhere around 2 am, Alphard had woken up from his slumber when he heard grunts and pants. It was Luna who was taking deep breaths to ease her pain. He woke up to realise that her body was burning and she was sweating profusely.

He checked the temperature to find it 103° F and panicked a little before managing to calm himself down. Then he took to press wet cloths to her forehead, back of the neck and other parts of her body and continued to change them after every 5 minutes. Just half an hour had passed when he felt someone mind contacting him.

"Who can it be now?" He grunted wanting to avoid the contact so that he can take care of Luna, but she suggested otherwise.

"Must be our parents, our packs must've been merged, let them in and don't tell anything about my fever, they'd worry." He sighed at her response, but nodded reluctantly.

"Dad, mom?" Alphard asked when he sensed his parents.

"You two must still be in the plane, how are our packs already merged!?"

"Well...we just held on to a...um...tradition?"

"What nonsense are you..." Dorian trailed as realisation dawned on him. "...you...how did you know? Who told you?"

"I won't snitch on them now dad, will I?" Alphard wanted to laugh.

"What about Luna? She knows too?"

"Yep, in fact she's the one who suggested that we follow in your footsteps,"

"I don't believe Luna said that," Dorian said.

"Dad, it hurts me that you actually believe her over me, your son." Alphard feigned disappointment.

"Am I wrong?"

"Fine, I asked her what she wanted to do after learning about it and that's why she suggested it, happy?" He laughed making Dorian do so too.

"Will you two stop? That's not why we contacted him, Dorian!" Camille interrupted, that alarmed Alphard.

"Did something happen, mom?"

"Everything's fine here, Alphard. I'm worried about Luna, how's she?"

"What'd happen to Luna? She's here beside me." Though Alphard frowned, he managed to convey his message without letting them suspect anything.

He took hold of Luna's hand and squeezed it gently.

"So she's fine? No fever, or something?" Camille asked, Alphard immediately knew that his mother knew about this and it's something related to their marks.

"Actually...her temperature is high." He admitted knowing that Camille can help. To his astonishment, she sighed in relief, he didn't understand it. "What's it, mom?"

"Don't worry about her, her temperature will be back to normal within a couple hours," Camille said and he could feel his mother smiling as she said that.

"Why did this happen though? Is it something that happens to every shifter after they mate?" Alphard asked.

"No, but to the ones with your mark. Since the mark is connected with mate bond, the protector among the couple will experience the symptoms that Luna is now experiencing after mating for the first time. It's to ensure that they are the one for each other as shifters usually mate as soon as they meet, but of course your situation was different."