The Feral Mate

Chapter 28

Opal struggles to get on his back but did after a few stops because of the pain, ‘ok, Titan, let's go, Opal, River, this is going to be a long and slow journey back to the pack house, we can't take you up that way, we need to go down to the Alt river then back up to the packhouse’ ‘ok, please take it slow, I know we need to get Opal help but the movements are going to hurt’ River pleaded, ‘I will try my best to get you both back as pain-free as possible’ Titan said as he headed towards the river.

It took close to an hour to get to the river, Opal was thirsty, she had asked to be put down by the river so she could drink, Titan refused, he didn't want to put her down so he waded into the cold river so she didn't have to get off, the banks of the river were too muddy to put her down.

When the water touched Opal’s open wounds, she cried out ‘sorry Opal I will get out, I thought this would be easier for you to drink’ ‘no wait, Opal, I know it's going to hurt but Titan, please submerge all of Opal’s legs in the water, the water will help clean the wounds so they won't get infected’ ‘sorry Opal but River does have a point, Titan go a little deeper and walk down the river for a little while, just her legs, try not to get her body, remember, Opal doesn't have a winter coat, okay Opal please forgive me' Titan said as he went deeper into the river.

Titan stayed in the river for a few miles then got out when he couldn't take Opal's cries of pain anymore, ‘we are a lot farther away from the pack house then I thought, I think we have at least 3 miles more, please bear with the pain a little longer’ ‘ok’ she whispered ‘she's not doing so well’ River said to concerned.

We had to go slow, it was slippery from all the rain we have had in the last few hours, it took Titan six hours from start to finish, Opal had passed out with the pain.

We got closer to the packhouse, Titan spotted Atlas, he walked over to her and grows at her, making Atlas jumps, “sorry for sitting in your spot, wait, who is that on your back?” he growled again, ‘Titan, that's not going to help Opal’ ‘what else can I do?’ “OPAL?” we heard, it was Pasha, he was running over to us, leaving Eve shouting after him, “Opal, she is Rivers Lycan, what happened?” “I don't know, Titan just come over to me, growling” “Titan what happened?”, Titan turned so he could show him Opal’s broken leg “oh shit, go wait at the van, I will go get the keys” then he ran off.

Pasha got to the van with a few others to help get Opal off Titan’s back and into the van, Pasha even brought me some clothes.

Opal woke up as they were moving her into the van, her cries were heart-breaking, Titan felt more guilt with every cry, as he was the one that left her out there and she got her.

They got her in, I shifted and got dressed, Pasha took me by surprise, by grabbing me by the shirt and push me against the van, “tell me what the fuck happened to Opal? What did you do to her?” “Pasha calm down, he's the True Alpha” Atlas said trying to calm him down, “get in the van and I will tell you” “you better, Atlas, get in the back and make sure Opal don't move” she nodded and got in the back, “you better tell me everything, I don't care if you're the True Alpha, Opal and River is my friend” he said let me go and get in the driver side.

As he drove, I told him what Titan and I had done, “you did what?” Pasha shouted “I'm going to fucking kill you, how could you do something like that? Isn't she your mate? Titans just left her out in the woods, I swear if she dies because of this, I am going to kill you, mark my words” “Pasha come down, River won't die from a broken leg” Atlas reassure him “shut the fuck up, you don't know that, her wound has been open for god knows how long that he left her out in the woods, alone, scared, so shut the fuck up and watch her” Pasha said pissed off.

I didnt like the way he spoke to Atlas “mind your tongue while you're talking to me, you have room to talk about abandoning mates, apart from now, when was the last time you spent alone time with Atlas?” “Alpha Huxley, please don't” “sorry, this argument has got to this point, was it before River went into heat? did you leave her and not spoke to her in nearly a week?” “This is different” “how was it different? You abandoned your mate” “my mate didn't get hurt, Eve with pup, she said she wants looking after and needed my 100% attention, I can't just leave her in that fragile state” “female Lycan’s have been having pups for hundreds of thousands of years, female Lycan’s are strong, they don't need us all the time”.

“Eve’s with pup?” Atlas said shocked, “yes, so I'm going to be spending most of my time with her” “but what about me?” “Are you with pup? No, she is, my time with her is important” “it was your choice that you added me to be your mate because of what happened with Victor, you said that you would protect me, now you're throwing me away” “it's not like” “enough, no Lycan is perfect, just get to DR Shelley’s quickly”.

We got to Dr Shelley's office, I already knew that this wasn't going to be a fun reunion, Dr Shelley was Nisa's older sister, she had blamed me for Nisa and our unborn pups death, “Pasha, what happened? Huxley?” She said shocked, “DR Shelley, nice to see you after a long time” “you are not welcome here, get out” she shouted “I will, but first, please, help her, she's hurt” “Pasha, tell me what happened?” “Her mate over there left her in the woods for the night, she fell and she hurt both of her back legs” “he's nothing but trouble, get out of my office” I didn't argue with her and I left.

I waited out by the van; Atlas came out of the office 30 minutes later “how is she?” I asked “she's not good, her left leg is broken in two places and it is fractured in a few others, her right leg is scratched up pretty bad, she's slightly dehydrated and malnourished” “that's because she was on heat for nearly a week and wouldn't eat” “I told her that, she said something about that you should have made her eat and drink, well she has to stay here for a few nights, Dr Shelley is going to operate on Opal tonight, Pasha is going to stay with her, he told me to give you these, he will call me when to bring the van back to pick her up, I don't know why, he knows I can't drive” Atlas said holding out the keys to the van, “it's been over five years since the last time I drive, I don’t think it would be safe, take the keys back to Pasha, you don't mind shifting with me?” “It's fine, I will be right back”.

When she Returned, she was with Pasha, “you better look after my mate, don't just abandon her like you did with River” “aren't you in the process of banding Atlas anyway, now that Eve is with pup” “I'm not going to abandon her, she’s just going to have less time with me, Eve and the pup should be my top priority, Atlas needs to understand that” she just turned away from him, “ok, if Eve and the pup is that important to you, why are you going to stay here with River for a few days away from them?”

He didn't know what to say back to me “come on Atlas, let's get back to the pack house” I said walking off, Atlas followed, she didn't even say bye to Pasha.

We went into the woods, I got undressed and shifted, I don’t really care who sees me, Atlas went behind some bushes too undress and shift, her Lycan was very small, I thought Opal was small, Atlas’s Lycan was a dark brown but her face was very much lighter than her body, I had asked if it was ok to link with her before we shifted, ‘Atlas, I would like to officially introduce you to Titan, yes he is big, yes he is scary but please don't be scared of him’ ‘hello’ he bowed his head to her ‘hello Titan my Lycan is called Pixie, it's nice to finally talk to you’ her Lycan's name suits her, she is little, ‘we should leave shortly but I would like to go back and say goodbye to River and Opal, is that ok with you?’ ‘of course it is, Alpha Huxley, lead the way’.