Apple Martini

Chapter 4 - Fate's Acquaintance

Regan couldn't stop himself from rushing forward as he saw the young woman's eyes roll back before she collapsed onto the bed.

"Oh shit." Her friend hissed, immediately putting a hand on her forehead and pulling it away in shock. "She wasn't this hot earlier!"

Alpha Regan did the same, finding the woman's forehead burning, far warmer than some mere fever.

"Has this happened to her before?" He asked the maid next to him, who shook her head vehemently.

"She's had fevers once in a while, but never this bad. What happened?"

Ryker whined with concern and anxiety as Regan helped the maid adjust the young woman's position on her bed, so that she was lying with her head comfortably resting on the pillow.

"I'm not sure. But..." He inhaled softly. "Do you smell that...?"

"...No?"

The maid shot him a puzzled expression, making Regan more bewildered.

"She smells like red apples...that's how I followed her scent here."

The maid frowned, looking from her unconscious friend to the Alpha in front of her.

"But...she's never had a scent...how can you smell it while I can't?"

"I don't know yet, but I can feel it..." Regan presses his lips together, still in disbelief that he was about to utter the following words.

"She's my mate."

The maid was stunned, opening her mouth to speak but only managing some strangled, confused noises before finally settling on something.

"...Ethel is your...mate?"

Recalling Liana referring to the attendant as Ethelline earlier, Regan gave a slow nod.

"I suppose she is."

Realisation dawned on the maid's face.

"So...when she was asking about coffee earlier...she was scenting you. But that doesn't make sense..."

She looked down and pressed the back of her hand against Ethel's forehead.

"Without a wolf...she's never been able to smell any scents, and neither has she had one of her own."

The matebond has overwhelmed her, Ryker rumbled simply, as Regan examined his fated. As long as we stay by her side for the timebeing, she should adjust and come to in a few hours. We can understand more about why this is happening once she's out of the woods.

Regan glanced up at the redhead opposite him.

"Her body is trying to adjust to the emergence of the mate bond...could you get some fever patches for her forehead?"

"Of course, Alpha Regan." The maid nodded and sped out of the room.

Regan finally managed to get a good look at Ethel without the veil obscuring her face.

Her 'facial defect' - as Liana had so nicely put - had been her left iris, tinted a ghostly white as compared to the honey brown of her right. She also didn't look to be as healthy as most of the other pack members and most of all Alpha Thomas and Liana, her cheeks sunken, her body frail, and her dark curls almost as dry as hay. His heart ached at her current state.

Even with how she looks like now...she's beautiful. The Alpha thought to himself, brushing a stray strand of hair from her face. The plain dress and the veil she has been forced to wear do her no justice at all. Perhaps once I bring her back to the Black Sun Pack, Miss Dionne can help her out.