[24] Part II

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I woke up to a bright white light blinding me.

Blinking away the haziness in my eyes, I shifted my head gingerly to see Hayley sprawled on a chair beside my bed, the surroundings behind her a sterile white.

Well. Looks like I'm in the hospital wing again.

Hayley's mouth was wide open as she snored, and I felt the sudden, irresistible urge to put something in. Smirking, I looked around, but pouted as I saw nothing. Even the fake beetle I had planned to put into Jason's drink tomorrow was nowhere to be found.

Sighing, I just pulled my phone out of my pocket and threw it at her, bouncing off her shirt. Hayley was frantic when she woke up, but relaxed when she saw me.

"Oh goody, you're up," she said brightly. "Alpha was worried sick about you, he was discharged a while ago. Its past midnight though, you missed dinner."

"Shoot," I frowned. "What was tonight's special?"

"Beef casserole," Hayley shrugged. "You were out for a while though, Nina left some soup."

"Vegetable soup?" I made a face as she laughed. "For fuck's sake, Hayley, I'm not going to eat that atrocity."

"Stop fussing," she rolled her eyes, handing me a bowl and spoon. "At least you got this much. Nina actually considered leaving you fruit."

"What has my life come to?" I said dramatically, sipping the lukewarm fluid.

"Pretty bad actually," Hayley grimaced. "Its a big mess. Cyril's gone for some peacemaking of some sort with the other Alphas, Alpha Cole's locked himself up in his tower, and everybody's pretty grim."

I ignored the heavy feeling of guilt settle in my gut, opting to drown it in something even more bleh - veggie soup. Honestly, the worst.

"How long was I out for?" I asked conversationally just as Hayley gave me back my phone and sat back down.

"Just about a couple hours," Hayley glanced at her watch, her expression turning sober. "You've got to start training again, Mia. You fainted. That's pretty... bad."

Weak, more like, but I remained silent.

Hayley reached out to squeeze my knee. "Hey, you're fine," she said sincerely, her voice gentle. "Those Alphas will never lay a finger on you, got it? All of us, but more so Alpha Cole, will make sure of that. You're his mate, after all. He'd go crazy."

I smiled bitterly at her. "Yeah."


"You just dropped. Like, legit fainted," Jason guffawed as the two of us walked towards the Academy to start daily morning practice. I laughed and shoved his shoulder. "Piss off, you prick."

"Better start carrying pillows around, just in case delicate little Mia here decides to faint on us during a pack fight," Jason chuckled, but the humor slid off his face as I deliberately stuck out a foot and tripped him up, sending him careening into the snow.

"You got slush on my jacket," he whined immaturely as I rolled my eyes at him. "My brand new fur jacket."

"Shut up," I gave him an exasperated look before giving a sigh of relief as I spotted Hayley and Jamie waiting for us at the entrance of the hall.

"Oh great, now you can take him away, he's all yours," I ditched Jason with Hayley and joined Jamie for training.

Waving at a couple of juniors that I occasionally taught, I walked past the younger werewolves to where the seniors where standing. Nina was there, handing around mugs of hot chocolate. When she saw me, she instantly grinned, bounding over for a hug.

"Hey there," she drawled, eyes crinkled up happily. "You alright?"

"I'm all good," I assured, hugging her back. "Got a little bruising when I hit the floor, but I've had worse."

"So you're back for training?" Nina pulled back and observed me, her smile fading slightly.

I opened my mouth to affirm it, but hesitated. A small part of me was feeling all sick with the guilt I was bearing, but then a familiar head of jet black hair and piercing blue eyes caught my gaze.

Alpha Cole stood casually leaning against a wall, with another senior werewolf beside him. His eyes fixed on mine, never looked away.

My mate.

His eyes were soft, and that was all the motivation I needed. I straightened my back and shoulders slightly, chin high as I smiled at Nina. "Sure."



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