I should be studying for finals week lol
but I would rather update for you guys
how's your life going? Who has finals this upcoming week?
Chapter Twenty Three
D O M I N I C
To see Caroline like this was more painful than anything I had gone through in my life. The only sign she was alright was the warmth of her soft skin and the regular breathing. She wasn't always like this though. Her body was repeatedly wracked with fits of coughing and her skin would become clammy. The heart monitor would start wigging out and the doctor and nurse would burst in to try and sedate her.
At least she wasn't dying. That much I knew. If she were, I would be able to feel it. There would be a burning in my chest, my wolf would be extremely upset. He was upset now, of course. He didn't enjoy seeing his mate limp and lifeless for almost two days, but the doctor was sure she would wake up soon.
I held her little hand tightly between mine, kissing her knuckles gently. The worst of it all was the breathing apparatus strapped to her face. When she began coughing, it meant that her throat was closing up, so the breathing tube helped a bit to keep oxygen cycling through her. We knew thus far that the irritation began at her neck, and I feared it had something to do with the mark.
An hour passed before the doctor returned, this time with an old friend of mine. She was one of the last living naturalist doctors for the Shifter nation. She called upon spirits of the world, of mother nature, to heal and for answers to ailments. Humans would probably call her a witch doctor of some sort, but that wasn't quite right in Shifter terms.
"I have seen this before," she announced happily the moment she walked in. The fact that she wasn't worried calmed me extremely. Zara Begay was an old woman in her eighties, her back starting to hunch. Just from looking at her, you would think she was frail, but she was one of the strongest women I knew. Zara was the kind of person you wanted to be on your side, not against you.
"And?" I prodded. "She'll be alright, Zara?"
Zara nodded, leaning over my mate. "Your human will be alright. Her body is just rejecting the mark, but the mark does not want to be denied. Strangely, I have only seen it in situations where a mark can been forcefully given and without consent. So I am unsure why she would-"
The old woman paused, staring intensely at me. Either something in my expression changed enough she caught it or her connection to the spirits were giving me away. The next thing I knew, Zara was repeatedly smacking the back of my head. "You are an idiot," she said simply. "Almost undeserving of her to bear your mark. Almost."
This woman was probably the only one I would let hit me. Mostly because she was vital to the health of many individuals in our pack, including my own mother. Many people felt Zara was a godmother of sorts, and I was no different.
"Your little mate will wake up today, but only for a few minutes. When she does, remove the tube long enough to feed her. Right now she needs nutrients to keep her strength up while her body fights itself and fights the mark. Within a couple days she will almost be back to normal, slightly tired though," Zara explained, patting Caroline's hand gently. "The spirits like this one."
This peaked my interest. "Is that right? What are they saying?"
"That you're a fool for forcing your mark on her," Zara retorted sharply. "They like Caroline's fight. She has a strength that comes from a dark past, one with great loss. It is a strength that is not as visible. But it is there nonetheless. The spirits hope you do not smother that strength with the dominance and ignorance that alpha's inevitably display."
