Make Me Beg - BOOK 1 OF THE MATES & MARKS TRILOGY

Chapter 24

"Cassie." A distant voice. The volume of their call being swallowed like a deep cave eats the shouts of explorers. "Cassie..." That's my name. "Baby... Come on, it's wakey wakey time." The voice didn't match the words it was saying: the caller sounded choked, either beginning to cry or finishing a good long sob... She took register of everything, head to her toes, taking in the lack of sensation in patches of her legs and the dull pain blossoming at the back of her head, slowly spreading across her temples as she woke. Her throat burned, her chest ached and her eyeballs prickled behind her lids from the bright light on the other side.

"Kar-" Cassie's voice shocked her for a moment, it was raspier than a chain smoker's. She tried a gentle cough but it didn't shift the croak of her voice, "Karliah?" the alpha let out a gasp that bordered on a sob.

"Yes? Cassie, baby," Karliah, she thought, she sounds so happy... but not. "are you awake?"

"Mmm."

"Oh, thank goddess."

"It..." Her voice could barely be heard over the soft beeping of monitoring machines and the whirring of a fan at the end of her bed. "It hurts."

"I know, sweetness, I'm so sorry." And she sounded it, Cassie had never heard her like this, when she thought of Karliah it was always with a grin on her face, usually giving a cheeky wink."I'm so sorry."

"How..." She finally managed to creak her heavy eyes open, they stung a little and she had to blink frequently, but she could see to the end of a bed, clean and decked out with white and blue linen. Fuzzy vision aside, it didn't take a genius to know she was in a room on a medical ward, which pack it belonged to, she didn't know. It could be her own pack's for all she knew, luckily she had never had to stay at the pack doctor's building for more than half an hour for a check-up or a jab. "Where..." A sharp pain ran through her forehead and rested between her eyes, forcing them closed again. "Ugh." She groaned.

"Try not to move too much, baby, you took a bad knock to the head," She peeled her eyes open again to glance over, just for a few seconds, at her mate. Karliah was a mess, her eyes puffy, her skin pale, her clothes wrinkled and her hands trembling, clamped together in front of her as though she were mid-prayer. She was watching Cassie carefully, like she was afraid the smaller girl might vanish in front of her very eyes if she blinked a moment too long. "Dr Herman said she would be surprised if you could remember anything." Dr Herman, that's not one of our pack doctors... I don't think... Cassie thought.

"I remember... most of it," Cassie took a shuddering breath, her mouth was dry and talking was making her head hurt more. "just not... the end... so much." She winced, closing her eyes until the sudden shock of pain subsided. She didn't want to think about it too much but the memory in her head was definitely missing some chunks, like how she remembered being tied to a stone column, but not how she got there. "He was... he was going to mark me." Her eyes opened suddenly flicking to Karliah's alarmed expression. "He didn't?" She croaked, "Please. Please say he did-"

"No!" Karliah took her hands gently, rubbing soft circles on them in an attempt to calm her, it was the first time she had touched her since she had woken up, it felt good. "Absolutely not, baby. I would never let that happen." Karliah's expression was filled with guilt, Cassie wanted to tell her everything was okay but she knew neither of them believed it.

"How close..." Cassie looked away, "How far," her voice cracked on 'far' and she had to stop again, trying pointlessly to swallow despite her bone-dry mouth. Karliah removed one hand from hers to hand her a plastic cup of water, Cassie tried to lift her arm to take it but her whole body ached. She moaned pitifully but Karliah understood, she held the cup to her lips and helped her sip gently. Cassie mouthed 'thank you' and cleared her throat, this time it worked at least a little bit. "How far did he go?" She asked.