An Alpha's Revenge

Pass

LEAH

She felt like death. No, that was an understatement. In comparison, she was sure that death would feel much better than this. She felt like hell. Like the undead. Like the world had run her over, chewed her up and spit her back out again. She knew these symptoms. She'd seen her grandmother go through them – though that had been so long ago that she sometimes forgot it had even happened.

A Healing Sickness. It didn't happen often to healers but her particular skill set was slightly more vulnerable to such a thing. She'd overused her healing gift. She'd tried to heal something that wasn't meant to be healed and now she would suffer for it. Exhaustion was the clinical name, though Leah knew that her sickness would not play out like any normal type of exhaustion. No, she'd be lucky if she remained conscious for the next few days – she'd be lucky if she felt better within the next few weeks.

She cursed herself, she knew better. What had driven her to override her natural instincts, she had no idea. Well. She had one idea.

"Where's Jack?" Her voice cracked as she spoke and her throat ached.

"Aw, how sweet." Elenor mocked, earning her a sharp elbow in the ribs from Kelsey. They were all here, she realised. Cassidy and Jake sat in the corner, a giggling Uma in their arms, Kelsey – looking a little better than when Leah had seen her last - stood glaring at Elenor.

"Seriously? Just-just tell me where he is." Leah demanded, trying and failing to sit up as her whole body ached.

"I'm here."

And here he was, stood there in all his sane glory. She wanted to ask him how, how he'd managed to hold it together – how either he or her pack weren't dead. She had so many questions for him but instead she just felt relief. Relief that he was OK.

"It seems that whatever sickness you had hadn't fully healed, but I think I've just about cured you," Elenor said quietly, looking quite pale after having healed her. Leah sat up slowly, gripping her forehead. Elenor was right, she had healed her but that would only quicken the healing sickness, not cure it. She'd feel awful for the next few days, as would Elenor.

She mumbled a thank you to her, watching as the she-wolf swayed on her feet. Yup, she'd regret that in the morning.

"Leah." The way he said her name. Good God. She shuddered and her wolf flashed to the surface, taking advantage of her fragile state – which only served to call his fourth – a dangerous thing to do in a room full of people she loved.

"Can you all leave us, please?" They all turned to stare at her, their attention flitting between the two of them. What did they see? She wondered. Did they see two wolves who met a bar and hadn't quite got each other out of their system? Did they see his fractured edges the way that she could? Could they sense how close to the edge he was?

"Please?" She begged when no one moved. Eventually, they began to leave – a few suggestive comments or giggles here and there, but she didn't care. She just needed them gone. She needed them safe.

When the last person left and the door slammed closed, she let her wolf take control of her human body and watched as his did the same thing.

Her wolf was not in a mood to wait.

She was on her feet and millimetres in front of him in an instant though, despite her wolf's strength, her body still swayed and ached with the effort. He watched silently, his wolf rioting in his eyes.

"Do you know?" He growled, sniffing the air before leaning in and sniffing her, his nose trailing across her skin making her shudder. "Do you know who you belong to?"

Leah, from behind her wolf's control, was confused by his words but as it turns out, her wolf was not. There was something that her wolf had been hiding from her – "Yes," her wolf growled. "You."

As quick as she'd taken control, her wolf released it and Leah was left blinking her way back into her body – staring up into the stern yet smug face of her...of her...oh, she was definitely going to be sick now...of her moonmate.

"You're mine?" she whispered gently, to which he only nodded. "You have got to be kidding me," she muttered before, and not for the first time recently, Leah passed out.

*
A/N
More tomorrow