Mated To The Alpha Of The North
Chapter 23

Willow

I awoke sometime later, though I was not sure how much later, feeling a little sore and a lot weak, nothing new for me of course, yet I somehow still managed to feel better than I could remember feeling since arriving here in the South.

I had been dealing with the exhaustion and physical pain for so long that it seemed a near constant, but maybe there would be a light at the end of the tunnel after all, I thought hopefully to myself.

I stretched out in the soft bed, enjoying being able to do so with minimal pain for once, before rolling over and looking for Jax, at my wolf’s request. Okay, maybe I wanted to see him too. There. I could admit to myself at least.

I noticed Ronnie sitting in his chair, the one I had started calling Jax’s in my head for some reason, seemingly lost in a book. I cleared my throat to get her attention, which seemed to startle her.

She quickly dropped the book into her lap, looking up to meet my eyes as I struggled to sit up. She moved forward, helping me relax comfortably against the headboard before resuming her seat by the bed.

“Thanks for that.” I said a bit bashfully, not quite meeting her eye.

Ronnie had been nothing but warm and welcoming, but I was not used to receiving help. It was something I knew I would probably have to get used to with her and Jax around.

She did not respond at first, but then after a beat, she replied in a confused tone, “For what?”

She had asked the question, but she did not wait for me to answer before going on, “How are you feeling? Jax just got back, and I know he will drive me insane if I have not already done your check up.”

She finished in an exasperated manner, but it was obvious by the way she talked when she spoke about her brother how much she cared about him.

Her delayed answer previously made sense now too. She had been talking with Jax through their mind link.

I wondered, a bit warmly to myself, when I would be able to do that with him too.

Ronnie had inadvertently answered my next question, and I felt my wolf react to the information that our mate would be here soon.

She surged to the surface, wanting to be near him as soon as possible, and sent a jolt of energy through my weak limbs that caused me to shoot up out of the bed, while throwing my legs over the side to stand.

I guess the extra rest and food had made my wolf stronger too. It had been a long time since I had felt my wolf to this extent.

Maybe my partial shift in the clearing had given her more strength, but either way, I was left scrambling to regain the upper hand from my wolf while I tried to simultaneously avoid falling flat on my face.

Ronnie darted forward once again to save my wolf’s impatient a*s, urging me back into a sitting position on the bed while she spoke, “Hey, it is okay. He will be here in just a few minutes, and you should not be walking around just yet anyway. Doctor’s orders. Let’s get these boring questions out of the way so I can leave you two lovebirds alone for a while when he gets here.”

I reluctantly retook my position on the bed, thankfully having reigned in my wolf’s sudden outpouring of dominance. She had taken me off guard at first, but I had a firm hold over her reactions now.

It did not help that her desires mirrored my own, but Ronnie was right when she said I should not be walking around yet, even if her comment immediately following that statement made me slightly uncomfortable.

I did feel better than ever physically though, but I knew that was just because I was so used to feeling terrible all the time. I considered Ronnie’s question from earlier carefully for a minute before answering.

“I feel better than I can recall feeling in a long time, but I do still feel like I am tiring too quickly despite the extra food and rest, though I feel best when I am around Jax.” I finished in almost a whisper, glancing towards the door like he might appear just by me speaking his name.

To my wolf and I’s dismay, he did not appear. I knew I was supposed to be wary of all alphas after everything with Zeke, but I had decided to go all in with Jax.

My wolf fully supported this decision, and, as a result, we were completely attached, to him and the way he made us feel.

The anticipation was grating on my nerves, adding to the lingering soreness that remained in my muscles, but I knew all that would fade when he arrived.

I finally glanced up at Ronnie after a few moments had passed in silence, and she had not answered. She had a soft smile on her face as she met my eyes.

She replied, “Your mate will always be where you feel the safest and most content. His presence alone takes away the pain and helps speed your healing. There is something you need to know though about your healing…” Ronnie trailed off while her words sent my thoughts sailing in another direction entirely, my pulse ratcheting up with each passing second.

I was terrified to finally be confronted with one of the consequences of what had happened to me. I had survived these past two years by shoving everything down, until only numbness remained.

Of course, I had already known I was not healing properly, mentally or physically. It would have been hard to miss with all the injuries I had acquired on a daily basis subsisting here in the pack house. Yet, there was nothing I could have done about it in the past.

I was a bit chagrined to find myself back in the pristine mansion, despite all I had done to escape it.

Though Zeke was gone, I still did not like being within the confines of the sumptuous rooms that had once served as my prison for so long. The last time I had been here, things had been desperate, and I had had no choice but to run.

My wolf and I agreed that things were vastly different now, so maybe some changes could be made to help me finally heal from all the hurts of my past. However, right now I needed to focus on Ronnie’s words.

I was not a medic, but I had always thought that my healing rate had slowed down due to me not being as connected with my wolf from the loss of shifting regularly.

The lack of a substantial or nutritious diet probably did not help the matter, but Ronnie needed to know all of these things if she was going to help me fix this issue.

I did not want to admit the full extent of what Zeke had put me through, but it would be difficult to get around some aspects of it if I was going to be truly honest with Ronnie for the sake of my health.

I swallowed down my pride and met Ronnie’s eyes before I replied, “I know my healing rate has slowed. I think it was caused by my diet and being unable shift for long periods of time.”

Though it was difficult to say aloud, I was glad that I had when I noticed the shock register on her petite face.

I knew the malnutrition would have been fairly easy for a trained medic to identify, but the deprival of the one of the most basic necessities of being a werewolf must have come as a surprise.

That look of pity that immediately filled her eyes as she processed what I had told her was what had made me want to hide that little tidbit of information to begin with.

Thank Luna, Ronnie quickly shook off the expression before speaking again, “That definitely might have contributed to it as well, and you should definitely talk with Jax about him taking you to shift as soon as possible.”

She stated all of this in a kind tone, but I was more thankful that she seemed to have lost the pity in her tone along the way.

She hesitated a moment before going on, “However, I believe that you have also been given small amounts of wolfsbane periodically over a prolonged period of time based on the results of the tests I performed. It was most likely through ingestion, but the good news is that it is almost completely out of your system now.”

She finished her soliloquy in a bright, cheery tone, most likely trying to soften the blow that I had been poisoned on top of everything else. I felt the b***d drain from my face, my wolf’s visions of violence filling my head.

It all made sense now. Zeke giving me the scraps of food himself; the only morsels of nourishment that I was permitted to eat, besides what I had stolen from the kitchen unbeknownst to him.

Me feeling so weak all the time, being unable to fully shift in the clearing, and being so out of touch with my wolf. The constant pain. It was all caused by him.

I felt my breathing begin to escalate to near hyperventilating, my pulse pounded deafeningly in my ears, sounding as loud as drumbeats beating against my eardrums.

And then, just as suddenly, Jax’s scent invaded my nostrils as I felt him pick me up and then settle back down on the bed, with me in his lap and his arms surrounding me.

I reveled in the comfort of being near my mate, allowing his closeness to soothe and slowly start to rebuild just one small broken piece of my soul.