Healing His Mate

Chapter 17

Aaron POV

I pace at the gate near the entrance of the packhouse while I wait for Josephine. I might not understand how she is going to fix my mate's voice, but I couldn't bring myself to ask questions when my mate gave me the largest smile I have ever seen.

When Josephine hung up, my angel looked at me like I held the moon just for her. I'm terrified that I'm going to lose her trust if Josephine can't fix her.

The rumble of tires on the gravel grabs my attention and I see an SUV drive up to the gate. I smile as the car stops and the passenger door pops open.

I walk over to her as Josephine hops out of the car. I pull her into a tight hug, "Thank you for coming so fast."

"Of course," she says as she pulls back. She looks over to the driver's side as another woman exits the car. She's older with gray hair and a handful of wrinkles around her eyes, "I hope you don't mind, but I told my coven what is happening with your mate. I don't have a lot of experience working with spellbinds, so I brought one of our elders."

"Spellbinds?" I question as the woman walks over to us.

"Yes, your mate has been spellbound," she says, sticking her hand out in greeting. I slip my hand into hers with a firm shake, "I'm Ivy. I'm sorry we are meeting under these circumstances."

I recognize the name as I introduce myself. Ivy is the witch who helped my great aunt defeat an insane witch who wanted her dead. From what I remember from my mom's stories, Ivy is an empath.

"I don't mean to sound rude, but what the hell is spellbound?"

"When a witch is out of control, a coven will use a spellbind to lock the witch's magic. It's usually used as a punishment for those who break certain rules or sometimes for younger witches who are too strong and can't control themselves," Ivy explains.

"But my mate isn't a witch," I tell her.

"Are you sure?" she asks.

"Yes," I affirm, "I asked her point-blank and she said she wasn't. Also, her scent is completely shifter. I'm not completely sure what type yet, but she's a shifter."

She nods in understanding, "Then we need to see the bind. I can study the signature to figure out who put it there and what it does."

"You can break this spellbind then, right?" I ask, hope dripping off my words.

"We are going to try," Ivy says.

We start to walk down the path towards the alpha house when Ivy stops short. Her eyes darken as her entire stance tenses up.

"What's wrong?" Josephine asks her, setting her hand against her arm in comfort.

"Fear."

"What?" I ask. Kiba starts to get antsy in my mind as we both look around for any signs of danger.

"I can feel someone's fear," she clutches her chest as I assume she tries to push out the feelings, "It's cloudy, but their fear is real. They're petrified."

Mate! Kiba screams in my mind.

"Angel," the realization barely leaves my lips before I leave them both on the trail and run towards the house.

I get to the house in less than two minutes and sprint through the door and up the stairs. Running into our room, I see my mate tossing on the bed from a nightmare.

Wake mate up! Kiba whines.

I move over to the bed and lift my angel into my arms. I don't want to shake her awake in case it scares her. I hush her and rock her back and forth.

"You're safe, angel. I'm here," I whisper over and over into her ear. Her trembling stops as she starts to calm. After a few minutes, I feel her shift and clutch her hands into my shirt.

I shift my head down to have her eyes meet mine. Her fear slowly leaves her chocolate orbs as she relaxs into my hold. I pepper kisses over her face.

She places her hand against my jaw to cradle my cheek in her palm. She shifts closer to my chest to put her face into the crook of my neck, rubbing slightly to show her appreciation of me taking care of her.

"Are you alright, angel?" I ask her, keeping my voice steady and calm.

She nods her head, but doesn't leave the safety of my neck.

"Josephine is here," I tell her, hoping the news will make her happy, "She brought another witch with her and they said that they can help you."

She tips her head back to give me a hopeful look.

"We are going to fix your voice, angel," I promise her.

I hear footsteps on the steps before I see Josephine and Ivy at the door of the room. Angel digs herself closer to me as I shield her from them.

Even though it's only been about a week, I know she doesn't trust new people.

"Is she okay?" Josephine asks.

"Yeah," I nod, happy that it's actually true, "She was having a nightmare."

Ivy tilts her head as she looks between the two of us, "Your emotions are interesting."

"What do you mean?" I question, not understanding her vague statement.

"She was projecting such a strong amount of fear, but the second you got to her, it was just gone. It felt like the entire emotion just disappeared."

Pride fills me as I take in her words. Josephine and Ivy excuse themselves to give us a moment to collect ourselves. I kiss her head and continue to hold her close to me.

My mate feels safe with me. She knows I will keep her safe and she isn't scared when I'm here.

I take away my mate's fear.