A Pearl Amongst Wolves (MxM)

Missing You: Ash POV

I carefully wiped down my princess’ body. It’d been four weeks and he had yet to wake up. They’d had to put in a tube to feed him and, though his brain was active, his eyes never opened. The doctor attributed it to his slow healing mixed with the fact that he was also pregnant. The person who’d done this…they were still around. Of this, I was sure, but they continued to slip through my fingers. There was no scent to follow, since they smelled of our pack and the house was a mixture of everyone. Nothing stood out. The scent they could have left on my princess’ body had been overpowered by the metallic smell of blood mixed with fear scent and anxiety. Another dead end. When I found that the surveillance hadn’t captured their face, let alone their actual figure, I’d lost it for the first time. The data wasn’t destroyed, but most of the furniture in the room was. Many people had sent well wishes and my dad had even come to visit, but my wolf refused to let any of them near. The only person who I could convince him to allow was Dr. Jorgio. Even then, he was full of reluctance and agitation.  He was on high alert and I was high strung. A terrible combination. Because I’d stopped sleeping properly, they’d resorted to sedating me at night. I tried to sleep. I needed to be at my best to figure out who’d done this, but all I saw when I closed my eyes was Myst in a pool of blood. As I cleaned his pregnancy bump, my eyes stung. My vision blurred slightly. I tried to blink it away and wound up dropping tears on my princess’ creamy skin. They slid down his rounded belly onto the sheets below. I’m so sorry, Myst. You deserve better. I told you you’d never be alone. That I would be by your side always. If I’d done that, this wouldn’t have happened. If I’d been there- I felt weight on my hand. Nothing excessively heavy, but enough to catch my attention. The light weight was warm and soft. I looked down and my eyes widened. A milky hand rested on top of my own.   “Don’t cry…” I followed the gentle voice to a pair of pink diamond eyes. They were slightly dazed, but filled with love and concern as if I was the one in bed, recovering. More tears poured down my face and I looked down in shame. I’d made him worry, I couldn’t protect him, I didn’t deserve him. A slight tug pulled me down until my face was buried in the crook of his neck; his sweet scent of peaches and honey drowned my senses. He shushed me quietly, his slender fingers combing through my hair rythmically. I carefully held his torso; holding him closer as if he would fade away. I’m not sure how long we stayed there, but I’d stopped crying and my princess’ shoulder was only slightly damp. I kissed the skin softly and he giggled quietly, bringing a smile to my face. I leaned back and studied his face. From the edges of his pearlescent hair to his rosy lips; I took in every feature. Kissing his lips softly I caressed his cheek. I sucked his bottom lip before sitting up once more. A light dusting of red remained on his cheeks as his hand remianed entangled in my own. I kissed the back of his hand along with each and every finger. They’d healed two weeks ago, but I could still picture them when they were crooked and shattered.   “I’m okay, Ash. I promise. Just a little nausceous and dizzy, but nothing that won’t go away with time.” I didn’t say anything, just continued to stare at his hand in my own.  “Ash?” Turning my head in response to my princess’ gentle voice, I saw pink diamonds filled to the brim with reassurance,  “We’re okay. Okay?” I nodded and he smiled and squeezed my hand slightly before looking down and asking quietly,  “How long was I out?” I sighed, my heart twisting slightly as I responded,  “A little over four weeks...” He sighed and met my gaze passionately,  “I’m so sorry for making you worry.” I immediately responded,  “No, baby. I should be the one apologizing. I should have walked you back to our room. I haven’t even found the b——- who did this. I’ve failed you on all accounts.”  “Failed me? Don’t say that. You didn’t fail me! Don’t ever say that! Ash, I can’t even tell you who pushed me and I was there. I don’t-, I can’t…see their face in my memories amongst the fear and the pain. It doesn’t matter though. Right now what matters is that we’re both still here. Still together. Our babies are still here. I appreciate that you tried to find out what happened; that you care that it happened in the first place. To me that’s a success. Your intense effort is enough for me and what you couldn’t reach a conclusion for alone, we’ll find out together in time. Nothing can remain hidden. So please don’t say that you failed me, because I don't feel that way at all. It’ll just take longer than we’d like. Like finding each other. It took longer than either of us would have liked, but we did. This will be the same.” The determination, adoration, and confidence in his eyes calmed my guilty conscience. How could I continue to beat myself up when my beautiful, loving princess had told me not to? I held my precious mate’s serious gaze and nodded,  “I understand, princess.” He continued to gaze at me before nodding sharply and closing his eyes with a sigh. I kissed his hand again and he smiled briefly before glancing at me with a far away look,  “I hate that word: failure. I hate it the most…my father would call me a failure often, though...” My heartached, but I didn’t speak as he looked toward the ceiling and continued,  “My very existance was dissapointment enough. ‘A failure of his blood.’ He referred to me as that on every occassion possible; more often than my name, actually. No matter what I did or how much effort I exerted, the simple fact that I was the subject made it unworthy of his appreciation. As if it was easy to fail. It’s not. All the effort they put in to fail me as parents. All the effort put forth for my own pack to fail me as a community. It’s so hard to fail and yet in his eyes I must have done it so easily…” A tear trailed down his cheek as his eyes closed. I wiped it away as I cupped the soft skin. His eyes opened and met mine unwaveringly,  “All that effort he put forth; he ended up failing in the end while I was driven towards my greatest success. Finding a mate who not only wanted me, but loved me. Carrying our pups. Loving you. Every moment I’m with you is proof that my effort was worth it. That I was never a failure just like you, Ash. You’re not a failure. You never will be to me. To me, you’re incredibly successful so please don’t forget that.” I nodded,  “Myst, so are you. That’s why I felt so guilty. You’re so bright and beautiful; so understanding, so d—- near perfection that I feel like I pale in comparison; that I’m not good enough to stand by your side and be your mate. And, baby, listening to you I realize that we were both wrong. You’re not a failure, but I’m not succesful either; at least, not without you by my side. Together we’re the most incredible success. When we’re together we can achieve anything and with every achievement, the true failures reveal themselves amongst those who try to tear us down.” He smiled so beautifully with glossy, pink diamond eyes. I kissed his lips softly,  “I love you, Myst.” I felt him smile against my lips,  “I love you, Ashton.” I pecked his lips once more and sat back in my seat. I wanted to hold him, but I was scared to move him. He said he was still dizzy and nauscious; obvious symptoms of concussion. I settled for massaging his hand in mine. He had a faint smile on his face as he laid there with his eyes closed, his free hand rubbing his tummy slowly. I’d pulled the cover up to his chest since I’d finished wiping his body down. A knock on the door caused me to growl in irritation. It was more of an automatic response rather than for a specific reason. My wolf and I wanted no one near our injured mate. Even the doctor had a hard time and neither of my parents could make it further than halfway down the hallway before my agitation edged towards actual anger. A light squeeze of my hand, though, calmed me down instantly; my wolf yielding to our mate without a second thought. I kissed his hand and gave the visitor permission to enter. The door opened gently and revealed Dr. Jorgio. He kept his head bowed and his eyes in any direction but me. The touchiness of my wolf led to any eye contact being perceived as a challenge. I sighed, slightly guilty that the man, who was more of an uncle to me than the blood related one, was walking on eggshells around me. Before I could speak, though, the gentle voice of my princess drifted through the room,  “It’s good to see you, Dr. Jorgio. Thank you for treating me.” Dr. Jorgio looked up in surprise before smiling with relief,  “Young Luna! I’m happy to see you awake once more.” My princess smiled appreciatively before looking towards me,  “Ash…” I nodded and looked towards Dr. Jorgio,  “I apologize for the way I’ve been acting. I know you all were trying to help and I wasn’t making it easier with my temper. I hope you can forgive me.” Dr. Jorgio shook his head and waved his hands dismissively,  “It’s quite alright. I understand completely. You know Arc has a similar temper when it comes to certain things, so I’m not unfamiliar to waiting things out. I know that it’s merely a passing storm; no matter how turbulent. You’re alright, young Alpha.”  “Arc?” My princess’ voice was filled with curiousity. I smiled as we looked towards him and Dr. Jorgio spoke fondly,  “Archiel. He’s my mate and one of the Head Warriors of the pack. He’s a tiger shifter and slightly anti-social. Sometimes having to be around large groups of people for extended periods of time agitates him and anytime I have to stay later than normal at the infirmary, he gets quite upset. He always comes and apologizes for acting childish, but it’s a part of his nature. I mean, he gave up his desire for solitude so that I could stay in the pack as a doctor, which I truly love to do; so, I can bear with his irritability at times. Anyway, with all that being said, don’t worry about apologizing, young Alpha. You were worried about your mate and trying to figure out the perpetrator. Your actions and emotions are understandable and expected and if anyone says otherwise they’re a jackass, and you can count that as an official diagnosis. Now, may I approach so that I can check on the status of the young Luna?” I smiled appreciatively and stood near my princess’ head; allowing him room to work.

(A/N: Sorry for missing a week. I have a new work schedule a and it's throwing me off a bit. Thanks for sticking with me and sorry again (´；ω；｀)

Ps: i hve to edit this tomorrow the formatting glotched somehow(〒﹏〒) )