I should be your Beta, not your Mate

25 - Christmas presents on New Year's Eve

The steady beep of an all too familiar machine made me breath out in annoyance and the cold oxygen that went through two small tubes into my nose was uncomfortable. Just like the awful pain in my right leg.

What happened?

Frowning, I opened my eyes, even though I had problems with doing that.

Puzzled I stared at the white ceiling and then to my left where I found the typical hospital machine that measured the pulse, oxygen and other stuff. That could only mean I was in a hospital and that explained the artificial oxygen.

Not again.

Slowly, because my head throbbed terribly, I looked to the other side and suddenly caught sight of Cassian. He sat in a chair and had his arms crossed before his chest and seemed to be dozed off.

Somehow, he looked cute.

Outside it was dark and the moon shone bright into the room – lighted it.

Cas' face was pale and underneath his eyes were noticeably shadows. How long was I unconscious that he could look that exhausted?

I only remembered Flora's face full of dread and the gruesome numbness that now existed only in my right leg. Damn it!

Annoyed, I turned my head to look at the ceiling again.

With new vigor, I didn't even know from where I got it, I looked around and found the remote control on the cabinet next to my bed that I searched for.

I pushed the button and the backrest moved up and after that I pulled out the tubes for the oxygen. Disgusted, I squinted my nose and pushed my hair back.

In the name of our goddess, I hated those tubes. Every time it tickled in my nose and was damn cold, what was together in a combination just bullshit.

I hoped I wouldn't come back to the hospital that fast. Visiting or working here was one thing. After all, I liked helping others and being a doctor was fun, even though I was more like a nurse – even if I sometimes not really legally helped out. But to be bound to a bed in a hospital was another thing.

»Cas?«

I wanted to let him sleep because he seriously looked like he needed it, but I wanted to know what happened and why I was here.

He flinched and immediately looked straight into my eyes. For just a moment he was frozen up before he jumped so abruptly up that the chair crashed backwards to the ground. I flinched in shock.

»You are awake. Fuck, finally!«

I couldn't react in time before I found myself tightly wrapped up in his muscular arms. Surprised, my eyes went wide because I didn't expect him to react in such an extreme way.

Hesitantly I wrapped my arms around him after the first shock faded and suddenly tears welled up. I didn't know where they came from but I just felt too overwhelmed.

Maybe those were Cassian's feelings that he couldn't hide over our connection. He felt relief that made the dreadful fear fade away.

»I was so scared,« he whispered and let go of me but still cupped my face to not lose the skin contact we had.

»How do you feel?« Overstrained, I looked down at my leg that felt too numb.

»What happened and why does my leg feel so numb?« I asked and looked at him again.

Stressed he tousled his already tousled hair that normally looked good in that way but now it wasn't perfect at all. He looked too exhausted.

»That... A man knew of our kind and somehow found out that Flora is one of us. He wanted to kill her but you appeared in that moment and got between them. You had a confrontation with him and got shot in the leg two times. The bullets were made with wolfsbane and the dose was deadly high. In the name of the goddess, I don't want to imagine what would have happened if doctor Taylor hadn't operated on you right away. You would probably be... you would be...«