MARKED | COMPLETED

Chapter 7

"I'm fine."

I didn't feel the least bit sore as I sat up. That was good, considering how badly I wanted to leave. I didn't want her to say it again. Luna and Eineen don't fit. Her hands, so warm, touched my cheeks. She turned my face every which way, checking and examining until she paused to write something down. Finally, she stepped away and smiled at me.

"You're doing better than your Alpha."

"He's not mine." It came out quick and shaky. Alpha's had a habit of calling their Luna theirs. We all thought that way; wolves were so territorial. I know that when I was younger I got particularly possessive over my toys. Suppose that's not a right way to put it. I looked at her, shrugging.

"He's our Alpha," I said more quietly. "How is he?"

The last thing I remembered about Alpha Aisling, each bruise, and cut I owned from the Shifting had been mirrored on his skin. He seemed to be in the same amount of pain as me. The nurse did say that the Alpha was worse than me. I wondered why that was. It's been so long that I was in a hospital room that I started to look around. There were various diagrams of bodies and posters that reminded you to cover your coughs and eat healthily. There was a mirror right across from me.

I looked no different than before. Even though I did feel a lot stronger. There were no visible signs except for the Mark and of course—my eyes. They were certainly lighter. But there's not much you can do with eyes that are black. Still, I could see pupils now. That was the only new thing about me that I liked right now. I stood up.

"Where's Colin Maclerry?" I asked.

When I turned around, I noted how quickly her pen stopped moving, how quickly her eyes stayed fastened onto the clipboard in front of her. It didn't take many signs for me to figure out what the sudden silence was about. After all, there were only two possible outcomes for the Shifting.

And I had managed to get one of them.

"Oh," I mumbled. "He'll protect us in the next."

It was painful to know that I'd never train with him again, or sit with him. I already knew that it cause a sleepless night.

He was strong. He trained so hard to prove those bets wrong. Now... now I had to wonder whether or not he died by Beta Shaun's hands, or by the shift itself. I hoped it was the shift—I hoped that he made it that far. I hoped that, even though he was weak, he got to feel the beginning of something that he waited his whole life to experience.

He was strong enough to make it—I just had to hope that he did make it.

"Alpha Aisling is waiting for you in room three if you'd like to visit him."

I wiped furiously at my eye as I looked at her. While her priorities seemed to be in order, mine were not—I didn't want to speak with anyone at the moment. Or rather, I did but he was currently nowhere to be found.

But since there was an Alpha waiting for me, and I had plenty of explaining to do, I grabbed a tissue on the way out.

I didn't bother with a goodbye. I'll see Reece soon. I wouldn't be surprised if he came bounding down the hallway and tackled me to the ground. Actually, that's what I really wanted him to do. I padded down the hall, clenching my fists into my shirt. Someone must have changed me; there was no blood on this one. And I knew for a fact that I bled quite a lot last night.

The infirmary was small, despite the large size of our pack. But given our capabilities to heal, I supposed that the majority of the injuries that came through here were too severe for our healing to fix. Mostly the occupants were old; we lasted a long time, but not long enough.