Days turned into weeks. Mik continued to work with Sam on improving his strength. It was slow progress that frustrated Sam more than Mik. He started out by laying on his back on the bed and moving his arms and legs out at his sides while Mik would help him to sit up and lift his arms into the air and kick his feet out before him.
After a week, Sam was lifting his arms and legs into the air on his own with Mik there to help steady or catch him if he pushed himself too hard and fell over or lost balance.
After the second week, Sam was pushing himself up into a sitting position on the bed on his own. A few days after that, he was moving himself from the bed and onto the wheelchair. It was still a great strain for him to do, but he did it while Mik was there to catch him.
With his strength improving, Sam was regaining his confidence and it made Mik's chest clench in pride.
Things were still tense between them. Sometimes Sam snapped at him to leave him alone, not to touch him or to go away because he couldn't stand to look at him.
His words hurt, like a punch to the gut, but Mik understood that it wouldn't be easy to forgive him. At those times, he granted him peace and quiet and went out to hunt.
At one point during the second week of January, Noodin came over at Sam's request. Mik went out to hunt and give them space to work out their issues.
Sometimes he went to the cafeteria in the main pack house and observed the chefs working.
With his dreams behind him of leading the pack and taking out Noodin, he needed to figure out what to do with his life should he become a member of the pack. He knew he could be a warrior easily—fighting was in his blood, his very nature—but he wondered if maybe he wasn't better suited for something else. Something that would not only put Noodin, Luna, and Sam's minds at ease, but the entire pack's as well. Whether he liked it or not, word had spread about him in the pack. Wary eyes from wolves he had never met cast his way in judgment. No one would trust him if he returned down a similar path of violence and destruction.
On the third day of observing the chefs working in the kitchen for an hour, he ran into Luna Aki and inclined his neck in submission.
"Mik! I wasn't expecting to find you here."
Mik kept his head bowed. "Sam needed space. Sometimes I come to watch."
The head chef approached them with a large binder in her hands. "He's been coming here recently to watch us work. He's quiet, stays out of the way, asks a question here and there about what we're preparing, but otherwise, we wouldn't even notice he's here."
"So, what brings you in, Mik?" Luna Aki asked. The look in her eyes and the slight curve of her lips told him that she already suspected what he was up to.
"Considering my options. When Sam is well and returns to his work at the infirmary, I need something to do as well."
She smiled. "Well, I'm glad to see you're thinking about the future. Sam always said you were a good cook. This might be something you could do. You sure you don't want to go into something more... physically demanding?"
"I was born to lead, not follow. I don't think I can handle being given orders in battle as a warrior," he replied, picking up the hint of what she wasn't outright saying.
Her smile widened. "That's true. Exploring your options sounds great right now."
"Pardon me, Luna, but we don't need another cook. We have plenty," the head chef said, angling her head as if expecting to be reprimanded for her comment.
Luna Aki's lip lifted in warning, not happy with the chef's response. "Perhaps a hunter then?"
"It's fine," Mik replied, brushing off the rejection. "Maybe something else."
YOU ARE READING
The Defiant Claim (The Claim: Book 2) LGBT
Werewolf[COMPLETE] Revenge drove him. Bloodlust raged in his veins. All 22-year-old Mik (Mikwam) wanted was to reclaim his birthright and destroy the alpha that took it from him. He never expected to find his mate within the pack of his enemy -- nor was he...
