I don’t look at him. “No. Still waiting for her to wake up.” I haven’t spoken to Ryan since that day. He came by yesterday, but I asked Doc not to let him in and thankfully the pack hospital is the one place Ryan listens to others.
“They were mates. You know I can’t intervene to prevent a mate bond,” he says with a heavy sigh.
“All I know is that youdidn’tstop it. You were happy to let Emily be swept off by a piece of shit who fucking tortured her. Ryan, you’ve been my best friend for my whole life, my alpha for six years, and I’ve never questioned your decisions before, but I can’t understand this. You said she was under your protection! And you were going to stand by and let him fucking take her. You fucking abandoned us.”
“She made the final call—”
“She never should’ve had to,” I snap. “Emily never should’ve had to be the one to kill him.”
“That’s not true,” a small voice mumbles. I nearly give myself whiplash, turning my head towards her.
“Emily, baby, you’re awake?”
Her eyes flutter open—emerald and glassy, rimmed with tears. She’s still far too pale and her white, blonde hair is stained pink from the remnants of blood that couldn’t be washed out while she was unconscious. But she’sawake, and she’s mine.
“I’m so sorry for the awful things I said. None of it was true. I knew it was the only way to get close enough to him. The rejection wouldn’t have worked unless I was touching him,” she says through the tears rolling down her face. “Please forgive me.”
I pour her a glass of water and she sips gently
“Forgive you?” My voice breaks. “Emily, you’re incredible. I just don’t understand why you put yourself in that position. He could have taken you. You could have been hurt. Why didn’t you let me protect you?”
“I couldn’t risk losing you. I realized he would never have seen it coming. He never would have imagined I could fight back because I never did before. But I’m not that girl anymore.”
I gape at her in shock. “But I saw you. You were a crying mess.”
“I was. But then I remembered everything I’ve learned in therapy and since coming here, and I calmed myself down enough to think. Once I did that, I could see what needed to be done. You taught me how to use everything at my disposal. Every advantage. I would never have been safe while he was out there. But now I never have to be afraid of him ever again.”
I can’t believe how far she has come. I have never been prouder of someone than I am of her right now. She's incredible.
“I wish you didn’t have to go through that.”
“I’m okay, Jackson. I’ve got my second chance.” She smiles, and warmth radiates from my chest.
“Yes. Yes, you have, my perfect mate.” I lean in and kiss her softly at first and then more passionately, because I can’t help it. The slight tingles that were there before transform into fireworks erupting on every part of my skin touching her.
Ryan clears his throat and I glare at him.
“We need to talk about what I tell the council about why Aidan Blackwell came here looking for his mate with six warriors and they all ended up dead.”
“What’s there to talk about?” I ask, ready to go to fucking war right now. “It was self-defense. You can’t possibly want Emily brought up in front of the council?”
“No, that’s not my intent,” Ryan replies, leaning forward, holding on to the bed footboard. “But I think we need to use this to our advantage. Emily, if we say that Jack was your mate all along and that Aidan tried to interfere to kidnap you, we can say that we were within our rights to intervene, and that’s when things became hairy. We learned after the fight that John Anderson had called him as soon as he saw you and told him you were here. Aidan left immediately before he knew for certain you were his mate and hadn’t even told his Beta. I think that could lead to the council investigating Blood Moon and hopefully some of the shady shit going on will come out.”
Emily stays silent, watching us carefully.
I raise a brow. “Sounds like you’ve grown a backbone. Since when are you okay with twisting the truth?”
Ryan has always been a stickler for the rules, and I’ve never seen him manipulate anything or anyone, but now he’s willing to pull this with the council. Emily’s eyes dart between us, a questioning look on her face, but she stays silent.
“Yeah, Caleb’s idea,” he responds with a shrug, conveying his reluctance to elaborate. “He won his challenge, by the way. Anderson is dead too.”
Fuck, I had forgotten about him. I was so wrapped up in making sure Emily was okay that everything else faded to black. I will need to talk to Caleb and figure out what is happening with the search for the missing she-wolves. But not right now. Right now is all about Emily.
“Right, well, if you don’t mind Alpha, my mate still needs to be checked over by Doc and then I want to get her home.”
Ryan nods before striding from the hospital room and a few moments later, Doc comes in and checks Emily over. He is happy to release her to my care, so once a nurse disconnects Emily from all the tubes and wires, we leave. I carry her back to my place. Our place.
She doesn’t even try to argue against me carrying her. She wraps her arms around my neck and presses her face into my skin with a soft sigh, like this is exactly where she’s meant to be.
