Healing His Mate

Aaliyah POV

I stick close to Aaron as the boys start to spar in our front yard. Aaron has refused to let me out of his sight, but he needs to continue training. So everyday, Thatcher and Zach come over to fight and train.

Every day since our sharing, I have been on the edge of the precipice. I’m never sure what’s real and what my mind is making up. I feel like I’m slowly losing my mind and the only thing holding me back is Aaron.

He has been my rock through it all though. He cuddles me close when I need to be held. He kisses me deeply when I need to be reminded of who he is. He stops me from trying to lock myself away from the world.

I feel movement beside me. Drawing away from my thoughts, I look over to see Thatcher take a seat beside me.

“Good morning, Luna,” he gives me a nod of respect.

Gamma, I think to myself before turning back to watch Aaron and Zach shift to spar in wolf form.

Thatcher’s soft chuckle draws my focus away. I give him a questioning look, hoping he explains why he just laughed.

“Three weeks,” he states.

I shake my head, unsure of his meaning.

“We’ve been coming here for three weeks. Every morning I say good morning to you and you still haven’t said it back,” he laughs, a soft smile on his lips as he silently tries to coax me into speaking.

Trust him. He is our gamma, Aiya says.

For the first time in what feels like months, I speak to someone other than my mate, “Good morning.”

Thatcher’s face entirely transforms as he smile grows larger.

“Welcome back, Luna.”

I go to say some thanks, but a loud scream escapes me instead. I clutch my arm to my chest in pain and feel a thick liquid run across the skin. Thatcher tries to grab my arm, but I pull back in pain.

“Aaliyah!” I open my eyes to meet Aaron’s across the yard. I notice blood dripping from his right arm as he runs to me.

I feel his touch before I even register that he reached me.

“Aaron,” I mumble, It hurts.

“It’s okay. It’s going to be okay,” he holds me before yelling at Thatcher to go get a doctor.

“I’m so sorry, Aaron. I didn’t know,” Zach says, his panic clear as day.

“Neither did we,” he tells him before trying to peel my arm away from my chest, “Let me look, angel. I need to see how deep it is.”

I can feel his worry and pain over our bond. Looking down, I see more blood running down his arm, but he’s completely ignoring his injuries to care for me.

“You’re hurt too,” I whimper.

He holds out his arm and shows me his wound. The cuts are deep red, but I can see the wound slowly starting to heal under the blood, “I’m healing. Let me make sure you are too.”

I nod my head and slowly lift my arm up between us. Looking down, I see the same four claw marks Aaron has on his arm in the exact same spots.

But my wound isn’t healing nearly as fast, if at all.

“I don’t understand. How did this happen?” I ask.

Aaron lets out a deep sigh as I see panic and fear swirling around his eyes, “Consequences.”

“What?” I hiss out in pain.

“Aaron, why isn’t she healing?” Zach cuts in, not allowing Aaron to explain what he meant.

“I don’t know. It could be because foxes heal slower or because the injury is over the bond, it might be stopping the healing process,” he tries to reason out, but I can see he is just as lost as us.

I see Zach’s eyes glaze over for a few seconds as he talks through the pack bond, “Thatcher found the doctor. They’ll be here in a three minutes.”

No! I yell out.

“Let’s get her inside,” Aaron says, ignoring my protest and swiftly picking me up into his arms.

Zach moves ahead of us to open the front door and Aaron strides through, heading towards the couch in the family room.

“No doctor,” I whimper, “No doctor.”

“I’m sorry, angel, but the doctor needs to look at your arm. If it’s really not healing, he will need to clean and disinfect it.”

“Call your mom. She can heal me,” I try.

“Mom’s went back to the crescent moon pack with Ivy to visit her cousins. I’m sorry, my love, but this needs to happen,” he explains, "I've known Dr. Hale my entire life. I trust him explicitly. He won't harm you."

I bite my bite lip and I feel it quiver under the touch, "You'll be here?"

"I won't leave your side," he vows.

I clutch tighter onto Aaron’s hand as we wait for the doctor to come into the room. Aaron explains to me the consequences of Ivy putting him back into my head during the sharing. He tells me about being able to look into each other's minds and now the sharing of wounds. With every new thing that occurs around our bond, I feel closer to Aaron and yet more lost than ever before.

I snuggle into his chest while Zach hands me two towels to hold to both my arm and Aaron's.

I'm scared, I tell him, although I know I'm projecting the feeling over our mate bond.

Aaron leans down and kisses my forehead in comfort, Fear is okay, angel. As long as we don't let it control you.

I want to agree. I know he's right, but my mind is still playing catch up on the concept. Overcoming fear is a task I still have yet to approach, much less master.

I hear a knock sound against the wood. I jump as my breathing speeds up.

"Draw on my strength, angel. I won't fail you," he whispers into my ear before calling out to the doctor to come in.

"Alpha, Luna," Dr. Hale greets as he walks into the room. I lift my head slightly as I smell the wolf shifter inside him. Knowing he is a wolf helps relax me slightly, "I was told the Luna is injured."

When he walks closer to us, I push back against Aaron's chest. I may know he is a shifter, but he's still a doctor. I don't trust him.

"Yes. I got injured and Aaliyah's wound showed up too," Aaron explains to him.

"Ivy came to see me before she left and explained to me what happened with your bond and the consequences you two might face," he says, "Has your wound healed yet, Alpha?"

Holding up the injured arm, Dr. Hale peels back the blood soaked towel. Grabbing some antiseptic wipes, he cleans the area to reveal four deep red lines. I can see the cuts healing slowly together.

"I cuts look clean. You should be nearly healed in two hours or so," Dr. Hale tells him and then turns his attention to me, "May I see yours, Luna?"

I look up at Aaron, hoping for him to answer for me.

You trust me, angel? He asks me.

Yes, I answer without hesitation and I realize that I do. I trust him completely. Aaron will never hurt me. He loves me.

"Show him your arm," he tells me.

Slowly moving, my entire body shivering. I hold my arm forward, the shaking uncontrollable.

Dr. Hale removes the towel, careful not to touch my skin directly. He washes off the blood to reveal four deep cuts into the skin. I can see them slowly starting to heal together, but at nearly a fourth of the speed of Aaron's wound.

"It looks clean as well. Luckily, the original wound wasn't fatal, otherwise we could have learned about this connection between you two in a much different way," Dr. Hale says.

"If we share wounds, why isn't she healing as fast?" Aaron asks. I can hear a slight tremble in his voice.

"My best assumption is the wound was made magically. Every mate bond is ancient magic. So her body has to fight harder to heal it," he tries as he grabs some gauze from his bag and starts to wrap my arm, "She is healing, Alpha. She's going to be fine."

"Good," Aaron kisses my temple.

"In the mean time, I suggest making sure neither of you gets hurt."

I nod in agreement. I can't stand the thought of Aaron getting hurt because of me.

Hale shifts to stand and I jump backwards.

"I'm sorry, Luna. I did not mean to frighten you," he apologizes after noticing my weariness and fear, "I'm going to head out. If either of you need me again, please don't hesitate to call."

"Thank you, Dr. Hale," Aaron says before Zach shows him out.

Shifting over, I remove myself from Aaron's lap and lean back into the corner of the sofa. Aaron gives me a soft look as he lets me get lost trying to sort out my thoughts.

Aaron and I are more than just connected through our bond. We can share thoughts and can see into one another's head. We share injuries.

I think back to the bathroom when I first woke up. I tried to hurt myself. I wanted to.

If I had, Aaron would have been hurt too.

If I had died, I would have killed my mate too.

"Angel, no," Aaron hears the direction of my thoughts. He moves closer on the couch, but I jump off before he can reach me.

"No!" I yell out, "I could have... No."

Turning around, I run upstairs to our room. I can hear my mate chasing after me, but I don't let him catch me. I'm a fox. I'm too fast for my wolf to reach me.

"Aaliyah please," he calls out.

I need time, I tell him, Give me time.

I hear him stop moving and I slam the door shut behind me. My mate doesn't want to stop. I can feel how much he wants to charge through the door to get to me.

But he doesn't. He does exactly what I ask and gives me time.