Moon Bound

Marisol

I hear a gasp as I slowly start to feel myself wavering in and out of consciousness. "I was worried for a second that you were going to die."

Alpha Artemis.

The beeping that I hear every few seconds lets me know that I am in the medical wing of the pack, and most likely hooked up to a machine.

I feel a hand run through my hair. "I am so glad that you are alright."

My eyes shoot open at Benjamin's voice. I see his blurry figure, but it is enough to let me know that he is okay. I am so glad that he’s okay.

I sigh before slowly closing my eyes again.

“King Judah wishes that he was here. He had some things that he needs to take care of, but I know that he wants to be here with you.” I hear Artemis say.

Judah.

"I-is he?" I slowly croaked out.

"Yes, he's fine. Thanks to you we are all fine." She responds.

"She's right. If it wasn't for you none of us would still be standing here. I would have never guess that one witch would be strong enough to take all of us out." Benjamin says out loud and begins to rub my hand.

"I know that you aren't feeling too great right now, but we need to talk." Artemis says before she grabs my shoulders and forces me to sit up. I groan when my back is no longer supported by the mattress, but Artemis’ firm grip on my shoulder keeps me from falling back. "You need to drink this."

She places an already open water bottle in my hands.

Keeping my eyes closed I lift the water bottle to my lips and take small sips of the water. The cooling water brings me instant relief from the dryness in my throat.

I take a deep breath before opening my eyes to see Artemis sitting to the left of me at the edge of the hospital bed and Benjamin standing over me on the right. My vision has cleared, and I can confirm that I’m not in the hospital wing, but the room is full of medical supplies.

I turn to Benjamin. "Where is Izumi?" I ask.

"She is asleep. She wanted to stay but she needs to sleep in a proper bed and not one of these cheap ass chairs that your mate has here." He responds.

I let out a little laugh at Benjamin's dig at Judah. Everything must be good is he has enough energy to come up with a few insults for people.

"What do we need to talk about?" I ask as I turn my attention to Artemis.

"Well, a couple of things. One thing is personal to me-"

Benjamin cuts off her words with his booming laughter, and she gives him a bone chilling glare.

If I had to be on the end of one of those I would probably start running the other way. Yet, Benjamin being Benjamin only revels in it.

"And the other things?" I continue for her.

"The others are serious. Very serious. I have been given direct orders from King Judah to not let you leave this safe room under any circumstances."

So this isn't the hospital wing, just a safe room with all the things from the hospital wing.

"Why? Is it because of what happened at the coronation?" I ask.

"Technically yes, but after the coronation a few more things happened.”

I take a deep breath as I feel my heart rate start to increase. "What happened?"

"The South pack was attacked by a few witches, King Judah sent some of his warriors from his pack to all of the other packs a while ago so they were able to hold their own without him there. I know that you and the moon goddess all wanted as few casualties as possible, but we all agreed that it is in our best interest to just kill them whenever we come across them." Artemis took a deep breath after speaking.

"All of you?" I ask as I turn to Benjamin.

"Yes, I believe that it is the right call. Especially after they have shown the destruction that they are capable of." He responded.

I nodded. I don't agree with it at all, but if Benjamin and everyone else agree it wouldn't be fair to try and get them to comply with what I want.

"There is also something else." Benjamin stated before running his hands through my hair.

"What?"

"I think that we should talk about it later. Maybe after you completely wake up, and finish your water." Artemis says as she pointed towards to half drunken water bottle in my hands.

Benjamin nodded, agreeing with her assessment.

I slowly bring the water bottle back to my lips and take a few more sips from it. Even though I am eager to hear what else happened I also know that if I drink too fast I will make myself sick.

"Artemis, you also said something about a personal matter."

I see her tense up, and Benjamin lets out a few more laughs.

"Yes, I do have some personal matters. Like first, I feel like we are becoming good friends. How bad would it be if I dangled Benjamin by his neck from the top of the pack house and just let him fall?" She asked with a shrug.

My eyes widen at her statement. It’s disturbing how she calmly asked for permission to assault Benjamin while glaring at him. Honestly I thought that the first person who would ask for permission to Benjamin would be my mate.

"Why would you want to do that to Benjamin?" I ask with a small laugh. “He couldn’t have done anything too awful.”

"I have always heard about him thinking it is funny to pair two completely incompatible people and sitting back and laughing as if it is some sort of entertainment for him."

I let out a sigh before laying back down into the bed. "Well, he does get enjoyment when there is an odd pairing, but we are not in charge of who gets mated to who. We only get visions of the future, that’s how we know who is mated to who.

Artemis lets out a loud groan. "No. If that were true I would be mated to a gentleman, not the brute that Benjamin showed me."

"Who is your mate?"

"I will not answer that question because I refuse to acknowledge the low life that your friend is trying to set me up with."

I can't help but giggle at her statement. "I am sure that the moon goddess paired you with a strong male to stand by your side and help you lead the pack."

"Exactly what I said." Benjamin said as he nodded along to my words. "She should be grateful that she has a dominant male that is stronger than her."

Artemis narrowed her eyes at him. "He is not stronger than me." She said, her voice going lower than normal.

Benjamin shrugged. "He wouldn't be in the position that he is in if he wasn't."

"What position?" I ask.

"I'll tell you later." Benjamin said with a wink towards Artemis.

She growled at him. "Anyways, is there any way that you can just find me someone else? Or you can just break the mating bond between me and this pathetic male?" Artemis asked before she grabbed my hand. "Please I will be forever grateful, just get me away from this man."

I can't help but laugh at her desperate suggestion. "Artemis, it doesn't work like that."

She scowls before she throws herself down onto my bed, her head almost crashing down my legs.

She lets out a loud groan. "I deserve better than this."

I finish the water bottle before showing it to Benjamin. "I'm all finished, can the two of you tell me what the last thing is?" I ask.

Artemis sits up and they both glance at each other, and I can tell that they are worried.

"Whatever it is I can handle it." I continue.

Artemis once again reaches for my hands, but this time pulls me until I am sitting up. "Remember what you did, you saved us all. Everyone either saw it with their own eyes, or heard those who saw it talk about it. You are our hero. That and I am still one-hundred percent sure that you are the most beautiful she-wolf throughout all of the pack lands." She states as she maintains eye contact with me the entire time.

I can't help but blush at what she is saying. I guess I am a hero. It feels nice to hear.

Yet, telling me that I am the still the most beautiful wolf in all of the pack lands? I reach up and touch my face, it doesn't feel bruised or anything.

"Did something happen to my face?" I ask slightly panicky. I know that it is vain, but I liked the way that I looked. I know Judah liked the way that I looked as well, and the way that they are talking is making it seem like I look different somehow.

Benjamin slowly sat down on the edge of the bed to the right of me, I could see Izumi's compact mirror in his hand.

I reach for it but he is much faster than I am and moves it out of my reach.

"Before, you go and look I want you to agree with Artemis' words." Benjamin says.

"I am a hero, and I am still the most beautiful she-wolf in all of the pack lands." I say confidently. It is not just my confidence that shocks me as I say these words, it is the fact that I believe them.

They both smile brightly at me.

Benjamin clears his throat. "After everything that happened you ended up passing out. We were immediately rushed to one of the safe rooms just incase and they had all of the medical staff brought here." I nod along with the story even though I don't see how this has anything to do with the way that I look.

"Well I woke up a hour later, but you didn't. Judah was really scared and wanted me to check on you. When I entered your mind.” He stops talking for a moment. “You almost felt like you were completely gone. You were still alive you just felt different." He continued.

"Different how?" I ask.

"I don't know how to explain it, but even now." He grasps my arm. "You just feel different."

"Maybe it's because the witch drained you? You are probably really tired right?" I turn to Artemis for her to agree with me, but she only looks at me with sad eyes.

I turn back to Benjamin. "Please tell me." I say as I feel tears well up in my eyes.

I hear the door open quickly and it startles me. Izumi comes rushing into the room and throws herself onto my bed, throwing her arms around me immediately.

I hear her sniffle as she begins to shake a little in my arms. "I am so glad that you are okay." She pulls away, but keeps her hands on my shoulder. "Thank you so much for saving Benjamin."

I watch the tears spill down her face and I pull her back in for a hug. "Of course. I would do anything to save the two of you."

Her sobs slowly decrease the longer that we embrace.

She eventually pulls away, and begins to stare at me. "You are so pretty." She whispered, before she reached for hair and began to twirl the strand around her finger.

I smile at her and followed her gaze to my hair around my finger.

I completely freeze and feel my body tense up.

I quickly sit up, and Izumi backs away quick enough so our heads don't collide.

"Calm down, I-"

Benjamin cuts off his own sentence as he watches me yank all of the cords around me that connect me to the machine that is keeping track of all of my vitals.

This is probably the fastest I have ever moved in my entire life. I rush out of the bed and swing open the bathroom door. The footsteps behind me let me know that I am being followed.

I fight a sob as I stare at the reflection in front of me.

My hair that was once all platinum blonde had random brown streaks in it, and my eyes now had some spots of blue within them.

I turn to all of them. "Has Judah seen me like this?" I ask as I bounce between looking at them and looking at my reflection.

"No, this didn't start until after he left."

I don't even know who was the one to answer my question. I was too busy climbing the sink to get a closer look at my irises.

Even though it was still majority brown, the blue spots in them stood out.

"Even if he did see it he would know that it happened because you saved us all. You are still so beautiful, and you are our hero." Izumi says as she slowly pulls me away from the mirror.

"She's right plus if he has the audacity to hurt your feelings over it, I would rally all of the alphas and we would all fight him. It'd be an eight on one." Artemis says proudly and begins to laugh. "I mean he would beat us but I would get some hits in for you." She punched her fist into her hand and I couldn't help but laugh.

"C'mon lets get you back in bed." Benjamin stated before reaching over and grasping my wrist.

As soon as we make skin to skin contact I know exactly what Benjamin was talking about before.

My hair, my eyes, him saying that I feel different.

I look up at him and I feel tears start to form in my eyes.

"I think I am losing my connection to the moon goddess."