Dawn

by Sherry Foster

  “That’s what I thought.” The doctor turned away from the table and started barking orders to the men in the room and a few that must have been elsewhere. Soon the men were pushing walls and pulling handles and the small room had been enlarged with equipment it didn’t have moments earlier. While someone was prepping Dawn’s stomach another was helping the doctor wrap her arm so it would heal correctly. At some point she had put it through the ultrasound machine and had someone help her pop some bones back into place. From what he overheard the break was not a simple fracture and the doctor had sounded worried about it. He admired her for what she was going through. Everyone could see the lines of pain etched on her face but she was forging ahead to save his mate.

  A long three hours later he looked down at the, he had to admit, shitty stitch job he had done. The doctor seemed moderately pleased even if the job had taken twice as long for him to accomplish as she felt it should have taken. At some point someone had gotten him a pair of scrubs to wear and had just handed him a second pair to replace the first pair they had gotten him. As careful as he had tried to be he had still gotten an excess amount of blood and saline on himself while performing the operation. He never wanted to go through anything like that again and if he had realized he would feel everything he might have requested to be knocked out and have someone else perform the surgery. He had gotten sick twice during the procedure. At first a couple of the bystanders had laughed at him until someone, he wasn’t sure who, asked if they wanted to remove their appendix without pain killers and then stitch themselves back up. He heard a few protest but when the unknown man had told them Trevor could feel every cut he was making on his mate and every move was worse on him than on his mate because he was having to do it to himself the laughter had turned to mutters of admiration and awe. When his balanced wavered someone pushed him backwards. He realized at some point someone had gotten a bed for him and he gladly gave up the fight to stay on his feet. Even though he knew he had not just gone through surgery, his body did not understand the difference between what was truth and what the mate bond made truth. As the others in the room pushed his bed against the bed his mate was on he reached for her hand. As the weariness and prolonged stress pulled at him he smiled up at the people around him and closed his eyes. He would fight at their backs any day.

  Chapter Twenty-four

  “Who are you and why are you holding my hand and why does my stomach hurt so bad and where are we?”

  Trevor turned his head toward Dawn and smiled. “Trevor, I needed to feel your touch, burst appendix, clinic.”

  “I’m sorry? What. Oh my god, are you kin to Alice? You sound like her. No no, let go of me. No. Get away from me.”

  “Well, no darlin, I can honestly say I am not kin to Alice and no we do not sound the same. She, I have been told, has a decidedly British accent and my accent is one-hundred percent Australian. I can’t let you go, if you didn’t notice you have a death grip on my hand. I may have started out holding your hand, but at this point you are the one holding mine.”

  “My stomach hurts so bad. I am sorry.” Dawn tried to let his hand go but when she loosened the grip she had not noticed she had tightened he grabbed her hand.

  “Sweetheart, I was not complaining nor was I asking you to let go. You had emergency surgery and we are healing up from it now. So you squeeze as hard as you need to and as often as you want until you feel better.”

  “We do you say we are healing? Where are we?”

  Leah’s voice sounded from the doorway, “You are laying in our tiny clinic at the plant and Trevor here had to perform the surgery. He is feeling the effects of it a bit more than he should as a result of that stupendous display of male chauvinistic arrogance and over-protective idiotitus.”

  “I’m sorry, what?”

  “The man felt his mate fall and rushed in here as though his ass was on fire and refused to let anyone operate on you but him. He didn’t realize it would be like operating on himself and none of the mated males thought to tell him, nor did the doctor. Though I think Shelly was retaliating for the broken arm genius here caused when he ran into her trying to get to you.”

  “Wait, what? He isn’t my mate. I don’t have a mate. I don’t feel anything special about him.”

  “Her tongue, sharper than a blade.” Trevor muttered from beside her.

  Dawn looked from Leah to Trevor in confusion. “Shouldn’t I feel something? Dawn could feel her mate, and Allison said she felt safe and secure with Delany and even Julie started talking but I just feel kind of numb.”

  “Yeah, that is probably also the fault of Mr. Macho here. He tried giving you extra pain medicine to stop himself from hurting. He reasoned if he was hurting that badly you had to be hurting worse. They had to fight the bottle away from him. You might not would have made it if he had kept pumping you full of pain medicine. Good thing one of the guys saw him doing it the second time.”

  “If he gave me so much why do I hurt so bad?”

  “Your pain feeds his pain which then washes back to you combined with the metabolism the shifters have which causes you to burn the medication out of your system. It may take him a little while but he should learn to pull your pain from you and not let it wash back. Some mates figure it out instinctively and some have to work at it. Guess you will have to work at it.” The last comment was directed at Trevor.

  “If the two of you would like, there is nothing wrong with Trevor and your incision has healed enough to allow you up even if you don’t feel like getting up. The doctor says I can take you back to my place, but Trey wasn’t very comfortable having another Alpha at his mother’s so, both of your things have been taken to Trey’s house. When ever you are ready we can go. Dawn, you have a set of scrubs laying there beside your bed. Genius here made a mess of the clothes you had on when you came in.”

  Dawn looked over at Trevor to see a flush of embarrassment cross his face. He looked for all the world like a guilty little kid caught stealing candy. When she realized she didn’t feel many clothes on it was her turn to flush with embarrassment. She yanked her hand away from Trevor and tightened the cover around herself looking everywhere but at the man beside her.

  Voice tight with shame she pleaded with Leah, “Can you make him leave so I can get dressed? Will you help me?”

  She heard the faint protest from beside her but realized even if the man had protested he was getting off the bed. Soon she and Leah were the only two in the room.

  “He saved your life you know? I saw the embarrassment on your face when you realized you were laying beside him naked. We don’t think much of getting naked to shift, or almost naked. We don’t think much of doing so around either sex when ever we want. But for some reason things change when you involve a bed doesn’t it. You have nothing to be ashamed or embarrassed about. I know you were raised around shifters so I would imagine a part of your embarrassment stems from the fact you didn’t expect to feel shame or embarrassment. The act of being naked or near naked is so natural to us we think nothing of it. But that pesky bed. When you stick a bed in the picture. And add to the picture the drugs your body is fighting against and the infection your body is dealing with, well it isn’t any wonder to anyone your emotions may be all over the chart. It happens to females when they meet their mates even without all the extra stuff you are dealing with thrown in the mix. Now, easy does it, lift your other foot. Easy. Good, you look much better than you did a few minutes ago. Now let’s get you out of here and back where your only options isn’t a hospital bed. Easy.” Leah guided her out of the room to find Trevor waiting impatiently in the hallway. As he reached out to scoop her up in his arms she batted his hands away and muttered, “I can walk.” Leah felt silent laughter shake her as she shared with the rest of the pack the look on the other Alpha’s face. She loved to see a mate-bond happen. Often the male, so certain and assured gave the most comical lost little boy looks when the female did not accept their every gesture of love and devotion and adoration.
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br />   Chapter Twenty-five

  “No, absolutely not. I am not moving to Australia. Forget it.” Dawn would have stomped her foot if she hadn’t been laying flat on her back on the couch. She heard the snort from Trey and the giggle from Gabby. She had been wrong about her and Gabby not getting along. How a female so sweet and kind and giving could get along with a witch like Stormie was beyond her understanding. But different people valued different things. She still couldn’t find it in her to forgive Stormie for that first day. She had been so lost and so scared and so in need of answers and Stormie had walked all over her. She hated people like that. She may have never realized it until she met Stormie but she realized it now. She also realized, Trevor was still talking and she had tuned him out completely. She pulled herself back to the conversation.

  “You don’t understand, you have to move.”

  “I don’t have to do anything. I was a captive for long enough. You can’t make me go somewhere I don’t want to go, and I don’t want to go. I was told I could choose my path, without question, without stipulation and without conditions. If you want so badly to be part of my life then you can follow me. I want to go where Kate it and I was told Marcus would accept me in his pack. So you can, how is it Kate puts it, you can bloody well bugger off.”

  “I can’t join Marcus’ pack dammit.”

  Dawn shrugged, “If you insist on being my mate you bloody well can and you bloody well will!”

  Trey snorted again before breaking into the laughter he had tried so hard to contain.

  Trevor turned on him snarling, “Why the fuck are you still here? This is a private conversation between two mates, butt the fuck out.”

  Gabby turned her head into Trey’s shoulder and howled with laughter. Trevor knew they had some running commentary going in their heads and he was the butt of their laughter. As a result he was getting more and more frustrated.

  “Well, mate, this is my bloody living room in case you forgot, in my bloody house. And to tell you this truth this is too fucking entertaining to leave. That,” Trey pointed at the television in the corner, “is the only one in the house and we can’t very well watch it with the two of you going at it like that now can we. Furthermore, I did suggest to Gabby we could retire to the bedroom but for some reason she didn’t think either of you would be amused to hear us go at it like rabbits.” Gabby squealed and hit him before ducking her head into his shoulder again, this time in mortification rather than laughter.

  “Bloody hell mate. Really? What the fuck is wrong with you damn yanks?”

  “Hey don’t look at me, you are the one who started arguing with your mate in my house.” Trey turned to Dawn, a look of glee on his face. He could have put a stop to the fighting, but gods he was enjoying himself. Trevor had not even realized he had never told Dawn he was the Alpha of a pack and as such couldn’t go to another pack. He wanted to see how long it took Trevor to beat his wolf down and start thinking. Prime entertainment and his pack was getting a first hand of account of yet another male going down to the mate-bond. After what he had gone through he had no sympathy for other males. Besides, nothing on television beat seeing a male trying to woo a female when she didn’t want to be wooed.

  Trevor glared at Trey and Gabby before turning back to Dawn. “Please baby, Australia is a beautiful country. Why, I can take you to the beach whenever you want to go. We can snorkel on the reef and bask in the sun and it doesn’t snow where I live. None of this cold shit to freeze your bones. Come on love, you will love Australia. We can come back to visit your friends when the weather warms up, they can come visit us when ever they want. Dammit Dawn I will build them their own house, baby please.”

  Dawn looked at the man. He had squatted beside the couch at first but as the argument had raged on he had repositioned himself and was currently on his knees. Dawn didn’t care. She had seen all kinds of shit while she was a captive. She knew how the men could play the women. These people had assured her she would be able to choose where she wanted to live and what pack she wanted to make her own. She was going to hold them to that promise. “No, absolutely not. A promise is a promise and I was clearly promised I could live with which ever pack I wanted to live with. I chose Marcus’ pack so Kate and I can be together. She is my best friend and I am not leaving her. And she can fry your ass if you try to take me.”

  “I am not going to try to take you. But you have to move and that is all there is to it. I won’t argue with you anymore do you hear me? I am done. You are moving, end of discussion.”

  Trevor heard Trey mutter oh fuck seconds before he felt the impact. He had started to his feet and whatever hit him in the head knocked him on his ass. He felt a tearing in his stomach just as Dawn screamed and fell backwards on the couch clutching her stomach.

  Crawling to his mate he started apologizing, “Baby I am so sorry please I am. We will move anywhere you want baby. If you want to move to the moon I will find a way. Please baby, let me see. Are you bleeding? Shhhh, hush. I am the worst mate in the entire world. Please baby be okay. Here no, move your hand.” Trevor had no idea what he was promising and at that moment in time, he didn’t care. He gathered her in his arms and sat on the couch rocking her. “Shhh it will be fine. We will figure something out. I can move everyone up here. Hush now, it isn’t the end of the world. I can find a few thousand acres here somewhere. I will even make everyone put up with the snow if it will make you happy. Hush now. We will live here. Don’t cry. How is it feeling now?”

  Trevor was hurting but his mate seemed calmer. Maybe the instinct to take the pain from your mate had kicked in cause his stomach hurt like someone had kicked him in the gut. Dawn on the other hand had wrapped both arms around his neck and buried her face in the curve of his neck so he would take a hundred hits if he had to to keep her arms around him. He could feel her breath on his skin and her lips rested against him. For the first time in days his wolf quit clawing at his guts. The peace settled in him and let him breath easier. As the pain receded from both his mate and the actions of his wolf he realized what he had just promised his mate. As the realization flooded him he began to curse. Trey, damn his soul was howling with laughter.

  “Your face, oh my god my kingdom for a picture, Gabby, honey, why didn’t we have the phones ready. Trevor my man, why don’t you tell your mate how many people you have to move to stay in the States with her? How long do you reckon it will take your people do move? I don’t think the whole lot of you could get in all at once. Even the States, as pitiful as they are at immigration control, might balk at letting so many people from the same area into the country to go to the same area.”

  “Trevor? What is he talking about? Why would you have to move people here? How many people?”

  Trevor cleared his throat before he muttered, “One hundred seventy-five, seventy-six when Darlene gives birth.”

  Trey whistled, “Man, your pack is larger than mine.”

  “What is he talking about? What does he mean your pack is bigger? Trevor?”

  “Ah, see love, I may have forgotten a detail or two.”

  Trey burst into laughter again, “I cant wait to meet your pack and tell them they are a detail or two.”

  “Trey? Shut the fuck up. Dammit Dawn, I didn’t think to tell you, I mean, I guess I thought you knew, I, I. Well you see love, it’s like this. I am the Alpha of my pack and they might need me to stick around.”

  Dawn eased her arms from around his neck and leaned back. “Wait, so you lied?”

  “Lied? I did not lie to you. Why would you say that?”

  “You told me you would stay here. We could join Marcus pack and live here.”

  “Uh Dawn, he never said anything about joining Marcus’ pack. Fact is, he couldn’t join Marcus’ pack even if he wanted to, not as an Alpha. He would have to challenge Marcus who would never willingly give up his pack. One of them would lose and the other would take his life. If Trevor here won, the pack would not swear their allegiance to him, not for you. You see, we
will do a lot for our females, but we will not destroy an entire pack to win one female. How long do you think you and Kate would stay friends if you destroyed her pack. She has given her oath to Marcus and that oath binds her more than the friendship the two of you share. You may not want to move to Australia, but in the end you will. If you don’t, well, no pack would take you if you condemned an honorable male to die. We have few females, but we have even fewer honorable males who can hold an entire pack together. His Beta might hold the pack for awhile, but in the end the pack would probably be destroyed. Where will you find safety if you are not willing to help keep others safe?”

  “Whoa wait a minute there Trey, are you telling me that I have a responsibility to the future of the race to become Trevor’s mate? Cause I gotta tell you right now you don’t sound much different than the males I escaped from last week.”

  “You want to know the difference between me and the males who held you? I am giving you a choice, go back to them, go pack-less and fend for yourself, or allow yourself to become one with the only male who will ever make you feel whole. You said you are the one who wove the bond between Craig and Kate. If seeing that kind of bond, minus the freaky as fuck golden wolf, doesn’t tell you what you have to look forward to then you may not deserve to have a mate. If you would give up the love and completeness of a true-mating then you are no better than that little bitch they brought back with them they are sending to Senator Avery. She may get safety and riches and the society life she craves but she will never know contentment or happiness or the love a true-mating brings. Her life will be a shallow imitation of what she gave up. Is that what you want? No one is telling you the mating must happen immediately. You will have a choice, you will always have a choice, but the thing we know that you don’t seem to understand is this, your choice will always be Trevor whether you realize it or not. You can turn him down now, and he might survive the years without you, but when your wolf rises on your twenty-first birthday she will want the mate she will know she has. She will take over from you and she will do what ever she has to in order to get to her mate. And you will die. Because the last time I checked wolves can’t get plane tickets so her only option will be to swim to Australia. You think about that before you give an honorable male an ultimatum he can’t meet. Come on Gabby, we are going to Stormie’s, I need to see David.” With that last comment Trey pulled Gabby to her feet and they left the room. Trevor did not miss the smug smile on the man’s face as they walked out.