A Healer's Pain: Celestial Wolves Book 1✔

Chapter Five

TANIA

Nia still had doubts about putting herself at the mercy of the pack. She still thought the whole pack system was a great evil but circumstances were out of her hands. After giving her trust to the system all her life, never questioning that trust had been betrayed in an instant. She would rather not make the same mistake twice.

She wondered though what other alternatives there might be. It was either pack or rogue, anyone in between did not survive long. Rogues preyed upon humans and were alike, taking what they would with little regard for the damage they caused. Unaligned wolves were particularly vulnerable to them but the packs were no better.

They had at best loyalty to their own and did not treat the occasional unaligned wolf with any compassion. While the rogues used wolves like her the packs just killed them on sight. Which was why they had always been careful not to get into pack territory. She had no idea how they had erred as they had.

The only thing she could think of was that they were both very tired. The surrounding area was filled with packs, the unending forest the ideal haunt of their kind. Every moment they had had to be alert, scenting for pack markers. The Alpha rubbed his scent along the boundary trees and any neighbouring Alpha would leave a couple of miles of unclaimed territory before marking his own. They should have been safe.

As they entered the larger of the first two Alphas, a few others followed, and turned to Cade with displeasure. Her heart had a moment to thud in fear before the Alpha command.

"No!" She shouted but it was too late.

Cade fell to the floor, pain stiffening his limbs as an unnatural cracking sound filled the room. Shifting into a wolf only hurt the first time, when the body adjusted to its ability to be something other than what it was. Only then was the cracking of bones ever heard.

This was unnatural. She dashed to his side only to be forcefully repelled by some unseen power. Her feet left the ground as whatever it was, threw her back, like a marionette pulled back on a string at her waist. Strong arms caught her and her nose was filled with the scent of her mate.

His strong alpha scent soothed her and for a moment she felt safe and cherished but that faded as she saw the Alpha who had hurt Cade walk towards him.

"Haven't you done enough?" She challenged.

"Tania, coming into a meeting with Alphas in your wolf form is disrespectful." Her mate explained in a soothing tone of voice.

Squirming out of his embrace she turned to glare at him. "All he had to do was ask. But because we are not pack we don't get any consideration. I hope his pride is worth Cade's death, if he dies..." She couldn't think about that.

"Who is this girl that she would challenge us like this?" The Alpha roared.

Nia kept her gaze trailed on her mate. His eyes hardened and he glared at the Alpha. "She's my mate and she's right uncle, you should have asked why Cadan was still in wolf form."

Nia's eyes widened, he had just defended her before a group of Alphas, claimed her. No one had ever defended her nor claimed her as anything, not when she had been pack.

His eyes softened as he turned to her and her heart melted at the tenderness they held. Was he for real? A part of her wished for him to be what he seemed but she had trusted her ex-mate after a moment of tenderness on his part.

"But she's..."

Her mate glared back at his uncle and then cut him off. "What? A rogue? Pregnant?" He bored his gaze into his uncle's not backing off from his displeasure. Looking around the room he caught the gazes of his family and the other Alphas. "Well?" He demanded.

Whatever happened between them, Nia didn't want him estranged from his friends and family. She placed her hand on his forearm, a small gesture of restraint. He looked back at her and gave her one of his smiles, the one she was slowly realising short-circuited her brain function.

The sickening sound was all that could be heard in the silence that followed. She bit her lip to stop herself from crying. Weakness was what packs manipulated.

"What happened to him?" Her mate asked.

"He was cursed to stay in his wolf by a mage." She heard the near sob in her tone.

"Why?"

Nia hesitated, aside from the fact it was Cade's story to tell there was no guarantee someone here wouldn't try what the mage had. Her instinct was to tell her mate what he wanted to know, it was a compulsion akin to an alpha command but he hadn't used it. She bit her lip to stop herself.

"Listen here, girl..." Her ears focused on the words as she responded to the alpha command.

"No!" Her mate roared with such force it penetrated every part of her. She had never heard such rage, such absolute command. "Uncle, you will not compel my mate to answer you."

Nia had frozen with his first word, her body trembled and goose bumps blossomed all over her body. Had she thought her ex-mate Jake had power? This one was only an heir and yet...

She stiffened as his arm went around her shoulders to tuck her at his side. He didn't seem to notice, his angry gaze clashing with his uncle's. Nia felt like she was a morsel in the middle of a boiling pot, surrounded by loads of heated water that made swimming out futile. The tension was unbearable and painful as the two glared at each other.

Cade gave a chilling scream that lasted for a lifetime for all it was brief. Even as her mate tried to hold her back she rushed towards him. This time she managed to get through, magic coated the air around Cade, a storm that waited for an outlet. It was wild, purposeless and dangerous beyond her imagination but she had to help Cade.

He was unconscious, barely breathing. Nia poured healing energy into him, knowing that without her help he would die. She couldn't let that happen.

It leached out of her, an energy that replaced all Cade had lost. It wasn't just healing energy that left her, life energy also flowed to him. She felt the drain as her sight darkened and her hearing went. Holding on as long as was necessary she finally lost consciousness.

1116 words

I wanted to show my heroine broken but fighting to find her strength.

Hope I did that, pliz tell me if I didn't.