Page 40 of Protector Dragon's Shattered Mate

Levi

Waking up wasn’t so bad. Especially because the first thing that Levi saw was Sofia’s beautiful face.

“Levi! You’re awake! How do you feel?” She clapped her hands over her mouth. “Sorry. Nora told me not to interrogate you as soon as you woke up. She loved her voice. “Is there anything I can get for you?”

He held his hand out. He couldn’t say that he’d been aware of the last few days, or however long it had been, but he had known Sofia was there the entire time. She slept on a cot that Kellan brought for her, and she showered in the adjoining bathroom.

Most of the time she even ate in there too. A different shifter would show up at breakfast, lunch, and dinner with a meal for her. Usually, they stayed so she had company. Even though he’d been mostly unconscious, he was aware of all that activity.

He was grateful they had made Sofia feel so welcome. If he’d planned it himself, he couldn’t have asked for a better introduction into what life was like with a truly functional clan.

Fragments of the battle begin to come back to him.

He closed his eyes. He’d almost lost Sofia. There at the end, when Koryak had tried to stab her… He had been so close tolosing her. Levi had let his guard down, assuming that every wolf would be impaired by Sofia’s spell. And thank God it had made him sluggish. Because Levi had already been struggling at that point. if he’d been a few seconds slower, he might have lost his mate.

Yes, he was still going to refer to her as his mate, even if it was only in his own head.

He had killed to save her. He still wasn’t sure how he felt about that. He did not regret it, that much was clear, but he would have preferred some kind of truce.

That was what Kellan, Quinn, Liam, and Brennan had planned for the rest of the pack. It had worked when Niall had made the threat to Maxim. They never did go after Nora again. They never set foot in Ireland.

Since then, they had learned about spells that would magically enforce an agreement. So that once they took the wolves back to Siberia, they would never be able to leave Siberia again. It might seem harsh but under the circumstances, it seemed pretty fair.

On day two, he was able to convince Sofia go out and check on Daisy. “I know you want to see her.”

“Fallon has been sending me pictures.” She held up her phone. “See? That’s Daisy eating some oatmeal.” She held up another. “And there she is with a flower chain on her head. It’s very fitting considering her name.”

“Did someone buy the flowers? I know there’s not too many wildflowers right now, even in Texas.”

“Of course they bought them. She’s had flowers every day. She liked the roses best.”

“Oh, you can tell?” He tried to chuckle, but it hurt. He put his hand over his chest.

Sofia moved forward. “Are you okay? Don’t move too suddenly.”

“I’m good. I just laughed too hard.” He would prefer not to be bed-ridden, but it was nice having Sofia’s attention. He wasn’t sure how he would cope when she finally left. “Now, tell me how you knew Daisy liked her flowers. Can you mind-link with her now?”

Sofia gently swatted his arm. “No, I do not have a mind-link with the sheep. I could tell because she ate them all.” The next photo was of Daisy knocking her flower crown off and chewing on the brightly colored petals.

“Looks delicious,” he said.

Finally, he was able to push Sofia out the door. He appreciated her company and always would, but he needed a break.

As soon as she was gone, Kellen stopped by. “How are you?”

“I thought Clara was keeping everyone updated?” His wife had made it her job to let everyone know how Levi was doing. She claimed it was easier than being asked fifty times a day.

“Oh, she is. But I didn’t actually mean that,” he said, gesturing toward Lee’s chest.

“Then what did you mean?” He was pretty sure he knew. Kellan was the group’s unofficial leader. He would have already thought about what it meant for Levi to have killed that shifter.

“You told me you had never taken a life before, outside of humane euthanasia for dying animals.”

There it was. Kellan had just laid it out. Levi wasn’t completely sure how he felt about it. Mostly, he’d been trying not to think about it at all. He had been doing a pretty good job of that. But in those moments during the night when he’d woken up with a dull pain in his chest, the moment he’d stabbed Koryak replayed in his mind. He’d shuddered as he’d recalled the acid words Koryak had said.

Levi was certain that he wouldn’t change it. How could he wish for a monster to be alive in the world that Sofia inhabited?How could he regret taking a life, when that life had wanted to imprison his mate and make her suffer?

He couldn’t.

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