Page 25 of Hadley's Heroes
I looked over to my mates who had moved in closer. Mating hormones? I didn’t touch him… Oh my god. He must have touched me to help me get away when I was knocked out.
“Did you want him as a mate? Did he upset you? Did he touch you without asking?” a male behind me asked. I didn’t know who that was, and I wasn’t about to tell him what must have happened. He might not believe me.
“I wanted him as a mate,” was my only answer. I didn’t confirm or deny anything, and I told the truth. I had wanted him from the first time I laid eyes on him. I knew there was something there, I just didn’t know what.
“Maybe if you lay with him andtouchhim, he might heal faster,” Axoh suggested, and I looked at him. I thought he meant touch him in a sexual way, but he pointed to the small bit of skin showing through the wraps and I realized I was the only one thinking that. I carefully moved into the nest beside Aalee. His sleeping face was so sweet. There were cuts and all types of marks on there, but he still looked like the Aalee I had come to know.
“Hey,” I whispered when most of the people in the hut moved out. I found a patch of skin on his chest and gently placed my hand there. His body was warm, that was a good sign. Or was it a bad sign? He felt like my mates, so I assumed good.
“Thank you for following me, for coming for me. I knew you would, but I didn’t want this to happen. You mean so much to me, even if you don’t know it. I want you as a mate, you have known my interests in you before, but now my feelings for you have only grown. Please wake up. Please.”
He didn’t move, or even stir. A blanket was placed over the both of us as Jaka brushed my hair off my face and placed a small kiss on my temple.
“Sleep, I will watch over you.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Jaka
Aweek had passed, nothing more could be done with Aalee. His body had healed, but now they worried his mind was lost. He hadn’t woken, his eyes never moved. But he had one time moved some fingers which Hadley had screamed out to me about a few days ago, but that was days ago. Nothing had changed since then. He hadn’t eaten anything and only had some water when Hadley had made him swallow. It took a long time to even do that. It was sad to see such a strong warrior struggling to live.
If anyone could bring him back to us, it would be Hadley. I knew Aalee cared deeply for her, but after speaking with Adee and Jaim, they believed he kept his distance because he thought himself broken, not good enough for her. Which wasn’t true. Hadley had a huge heart, and before I met her I thought I was broken… I was lost without a clan. But Hadley chose me. She could have picked any other male, but she didn’t. And now more than ever, I wanted her to be happy. And Aalee made her happy.
“Did I tell you about the time I went to get coffee and I really wanted to get some cake? Cheesecake, to be exact, oh yum. You would like that, I think. Well, as I was saying, I went to get coffee, but they had no cheesecake. I couldn’t pick anything else. I was craving a good cheesecake. So, I walked ten blocks to get one. And it was so worth it.”
Hadley had been talking to Aalee every day. She hadn’t left his bedside, only to urinate and waste. She had been eating and sleeping there all day and night, and she told the most fascinating stories. I loved listening to them even though I didn’t understand most of it. The way she talked with so much happiness was what made the stories so alive.
“I have some pixxe, my heart.” I showed her the two I picked for her and Aalee. I always brought two of everything. On the first day, Vetok only brought one for her and she cried that Aalee had nothing. Vetok tried to explain it was only because he wasn’t awake, but Hadley was inconsolable, and it was agreed that we brought food for both of them at all times.
“Would you like some water?” She shook her head. I didn’t like that she wasn’t eating or drinking enough for herself and the kits.
“I shall just get some for Aalee,” I told her, and she agreed. When I handed her the cup, I asked her to test the water to make sure it was cool enough for him. It was how I got her to have something to drink when I was watching them. We had been taking it in turns, but Vetok was not good at patience and yelled at her yesterday when she didn’t eat. He was told not to come back until he had “cooled down” which were Luna’s words.
Brooklyn had told us, “You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.” I didn’t understand it, and neither did Vetok. But Elle told us that my way of speaking to Hadley was the honey, and Vetok was the vinegar. Honey was saying things to her in a way that made her want to eat and drink. Vinegar was yelling at her to eat and drink.
Vetok was upset, but with himself. He had been staying away, mostly lurking outside the hut. We all knew he cared for her, and he was very protective. He was having a hard time protecting Hadley from herself.
“Do you think he will wake up?” Hadley asked me, and it wasn’t the first time she had asked this. She had asked us all. I was glad Jeralk was no longer in the hut, it was hard having him so close to my mate.
“With you here, I know he wants to wake up.” I didn’t want to give her false hope, and I wanted to be the honey and not the vinegar. She nodded at my answer, I was only telling her the truth. If I was lying there like Aalee I would want to wake up.
She moved closer to him and wrapped her arm around his chest. I watched as it slowly rose and fell, never changing. I wished for him to wake, it would break Hadley if he didn’t.
“My heart, I think maybe the kits are hungry for their pixxe?” I was trying another way to get her to eat. Elle had been worried about the kits as she wasn’t eating or drinking enough.
“Oh… yeah. I wasn’t hungry but I need to eat for them.” I let out a sigh of relief. She sat up and started to eat the pixxe. She would bite off pieces and offer them the Aalee, even placing it against his lips at one stage. She ended up eating both of them and I smiled. I felt like I had done something good for my mate today.
“Would you like me to wash you?” I had brought water and hoped that she would be ready for a wash. I didn’t want to ask her to go to the river to wash, it was too scary even for me for her to wash outside.
“No, thank you.” I nodded and held her hand, my tails wrapping around her ankles, and she sighed as she laid against me.
“How did we end up here?” I knew this wasn’t a question for me to answer, she just was wanting to think out loud. She did this often with me. I loved that she trusted me with all her thoughts.
“This wasn’t supposed to happen. I’m supposed to have my happily ever after, but without Aalee I don’t know how that is going to work now. He is just as much of my mate as you all are, yet he doesn’t know it. He might never know it. And that is scaring me the most.
“I know that if he dies, there is nothing I can do. I have come to terms with it being a possibility. Even with him being fully healed on the outside. Something is broken inside, and I can’t fix it, as much as I wish I could.
“I just want him to know that I choose him, I will always pick him as mine. Even if he never wakes up. He is mine, as I am his.”
