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For hours we lay snuggled together in bed, stroking each other gently and exploring each other's bodies until a question burned on my mind. I turned my head, which was resting on his arm, in his direction to get a good look at him. His eyes were closed and he was breathing slowly in and out, looking relaxed. For a moment I wasn't sure if I wanted to disturb this atmosphere, but I just had to know.

"Was it your first time?" I asked him uncertainly, but he just grinned and slowly opened his eyes to look at me in amazement.

"Is that what you're thinking about right now?"

That was enough answer for me, I didn't want to know more. If that were the case, he would have simply said yes and not responded with a question. Inside I was jealous. Jealous of something that was completely out of date and still pissed me off. Suddenly he started laughing heartily and grabbed my chin with one hand to turn my face to him.

"Stop worrying. It was my first time and it was perfect."

He kissed me lovingly all over my face and I had to giggle because his stubble tickled me all over.

"Stop it," I laughed, trying to push him away from me, but he launched himself at me and kept tickling me until he got up after a while and I finally caught my breath.

"I'm going to take a shower! Would you like Madame to come with me?" he grinned, grabbing a blanket to cover his naked body underneath.

"I'd rather shower alone, with my luck I break all my bones when there are two of us in the small cabin."

Laughing, he turned to the closet to get some new clothes and then left the room, but not before giving me one last loving look.

As soon as he was out the door, he took the thin blanket and threw it over me, snuggling me up happily. I would never have judged him for what he was before. He wasn't just the alpha who was tough and unpredictable. There was so much more to him. So many facets, all of which fascinated me and made me happy.

Smiling, I got up briefly to at least put on underwear and then snuggle up under the covers again. After this breathtaking sex I finally had time to read and after such a beautiful day I didn't want to think about all the bad things, so I took refuge in a new book and barely read two pages before I completely immersed myself in the world of this romance novel.

***

Because of all the reading, I didn't even notice that it was getting dark and my mate still wasn't back. A little worried, I put the book on the bedside table and got up and changed into a pair of white sweatpants and my alpha's black t-shirt, which smelled so good of him that I paused and inhaled the scent deeply. A quick glance in the mirror was enough to see that my hair looked like a bird's nest. I carefully tried to loosen the hair tie and when I finally managed to do it, I gave them a good brush so that they now cascaded over my shoulder. Satisfied, I tossed the hairbrush onto the bed, then padded down the dark hallway to a halt at the stairs.

"Killian?" I called down, but my answer came from above.

"I'm here."

Looking up, I happily took step by step, only to burst into his office, where Damiano was also present, with a beaming smile. My smile disappeared with red cheeks and I looked at the big one in horror. Killian got up from his desk and walked straight towards me.

"Come sit down." He pushed me gently towards the sofa where the Beta was sitting and gave me a friendly grin. With my gaze fixed on him, I sat down next to him and wondered why he was grinning like that until I realized that as Killian's best friend he would surely know what we had done downstairs this afternoon.

"Has the book appealed to you so far?" my mate drew my attention and pulled me out of my embarrassing thoughts. He sat back down in his black desk chair at the huge table and eagerly awaited my answer.

"Yeah, it's been pretty exciting so far," I stuttered quietly, still embarrassed by the situation. I'd rather be alone with him. After that I didn't even take a shower and now I was sitting less than a meter away from Damiano. Ashamed, I imagined that he might even smell it, making my hands sweat and making me squirm nervously on the leather.

My alpha looked great after the shower of course, sitting gracefully with his hair freshly styled and his tight white sweater showing his muscles clearly. And boom, that was it with my mind again. My thoughts went back to him and our first time, causing my heart to race and my cheeks to flush.

"I'm going to take a shower," I said louder than I wanted to, almost running out of the office without looking at either of them again. At the bottom, Killian suddenly grabbed my waist and turned me to face him.

"What's going on?" he asked worriedly while stroking my cheek and looking deep into my eyes.

"Did you tell Damiano about us?" I whispered as quietly as I could. I didn't want the werewolf upstairs to hear us.

"No, why?" he grinned and shook his head in the negative.

"Because he gave me such a funny grin."

"Nonsense," he said and gave me a short but intense kiss on my addicted lips, only to pull away from me with a smile.

"He was just happy. He sees you're wearing my shirt, which by the way drives me pretty crazy too, and he's happy that I'm happy. That's all."

Relieved at his words, I exhaled and hugged him tightly. Half-talking into his chest, I wanted to know one more thing.

"What is he doing here so late?"

My gaze turned back to him now.

"Nothing important. We're trying to find solutions for everything. Things have calmed down a bit since my mother got back, but we want to prevent something bad from happening. We all know him, he's definitely not going to let up."

I didn't know what else to say to that. I just nodded to him and then gave him a sweet kiss on the cheek, which he was obviously happy about and made my way to the bathroom to finally take a shower. Thoughts about Caleb dragged my mood down, but I tried to push them away. There was no point in getting mad about something that couldn't be prevented anyway. Besides, he was alone and we were a whole pack. Plus Damiano, who could probably pick apart ten of Caleb's kind on his own.

I shrugged off my thoughts, as did my clothes, and jumped into the warm water, listening to the sounds of the pounding water and blocking out everything else.

Freshly showered, I stood in front of the mirror that hung over the sink, covered only with a towel. I stroked his mark with a smile, closed my eyes and lost myself in thought for a moment before running back into the room and putting on new clothes. I put my mate's t-shirt back on anyway. It felt too good on my skin and the smell brought me inner peace of mind.

With a growling stomach, I then ran down the stairs to the kitchen because I wanted to eat something small before going to bed, but before I could open the fridge, I saw something strange through the huge window front. Back at the edge of the forest, under a lamppost, lay something big and black, it looked almost like a wolf.

My eyes widened and my heart pounded in my throat. Gasping for air, I ran barefoot to the front door and out into the darkness. I no longer thought about calling Killian or doing anything else. I just wanted to know who the wolf was that was lying motionless and giving me a deep shock.

When I arrived the wolf was whimpering and writhing in pain. I looked around briefly in panic, but neither in the dark forest in front of me nor behind me on the hill to the pack house was anyone to be seen. I carefully knelt down to him and saw the deep scratch on his side, from which more and more blood was pouring.

Er hatte anscheinend keine Kraft sich zurückzuverwandeln und mit Tränen in den dunklen Augen schaute er mich flehend an und jaulte immer wieder schmerzverzerrt auf. Instinktiv zog ich Killians T-shirt aus und drückte es auf die Wunde in seinem Fell und es war mir dabei völlig egal, dass ich nur noch im Bh da saß. Genauso egal war mir, ob Caleb kommen würde, denn ich würde diesen Wolf unter keinen Umständen alleine lassen. An seinen Augen erkannte ich ihn nicht und trotzdem hatte er meinen Schutz verdient. Ich war jetzt die Luna des Rudels, ob ich wollte oder nicht und wegen mir würde niemand mehr sterben. Brandos Leben lastete schwer genug auf meinen Schultern.

"Everything's going to be okay, okay?! You just have to stay awake and look at me," I whispered encouragingly, trying not to cry in fear. I pressed my trembling hands to the shirt over his wound and fixed his gaze to make sure he was still conscious.

His paw rested on my thigh while his breathing slowed and my whole body started shaking in panic. I knew he would bleed to death if I didn't get help, so I took a deep breath and looked at him intently.

"I'll be right back. You just stay awake!"

A horrible whine came from me as I pressed the t-shirt against the wound one last time and then ran back to the packhouse.

I yanked open the door and yelled for help in panic, frantically trying to catch my breath. Killian immediately sprinted down the stairs, looked at me and widened his eyes in shock.

"Alicia what did-"

"It's not my blood! There's... there's an injured wolf at the edge of the woods!"

I waved my hands wildly in the direction and Killian instructed Damiano, who was meanwhile standing downstairs, to call the pack doctor and come with the car.

I ran after my mate and was glad not to feel alone and helpless anymore. Arriving at the edge of the forest, I was relieved to see that the wolf was still breathing. He yelped in pain when he saw us and with trembling hands I stroked his fur to calm him down while I worriedly looked over at my mate, whose eyes had lost their expression.

While Killian was pressing on the wound, I kept telling the injured man that everything would be fine and luckily Damiano was already around the corner in the SUV. The two carefully lifted the wolf onto the back seat and Damiano dropped back behind the wheel. I stood there frozen. The shock and fear left him immobile.

"Get in," Killian instructed me loudly, but I didn't move.

"Alicia, get in!" He grew louder and held the back door of the car open for me. He glared at me angrily and I got in the back without a word and laid the wolf's head on my lap. I trembled and stroked him the whole way, never stopping looking into his eyes while praying that everything would be alright.

The journey seemed endlessly long and when we finally arrived, the two of them got out at the front and, followed by Kirsten, the pack doctor, pulled out a large stretcher from the inside. I then got out and made room for them, grabbed my chest in panic and had to bend over to be able to breathe at all. The alpha looked over at me and started to rush to help, but I motioned for him to go in with the others. I was fine on my own. With a worried look and a bloodied sweater, he turned back to the others and disappeared into the building with them.

After my breathing was finally under my control again, I sat down exhausted on the bench in front of the entrance. My whole body and my hands were covered with blood. It was so much, I wondered how he could even be alive.

Suddenly, I heard quick footsteps that snapped me out of my thoughts and came straight at me from the dark street. I stopped breathing, startled, but then realized with relief that it was Resul who sat down next to me, out of breath.

"How's Liam?" he asked, swallowing hard.

"I do not know sorry." I looked at him sympathetically and then turned back to the front door of the hospital.

Resul put his arm around my shoulder and tears welled up in my eyes. I caught my breath to keep myself from crying, but it just came over me and I couldn't stop it. I sounded pained and everything in my body contracted uncomfortably. Resul tried to say something, but immediately fell silent and began rubbing my back desperately.

"There...there was so much blood...there was blood all over the place and I couldn't do anything," I sobbed, twisting my body in his direction to fall into his arms. I cried and my tears were caught by his thin, soft jacket as he gently continued to stroke my back.

"Everything will be fine," he whispered, his words soft and reassuring, but I could also hear fear and worry in his voice.

When the door suddenly opened, I pulled away from Resul and looked up curiously, rubbing my eyes free with my fingers because I could hardly see anything from the tears.

Killian stood there and was about to say something, but his eyes suddenly settled on Resul's arm and my bra. Resul caught the look and hurriedly let go of me to take off his jacket and hand it to me. It was only after I pulled them shut that Killian's gaze changed and he told us about Liam.

"He's doing according to the circumstances. He'll make it. You can go in to see him, then please go to Noah and my mother and take care there," he turned to Resul, who nodded in agreement and immediately followed suit inside disappeared.

"And we need to talk."

Still crying, I looked up into his green eyes, amazed at the commanding tone he hadn't used to me for a long time and waited anxiously for what was to come.