Chapter 245: Discharged
I sighed just as the rest of the room hissed.
Luna. What a sensitive word it was at this time.
Because of Kyle’s persistent and unrelenting efforts to sully my good name, a good portion of Fangborne’s warriors did not like me. Those who did either have no sway in the pack or were the alpha, beta, and charlie themselves― I wasn’t sure what Kaine felt about me, but I hoped he was at least neutral.
As for the rest of the pack, a good majority of them probably did not care. They were alright with my existence, but were equally alright if I vanished from the pack. It didn’t matter to them― whatever Damon planned would be their plan as well.
Unfortunately, the people who occupied the infirmary right now consisted of mainly warriors. Civilians had been treated first and they emptied the beds as soon as Nicole patched them up. That meant that other than Damon — and perhaps Nicole — no one here wanted me as Damon’s mate.
Including Darach.
"But... But how?!" Darach spluttered, his eyes wide as he frantically looked back and forth between Damon and me with increasing horror. "How is it possible that you have two fated mates? And at that, both of which have marked you?!"
"It’s probably a twin thing?" I said with a shrug, my sentence sounding more like a question than a statement.
"Blaise and I are both her fated mates," Damon said, rolling his eyes. "Her body naturally wouldn’t reject a union which was made in the stars."
Darach’s face scrunched up immediately, the bridge of his nose turning wrinkled as he sneered at Damon’s statement. He looked as though he had just bit into a lemon all while lime juice was sprinkled across his face and trash was shoved under his nose. I had never met anyone as disgusted as Darach Elrod facing whatever spouted from Damon Valentine’s lips.
"That statement sounds absolutely vile," Darach said. He turned to me and continued, "I need bleach for my ears."
"Hello?" Damon snapped his fingers right in front of Darach’s face, causing the latter to recoil with a scowl. "Did you not hear? I said, Harper will not be going anywhere with you, especially as your beta. You have no right to order her around."
"I wasn’t ordering her around, you dick," Darach immediately retorted. "Goddess help me, you’re such an annoying son of a fucking bitch―"
"I think that’s enough!" Nicole’s voice sharply pierced through the air.
She wedged herself firmly between Darach and Damon, using her body to shield the two men from meeting each other’s gaze directly. While she was fairly petite and small, Nicole knew exactly how to separate the two before they got into a fight.
None were spared from her glare. She shot deadly looks at both Damon and Darach, followed by Kyle and the rest of the warriors who dared look her way.
"I think that’s enough commotion in my infirmary here for today," she said. "With all due respect, if there’s anything important you wish to discuss, please do so in your office instead, Alpha Damon. My patients need to rest and you’re not helping."
"I have something to discuss with a particularly difficult patient of yours," Damon said with a growl.
"Alpha Darach is healed for the most part," Nicole said, keeping her voice even with no room for argument. "He may leave the infirmary and you three may proceed with your discussions wherever you need. Perhaps Kaine and Elijah could even be of help since it has to deal with matters of the pack."
"But―"
"No buts!"
Nicole did as she said she would. In under ten minutes, we were kicked out of the infirmary. Poor Darach was even dragged out of his bed, his belongings chucked out of the room along with him as Nicole slammed the door shut in our faces.
"Are your doctors all like this?" Darach asked me, making sure to keep his voice soft just in case Nicole could hear from the other side of the door.
"She just doesn’t want to deal with a foreign idiot for too long," Damon said with a scoff, scowling, his arms folded across his chest. "Just because she’s nice doesn’t mean that you’re welcome here. Hurry up and heal so you can get the fuck out of Fangborne and back to Thunderstrike."
"Damon!"
"Gladly," Darach said through gritted teeth. "I don’t want to be here a second longer than I need to."
"And you’ll be here until we find you a possible beta to help you," I quickly said before Damon could add another scathing remark. "Like we promised the rest of the council, right, Damon?"
"The meeting room then," Damon grumbled under his breath. He trudged off immediately, making sure to slip his fingers between mine before he moved so that I was tugged along behind him.
I shot Darach an apologetic smile and gestured for him to follow us with my free hand. Damon made sure to keep his grip tight, leaving no room for me to wriggle free.
"Blaise and Kaine will meet us there," Damon said.
"And Elijah?" I asked.
"Why do you ask?" Damon shot back. The heat behind his words could hardly be missed.
My eyebrows knitted themselves together tightly. "What is it now?"
"Isn’t it obvious?" Darach asked with a snort. At the same time, I felt a rush of jealousy run through my chest. "The idiot is upset that you would rather say Elijah is your second fated mate than admit it’s him."
"Seriously?" I gaped, turning to look at Damon, who stared straight ahead as he continued to march on.
His cheeks were slightly pink, and through our bond, I could tell that Darach had indeed hit the nail right on the head.
"I had to!" I said. "There was no need for Luna Cassidy to know. It’s the same as Alpha Natan of Ironclaw; you didn’t want him to know either!"
"Alpha Natan was a suspicious and disgustingly poor excuse of a man," Damon pointedly stated. "On the other hand, Hornstead is considered an ally now. Luna Cassidy will eventually know."
We stopped in front of the meeting room door, and without knocking, Damon pushed the door open and headed inside. Kaine and Blaise were already there, most likely pre-informed via the pack link by Damon. When we entered, Blaise’s eyes immediately landed on Damon and I’s connected hands. He said nothing, but I felt everything.
To drive the sword further into the heart, it was at that time that Darach asked the question again.
"So, you didn’t properly reply," he said. "Is Harper going to be your luna? Is that why you’re so reluctant to let her go?"
