JULIUS

 

“You’ve lost a lot of blood.”

I looked up at Tristan and smiled.

“I’ve got plenty of blood still inside of me,” I said. “That’s more than I need for you.”

His cheeks turned red before he rolled his eyes at me.

“Now is not the time for that kind of talk,” he said.

“With you, it’s always time for that kind of talk.”

“Doctor. Can you please tell him what’s good for him?”

I turned to the other side of the bed I laid on. The doctor examined his notes on his clipboard as he spoke.

“You have lost a lot of blood. Your pulse is higher than it should be, as expected with the kind of trauma you’ve experienced.”

“Is he going to be all right?” Tristan asked.

“Hyena teeth are jagged. They can leave some pretty nasty marks. I’m surprised you were able to get out of it relatively unscathed. But… we’ve stitched all of your wounds closed. You’ll be just fine, Mayor. Though I do recommend you take a week off to make sure everything stays in place.”

“A week off,” I sighed. “That’s a long time.”

“You’ve been through a lot,’ Tristan said. “Can you please just follow the doctor’s advice?”

“Okay, okay,” I said with a chuckle.

“I’d like to keep you overnight for observation,” the doctor said. “I’ll give you two a moment.”

The doctor excused himself, leaving me alone with Tristan in my hospital quarters.

Tristan took a seat on the bed next to me. He gave me a tender smile but in his eyes, there was still an obvious worry.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“What’s wrong? I just watched you nearly get mangled to death by the biggest pack I’d ever seen. And you’re asking me what’s wrong?”

“I was nearly mangled to death. The doctor said I’m going to be just fine.”

“Still as confident as ever.”

“I have to be.”

“…I know…”

He reached forward and grabbed my hand. He squeezed me gently as he looked down at the ground.

“I knew you could do it,” he said. “I knew that you wouldn’t fail.”

“I told you I wouldn’t. Seth and his gang are just some punks. They were fighting for all of the wrong reasons.”

“That’s just it though. When I saw you fall to the ground… I thought you’d given everything you had. I thought it was over. I…”

Tristan sighed and shook his head. There was a disappointment in his voice that bothered me more than it should have.

“…I thought it was over. I thought Seth would beat you and Dirge would descend into chaos.”

“Hey…”

Tristan slowly turned his head up. Looking into those striking gray eyes of his, I wanted nothing more than to do everything I could for him. Beating Seth and his pack was nothing. I was determined to maintain the peace that I’d established now.

“You don’t have to worry about me,” I said. “You don’t have to worry about me or any of the Omegas in the shelter or anybody who might be roaming the streets of Pandora. Everybody understands the violent ways of our ancestors. That’s just a thing of the past now. Rest easy, Omega.”

I pulled my hand free from his and put it up to his face. He leaned in and closed his eyes, letting me caress his cheek.

“I love you, Omega.”

He sighed a soft breath through his nose. There was a subtle smile on his face that gave me an indescribable sense of relief.

“I love you, Alpha.”

A sudden knock at the door interrupted my moment with Tristan. We both turned to look. Donovan peeked his head inside.

“I’m not interrupting anything, am I?” he said.

“Come in,” I said. “Just the man I wanted to see.”

Donovan walked over to the bed, his hands in his pockets as he looked down at me.

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” I sighed. “How anybody should be feeling when they’re in the kind of fight I was just in, I suppose.”

“You’ll have a few scars. Just another sign that you were strong enough to survive.”

“Let’s hope that’ll be the last of them,” Tristan said. “He has enough scars for a lifetime.”

“I think that’ll be the case,” Donovan said. “The police took Seth and his gang into custody. They’ll be locked away for a long time. The rest of the packs in Pandora seemed to have gotten the message. It seems that they finally found someone to respect. Your actions tonight resonated with them.”

There was a growing relief on Tristan’s face.

“I never thought I would see the day,” he sighed. “The police in Pandora. To think that I could walk the streets and feel safe…”

“The police won’t be necessary,” I said. “But they’ll be there if anybody needs them.”

“And with the groups in the Timberlands patrolling for any Omegas in danger, it appears there’ll be peace everywhere.”

“It looks like you did the impossible, Mayor,” Donovan said. “I knew you were the right man for the job.”

After everything I’d been through, it was hard to imagine that it was all finally over.

“What’s wrong?” Tristan asked.

“What?” I said.

“You look like there’s something wrong. Is something wrong?”

I glanced up at Donovan. He gave me a half-smirk to let me know that everything was indeed all right.

I turned back to Tristan and gave him a nod.

“Nothing is wrong,” I said. “Everything is perfect.”

“Dirge finally has the peace we’ve all sought,” Donovan said.

“Now we can start moving forward.”