Chapter 74 - Not Even You

Galen was overwhelmed by her warmth. It traveled into every nerve in his body. Exhilarating him in ways he had never experienced before. He found himself wanting to hold her closer, wanting to touch her more. But he stopped himself, unsure of how exactly to proceed at this moment. His heart was racing, and other parts of him were waking up.

Bell pulled away from him, leaving a cold like no other. He looked up at her with a pained expression, and she felt a warm squeeze in her heart. She smiled mischievously at him.

He didn’t know when it had happened, but that smile was like precious artwork to him. Something he cherished, that he wanted to keep safe and preserve at all costs.

“I have to get to the hospital for my rounds,” she said softly.

“Ok,” was all he could manage to say. Bell giggled at his slow response.

They sat up together, and just before moving to stand, Bell turned back to him as though she just remembered something.

“What was it you really wanted at the hospital?” she asked.

He looked at her carefully, not sure how to answer.

“Goddess, you are so cute,” she smiled, reaching out and touching his cheek, “you may be an excellent Beta. An all-around wonderful man and a great kisser. But a spy, you are not.”

“Great kisser?” he said, sitting up a little straighter.

“Was that the most important thing I said?” she giggled.

“Maybe…” he smiled.

“Seriously,” she said, “I know you weren’t just trying to see how we measured up for basic tactics. There was something you were looking for. What was it?”

Galen sighed.

‘Caleb did tell me it was my call whether to tell her or not,’ he thought to himself.

“I wanted to know about the treatments of those that were poisoned by wolfsbane in the first rogue attacks. The ones who survived and the ones that didn’t,” Galen stated.

He waited for her reaction. Neither he nor Caleb had any idea who had altered the reports. It was impossible to know currently if someone in Winter had been responsible for it.

“That’s it?” she asked, disappointed. She had hoped there was something more entertaining in Galen’s spy-like antics.

“Is that not enough?” he asked.

“I mean, it’s not really secret info,” she laughed. “Each of the alphas was sent a copy of all the treatment reports. Didn’t Alpha Caleb share them with you?”

“Each of the Alphas was sent a report?” Galen asked.

“Yea, it’s standard practice with wolfsbane. Anything we can learn about it is good for everyone,” she replied. “Anyway, if that’s all you wanted, I can have the treatment records pulled up and dropped off at your dorm by lunchtime.”

“I would really appreciate that,” he smiled.

“Would you?” she smiled back, leaning close to him.

“Very much,” he whispered.

He closed the distance between them, bringing their mouths together, taking in her warmth. He ran his tongue along her soft lips. She allowed him to deepen the kiss just slightly. Just enough for him to taste her, to feel the rush of blood through his body before she pulled away.

“I really do have to go,” she said breathlessly, licking her lips as she pulled herself up onto her feet. “I’ll see you later.”

“Promise?” he asked. His voice was heavy with a sensation entirely new to him, a desire to pull her back into his arms.

She nodded her head, smiling before quickly turning to run off.

Galen sunk back into the snow, needing to cool off before he tried to focus on anything but her.

Bell found herself smiling and giggling as she left him. When did she last feel like this, she wondered. She was so caught up in thoughts of Galen she didn’t see the person she ran into.

“Oh, I’m so sorry!” she said quickly as she bounced back off them.

“I didn’t mean–” she gasped as her eyes looked up to see a familiar face standing before her.

“We need to talk,” Alpha Wyatt stated. His manner was grave and unhappy.

Bell swallowed down the sinking feeling in her heart. Without a word from Alpha Wyatt, she knew that whatever happened next, the joyous time she had experienced with Galen was over.

***

After Galen had gotten to his room and cleaned himself up from his playtime in the snow with Bell, he still had a lot to do before Caleb’s arrival.

He treated his wound again, cleaning it and using a device he carried from Summer. A sort of automatic bandage sealed the injury while also pushing antibiotics and increasing the effectiveness of the typical fast healing of wolves. It was a new design that he was testing out for the Trauma R&D team back home.

As he finished attaching the mechanism, there was a knock at his door. When he answered, a package sat alone on the ground.

True to her word, Bell had sent him copies of the wolfsbane patients.

He made himself a sandwich as he reviewed the documents. Most of the information was fundamental, same standard care procedures for any wolf suffering from wolfsbane. But the parts that were most useful to him were the descriptions of the wounds.

Galen wanted to compare all the wound reports to confirm his suspicion. But he was surprised to find a patient was missing from the pile. Ashleigh.

After confirming that he hadn’t misplaced her file or left it in the envelope, he decided the best course of action was to go to the hospital and retrieve it himself.

“Caleb said I needed to have a full report by the time he arrived. That’s why I need to go to the hospital now,” he said out loud, “it has nothing to do with Bell being there.”

He smiled to himself as he walked out the door.

Galen was halfway to the hospital when he heard his name being called.

“Galen!” the voice demanded.

He turned around to find an outraged Ashleigh walking straight for him.

‘I guess it had to happen eventually,’ he sighed to himself.

“How dare you!” she shouted. “You could have killed him!”

“I won’t deny that because it is factually accurate. I could have killed him,” Galen stated calmly, “but I didn’t, and I didn’t hurt him enough for him to be in any danger of that happening.”

“You have no idea how hurt he was,” she snarled, “he could barely move. He was in and out of consciousness all night. Not to mention the mental trauma you put him through.”

Galen clenched his jaw, holding back the laugh he wanted to let out.

‘The only mental trauma that bastard has suffered is his own delusions,’ he commented in his mind.

“I can’t believe you would do this,” she shook her head at him, “I thought you were a decent man with good character and morals. Not some monster who would attack people without provocation.”

Ashleigh looked as though she was barely contained, like she might burst into tears or attack him at any moment. It was strange.

“Are you ok, Ashleigh?” Galen asked, genuinely concerned.

Ashleigh scoffed at him.

“You don’t do that!” She hissed, “You don’t try to kill my mate and then act like you’re still the good guy I thought you were.”

“I didn’t try to kill him,” Galen stated.

“I’m so sick of this….” Ashleigh said, pacing and rubbing her head painfully. “I’m so tired of all this blessing bullshit!”

Galen reached a hand to her shoulder.

“Seriously, are you ok?” he asked.

“Get off of me!” she shouted, shoving his hand away from her. “You and Caleb both need to understand that I don’t want you! I don’t want Summer! Granger is the man I love, my true mate!”

“Neither Caleb nor I have ever tried to force you to do anything other than what you wanted,” Galen replied. “No matter the cost to us.”

He thought back to the hopeful expression on Caleb’s face when he had woken up after the full moon and how hurt he was after she left him in the treehouse.

“The cost to you? I know. Poor Galen so desperate to have ‘his Luna’ that he is willing to beat a man near death. For what?” Ashleigh said scornfully. “I am no one’s property for you to ‘protect’!”

Ashleigh, overcome by her whirlwind of guilt, anger, resentment, shoved Galen with force neither of them expected. He flew back from her, slamming against the building behind him. His body hit with a sickening thud, and he let out a pained groan. He grabbed at his side, hissing painfully.

As he pulled his hand away, she saw the crimson liquid that had leaked onto his fingers from his shirt.

She gasped, the memory of Bell in the hospital the night before, slamming down the bloody arrow.

Ashleigh stepped towards him but found herself suddenly moving backward until her back hit a wall. The impact knocked the wind out of her yet wasn’t painful. Her shoulder, however, stung. She looked down to see a hand gripped around it. A thick, firm hand that she recognized immediately.

Her eyes shot up to him, his auburn hair fell over his eyes, but she could see them. She could see a cold glow of grey that somehow still held a darkness that scared her.

“Not even you can lay hands on my brother!” Caleb snarled at her.