I chuckle as I head back to his bed, dragging a chair with me and swinging it around so the backrest is in front when I sit down.
“It’s about damn time you woke up, James,” I snicker, and James laughs.
“You should have brought Sophie to the valley sooner,” James titters. “Would have saved us a lot of trouble.”
I arch a brow at my beta. “Do you remember her from Hamilton?”
“You think I could ever forget the nurse who stole my alpha's heart?” he scoffs, rolling his eyes, and more heat creeps on my cheeks.
I never told him what happened between Sophie and me back then, but he must have suspected that I had good reason to steal away to Hamilton every chance I got during those months I'd been seeing her.
He isn't my best friend and beta for nothing.
“Now tell me…what is she doing here, and why did I miraculously wake up after…what? Two months in a coma?”
“Three months,” I correct him with a chuckle, before sighing and going on to explain everything that happened since that last attack.
“Now they're suspecting that she's a descendant of the Ashclaw Pack.”
“The Ashclaw Pack…?” James murmurs. “It would make sense how she burned that demon to nothing. But it’s not something to be afraid of. She has healing powers, too. Just look at me.”
“Yeah, I know,” I sigh, smiling wistfully at the beta. “Except, she’s been having trouble accepting any of this. I don’t think she wants to hear that she’s a descendant of an ancient, extinct wolf pack.”
“So don’t tell her,” James offers with a shrug. “Not yet, anyway. If she’s a descendant of Ashclaw, that means she’s also a descendant of witches. That’s gonna be a tough pill to swallow. Just let her be in her element. I heard she’s doing more than just waking comatose soldiers in the clinic.”
“Well, that’s what I thought, too. I’m just worried that she’s gonna hate me even more, and blame me somehow.”
James blows a breath through puckered lips. “If she hated you so much, she wouldn’t have agreed to marry you, Dame. She would have put up a bigger fight. But she didn’t.”
I frown as I contemplate this. “Maybe you’re right.”
“I know I am,” he grins proudly. “You just gotta give her some to realize that hate can’t exist without love. All you can do is be there for her, ‘cause it sounds like that’s what she needs to transition into this new version of herself.”
I nod thoughtfully, then turn the conversation to James, encouraging him to rest before he leaves the clinic and returns home, and warning him not to hurt my sister, who’d been by his side while he was comatose.
“I guess you could say we both have reasons to be better men,” James says when I’m about to leave.
“Yeah, and more reason to win this fight against the demons. We can't lose. We have to keep them safe.”
“And we will. If Sophie is the key, then we'll do whatever it takes to win.”
My chest puffs with pride and renewed resolve as I hear James's words of conviction, not just as my best friend or the man my sister is in love with, but as the beta of the Red Moon Pack. He'd been chosen as my second-in-command because ofour shared values and vision for the pack, and because of his loyalty to our people and me.
I'm glad he's awake now, almost back in action, but I have one person to thank for that when all hope seemed to be lost a few months ago.
She miraculously healed him and returned him to himself, but she also strengthened me in ways that I couldn't be strong even before the demons began attacking us.
I make my way through the clinic to find her in the first aid bay, treating some of the trainees with smaller injuries after their daily training, and I stop by the doorway, watching Sophie as she checks her next patient, working diligently, focusing with her tongue pressed into her right cheek.
“She's really extraordinary, isn't she?” Dianna says as she joins me, carrying two cups of coffee.
I smile as I continue watching my mate, crossing my arms as I lean against the beam. “Yes, she is. She's something else.”
“She fits in so well here. It's like she was born to be the Luna of Red Moon.”
“Shewasborn to be here. I just hope she sees that, too.”
“She will, brother. If she can see herself through your eyes, she'll see it, too. I've never seen you so enamored with anyone.”
