Authors: Donna Flynn
He heard Lucan’s
soft footfall on the stairs then the thump of his heels as he
walked down
th
e hardwood
-floored hall towards the room. Hurriedly,
he stepped back tucking Mercy under
the blankets
and moved to
a nearby chair.
By the
time,
the door
swung
o
pen
he
had
a book in his hands
and was pretending to read
.
“It’s good to see you up
,
you should have called for one of us
.” Lucan told him as he strode towards the bed
where Mercy lay sleeping
.
Alec didn’t
bother to make excuses,
L
ucan had been aware he was awake
and had given him a few minutes of alo
ne time
with his sister,
before charging upstairs
when things
grew to quiet
for his lik
ing
.
“You’re better?”
Lucan
asked noting the slight flush to his face.
“Yeah
,
I’m
good
. I just want Mercy to be alright too
.
” He looked to the bed
wh
ere she lay,
her eyes closed
as if she was asleep
,
which he suspected she wasn’t.
“I just came
back fro
m a run
,
so I am going to shower and get somethin
g to eat
,
but I’ll be back soon
,
”
Lucan
warned
, his meaning
clear, h
e would be
listening and keeping watch over them
,
whether
he was
in the room or not.
After Lucan
walked out of the r
oom,
Alec turned
to the bed
we
re Mercy lay just opening her eyes,
the panic in her eyes easy to read.
“Everything is
okay
. Y
ou’re fine, I’m fine.”
“What happened?” she whispered
raggedly,
her throat sore and aggravated
.
“
Apparently I was shot,” he said p
l
acing a staying hand on h
er shoulder as she struggled
to sit up
. “Don’t worry you
got the bullet out
,
but there was some poison and w
hen y
ou tried to save me it
got into your own blood stream, but we are both going to be alright
.”
She nodded staring
at him quizzically.
“Y
ou kissed me?” she said
touching her lip
s
with the tip of her finger
in wonder
.
“Why did you kiss me?”
Alec froze
,
unsure
how to respond. He wanted to tell her the truth, that he kissed her because he had been longing to since he had seen her the year before, so beautiful and grown up, but he was afraid to scare her.
Fortunately,
Cade came through the door carrying a tray of food
saving him from having to answer
.
Cade
walked to Mercy’s side smiling down on her,
relived to see her awake and
healthy. He
set the tray down and came to her
side
hugging her close. “God when I thought we had lost you…
,
” his voice broke and his e
yes grew
moist just thinking how close they
had come to that reality
.
“I’m fine,” she told him
.
“Ar
e you hungry
,
I brought
food?
” He fluffed
the pillows
behind her,
got the tray
, then
handed
her a bowl of soup
. Still tired and worn from her
illness,
her hand
s
shook uncontrollably and
he had to grab the container before she spilled some
on herself
.
“Alec, I cooked a steak
for you
.” He poi
nted to a large plated where
a piece of meat
,
that could have
easily
fe
d four people
,
rested
.
“You didn’t need
to go through this effort soup woul
d be
fine,”
Alec told him
,
but t
he hungry leer
he gave the
steak
betrayed his words. He
wasted no time grabbing the plate and digging in
to the rare cut of meat
.
“Your father thou
ght you would be starving
by now
,
” Cade said, holding
the soup b
owel and placing
the spoon to
Mercy’s
lips
. She swallowed
a few
spoons of the nourishing broth
then gave up l
ying back against the pillows and closing her eyes
,
too tired to stay awake any longer
.
“S
he did not eat much,
” Alec said worriedly.
“She never doe
s when she is sick
,
” Cade told him,
placing the bowel
back down
on the tray
. “We will be m
oving her to her own room now since
she is better
.”
“
B
y tomorrow I should be able to move back to
my place,
so I won’t be a bother anymore
.” Alec took his place on the twin bed opposite of Mercy’s and let out a weary sigh
. With his stomach satisfied and
his mind eased now
Mercy had woken
and spoke to him
,
he felt better about taking the
rest his body needed
.
“Y
our father
will be here soon. He
b
rought some of your pack
along
with him
and is getting them in place, so
there won’t be a repeat of this incident.”
“I do not need baby si
t
ters,” A
lec replied
sharply
,
immediately defensive
. Hi
s pack
would kill to keep him safe
,
but he hated
that
his father
thought,
he was unable
not protect himself
and his mate
.
“Y
our focus is on Mercy
right now
,
having a few
extra people around to keep their eyes open
won’t hurt,
”
Cade, said understanding the young man resentment
of
his father’s interference
. H
e
himself wasn’t happy to have more of their pack around his sister, but someone wanted Alec
dead
and Gregory
would not
take chances
with his
son’s
life
.
“Y
ou’re
right
of course
,
but I hate the thought of my every step being followed.” He ran his hand though hi
s hair in frustration and turned his attention
to Mercy. “Of course
,
this a
lso means I will get very
little
time alone with her.”
“
And the b
ad side
is?” Lucan asked
sarcastically from
doorway
, smirking
at the young man who would one day be his brother in-law
.
He never
doubted the outcome
, h
e could tell his sister cared deeply for the young
Alpha
, but he wouldn’t be
a
verse
to see
ing him fight
to obtain her affections.
“Luc do you ev
en remember what
be
ing
young
is like
?” Cade asked with a chuckle
.
“Why do you think I
worry so much?
Don’t you recall dating when we were young?
”
He tried
not to laugh at Cade’s
expression as he thought it over
.
Cade
’
s laugh
ter
died
immediately
. He remembered
all of the trouble they
cau
sed with the many girls they
dated through their teenage years
and h
e turned and glared at
Alec with new regard for the young man’s intentions
.
“I would never d
o anything too
compromise Mercy
,
” A
lec promised
.
“She is my future mate and I respect you both to
o much to do anything to
anger you.”
“I suppose we
are going to have to trust you,
” Lucan
sighed
walking to Mercy’s side and looking
down on her
with a frown
.
“Did she eat?”
“Not
much
,” Cade told him
. “
I’ll get these cleaned up
.” He
gathered the tray and
left the room
leaving Lucan to deal with moving Mercy
.
“I’ll take her to he
r room you get some rest
,” Lucan
told Alec scooping her up in his arms and carrying
her out
.
Alec
lay back in the bed thinking about the kiss he had shared with Mercy. She
had been
so
soft and warm in his arms
and he couldn’t wait to have the right to kiss her like that every day of his life.
The
challenge
now though
was too make her understand
how important she
was to him
. He realized he had
a lot of wo
rk to do b
efore that day came and suddenly t
he idea of his father
call
ing in
some of the pack
didn’t seem so bad.
Mercy woke the next morning bolting
upright in her bed
,
her heart pounding
wildly. Vividly
reca
lling
everything that had happened
in the last twenty-four hours.
Alec
on the ground dying after someone shot him
, her trying
to heal h
im
,
and the excruciating pain right before she passed out
after the last attempt
.
J
umping fr
om her bed
,
not even bothering with her robe
,
she ran into the hall her only thought to find Alec, to make sure he was alive
. Familiar m
ale l
aughter floated up from the kitchen
reassuring her
all was well
and she stopped running
. She
took a minute leaning
against the wall
to catch her breath,
before moving
down
slowly down
the stairs
listening to the easy
conversation
between her brothers and Alec
.