Noah POV
My feelings for Cassandra had been increasing daily. The way she is able to calm the birthing mothers completely amazes me. Even more so the way connects with the mates to build on that trust, for them to understand when I’m checking their female for the baby’s positioning, that’s it’s not for any other reason than me being a doctor.
she Male werewolves turn odd during labour, their adrenaline and hormones wanting to protect the mate and pup. I’ve been attacked plenty of times but my beta status soon overcomes the situation.
I knew she was safe during the battle, but only as long as the rogues didn’t make it to the hospital. After the explosion, I knew from the sight of the burning house that they wanted to create mass destruction. That’s when I wanted to get to her, keep her safe…. needed to be able to mind-link her. The mate bond was trying to pull me to her but I had to stay and fight, to keep
protecting the pack. I couldn’t get to Evelyn when the big beastly rogue was attacking her, for the first time ever…I feared I was going to lose her that night. I would never be the same again if I lost Evelyn but I know I would never be able to live if I lost Cassandra.
That’s when I knew, I knew I wanted to mark her. Needed to mark her. Make her mine and me hers.
We had both returned to the hospital after catching a few hours sleep. We had a female that was beside herself with such worry that she brought on early labour. We needed to sleep whilst she was being monitored still in early labour.
Cassandra returned before me, as I wanted to do a last check of the injured before returning to the alpha house.
When I did, I was furious at Evelyn for not getting her arm seen to. I know she was busy and had the horrible task of meeting the families of those that had passed, but had she of left that arm any longer she could have lost it.
As soon as I reset the skin it started to heal, Reuben’s alpha saliva also helped to speed up the recovery. He healed her, as well as his actual rescuing of her during the battle. I don’t know where he and his warriors came from but goddess was I glad to see them. We had held the borders during the first rogue attack, but the second really caught us off guard. And to hear there was a third attack planned…things could have worked out very differently last night.
The way he came to her aid, and to the children, I could see their own mate bond was taking effect, working its magic.
After dressing Evelyn’s arm last night, I headed upstairs where I was surprised to see Cassandra asleep in my bed.
Whether she was just so tired she let her wolf lead her or whether she just wanted me close for comfort, either way it made me happy to know she was accepting our bond.
She struggled at first, her mate had a ready made family. Anyone would feel inferior. But with time, she was understanding our family dynamics.
When I woke up the bed was empty and when I went downstairs for some food, Evelyn informed me Cassandra had already left for the hospital…without me. I actually had a pain in my chest from missing her.
It was now early evening and I was returning, the pup having been born an hour ago and I wanted to have the baby checked over. To make sure the mother’s stress didn’t transfer onto him.
Mum and baby were doing well. Cassandra wanted to stay behind, to help establish breastfeeding and said she would get word to me if anything happened. That was another thing, not being able to mind-link her was taking its toll on me. My wolf also struggled during the rogue attack to know that she was safe.
I find Evelyn in her office talking with Reuben and Nate. They were discussing security options going forward.
“Noah…” She smiles as I enter, before moving into a mind-link. “Everything okay? You haven’t taken your glasses off once…”
She wasn’t wrong, I needed to sleep for about a week to get myself back on track.
“Yes, baby delivered.” I reply through the mind-link, sitting down at the round meeting table. “How’s your arm?” I ask openly, no longer through the mind-link.
“Nearly there, I pulled the staples out earlier.” Evelyn says looking down at her arm. She has now taken the bandage off and I could see the wound still healing but all that was left was the skin and tissue scarring. It may leave a scar, sometimes it was just pure luck depending on scars for werewolves but one thing was for certain, silver always left a mark.
“How is Cassandra?” Evelyn asks now looking up at me.
“She’s good…in fact that’s why I’m here. I wanted to talk to you about us.”
“Us? As in you and me?” She asks, her back straightening. A move that didn’t go unnoticed by Reuben.
“No, the other us…Cassandra and I!
I’ve been thinking of it for sometime now but last night was the wake up call I needed. I’m going to mark Cassandra.”
I felt slightly awkward talking about something so personal in front of Reuben and Nate, but realistically they were going to be in our future from now on, so I might as well start getting used to it.
“She’s a member of the Blue Moon pack.” Reuben leans back in his chair, his fingers strumming together. His comment does break the silence that had followed.
“Yes, you’ll have to mark her on Blue Moon land. I’ll have to get in touch with Alpha Ivo, I’m sure Milo and Candice will plan the event…” Evelyn starts but I cut her off.
“Event?” I gulp, not liking the sound of this. “A beta ceremony, it’s an important marking…unless…” “Unless?” Reuben presses for Evelyn to finish her sentence.
“Unless she doesn’t want to join the Silver Moon pack?” Her face held a frown, which she was trying to hide but failing.
“I don’t see why she wouldn’t, she’s already birthing the next generation of wolves.” Nate looks up from his laptop to add to the conversation.
He was right, she did enjoy working at the hospital and she was very fond of Evelyn and the children. She would want to stay, I wouldn’t be able to consider an alternative, there just wouldn’t be any point.
“I also have something I wanted to discuss with you.” Evelyn adds, her cheeks blushing slightly.
“Oh?” I reach over the table to grab a cold bottle of water. I kept forgetting to stay hydrated, it was difficult to remember when rushing around the hospital.
“I think the time has come for us to tell the children the truth. Something is going on with Rex and I think he is now ready to know..”
“Evelyn…” Reuben sits forward reaching for her arm, he gently places his hand in hers and completely captivates her concentration.
“Maybe it’s too soon…” He adds quietly to her and I felt as if I was intruding on a private conversation between the pair of them.
“No, I think he already knows. I feel ready…as if this was the natural next step we need to make. But Noah, I would only do it with your blessing.” She looks at me with complete truth in her eyes. She means it, she wouldn’t say anything if I wasn’t ready.
But I can’t expect to mark my mate and for the children to not have questions. So it wouldn’t be fair to say I wasn’t ready for them to see another male as their father. Because they would, because he is…their father.
“Your relationship with them wouldn’t change, you would still be Elspeth’s Daddy and Rex’s Uncle…something inside of me is yearning for me to tell them.”
“Will he mark you?”
“He has spoken of it but not since he has returned, we’ve been a bit busy with rogues.” She chuckles through the mind-link.
I pause for a moment, trying to decipher how I felt about Rex and Elspeth finding out. But they were meant to be a family and I was always meant to be their friend and uncle. Sinister plots took that away from Reuben, took him away from them.
I couldn’t deprive that from them any longer. I loved them, where they were mine or not, I only wanted what was best for them. They needed to form a relationship with him, for Evelyn to take the time to feel the mate bond more.
“You have my blessing.” I smile at her, responding openly for Reuben to hear. His eyes now fixed on my facial expressions, looking for any tell tale signs that I was fibbing.
“Thank you Noah.” She stands up and wraps her arms around my shoulders, hugging me tightly.
“Are you sure you want Candice to plan your ceremony?” Nate chuckles giving Reuben a side wink
“It will become larger that what you want.” He tries to tease me. “Who’s having a ceremony?” Pierce walks into Evelyn’s office, clapping me on the back as he walks past me.
“Noah is going to mark Cassandra. As she is from the Blue Moon pack, it is up to them to organise it.” Nate answers for me.
“Wonderful news, I think you all need some happy news right now. How about you Reuben, when are you marking Evelyn?” He smirks, turning Evelyn’s pinkish cheeks a brilliant shade of bright red.
