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20
Patrick’s POV
Three days later
I looked up from the book I was reading out loud, sitting back in the chair by her bed. “Any news, Doctor?”
He checked the charts and her vitals, not saying anything for a few minutes. He wrote a few things down, then sat in the chair by mine, both of us facing the bed holding Jessie Donato, originally Natalya Klishnina. Her head was wrapped in bandages, her right leg in a cast, and more dressings covered her stomach under the sheet. “She is healing, and her brain pressure is under control, that is all good news. If she continues to show no signs of complications or infection, I can start bringing her out of her coma in a few more days.”
I nodded, I had been doing some of my own research. My Alpha had paid for Doctor Oleg to consult with neurologists at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester. She was listed as Jane Doe, and Oleg was using the excuse his clinic was remote and she couldn’t be medevaced. The Mayo doctors so far had concurred with the treatment.
“What about her brain function?”
“We’ll have to wait until she wakes up and conduct tests then. I’m cautiously optimistic we caught it in time, despite the delays in starting treatment.” He had been vocal early on about her need to get to a human hospital in Moscow, but Alpha Viktor shut him down quickly. “I’m sure she appreciates you being here. There are some studies that show that even in a coma, some parts of the brain can still receive stimuli. I can see her vitals improve slightly when you are around.” He patted my shoulder than walked out, going to his other patients.
I was here for my friend and charge, but with her in a coma there wasn’t much to do. My time was split; in the morning I would wake up and meet the Alpha’s family for breakfast. It was my first chance to be with my mate, until she had to leave for school. Mischa was a senior in high school and was already accepted into a college for pre-med studies. She didn’t return home until almost five in the afternoon. I spent the days sitting with Jessie, then dinner and the evening with Mischa and her ever-present overprotective brother. We would talk for hours, hold hands, and sneak in kisses where we could. I was looking forward to the marking ceremony, and we had worked with her mother on the details.This belongs to NôvelDrama.Org.
Werewolf matings had a public and a private portion, something like the human engagement and wedding. The marking ceremony was the engagement; I would bite her neck and she would bite mine, in human form, showing other werewolves we were mates. The mark put my scent on her and hers on mine, and this signal to unmated males helped my wolf settle down a bit. We would gain a portion of the mate bond as our wolves started to meld. The marks would last about a year, after which they would fade unless renewed or you completed the mating process.
The second part was in private, and it involved biting each other during sex in our wolf forms. This would activate the full bond, after which we would be inseparable. We would be able to communicate mentally, feel each other’s emotions, and it would kick off her heat cycle.
I’d been trading emails and talking on Skype with my Mom, and it was fair to say she was thrilled. If she had her way, I’d have my mate pregnant in a week, but we had to wait until she was of age. I didn’t tell her that Mischa and I had talked about children already. She wanted to wait until she had become a Doctor, and I was willing to support her in her dream. We would have to work things out so she could become an American citizen, and get her admitted to an American university, but we could make that work. I was just glad she was fluent in English, because my Russian was barely adequate to ask for a glass of vodka.
Alpha Viktor walked into the room and sat down on the edge of the bed. “I hear she is healing well,” he said.
“Yes, the doctor says it is going as expected. If she had a wolf it would be a lot faster.”
“I’m not so sure she doesn’t, buried deep down there somewhere. At a minimum, she is a null since her father was an Alpha. We’ve never really studied nulls, they were either killed or exiled from the Packs. It is possible they have just enough wolf to be a mate, but not enough to shift or show other characteristics. It is something the Doctor would like to study further if we have a chance.”
“I don’t think Jessie will want to stay around,” I said.
“I’m sure. Still, a werewolf has to be in there somewhere for Beta John’s wolf to connect to.” He looked over at her sleeping form. “I have some contacts with the local coven, and Sergey told them what he saw. They think it was more than just a healing spell.”
“What do you mean?”
“Witches gather and hold power over their lives, it becomes a part of them until they die or they pass it to another. The glow you saw was from that transfer. Whatever he was, he passed it to her, and that power flowing within accomplished the healing. It drained him too fast to heal everything, though, and with him dead the magic had no direction anymore and it stopped.”
Holy shit. Jessie had the powers of a witch? “Please tell me the Father was a white witch.” White witches were about nature, love and balance, and were the only witches you wanted to deal with. Black ones were evil and twisted.
Viktor nodded. “Last night while you were out with my daughter, I had two of their oldest witches come look at Jessie. They can feel the power, they know it is good, but there is no way to tell just how much power he gave her. That will take her being trained to use it and discover her limits.”
“And if she doesn’t want it?”
“Then she can pass it on to another. I can certainly find someone to take it if she refuses, but there is plenty of time to talk about that. Now, I need to talk to you about your plans for this coming year.”
Viktor had been very interested in our plans, and we hadn’t said much yet. I got the impression he was disappointed his daughter was mated to a Beta and was sizing me up to see if I had Alpha potential. There was still a power void in Moscow, and he had an interest in placing a friendly Alpha there. “You know I have to return to the States, I have a responsibility to Jessie and my Pack to keep her protected until her mate can take over.”
Viktor nodded. “He gets out in two months, right?”
“Yes. I’m hoping he figures out a way to get the girl before our mating ceremony.”
“And if he doesn’t?”
“Jessie will have to understand that I’ve fallen in love and taken a wife. I can’t pull her out of school in the middle of the year, and I need to learn Russian. My plan is to remain her, with your permission of course, and undertake intensive language studies while my mate finishes her schooling.”
He smiled, glad I wasn’t taking his daughter away as soon as she turned eighteen. Some people wouldn’t be so understanding, expecting the female to sacrifice for them, but I couldn’t as Mischa to do that. “We have a few hours, I thought you might like to join us for training. I’m curious as to how much training you Americans get. I hear you’ve gone soft with your computers and your fancy cars.”
It was my turn to smile. “Is Konstantin joining us?”
“Yes, along with my senior leadership. We lead training for normal Pack members in the mornings, the afternoons we beat up on each other.”
“Great.” I got up and followed him out. “I just need to know what word in Russian means ‘I yield’ so I can stop when they’ve had enough.” He just laughed as he walked down the hallway.
I just hoped I wouldn’t be wheeled back up this same hallway before the afternoon was over.
***
I followed Viktor across the compound to the large building in back. He opened the door and waited; I smelled sweat, blood and wolves as I entered. “There’s some extra shorts in the bins there, and the locker room is through that door. We don’t wear shoes on the mats.” I looked around, all the men were warming up or running, none wore shirts, just these same gray athletic shorts. I grabbed a pair in my size and went into the locker room.
It wasn’t much, a bench down the middle and some small lockers for your stuff, a couple showers and some toilets in the back. I stripped, folding my clothes and stashing them in an open one, before pulling the shorts on and walking out. Konstantin and some of the Betas were already standing around the Alpha as they sized me up. I was in good shape, well defined, but nowhere near as barrel-chested as these males. I started stretching as he talked to three of his men in Russian. At the end, he told them “udarit’ yego zadnitsu” and all the men started to laugh. He turned to me with a big smile. “We thought we’d start with the same assessment we give all of our Betas in this Pack. They’re going to put you through it,” he said as he pointed at the three men walking to the center of the room.
“So what is the test?”
“Survive,” he said. “No shifting, eye gouges or broken necks. Other than that, good luck.”
I walked towards the three, moving my neck around to loosen it up. I tried to relax, and I put on a smile and reached out a hand to the first one in line. “Patrick Clarke,” I said. He didn’t do anything, but out of the corner of my right eye I saw the third man in line drop his shoulders and charge me.
I dropped my hand and quickly stepped back, moving my left leg back as I spun to avoid being tackled. Bringing my right arm up, I hooked under his armpit and hip tossed him as I spun away. His two friends tried to take advantage, and I knew I had to avoid being taken to the ground. Instead of backing away like they expected, I attacked the second man. I punched him in the throat, then grabbed his hair and brought my knee up into his face. There was a satisfying crunch as his nose broke and blood sprayed over my leg.
The second man was knocked out, but the first had gotten behind me and was trying to complete a chokehold. I dropped my chin, blocking his arm from my neck, and stomped on the inside of his right leg. The knee collapsed, and he screamed in pain as he let go. I quickly twisted inside, bringing my left elbow into his ribs and breaking a few. Continuing the spin, I brought my right leg up and kicked his nuts halfway to Moscow as I broke away.
The third man, the one I’d thrown, was back and he was pissed off as he saw his friends taken down. Changing tactics, he got into a boxing stance and started to circle me. I danced away from the downed men, my hands up in front of me in more of a Mixed Martial Arts-style position. I ducked a few jabs, then when he tried to use a right cross I grabbed his wrist and pulled him forward, causing his right leg to move forward to compensate. With all his weight forward, I kicked above his knee, breaking his femur with a loud snap. He fell to the ground holding his leg.
I looked around, guard still up, in case any had come back from their injuries. They hadn’t. I caught my breath, looking over at Alpha Viktor. “That a pass?”