The Wolf's Marine

Holding Hands

The Next Morning
Storm's Pov.

Flashback
"LeDoux? Are you awake yet?" A voice asks. Mhm, go away. I want to sleep.

"LeDoux, you have to wake up!" The voice gets louder. I open my eyes and the light sends a throb through my head.

My eyes take a few seconds to adjust and then I see him. He's a shorter man dressed in scrubs, looking very concerned.

"Where's Leo and Jack?" I ask while my hand goes to my head. It's bandaged and feels wet. That explains the throbbing with the light.

As my arm moves, a tube follows it. Great, an IV. Hopefully it's giving me pain killers.

"They were killed in the IED. They died instantly." A sinking feeling fills my gut. My best friends are dead.

"LeDoux, you did your..." I stop listening to the man as Jake's death replays in my mind. There was so much blood and the look in his eyes as he died. That will haunt me the rest of my life.

Then the IED replays in my mind. It was so hot and there was so much pain. The loud explosion making my ears ring. Every part of it was horrible.

"Your leg was lost in the explosion." I'm pulled out of my horrible memories at his horrifying words. "What?"

I pull the crappy hospital blanket to the side and am shocked to see nothing where my right leg should be. My thigh is wrapped in gauze and there's a slight blood stain.

"I'll send a nurse in later to discuss rehab." He says before leaving. With him gone, I finally break down and cry.

Jake, Leo, and Jack are all gone, I'll never walk again, and my career in the Marines is over. I should've just died with them. My life is over. What am I going to do?
End of Flashback

"Stay away from my mate!" A voice growls, causing the bed I'm in to shake and my flashback to end. "I need to check her bandages." A quieter voice argues.

"Stop being so damn loud!" I grumble, pushing myself up and opening up my eyes. This reminds me of my hospital stay so long ago.
I readjust my sitting position and shooting pain goes through my body. Holy fuck this hurts!

Looking around, I see the room I'm in isn't a hospital room, it's a decently decorated bedroom. Why aren't I in a hospital for all of this pain?

"I'm sorry." The bearded man says in a quieter voice. Looking at him he looks familiar, but I can't place where or how I know him. For some reason looking at him makes the pain lessen.

"How are you feeling this morning?" The quiet man in a white shirt asks. "Everything hurts like a bitch. This hurts more than that damn IED!"

"Well, you did break three ribs and have severe bruising in various places." White shirt explains.

"Of course, now when do I get out of here?" I need to get home and bury Cowboy. Wait, bury Cowboy? Oh, that's right. I instantly feel like crying at this memory.

I can't cry now though, I'll cry in the safety of my cabin. If I get hysterical now they won't let me leave anytime soon.

"I want to keep you here for a day just to keep an eye on your broken ribs and to make sure you're not coughing up anymore blood." White shirt tells me.

"Who are you guys and why am I at your house and not the hospital?" I ask. Beardie pulls a chair up next to me and that's when I notice how tired and disheveled he looks.

"I'm Karl the pack medic." White shirt introduces himself. "We've met before, but if you don't remember I'm Wilder." Beardie offers me his hand to shake. I take his hand in mine and those weird good tingles from before shoot up my hand. And, the pain lessens even more. What the fuck?!

"The man who attacked you was a dark fae and our alpha killed him. We couldn't exactly take you to the human hospital without the sheriff asking what happened to you. So we brought you to the pack house." Karl explains.

Dark fae? That would explain why his appearance changed. But pack house? Does this have something to due with the werewolves Callie mentioned?

"You're werewolves?" I ask, Wilder's grip tightens. Wait, why is he even holding my hand? I pull my hand out of his and fold it in my other one. As soon as we're not touching, the pain comes back just as strong as before.

"Yes." Karl answers. Looking from Karl to Wilder, he looks sad like someone just shit in his cheerios. Him being sad for some reason makes me feel sad too. What the fuck is going on?!

"That's nice." I tell him, looking back to Karl so I don't have to see the sad look on Wilder's handsome face.

Wilder's Pov.

I don't like how Storm keeps avoiding looking at me and keeps looking at Karl. I want to rip his face off for taking all of my mate's attention.

"Now, the whole reason I'm here is to check your bandages. May I?" Karl looks from her to me, checking to make sure I won't rip his face off. I give him a nod and he approaches my mate slowly.

"Lift your shirt up so I can see your bandages." I have to bite back a growl at his request. I don't like this, Storm should get to choose who sees her like that. Even if I never get to see her like that.

Her shirt rises up and I look away. I don't get to look at her like this without her consent. I advert my eyes from her body and instead narrow them as I watch Karl. If he tries anything funny his face will be gone.

A few minutes of him looking go by before he backs up and her shirt lowers. "Everything appears to be in order. Are you having need to cough?"

"No, I feel fine, other than everything fucking hurting. Why can't you give me painkillers?" She grumbles. Karl shoots me a 'do I tell her?' look and I shake my head.

I don't want to pressure her into the mate business, she should get to decide if she wants to do this or not. Besides, I don't deserve her anyway, I knew about the dark fae and I still couldn't protect her. She deserves a male that can actually protect her.

Tell her you only have painkillers that work on werewolves.

"The painkillers we have are specifically for werewolves. Such a high dosage would either paralyze or kill you." He explains. Knowing she's in pain, I reach for her hand.

"What is it with you and wanting to hold my hand? We've only met once." She snaps, keeping her hands out of my reach.

"Just trust me." She raises a brow and gives me her hand. I take it and interlace our fingers. Warm tingles run up my arm before I start soaking up her pain. She immediately sighs in relief and her body relaxes.

I know I don't deserve her and she deserves better than me, but it does feel good to make her feel better.

"How are you doing that?" I so want to tell her the truth. "It's a werewolf thing." It's not a total lie.

"That's cool." Ahhhh!!! She thinks I'm cool!!!