A Reluctant Mate

Dixson's POV (32)

Side story (8)

I was just laying there pretending to be asleep while Aria gets chewed out, "Aria I cannot believe you went there all alone, that was so dangerous, what if something happened to you and the pups?" Ranger was cross, "but nothing happened" "but it could have" "I had it all under control" Aria said as she snuggled closer to me "what the fuck did you have under control?" Ranger shouted "please calm down Ranger, your scaring her" Mitch said calmly "good, now she knows how I felt" then a door slammed, I assume that was Ranger leaving the room "I better go and talk with him" Aria said as she struggled to get out the bed, "no, you stay here, your the one he is mad at right now" "he's just being childish" "Aria, we are Lycan's we take having pups very serious, you need to understand where he's coming from, they are his pups to".

I herd the door open as Aria mumbled "its my body" under her breath, "I heard that" Mitch said as he left the room.

She snuggled back next to me, "sorry" I whispered, "are you awake?" "Yeah, I heard everything, I feel guilty, You're in trouble because of me" "ignore them, I will always save you when you need it" "but I was so mean to you, saying thata I won't ever see you again".

Aria put her arm around me, "you may have said it but I didn't believe it" "I couldn't of wished for a better little sister", I hugged her.

I'm so scared as I know I'm going to be in a lot more trouble then Aria was, for calling her and not anyone else, would of Mitch of taken my call? I'm so scared of losing everything.

Aria didn't leave my side for two whole days that I was recovering at her pack house, Mitch and the Shadow Moon pack left to there own pack yesterday but Mitch said he will be back by the end of the week.

Ranger was still so pissed with me to the point he stopped talking to me, understandable, I put his heavily pregnant fated partner in terrible danger and that she hasn't left me in days probably don't help the situation.

I was sat up in bed while Aria was fast asleep, she looked after my wounds at night, I carefully got out the bed, I was so unsteady on my feet, I wobbled myself to the window, looking out to the people busy doing there part in there pack life, 'Bear, are you there?' He had stopped talking to me for a little while, he was so afraid of doing something wrong and for me to get beaten for it, I can still feel him, but its just like a shell of him, 'Bear, we are safe now, Aria saved us, we are at the Blood Moon Night pack house, please talk to me' 'safe?' tears pricked my eyes, I was so happy to hear his voice, 'yes, we are safe' 'what about the Dark Water pack and Luna? Won't she come and find us here? I'm so afraid'.

Bear being afraid was like a dagger to the chest, 'there is no need to be afraid now, the pack is no more and Luna..... Is dead, Aria killed her' I looked back at a sleeping Aria, her pregnant belly was popping out the bottom of her clothes, seeing her belly makes me feel even worse, I had put them pups in danger, 'is she ok? She took a life, how is she coping?' 'Fine, I don't think she even feels guilty for it, she's definitely a Carter, how do you feel about shifting? Some of these injuries won't heal fast enough'.

I looked down at my hands, the last thing Luna did before Aria saved me, she didn't cut my fingers off knuckle by knuckle like she joked at, she broke as many bones on my hands and fingers as she could, 'we can try' I could tell he was nervous, its been a while.

We went to the edge of the woods, I took my clothes off, 'are you ready Bear?' 'Are you sure we are safe?' 'Yes, we are', he was still nervous but we shifted, 'wow it hurts, it been a while' 'sorry Dixson' 'don't be, it just means that we are one again, I'm sorry that I put you through all that shit' 'it wasn't really your fault, she was your fates partner, you didn't know she was going to be crazy' 'yeah well she is gone now, I don't care about all that shit now, as long as I've got my family and you, everything else can fuck off, lets run' Bear didn't answer me he just took off running.

When I got back to the house there was a very emotional Aria walk back and forth on the porch, it had started raining hard, I only put my trousers on as all my clothes were soaking wet, I didn't put them in a safe place.

She came running to me when she did see me but Ranger had gotten to me first, I didn't even see him, he slammed me to the floor, taking the wind out of me "what the fuck are you playing at? Do you know how much Aria has been worried about you? She didn't think you was going to come back" "I just needed a run with Bear to clear my head out" 'no, no, no, we are going to get beaten again, no, no, no' Bear was panicking, 'calm down, its fine, its just Ranger' "Ranger please let me up, Bear is scared" "your joking?" I just shook my head, he let me go after he helped me up from the muddy floor.

I was now wet and muddy, "Ranger, you arsehole, you didn't need to body slam him to the fucking floor" "Aria get back to the fucking house" "no, not without....." "NOW" he shouted not looking away from me "no" she replied "Aria, its ok, I need to talk to Ranger for a little while, you go back inside and I will come and find you when I'm finished", she hesitated for second then said "fine".

Ranger waited until Aria was out of ear shot before he said "Bear is scared of what?" "Everything at the moment, he is so scared that we will go back to that basement and get beaten again, I went through so much torture at the hand of someone that was meant to love me" "you could have called me" Mitch said from behind me, "I didn't think that you would have even spoke to me" "so you called Aria to help you" Ranger said pissed off, "I didn't think she would have come herself, I thought she might of convinced one of you two come, when I saw her at the door to the basement, my heart sank, I couldn't do anything to help her, my body was in so much pain but when she killed Luna, it felt like my nightmare was finally over" "didn't you feel the pain from a broken bond?" "I hadn't bitten her, she thought it was disgusting and she didn't want me to do it, I loved her so much and I made excused to stay at first but as the torture kept getting more and more painful, I just couldn't take it anymore, I needed help or I was going to kill myself, I just couldn't do it anymore" I started crying, "that's enough of that, Ranger, I will take it from here" Mitch said as he put his hand on the back of my neck and pulled me into his chest.

The tears came faster, I hugged him tight, I felt properly safe for the first time since leaving to join the Dark Water pack "he needs to come and say goodbye to Aria first" "where am I going?" "Once you go and say goodbye, we are going home" "back to the pack house?" "Yeah, where else would we be going? That's our home" "I thought you said I was never welcome back in the pack?" "Yeah well I was just hurt that you wanted to leave me just like Aria did".