The Alpha’s Companion - Chapter 77

“Eeekkk!!!” Lacey screamed in the middle of the night. She had been dreaming that Thorn had given her over to Rex, and he had taken her away from Julien. But then Rex grabbed her hard and pulled her to him. “Uuuuggghhh!” Lacey screamed as the strong arms held her tightly, pulling her to his chest. “No! Let me go!”

“Ssshh…. Lacey… it’s me, Julien,” he cooed, pulling her to him, brushing her hair from her eyes. “You’re going to pull out your IV!”

She thrashed about as he held her rms still, tried to calm her, not realizing it was Julien. “Eeehhh!”

“Lacey! Wake up! You’re dreaming!” Julien shook her shoulders hard, trying to wake her. “Lacey! It’s me! Julien!”

Then she looked into his eyes, as if seeing him for the first time. “Oh, Julien! I’m so sorry! I was just dreaming—” She looked at the IV. Even though it had come untapped, it was still secure in her arm. She quickly smoothed her hand over the tape and the memory of what had happened over the last few days flooded her mind.

“Ssshh….” Julien pulled her to his chest, letting her cry on his shoulder, when he pulled back his eyes sparkled in the moonlight. “Lacey, I’m here. You have nothing to fear. I’ll protect you.”

Then a fresh wave of silent tears coursed down her cheeks. “Julien, don’t make promises you can’t keep.”

His eyebrows pulled together in concern as a hurt look colored his face.

“No, you misunderstood,” Lacey backtracked. “What I meant to say was that you can’t always be there to protect me. You have a pack to run.”

He cupped her chin, and his hand and thumb stretched across both of her cheeks as a fierce, determined look colored his eyes. “I promise you, I will find a way to make you feel safe again. No wife of mine will be afraid to walk anywhere in this castle. Trust me when I tell you, I will hunt down the traitors that took you and those responsible for the attack on this castle… if it’s the last thing I do.”

She nodded. “Thank you, Julien.” She bit her lip, collecting her thoughts. “I’m sure a lot of what I’m feeling is from the drugs that they used to knock me out.” She sighed, shaking her head. “Even with everything I’d been through in The Silver Pack while I was growing up, I was never afraid.” She looked directly into his eyes. “I’m no coward.”

“Lacey, darling, no one ever said that you were.” A smile lit his lips. There was more love in his eyes at that moment than she had ever felt before. “Trust me. You’ll be back to yourself in no time.”

She nodded. “I’m already starting to feel better, except for my stomach.”

Julien nodded. “Shall I get the doctor?”

Lacey shook her head. “No, not yet. I just need to get some rest.”

Julien nodded, and then lay on his side, curling up next to her, careful not to disturb her IV. “But if you start hurting, wake me up and I’ll get Dr. Silva right away.”

Lacey nodded against his chest.

“Oh,” he said looking down at her. “There’s one more thing. The whole time I was looking for you, I couldn’t help but think that things could have been different. You may not have been taken if you had something with you for self-defense in your human form.”

She smiled, shaking her head. “But I’m a shifter—”

“Who couldn’t shift in time to protect herself.” He smirked. “But I was glad to hear that you threw Raye out the window in the kidnapping attempt.” He laughed at the thought. “Anyway, I had a dagger made for you to use when you’re in your human form… for added protection.”

“I don’t know, Julien. I’ve trained in my human form—”

He shook his head, placing a hand on the side of her head, hugging her to his bare chest. “The dagger is small enough that you can keep it hidden.” He sighed. “But until things settle down, I want you to always have it with you. Okay? For me? It’ll give me some peace of mind. Because you’re right: I can’t always be there to protect you.” Then he shrugged. “But this will help to even up the score a bit.”

“If it’ll make you feel better….”

He smirked, knowing he had won the battle. “It will. Thank you.” Then Julien kissed the top of her head and wrapped his arms around her like a life-sized doll and snuggled up next to her, careful not to disturb the IV still in her arm on the other side. Soon, his breathing became jagged and then he fell into a deep, restful sleep.

Lacey lay in his arms, awake, trying to find sleep herself. But the more she thought of it, the more she thought it was probably a good idea to have something with her for protection while in her human form. After all, she could usually defend herself just fine in her wolf form. But without the arsenal of tools at her disposal in her human form, she was vulnerable to attacks. And the more she thought of it, the more she liked the idea.. Maybe having some way to protect herself in her human form wasn’t such a bad idea after all.