I was in an out of consciousness as Natasha and Derek attempted to get the bleeding to stop. Mason was the first to be by my side, he ran his hands through the fur on my head and demanded that I not leave until I told him what happened to the poor bear that had crossed my path. His voice was strained with worry and everything else sounded slightly muffled.

I was starting to feel pain again as the blood loss was stopped and Natasha took over with speeding up my body's blood regeneration. I hated the process, it always made me feel like ants were crawling under my skin. I didn't have to worry too much about it because I slipped back into the darkness.

In and out of consciousness. Faces blurring and fading. I was aware when the two healers finally deemed me safe enough to shift and my body did as was natural. I had let out a shout of pain as the wounds tore open again and started the process over again. I almost missed the cold numbness. Now everything was painful and hot. The hands on me felt like brands as their moon given magic forced my body to heal.

Mason was with me, holding me tightly as they worked. I knew he was holding me even as I went unconscious again. I could feel him holding my hand as I was placed on a make shift stretcher and slowly moved. He asked me what happened when I made eye contact and I managed to slur out Lace's name, a proud smile on my face before I slipped back into the comforting, pain free darkness.

I was in and out as they carried me through the trees, Natasha and Derek taking turns patching me up. I slipped under before I became aware right as Plato finally saw me. He shuffled over, his bushy grey eyebrows pulled lower over his eyes. He inspected me as he gave one barking order before touching my forehead and I went completely unconscious as heat seared the inside of my skull.

I finally woke up in the infirmary. My body aching like I had been pummelled in the training ring all day. I groaned as I sat up, my head swam to the point where I wanted to throw up. A wrinkled hand grabbed my chin and lifted it, Plato inspected me intently.

"Can't help you with the aches and pains but you are doing fine." He let his hand drop and I rubbed at my face and gave a heavy groan of pain as I rolled my shoulders forwards, stretching out the newly healed muscles.

"How long was I out?" I had lost sense of time and I was almost afraid to know. Thoughts of the children and Lace swirled in my mind. If I was out too long then the boys would grow worried and I didn't want them to know they had come close to losing me like they had their blood parents.

"Feast is nearly ready so several hours." He stared at me intently as I moved as if checking for an out of place movement that would need to be fixed. He was an almost unnerving man. The moon's gift was thick within him and it was said that healers of his power were only born once or twice a generation.

"Has anyone seen Lace?" I was anxious about her. I wanted to make sure she was okay. She had taken on the bear and hadn't left without some wounds. If they were worse than she let on then it would cause serious issues. I didn't want to walk out into the forest to find her dead. My heart clenched in my chest at the thought.

"Your Beta says she is at home." He waved his hand flippantly as I slowly moved so I was sitting on the edge of the cot. My leg and hip flashed with pain before spasming. I grabbed my leg with a grimace, trying to stop the spasming. "Its a damn shame you have a few marks left. Don't blame me, Derek did that area and no amount of teaching can account for talent." He pointed to my hip and I looked down, there were a few faint white lines that followed where the bears claws had split open my skin.

"I'm alive so scars don't matter." My skin held less importance than my life. Scars told a story of a life well lived and I had a memento from the bear that would have killed me.

"Your bear is the center of the feast." He seemed amused by the thought and I frowned darkly.

"Its not my bear." The kill was Lace's and I didn't want anyone thinking otherwise. She was a truly remarkable shifter and I wanted each and every pack member to learn that she took on a bear to save their Alpha. I wanted her story to become a legend on the mountain, the underestimated Queen that took down a giant for their reigning King.

"Oh I know that. Teeth marks are too small. That vicious little mate of yours decided she liked the taste of bear. Apparently the only one allowed to take a round out of you is her." He gave a wheezing laugh at the words and I felt my mouth twitch up slightly at the accuracy of his statement. My expression soon turned to a grimace as I stood up. I reached out and pressed my hand against the wall to give me something to focus on so that my legs wouldn't give out from underneath me. "Everything moving alright, boy?" His voice was gruff and as soon as I felt comfortable I took several shuffling steps. Despite the aches and the pain my joints and muscles were moving the way they should.

"So far so good." I took a few more shuffling steps, trying to stretch out the sore and stiff muscles. That had been a heavy healing session. I had been in rough shape a few times before but that was different. This was worse. I hated that I had been distracted and hadn't noticed the bear. If I had noticed him sooner I wouldn't have gotten into the situation. He had caught me by surprise and I paid the price. It was a juvenile move to not pay attention.

"You should be able to leave soon. Actually had to transfuse you a few times. Natasha isn't as good as she thinks she is at blood regeneration. I was too busy making sure you wouldn't bleed to death to take over." Plato gave a small groan as he sat down on the foot of the cot. There was a reason we had the infirmary, it helped where the healers couldn't. They were incredibly gifted people but even they had limits, like their inability to actually help children to a full extent. They couldn't heal them fully if they were seriously hurt, could keep them alive but without a wolf the healers couldn't accelerate their healing.

"Its alright." I knew Plato was just grumbling because he could. He was entitled to be a cranky old man at his age. I winced as I tried to take larger steps, limping as the muscles in my hip and leg screamed in protest. There was a knock on the door before it was shoved open. My mother stood in it, her dark hair frazzled. She gave a small cry and ran towards me.

"My boy!" She wrapped her arms around me, holding me tightly. "You stupid, stupid boy. I am so happy you are okay!" She pulled back and grabbed my face, looking me over as if to make sure I was truly okay.

"I am fine. Sore but fine." I winced as she shoved at my chest, making me step backwards.

"What on earth were you thinking? Taking on a bear!" Worry was etched into her face and I understood how she felt. She had lost too many children to not be upset at me at what she viewed as an unnecessary and dangerous action. I didn't blame her, no one was supposed to take on a large predator alone.

"It caught me by surprise." I rolled my shoulders, grimacing at the muscles that pulled unpleasantly. The achy and sore feeling would linger until the muscles were stretched out and used.

"You should have run!" She grabbed my arm, looking over my skin as if trying to see any marks that had lingered. I ran my hand through my hair, the movement was awkward and stiff with my shoulder muscles aching unpleasantly.

"It damaged my hind leg on its first hit, there was no running. I didn't truly have a chance." It was the truth. If I had noticed it before its first hit I could have gotten away safely to wait for back up to actually take it down.

"You are so lucky." She patted my cheek gently, reaching up to brush my hair from my eyes.

"Yes, lucky that his mate of his is one tough son of a bitch. I have never seen such ferocity. She tore out that bear's throat, piece by piece." Plato gave another wheezing chuckle and my mother's face pinched slightly. I gave her a warning look. "A truly good replacement for you, don't you think, Gabriella?" My mother said nothing, her expression pinching a bit more. I knew there was a bit of animosity between them after Lace nearly took my mother's throat. She truly didn't like being shown up or being shown that her decisions weren't the ones that were needed.

"We will see." The words almost seemed spiteful and I frowned slightly before I continued to move around.

"There is no we will see, Gabriella. They share children." Plato crossed his arms over his chest as he gave my mother a no-nonsense look.

"She doesn't want to be a mate to anyone, let alone him." She jerked her hand at me and that hurt almost more than my healed muscles and skin. When my mother made up her mind about something she never let it go and I hated that it was her dislike for Lace. I understood it to an extent but I didn't like it.

"Then why didn't she let him die? I think that your pride and your resentment is clouding your judgement." Plato's voice was slightly chiding and I almost winced at it. My mother would never accept someone speaking to her like that. Her time as Alpha Female gave her a sense of the position she had deserved in life and she would never accept someone treating her as if she was less than that.

"You have no right to speak to me like that." Her voice was sharp and Plato gave a small scoff.

"Don't I? You might have been the Alpha Female, Gabriella, but you aren't now. I'm too old and too worn to pander to egos. I will say what I want and you will not complain." His standard frown deepened, his mouth twisting down further.

"Azrael, you-"

"Mother, she saved my life. She could have let that bear finish me off but she didn't. She could have let me bleed out in that forest but she didn't." No matter what she felt for me, she hadn't let me die. That was something huge. "You don't have to like her, you truly don't but don't think that her actions mean nothing because they are everything to me." It was. It showed that she didn't want me dead. It would have been so easy for her to let the bear kill me, to let me bleed out but she hadn't.

"She probably did it for selfish reasons." There was a bit of a sneer to her voice and I let out a noise of aggravation as I grabbed a pair of pants.

"It doesn't matter to me, mother." It didn't. She could have had completely selfish reasons for it but it didn't matter. She still did it. I pulled on the pants, wincing as I had to sit down to complete the action. She huffed slightly and crossed her arms over her chest. "How are the kids?" I looked at my mother and her severe expression softened. Even if she didn't like Lace, she adored the children.

"They are fine. We kept them distracted although they are asking where you are." The you in her statement was more than likely referencing to Lace as well but she didn't want to actually say her name. I grabbed the pair of boots that had been left with the clothes and slipped those on as well.

"They are going to have to wait for a little bit. I need to make sure Lace is okay." It was my only concern now that I knew the children were okay. She had been injured and she hadn't returned to get the children so that was something that let me know that something was incredibly wrong. She wouldn't have left the children without something bad happening. I grabbed the folded shirt and slid it on, stiffly doing up the buttons.

"I am sure she is fine." My mother's face once again pinched and I was starting to grow irritated with her attitude.

"If it was father would you be saying that?" She gave a small huff at that and I shook my head at her. "Go watch the children please." I bowed my head at Plato and he waved me off.

"Make sure you stretch those muscles out. We don't want you stove-up." He frowned at me and I gave another nod as I moved towards the door. The more my muscles moved the less they ached. I knew this but it didn't stop how badly they still ached. I ignored my mother as I left the room, Mason was leaning against the wall, his clothes were coated in dried blood and he smirked at me.

"Shame. You lived." His face was slightly pale and he didn't hesitate before hugged me tightly.

"Damn shame." I slapped his back, hiding a wince as his grip tightened. He had been worried, it was in how his fingers dug into my back, how he clung to me tightly as if he was afraid he wouldn't see me again. It was in the sigh of relief he gave as he held me tight to his form.

"How on earth did that tiny bear get the best of you?" He let me go and I shook my head with a wry smile as I started down the hall. He fell into step beside me, ignoring my apparent limp as I tried to stretch my leg muscles out. My right hip and leg was causing me the most issue and I tried to force it to take longer strides.

"I got distracted during the hunt. I had to change my method of hunting and it caught me off guard." I shook my head slowly, a somber feeling rising up in my chest. "I didn't have a chance, Mace." He grabbed my shoulder, squeezing it slightly as if to comfort me.

"She saved my life. She put herself at risk for me." She had worried me, I wasn't going to lie. Seeing her small form go up against a bear while I had been utterly incapacitated as something I never wanted to see ever again. I would have felt the same way with any one of my family or the pack but it had been her, the mother of my children and that had made that panic so much worse. "She took down a grizzly as if it was nothing, Mason. I have never seen a shifter that intent on a kill before." There had been no thought to her own life. Any self-respecting shifter would have weighed the options and decided that it was too risky to engage the bear and perhaps drawn him away from me. She had been so intent on killing the beast that she hadn't even thought about preserving herself, she had simply attacked over and over again until the bear was dead.

"As much as she denies the bond, Azrael, you are still the father to her children. That means something is there as much as she might not want to admit it to the world or even herself." He gave my shoulder another comforting squeeze before he let his hand drop. "I think that she protected you the same way she would have protected one of your kids because if you would have died then it would have torn them apart." It made sense and was probably a big reason why she had done it but it didn't change her actions in my eyes.

"It doesn't matter why, Mason. I am still breathing thanks to her and that is something that isn't easily repaid." I doubted a debt like that ever could be repaid. I could spend a lifetime doing so but that wasn't something that was repaid without a life for a life. He pushed open the door to the infirmary and we both stepped out into the courtyard. Shifters were running around setting up tables and chairs, the smell of cooking meat had saturated the air from the large fire pits and I smiled at the normalcy of it all.

"No one was worried about your survival. It takes a bit more than a bear to take down a Thorn." Mason slapped my back and I nodded in agreement. I waved at the shifters who smiled at me but continued to do their tasks.

"Plato said you said Lace was at the house?" I was anxious about her physical state. The score the bear had gotten on her was a nasty one. The more I thought back on it the more I realized just how deep it had been. I could have sworn I saw bone within the claw marks. Anxiety clawed at my stomach and chest as the bond urged me to go to her.

"She was there."

"And?" I stressed the word and Mason shrugged as if completely unbothered by the entire thing.

"And what? She was alive." He was looking around and I levelled him with an unimpressed stare. I had patience, Lace had taught me much about it but he was pushing himself onto very thin ice.

"That wasn't what I was asking and you know it." I wanted to smack him upside the head for it.

"I didn't feel comfortable going in so I had father check. All he had to say was when you woke up that you should get your ass to that house and take care of your golden haired hero." Mason's voice was teasing and I shook my head, a frown on my face. He could tease all he wanted but it didn't stop the fact that I needed to make sure she was okay.

"If you are going to tease-"

"Look, father said you needed to get over there as soon as you woke up. Obviously she is in rough shape but is still alive. So I suggest you take the opportunity fate had provided." He gestured at me as if he believed me to be dense and I frowned at his particular word choice. He wasn't entirely making sense and I wasn't in the mood to speak riddles with him.

"What are you saying?" I let out a heavy sigh and stretched my arms up into the air, grimacing at the pulling and moving my sore muscles did throughout the entire action.

"I'm saying, little brother, that this might be your only chance at touching your mate without her trying to rip your face off." He gave me a wicked grin that showed his teeth. A shifter walked over and handed him a container of what smelled like savoury meat and vegetables. He nodded his thanks and the pack member squeezed my arm with a relieved smile.

"I'm glad you are alright, Alpha." She bowed her head at me and I gave her a smile back before she moved away. The pack didn't need any of the current excitement so I was glad everyone was focused on their tasks. The feast would go off without a hitch and that was all that they needed.

"While you are in the business of getting all up on your mate's skin. Its her kill, she gets first bite." He held the container out to me and I took it slowly, realization flooding me with what he was saying.

"Now, I need to make sure those kidlets of yours aren't going to get worried about you and their mama. Have fun." He slapped my back again and walked off, whistling all the while. I gave a small smirk at the container and slowly started towards the entrance to the compound. I needed to get to Lace. As Mason had said, if she was hurt enough then I could tend to her, be around her, without her trying to kill me for it. It was an opportunity to be close to her and a chance to start repaying her for what she did.

The more I walked the more the muscles in my leg and hip started to relax, making the ache fade and my strides to grow less stiff and more natural. I passed through the gate and headed for the house. I was still feeling highly anxious about how Lace was doing. I only knew what I had seen and with her swaying as she walked she had more than likely lost a lot of blood and that would mean her healing was slowed right down. It took a lot out of a shifter to heal their wounds and regenerate the blood they lost at the same time. That was why most packs had infirmaries. It was for when our healing wasn't enough to fix what was wrong and we needed help, like with me and the blood transfusions. Sometimes we needed extra help to limp our body's healing abilities along.

I continually rolled my shoulders, trying to stretch out those muscles as I approached the small house. The smell of blood lingered in the air and it caused my anxiety to rise up, despite the fact that it was an older scent. It didn't matter to me because blood was blood. I could see a faint blood trail leading to the house and smears of it on the door and the frame. My heart rose into my throat unpleasantly at the sight of it.

I slowly opened the door. It was dark and silent in the house and the smell of blood was almost enough to make me gag. It was thick in the air and was almost sticking to the back of my throat. I swallowed convulsively as I turned on the light switch. I winced when I saw the amount of blood smeared on the floor. Foot prints and large droplets of blood lead to the hallway and more than likely towards Lace's inner den. I closed the door and set the food container on the table before I kicked off my boots.

I slowly made my way to the bedroom, avoiding stepping on the semi dried blood spots as I did so. I could almost feel my palms sweating as I carefully opened the bedroom door. Unlike the rest of the house it was lit by a lantern and I could see a nearly empty blood bag hanging off the head board that was attached to Lace's arm. She was naked, lying on her stomach on top of the covers.

"Hey." I felt almost foolish for saying it but I didn't know what else to say. She mumbled something I couldn't quite hear and I moved a bit closer. "What was that?"

"Go away, Uriel." Her voice was almost wavering and it slurred slightly. I moved so I was standing beside her bed. Her hair was stuck onto her back and wounds, covering them from view. I crouched down beside her. The urge to crawl onto the bed with her and simply hold her was intense. My wolf didn't like seeing her in her current state. I had to tighten my hands into fists to keep from touching her.

"Its not Uriel. How are you doing?" I watched her face carefully and she winced before cracking open her eye. The darkness of it scanned over my face before it closed again.

"Like I fought off a bear." She slowly let out a breath and I thought I could faintly hear a pain filled groan that escaped with it.

"So you have a sense of humor." I gave a half-smile, attempting to lighten the stillness up.

"If you are going to bother me.... I should finish off... what the bear started." There was definitely a groan that came with her words as they came out slowly and a touch more slurred. It made me anxious to have her in pain. I felt guilty, I might not have been the bear that did it to her but I was the one who put her in that position so it made it just as much my fault as it did the damned bear's.

"Thank you." I swallowed convulsively against the lump in my throat. The urge to touch her, to reassure myself she was okay was nearly overwhelming. She had no clue what she had done and I knew she would never accept any thank you for her actions but I had to say the words, I had to express my gratitude.

"Didn't... do it for you." Her eyes cracked open again but her gaze was unfocused as if she wasn't truly seeing much of anything. It closed once more and my chest tightened almost painfully.

"I know." I reached out to touch her but pulled my hand back before I could complete the action.

"My wolf likes you... for the children. You are a... great father. Hurt... the children if you... died. So I... killed... the bear... You say... thanks... when... no... thanks..." Her words slurred and grew quieter and quieter until it became apparent that she had fallen unconscious before she could finish her sentence.

It pained me that she never accepted thanks. I half wondered if she didn't believe she deserved it. Every one of her actions had a reason and in her mind it meant that gratitude was unnecessary. It was if her mind process made it so it kept her separate from others. It was as if she was subconsciously protecting herself from betrayal.

"I'm going to take care of you." I slowly reached out and brushed some hair from her face, her cheek twitched but she didn't move or react. I savoured the feeling of her soft skin against the backs of my fingers. Mason was right, this might be the only time I would be able to touch her without her reacting aggressively. I needed to show her that I cared about her as much as I did the children. I wanted to show her my appreciation for what she was and what she did, even though I knew she would refuse it.