Chapter 17)Sleeping Beautiful

"Isaiah, please gently escort these girls, back to their homes," Wolfie finally conceded. "We know the way," Manda, Tessy's thirteen year old sister, snapped. We all looked to her. I sighed, "Manda please. Go. Stay safe. Take care of your little sister. I'll handle all of this." She looked at me, wariness in her eyes. Manda's not the type to be wary or worry. She's tough and doesn't like people seeing her as anything but. Which is why even her small expression of uncertainty is saddening. "I promise. Your parents will be back soon, and everything will be alright." I didn't coo it to her. She's not the kind to buy that. Her little sister, who I'm still holding close to my side, eats it up, but her? No. I looked her in the eyes and promised her, and thankfully, I could tell it made her feel a little better. She sighed, "c'mon Tess," she glared at the wolves while taking her sister's hand and going in the direction of their home with her nose up. I smirked, you go girl. Isaiah only followed behind them, glaring at their backs. The other guards that were chasing Manda, dispersed and wandered off. Off to find some other little girls to hunt down, I'd assume. •••Jason's POV••• I watched Isaiah trail behind the young girls. I shook my head silently, but made sure Maria was still turned the other way while I did. This isn't what I wanted. I don't like hurting people. Especially not kids. Especially not my mate. I hate that there are little girls being chased around by. . . By "monsters". And. . . And I hate how close Isaiah just got to Maria. He got too close to her, right? I'm not just being unreasonable, right? When he was in wolf form, he was growling way too threateningly, right? And then I put a stop to it — like the knight in shining armor that I am, well. . . That I am most of the time — right? But then in human form he got even closer. Way. Way too close. . . . . . . . . . . Breath. Am I right? But she can't know that. She has to see me as the ruthless leader that I truly am willing to be, to keep all the power. 'You sound like you're trying to convince yourself,' Malaki budded in. Did anyone ask you? I snapped back. 'Chill man, and don't worry, when you lose your will to keep control because of our breathtaking mate — like I know you will — I'll be there to snap you back into it.' You're alright with our mate hating us for all eternity? I sent an image of me raising my brow to the back of mind, where he resides. And never actually mating us? 'Oh please, she'll give up and come crawling to us in due time.' . . . I don't know Ki. I've heard things — 'Forget about all that. Besides I've got a plan.' A picture of his wolf grin flashed in front of my eyes. 'It's for the next time we get her alone in her room.' Wait, you're not gonna — 'Don't be stupid, of course I'm not gonna mate her.' I let out a small sigh of relief. 'Not unless she says please.' Ki! 'What?!' I can't even with you. . . . Oh goddess, please get that image out of my head. I'll lose my mind. 'No, keep it there as long as possible.' Malaki! 'What?!' Stop being such a creep! 'She's our mate, and don't pretend you don't like it just as much.' I know, but you don't have to say it out loud. I half mumbled in my head, checking around us for any eavesdroppers. 'I didn't! I'm in your head! And stop looking around, no one can here us.' Y'know what, just shut up and go to sleep. And he actually listened to me. For once. Which is. . . Weird, now that I think about it. Why did he — WOAH! I was barely quick enough, and I almost didn't even succeed in catching Maria mid fall. I didn't see what happened, I was distracted. What the heck?! She fainted?! "I saw her swaying and then down she went. Pay attention to our mate Jason!' You were distracting me! 'Yeah well we're lucky I noticed, or else you would have just stayed standing there like an idiot.' I growled at him, then turned to the more pressing matters. My currently unconscious mate in my arms. The second part I don't mind, but the first, I need fixed. Now. Everything that happened next happened very quickly. A woman I half recognize from the momentary introductions, came running out her door and down her porch steps, over to us. "Maria!" She shouted, eyes wide, looking scared. I understand the feeling. Malaki cleared his throat. I mean, no I don't. She touched her forehead and cheeks, and I did the same. She's freezing. REALLY, freezing. She's always cold. But now she's freezing. Malaki nearly let a growl rip out of him at the thought of our mate being sick. The woman looked up at me, her eyes now surprisingly hard and strong. "Go get the doctor," she ordered. Malaki stirred at that, but we both let it slide because, she's helping us. "Where is he?" I demand. "She," she corrected. "And where do you think?" She deadpans. Breathe. Don't lose it. I turn to Zach and nudge my head in the direction of the prisons, "Go." He takes off running and soon, I'm doing the same toward the master house. I don't have time to think about what happens to the lady behind me, but I hear her yell something before I slam the front door shut with the hand that's not supporting Maria. "Bring Rose and Brandon with you!" She yelled to Zach, "you're gonna need them." I don't know what Zach responded, or if he even did. All I can seem to think about is getting Maria safe in bed. Which is unlike me, not be able to multitask, but all my attention is on her. I can't seem to tear my eyes away from her lid covered ones that I can see Jolt and dart in different directions, even while unconscious. I finally made it to the room I've been staying in and set her on my bed. I don't know why I brought her here; I was just on auto pilot. I started pacing the floor, but before I knew it, Zach's voice filled the mind link, "where are you guys?" "My room," I responded. "On my way." 'Hurry,' Ki growled through the link. "Yes alpha." I shook my head, what did I do to deserve such a good beta and best friend? "I don't know, you got lucky," I heard through the link. I could practically feel the smirk in his voice. "You weren't supposed to hear that you @ss." I heard him chuckle, then it gradually faded away. He left the link. Not five seconds later, he came running into the room, Maria's friends, and who I assume to be the house doctor, in toe. The doctor is a middle aged looking woman with light brown hair tied up in a messy bun and wise black eyes, betraying her not so aged features. You never know with vampires. They, like us, practically stop aging at 25, after which, cells and other bodily functions are supposed to start depleting. Well, not for us, so this 'middle aged' woman is probably well within her 500th or so year of life. Yeah. Old. "What did you do to my girl?" The doctor glared at me, rushing to Maria's side and checking her vitals and temperature and everything. She somehow didn't look stressed or panicked. She just had a scowl on her face. Most likely directed at me. She worked on Maria with the expertise only someone with centuries of experience under their belt could. But Malaki and I were still fidgeting over the "my girl" comment. We scowled at her, "what do you mean "your girl"?" She set her glare on me. "She's everyone's girl. You've pissed a lot of people off by coming here and messing with her," she shook her head, directing her attention back to my girl. Malaki growled in agreement. "Well what's wrong with her?" I gritted out. She looked at me, "She's starving. Not to mention exhausted. Skipped last month's feeding, and only the moon knows when the last time that child got some shut eye." "You told all that by feeling her temperature and pulse?" Zach raised a brow. "No, she just thinks she's slick skipping feedings when she's not," the doctor rolled her eyes. "And Doc, we're convinced she didn't even have a full portion the month before either," one of her friends, Rose, spoke up, exasperated. The doctor sighed with a head shake. "Jeez, what is wrong with this girl? Why can't she get self care through her head?" The other friend, Brandon, I think his name was, rolled his eyes, "it's because we've been running short on blood for the past few months and she refuses to let anyone else skip a feeding. She tries to pull the whole "I don't know what you're talking about" act, but we all know." Oh no. . . That's why she's in this mess? Malaki stirred. "Yeah," Rose abruptly turned to me and stared me down. "And on our last round we found someone had been tampering with the quality of the blood before we got there," she announced to the room. There was a pause. A sliver of tension filled the air. "It's been going on for the past few months," she finished, her eyes narrowing at me. . . . Um. The doctor took a deep breath, presumably trying to restrain herself. Maria's friends on the other hand, are making no effort to hide the glares threatening death. I opened my mouth, but Brandon interrupted. "You. . . are so lucky Mari is an angel on earth, and it's not what she would want, because if that wasn't the case, I would rip you to shreds," he growls menacingly. Malaki growled back. Neither of us like how he's talking about our Maria. But the almost matching marks on his and Rose's necks, along with their scents — they must be mates — calmed us down a little bit. Just a little bit. "Yeah," Rose voiced, "And then, when he was done, it would be my turn," she glares right through my entire freaking being. "Then mine," the doctor threw over her shoulder while trying to make Maria comfortable on the bed. Jeez, these vampires are feisty. I think you mean dangerous, a subconscious, more logical part of my mind thought. It definitely wasn't Malaki. It was me, the part of my thoughts I try to suppress whenever I'm around Maria. "Brandon, go grab my blah blah blah medical stuff." The doctor ordered. He took off, followed by Zach. I started to get impatient, "Well then, what do we do?" I half growled. Everyone glared at me, but the doctor took a whiff of the air. She rose an eyebrow and scrutinized me. "0 positive huh?" It took me a second to figure out what she was talking about, but once I did, I nodded rapidly. That's my blood type. She looked to Maria, then to me. A small conflict going on in her brain, it seems. "Sit," she directed me with her eyes to a chair. I basically leapt into it and started rolling up my sleeve, already knowing what she was thinking. "Woah," Rose put her hands up, "Are you really gonna do this to her?" She stared at the doctor. What? "He's her blood type. And his blood will make her heal the fastest," Doc tried to reason with her. "Yeah, and it will also multiply the mate bond on her end to a thousand. It would be like her marking him!" Rose argued. Well I don't hate the sound of that. "You know how painful that would be for her," Rose continued, shaking her head. Okay. . . Not so much that part. The doctor shrugged with a half sorry and a half stern look, "Do you have any better ideas? Rose, she can go into a coma and never wake up if we don't do this." Woah. 'Oh h3ll no, we're doing this.' Malaki growled. Rose looked shocked. Doc nodded, "This is serious," she confirmed. "Thanks to someone," she threw another crooked glance at me over her shoulder. Maria's friend sighed in defeat. It was at that moment, Brandon and Zach came rushing in with the equipment Doc had asked for. Everyone hurried to get everything ready and plugged in and attached to whatever it needed to be attached to. And by everyone, I mean the doc, Brandon and Rose. Zach and I just stood there confused and useless. 'Way to go man,' Malaki rolled his golden eyes. Hey, I don't see you doing anything useful. 'Oh right, because paws in this instance would be so useful,' he shot back sarcastically. Go. To. Sleep! By the end of the organized chaos, Maria had one needle sticking out of her right arm and another out of her left. One, we were preparing to put my blood through, the other, was some clear substance. Then they pulled out tube that looked freaking two feet long. Hm, I wonder what tha — Then they started shoving it down her throat. WAIT, WHAT?! I jumped up and Malaki almost lost his mind. "HEY!" I boomed. Brandon came over and pushed my shoulders down, back into the seat. He looked me in the eye, "Hey, it needs to go through her digestive system. She needs the nutrients." Well I guess I was wrong about what was going through that first IV. "No way, get that thing out of her throat," I argued loudly, trying to get back up. Brandon pushed me back down. Hard. "Yeah well, you did this to her so maybe next time you'll think before you sabotage someone's life line!" He boomed. Silence fell. I was speechless. I didn't mean to. It's not fair Maria's friends can do this to me too. That's another characteristic of mine that's been thrown down the drain sense I've gotten here. No one's supposed to make me speechless. Then Maria comes into my life and vampire's got my tongue every other minute. Anyway, in other news, my mate's got a plastic tube shoved down her throat, and when doc turns to me with a needle in her hand, I know it's my turn to get poked and prodded. I quickly try to roll up my sleeve even more, but when it doesn't expose the part she needs to stick the needle into, I just rip off my whole shirt. I'm done waiting. The longer we take, the longer she's got that thing down her throat. "Woah," I heard Brandon say, then pull Rose into his chest so she wouldn't see. She just chuckled and hugged him around the waist. Ki whimpered. 'Why can't our mate do that?' Because we want all the power. 'Oh. . . Yeah.' Doc came over and shoved the needle into my arm. "OW!" I sneered. "That was for my girl," Doc whispered darkly. I didn't say anything. Then she twisted the needle and shoved it deeper. "And that was for my house."