Before I Rise
The Secretive Alpha

Em’s POV

“Ok, I’m just going to lift up your arm to make sure there are no burn marks underneath.” Rachel, the pack doctor, said while lifting both of my arms as high as she could.

Marcus stood silently in one of the corners in the hospital room, still glaring at me. If looks could kill, I would be six feet under already. He had freaked out on me when Jensen and I finally got up and walked out of the interrogation room. He was going to bust in and grab me, but I had stopped him. I knew if the blood touched any of his exposed skin, he would be hurt.

When I had finally left the room, he immediately began searching over my body looking for any obvious sign of injury. There were tears in his eyes that he had refused to let fall. I had to promise him over and over that I was okay just to get him to calm down. Then he quickly went from concerned, to pissed off in the matter of seconds. He ushered me to the pack hospital along with Jensen to make sure we were both okay. He hasn’t said a word to me since we arrived. I had a feeling he was waiting till we were alone to give me a lecture.

I honestly didn’t know what to say to him if he asked me why I did it. It was just an instinct, I didn’t put any real thought behind the action. I could see through the shared window that something wasn’t right and that Jensen could possibly have gotten hurt. It even shocked me when I did it, especially since I can’t stand Jensen. However, that doesn’t mean I want him to get hurt. I heard Rachel tell Marcus that if I hadn’t knocked Jensen over, he could have possibly been critically injured.

“Alright Luna, everything looks good. There’s not a mark on you. It’s a miracle that you didn’t get injured since most of the blood landed on you.” Rachel looked at her clipboard while speaking to me. “Though, I would be cautious over the next few days. If you start to experience any unexplained symptoms, come see me immediately. I don’t care if it’s a sniffle or a sneeze, just make sure to come and get checked out again. Just because there are no burn marks on you, doesn’t mean you weren’t affected by this.”

I nodded my head as Marcus let out an exasperated grunt. His glare deepened and I could almost see the steam rolling off of him in waves. I know that as soon as Rachel leaves, we are going to duke it out. Though, I was constantly reminding myself that if it was him, I would be pissed off too.

“Are you sure there’s no burn marks on my body?” I asked Rachel, still unable to believe the blood did not affect me at all.

She nodded her head, “Yes. From what I can tell, there doesn’t seem to be a blemish on you. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go check on Alpha Jensen’s burns.”

Rachel walked out of the room leaving Marcus and I alone. I didn’t say anything and neither did he. I pulled a sweater Alicia had brought me over my sports bra. I braced myself in case it would hurt, but like Rachel said, I was completely fine.

Everyone was in complete surprise when I walked out of the room covered in blood and not in any pain. Rachel and I had managed to wash most of the blood off of me when I first got here. To say we were shocked when discovering that I had no burn marks underneath was an understatement. It did slightly make Marcus feel better about the whole situation, but not enough to keep from lecturing me.

“Did Elder Morgan get enough blood?” I asked him, finally breaking the awkward silence.

“Yes,” he grunted out.

I rolled my eyes at him. “Alright, let’s get this over with. Say what you need to say so we can move past this.”

Marcus sucked in a deep breath before letting it out, making his nostrils flare. My nerves went haywire when I realized that he was really mad at me. I’ve only ever seen Marcus mad once since meeting him, and yet that seemed tamed compared to what he looks like right now. I wasn’t scared of him, just nervous about how this argument was going to go. Most of the time, Marcus and I agree on anything and everything. I guess the honeymoon phase is over.

“Have you lost your MIND? What in the hell were you thinking? Do you realize you could have been critically injured or worse, DEAD?” He shouted at me.

I hung my head as shame coursed through my body. I didn’t necessarily feel bad that I did it, but I did feel immensely bad that I didn’t even think about how it would have affected Marcus. If I had been injured, Marcus potentially would blame himself. It was a stupid thing that I did. I haven’t even stopped to realize the potential consequences of my actions, I was only looking at the end result. I was unharmed, unaffected by the rogue’s poisonous blood. Wish I could say the same for Jensen.

Both Jensen’s forearms were badly burned from when he caught me. He had held onto me to try and protect me as much as he could. At one point, he attempted to roll us over so he be on top and I on the bottom. It didn’t work though, and it was a miracle that it didn’t. He would be on his death bed if he had succeeded.

“I understand that you are angry at me, but Marcus I’m fine. Look,” I held out my arms to show him. “Not a mark on me. Was it stupid? Yes, it probably was. But if I hadn’t done it, then Jensen would be dead. I think we should look at the more positive side of this, Jensen and I are both fine. I am fine!” I pleaded with him, trying to get him to see my side of things.

He pushed his body off of the wall and walked closer to me, putting his face a few inches from mine.

“Do you realize how scared I was? I have never been so frightened in my life than when I realized you were the one to push Jensen out of the way. One minute your beside me, and the next you’re on a suicide mission. I had no time to react or even protect you. I thought you were going to die.” He whispered the last part to me as his eyes filled with tears.

My heart cracked inside my chest. He was right, I had not considered how he would feel at that moment. I just reacted.

I gently grabbed his face with both my hands and pulled him even closer.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done it. I just… Honestly I don’t know why I did it. I saw what was about to happen and I felt this rush to get in there and save Jensen. I know that I could have been hurt, but I wasn’t thinking about that. I just knew I had to save him. But, I am really sorry. I know that you were scared, that you are still scared. I promise you that I will never put myself in that situation again.”

He let out a big sigh as he placed his forehead against mine. He finally wrapped his arms around me in the gentlest way possible, afraid that he would somehow injure me.

“I’m not injured, I’m okay.” I whispered to him, trying to provide comfort in any way I could.

“I know, I just… I was so scared. I don’t know what I would do if anything happened to you.” He confessed to me.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and squeezed him, trying to pour the love I have for him in this hug.

We sat there for a while, holding onto each other. Both of us realized how serious this could have been. He finally pulled away and held my face in his hands.

“Let’s go home.” He grabbed my hand and helped me off of the hospital bed.

We walked out of the room and started to walk toward the front doors, when I stopped him.

“I feel like I need to check on Jensen before we leave. I want to make sure he is alright.”

He pointed to one of the doors in the hallway. “He’s in there. Do you mind going alone? I want to go talk to Alexis real quick.”

“Why is Alexis here?” I questioned him, confused as to why she would even need to be checked out.

He let out a chuckle. “I guess she broke her nose and it didn’t heal right. She’s having Rachel rebreak it so it does.”

My eyes immediately grew ten sizes as it dawned on me.

“Dang I must have hit her harder than I realized.”

Marcus’ mouth popped open in shock. “YOU broke her nose?”

I nodded my head, making him gleam with pride. “Nice!” He high fived me before walking away. “I’ll just be a few minutes, just wait for me out here when you are done.” He shouted before turning around and walking down the hallway.

I took a deep breath before entering the room that Jensen was in. I had no idea why I had this burning urge to check on him or even what to say.

He was laying in the hospital bed with his forearms wrapped in what appeared to be gauze. There was no one else in the room besides him and I. He had his eyes shut, making me wonder if he was asleep. I started to back out of the room when his eyes opened, locking on to mine.

“Well, there she is. My hero.” He let out a chuckle as he struggled to prop himself up.

I rushed over to his bedside and helped him. Once he was comfortable he gestured to a chair that was beside his bed.

“You wanna sit?” He asked me.

I nodded my head, “Sure. I won’t stay long, I just wanted to see how you were doing.”

“Well, I’m doing a lot better than if I had not been tackled to the floor.” He chuckled as I winced.

“I’m sorry, I should have said something or warned you instead of tackling you. I just figured we didn’t have a lot of time for a conversation.” I explained to him.

“No, you did the right thing. Though I am curious as to why you did it.”

I scrunched up my eyebrows together. “What do you mean?” I asked him, curious as to where this conversation was headed.

“I mean, why out of all the people that were in the next room, you were the one to put your life at risk to save mine. Especially since we both know you don’t like me.”

I rolled my eyes at him. “Just because I don’t like you, doesn’t mean I want you to die.”

He seemed to replace what I said funny as he let out a booming laugh.

“Here I thought you were saving me just so you could do me in later.” He confessed to me.

“I can see where you would think that. Truthfully though, I’m hoping that you’ll feel like you owe me something now that I’ve saved you.”

That seemed to catch him off guard as he curiously looked over at me.

“Oh… and what exactly would I owe you, Luna?” He asked me.

“The truth Jensen. I want you to stop playing these mind games with me, stop with the riddles, and tell me the truth. Do you know who I am?”

We stared at each other, seeing which one would crack first. Him or I. I certainly wasn’t going to leave this hospital room until he came out with the truth.

He finally caved and spoke. “Do I know who you are? The simplest answer is yes, I do know. Am I going to elaborate further? Nope, not at all.”

“You can’t just tell me that you do in fact know who I am, and not tell me how! What the hell Jensen? I came in here hoping we would finally make peace with each other, but clearly you aren’t interested in that.” I shouted at him, as I stood from the chair getting ready to make my dramatic exit. However, his next words stopped me.

“Em, this is all very complicated. Hell, I’m having a hard time keeping track of all the details. The most important thing you need to know is that I do know who you are and that I am actually on your side. I’m not here to hurt you or Marcus, or even the pack. I’m simply here to help where I’m needed. If you still don’t trust me after this, well frankly kid that’s on you.”

I stood there staring at him, taking in everything he said. Weirdly enough, it helped me see Jensen in a new light. Was he keeping things from me? Yes, he was. But he wasn’t a threat and that was definitely the most important thing out of all this. I still wouldn’t trust him with my deep dark secrets, but perhaps I can let this go. There were bigger fish to fry. Jensen could wait, the rogues could not. Marcus trusted him and I trusted Marcus. That was all I needed to know.

“Alright, I can live with that… for now.”

Jensen laughed again and shrugged his shoulders. “I believe one day you and I will have a great laugh over this.”

I headed to the door and opened it, taking one last look at him before I left.

“For your sake Jensesn, I hope we do.”