〰 Nava 〰"There you go. Your wounds should heal after a little while. We could always use magic to help them heal quicker and prevent scars." The man tells me, removing some trash from the table beside the bed as I stared at Levi.
He was bandaged up to the brim, several bandages on his chest and one on his head. His body was tense and he was deep in thought as I smiled softly at the mage and shook my head.
"No thank you. Not a fan of magic. Could you leave us for a little while?" I ask him when he nodded and left the room. My eyes watched Levi"s rigid body lean against the dresser, deep in thought about what happened an hour ago.
I knew he felt horrible about killing my parents, but he didn"t know that doing that made me so much happier. That if he didn"t kill them, I would have.
"Levi... Come sit next to me." I whisper, patting the bed beside me as he stared at me for a long moment before sighing and walking over me in a guilty way.
He slowly sat down on the bed beside me, placing some distance between us when I huffed and crawled over to me. I got onto his lap, watching him closely.
"Is this okay, Levi?" I ask him softly.
"Yeah... It-It"s okay." He stuttered while I wrapped my arms around his neck and pressed my face into his bandaged shoulder.
"Don"t feel sorry, Levi. They deserved what they had coming to them." I a.s.sure him, brushing my hand up into his hair making him sigh and lean a little into my hold.
"I-I killed your parents..." He says brokenly.
"They were going to kill you." I remind him carefully, feeling him shake against me. "They are horrible people, Levi. You know what they did to me and what they were gonna do to me. It"s okay to feel upset that you took away my chance at killing them, but I won"t let you be upset with what has happened." I inform him while pressing a small, tender kiss to his bruised shoulder. "Come on. Let"s just sleep on it and we"ll talk more tomorrow." I promised him before standing up and pulling him up.
He weakly stood up, even more, distraught about what has happened than I was as I told myself that it was my turn to be the strong one. He"s always been the brave one but this time.
It was my turn.
I pulled the covers off and sat him down as he complied easily, still in silence and deep thought. He didn"t make a move to undress like he usually did making me sigh and kneel down to remove his shoes.
Levi told me once he hated sleeping with too much clothing and no fan on or else he"d sweat throughout the night. Even if sleeping beside him without pants made me restless, he was weak and thankfully my wolf wasn"t here to push me to do things that would make him snap out of this phase within a second.
But I didn"t want to do that...
I wanted him to depend on me for once.
Once his shoes and socks were off, I stood up and grabbed the bottom of his shirt and motioned him to lift his arms. He complied quickly, the shirt falling the ground within seconds as I grabbed his belt but he grabbed my arm quickly.
"Nava... I-"
"Let me take care of you, Levi. I"m just getting you ready for bed." I told him softly when he nodded and let go of my arm. My hands were quick to remove the belt and unb.u.t.ton his dirty and bloodstained jeans. I softly pulled them off him and tossed them with the shirt. "Lean back," I whisper and pressed my palm on his chest, suddenly thankful that Faye healed my bruised ankle so I would be able to walk around without being in pain.
He laid back with an exhausted look while I smiled down at him and motioned him to stay there. I went over to the light switch, flicking the overhead fan on and turning the light off.
I peeked out of the room, finding an older couple standing in the hallway with worried expressions.
"Excuse me? Do either of you know how to make someone sleep?" I ask them, curious if they were worried for the young mage next to our room when they snapped their attention to me. Their eyes were so full of concern and I wished whoever they were here for got better.
"Yes. I know how to." The man quickly says when glancing over at the woman. "May we come in?" He asks while I nodded and opened the door for them to enter.
"Dad? Mom?" Levi questions surprised as they hurried into the room and greeted Levi with worried glances and words.
I watched them surround him with loving words and gestures when I pang of hurt ran through my own body at the memory of my own parents. They never cared for me in such a way, but I always hoped one day they did.
But they never did...
I guess it all made sense now.
Without alerting their reunion, I left the room and noticed no one in the hallways giving me some alone time. I knew that I was being rude, but I didn"t want to be in the same room as them because it reminded me of my own family and how emotionless they were as I grew up.
As lousy as it sounds, I think the only reason I was so hesitant on giving him a chance was that he had a family and Barack didn"t. He only had me and his brother, his parents were always involved with pack duties while Levi had a loving family always encouraging him.
I was a loner with no one and he was constantly reminded of the people around him.
It hurt to never have that kind of motherly bond or fatherly protection.
Until now, I never realized how much I desired for that typical parent duo.
I walked down the hallway, brushing my hair over one of my shoulders and heard several footsteps before a door open beside me. A little girl with long brown hair beamed up at me while flinging herself on me.
"Mama!" The deaf girl I saved from the a.s.sa.s.sins yells happily when I looked around and noticed no one around.
"Honey. I"m not your mother." I inform her quietly, kneeling down to her as her hand went to my mouth in an instant.
"Talk!" She yelled again, too loud for the nighttime but I had a feeling that this was her quiet.
"I"m not your mom." I simply tell her again and glanced around the hallway. "Speak quieter. People are sleeping." I said as she nodded.
"My name is Ari." She whispered screamed to me as I chuckled and saw her small hand roaming around my face and touching my bandaged head. "What happened, Mommy?" She asks in a quiet scream while I pulled her hand away from the bandage.
"I got hurt." I simply tell her, not bothering to argue with her on the mom thing.
"Why are you hurt, Mommy?" She questions, tilting her head while I smiled and pressed her palm on my mouth again.
"There are bad people in this world," I explain vaguely before nodding to the room she came from. "I"ll see you tomorrow. Go to sleep, love bug." I nibbled on her hand making her giggle and bounce around in her pajamas.
"Sleep with you!" She once again yells loudly when I shook my head and pointed to the room.
"Go on." I sternly said making her frown.
"Okay... Night, Mommy." She hugged my leg tightly and skipped back into the room she came from. I sighed once the door closed, leaning against the wall and closing my eyes.
Maybe I had the chance to change her childhood...
I felt arms go underneath me before picking me up and tossing me into the air making me yelp loudly. My nails clawed into their shoulders when the laughed at my frightened expression.
"Nice to finally meet my daughter!" The man from earlier yells making me look at him with wide eyes and claw my way out of his hold, dropping to the ground and holding a defensive stance.
"Don"t scare her off like that, Gerald. Poor girl"s been through so much. Hi, darlin. I"m Annie and this here is my mate, Gerald." The woman from earlier introduces as I looked at the both of them with defensive looks.
"What are-"
"Our Levi is asleep right now like you asked. He did not like the fact that you were out so we told him we"d bring you back." Annie tells me when I blinked back my surprise.
"I like to see you try." I scoff with a smirk before I was thrown over Gerald"s shoulder, knocking the wind out of my chest.
"That was quite easy. You"re gonna have to do better than that if you want to run away from your parents." Gerald comments playfully while I rolled my eyes and pushed off his shoulder.
"Yeah tried the whole parent thing and it didn"t work out for me." I point out sharply, gaining enough force to push myself of his shoulder and roll on the ground behind him.
"You must give us a chance though. Come on, darlin." Annie reminded me while I narrowed my eyes at both of them.
"Why should I?" I question them, not convinced that the same thing won"t happen again.
"Because my son loves you. You became apart of our family when he told us all about you. Just the brat has been hiding his crazy family from meeting you." Gerald scoffs with irritation in his voice making me soften at his words.
"But you can"t blame, Levi. You started crying like a big baby once you found out he had a mate. And a pretty one at that." Annie said winking at me causing me to laugh at her words.
Gerald did seem like the soft one in this relationship.
"Our boy is growing up! You"re heartless not to be happy for him!" Gerald barks at her defensively when she rolled her eyes.
"Oh, I was happy for him, but was I the one who was sobbing because he wasn"t gonna babysit the three boys anymore?" She interrogates him, her words making me laugh harder. My ribs hurt from the laughter, but it felt good to be in the conversation.
"Alright alright. Stop embarra.s.sing me already. She"s laughing, you crazed woman." He growls at her as she shot him a dangerous glare.
"Excuse me, mister? You did not just call me that." She says in denial looking at me and pointing to her mate. "Did you hear this s.h.i.t?" Annie questions me.
"I"m not s.h.i.t, woman." He points out and looked at me with a playful look. "Don"t answer her. She"s just a little crazy in the head." Gerald whistled making me crackle in laughter, his mate looking at him.
"You are an a.s.shole." She sneers but it sounds purely amused.
"Love you." He winked at her and turned to me once again. "But we must be getting you to bed. I told Levi I"d bring you back after you accepted our love." Gerald tells me as I c.o.c.ked my eyebrow.
"I never accepted your love," I comment when Annie hooked an arm around mine and steered me to the room.
"Oh darlin. You don"t have a choice at this point." Annie tells me seriously while Gerald bounced around us, getting kicked by his mate. "Would ya quit that s.h.i.t?" She growls at him as he grumbled out a curse and stood on my side.
"I know you don"t like magic but I"m going to use a little bit to-"
"Couldn"t you just give me sleeping medicine? You don"t have to use magic to make me sleep." I said quickly when the couple shared a look.
"It doesn"t hurt you. I won"t even say anything when casting the spell. You"ll just drift to sleep." Gerald tells me seriously while I bite my lip and nodded with a tense look.
"Ok... I guess that"s okay." I murmur, remembering my own parents as we entered into the room. Levi was pa.s.sed out on the bed, already on his stomach with his back exposed to the world.
We piled into the room when I covered his back with the small sheet, Annie grabbing my arm and snapping her fingers. A bundle of clothing appeared in her palm a second later as she handed it to me with a small smile.
"Her you go darlin. Go ahead and get changed out of that b.l.o.o.d.y coat." Annie smiled sweetly at me as I nodded and went into the restroom.
I stripped out of the b.l.o.o.d.y and torn clothes, cleaning my face and hands before dressing a soft red shirt smooth over my chest and fluffy shorts hugged my thighs. They were a little short for comfort but thankfully that I was just going to bed.
I dispose of my old clothes in the hamper, putting that to worry about tomorrow when leaving the restroom and noticing Annie was already gone. Gerald noticed me, putting down one of my hunting knives and motioning towards the bed.
"Where did Annie go?" I ask him when climbing into the bed, feeling a little awkward.
"She thought you"d feel uncomfortable enough with me in her putting you to sleep so she left to go grab some things for the restroom once you both wake. Go ahead and lay down. It won"t take but a moment." He a.s.sures me as I nodded and shifted so I was laying down beside Levi.
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"It won"t hurt?" I question once again making him laugh and sit down beside me.
"Of course not. I"m not even using much magic. All I am going to do is numb your senses until you fall asleep. It"ll keep the pain away as well. If it hurts I"ll stop alright." He promises, placing a hand on my head and giving me a soft smile.
I wasn"t sure why I was so worried about him using his magic on me. Clearly, he had no bad intentions but something in me made me feel so guarded around him.
Perhaps it was because he was Levi"s father and treated me like a person, unlike my parents.
I took in a shaky breath, watching him close his eyes and sit there quietly. My eyes continued watching him as I felt the darkness crept into my vision, the soreness in my ribs going away within seconds.
It felt so nice that it sent my mind in a frenzy.
I tried to say something but turned more into a mumble when I felt my eye close and drift off to sleep.