Em ran upstairs, jumping over two steps at once. Remy was awake, she had to see him. At the door to Robert’s room she stopped for few seconds to catch her breath and calm her nerves. She then lightly knocked on the door and went inside.
Remy was laying in Robert’s bed, covered in bandages and bruises, just like when they left him earlier. The bruises were maybe a bit lighter now. And now his eyes were open, and Remy turned his head to look at Em. A small smiled climbed on his face.
“Em,” he said.
“How are you feeling?” Em said as she walked closer and sat on a chair next to the bed. She was so happy to see Remy was awake. She had been so worried about him.
“Everything hurts,” Remy sighed. “But I’m alive so that’s good, I guess,” he added.
“You’ll be alright. Robert treated all your wounds. You just need some rest now to get your energy back,” Em said. Then the wounds would heal faster too.
“How are you doing? What happened after I passed out?” Remy asked. He had lost the fight so how was Em able to be here with him? Shouldn’t Tanner be here instead? Or rather, shouldn’t Remy be dead?
“Well…” Em started fiddling with the hem of her shirt.
“She beat Tanner’s ass, that’s what happened,” Carter announced from the door as he waltzed in the room with a beaming smile on his face. Robert and Mikey walked in too after failing to grab Carter and stop him from interrupting the moment. “Your girl saved you and herself. And I guess all of us too from that prick.”
“Really?” Remy said. Em had beat Tanner?
“Uh, yeah. I thought Tanner had killed you, so I just got really angry and then I don’t really remember much. But apparently, I fought Tanner and he ran away.”
“It’s true. I have a video about it. Ollie sent it to me,” Carter said and walked to the bed.
“What? You didn’t say anything about it to me before this!” Em felt embarrassed. She didn’t want Remy to see her in that state. But she was also curious. What did she look like as a wolf?
Remy pushed himself into a sitting position so he could better see the phone screen. Sudden movement caused him to grimace from pain when his wounds reminded him of their existence. But Em supported him and Carter hit the play button, eager to show Remy the fight.
The video started little after Em’s fight with Tanner began. Em was a bit disappointed. She would’ve liked to see what her transformation had looked like. On the edge of the screen they could see Carter and Mikey dragging Remy away from the fighting wolves and Remy felt weird seeing himself unconscious while Em risked her life for him. But he couldn’t help being impressed by Em’s courage and relentlessness. She didn’t give Tanner any room to breathe and just pushed forward.
“Here, look, this is my favourite part,” Carter said as they got closer to the end of the video. The wolves had come very close to Ollie, so he had the best view to Em snapping her teeth in front of Tanner’s face and forcing him to retreat with a tail between his legs. For a second the video zoomed in on Em’s face and then the recording stopped.
“That was…wow,” Remy said, slightly perplexed. Em had been very impressive considering she transformed on impulse and went against the alpha.
“I know right,” Carter grinned. “No one knew what to do. And they were probably scared Em would smack them to the ground too,” he laughed then.
“You make me sound like some kind of monster,” Em muttered. It had been so weird to see herself in that kind of state. Was that really her? That wolf fighting there, ready to rip apart the other wolf, another human? What if she had hurt him? Was she like that every month?
“What? No! That was amazing. Don’t feel bad. You just did what you did to protect Remy. It’s a good thing. Most of us would do that for our mates. It’s just natural,” Carter said and tussled Em’s hair a bit.
Em smiled mildly but didn’t say anything.
“Carter is right,” Robert said. “You were just protecting Remy. And from what I heard, once Tanner was out you just calmed down instantly.”
“Yeah, you trotted over to us and just lied down next to Remy to lick his wounds and cuddle with him.”
“Wha…what?” Em’s face flushed red. Why had no one told her anything about this before? She had licked Remy? That sounded weird on so many levels.
“Should’ve taken a picture of it. It was very sweet,” Carter continued.
“Stop teasing him Carter,” Remy sighed.
“Maybe we should let Remy rest a bit?” Mikey suggested and leered at Carter. “Em could stay here and watch over him,” he added while Em was already trying to get up.
“Oh yeah,” Carter said. “Maybe we should go… Come on Mikey, let’s get out of here,” he said and started to push his friend out of the room. Remy rolled his eyes and smiled a bit. He had missed these idiots.
“We’ll leave you to rest then,” Robert said too. “I’ll come check up on you later.” The group left and Em was left to sit next to the bed.
“I can go too if you want to sleep,” she said.
“I’d like it if you stayed,” Remy said. “I…I’ve missed you.” He turned his head away because he felt himself blush. Em smiled softly.
“I’ll stay then,” she said.
They sat there in silence for few moments, just listening to the noises from around the house that echoed to the room: running water, steps in the hallway, door being slammed shut…
“Umm,” Remy cleared his throat. “I’m sorry.”
Em turned to look at Remy. “About what?”
“That I wasn’t able to protect you… I tried to fight Tanner and then I just lost… It was pathetic.”
“Don’t be sorry,” Em said. “You got this hurt because you tried. You risked your life to protect me. That’s more than I could ever ask.”
“Did you get hurt?” Remy asked then. “Did Tanner do anything to you? Or Blake?”
“I’m fine. I got some cuts in the fight but they’ve pretty much healed already,” she said and turned her head to bit to reveal a big red area on her neck. It had had a big bite mark on it, but it was already gone.
“If you had got badly hurt, I wouldn’t have forgiven myself,” Remy said. His voice was quiet. Even a though of Em getting hurt made his heart ache.
“Everything’s alright now though. Don’t worry too much,” Em said and gently touched Remy’s hand. She felt Remy’s hand quiver under her touch, but he didn’t pull it away. “After a little bit of rest, you’ll be alright too.”
“Hmm, you’re right I guess,” Remy said. He fell silent for a few moments. Em was gently stroking Remy’s hand while she was in her thoughts. Soon everything would be back to normal. That would be so great.
“So, did your parents give you a permission to come or did you run away again?” Remy asked then with a little smirk.
“What do you mean again?” Em mumbled, blushing a little. The last time definitely didn’t count. The situation was totally different then. “But yeah, you could say that I ran away. But I left them a letter explaining things.” Em knew her parents would be mad at her, but she didn’t want to think about it now. She’d probably be grounded until she turned eighteen, which wasn’t too long actually but wouldn’t still be nice at all. If they even took her back home. Em wouldn’t have been surprised if she was told to stay away. Maybe she’d deserve it for making her parents worry so much.
“You ran from home just to see me?”
“Well, yeah. I don’t really know how to explain it, but I needed to see you. I felt restless all the time. Living in town was terrible. Even food tasted bad. Mum and dad constantly kept watch on me. And I also felt terrible because I couldn’t say goodbye to you properly. I knew I had to see you again, even if just for a little while. I didn’t think anything like this would happen…”
“I really wanted to see you too,” Remy said. “But, to be honest, I was scared. And I thought that you’d be better off without me. I only cause you trouble.”
“It’s true that meeting you has…changed things,” Em said thinking about how to put her words. “But I wouldn’t say it’s trouble. I don’t know if it makes sense, but all this feels…natural somehow. It’s scary for sure but still…” Em didn’t really understand it herself. Maybe it was because she and Remy were mates, maybe it was something else but in a way all this werewolf thing just felt normal. Seeing herself as a wolf had been weird and a bit scary too but apart from that she wasn’t worried. The idea of monthly transformations didn’t really bother her. And it was unlikely that anything like the Tanner fight would happen again anyway. If she could just be with Remy, everything would be alright.
“How about your future?” Remy asked. “I’ve made things a lot more difficult for you. School, work, you might not be able to have any children…”
“Hey, if Robert can work as a doctor, I think I can figure out studies and work too,” Em said and smiled. “And I don’t even know what I want to do. I haven’t even got the results from the university back yet. Could be that I didn’t even get in.”
“Maybe, but how about…”
“Are you just trying to find something that’d make me think you are a no-good troublemaker?” Em asked with a small, amused smile on her lips. Remy closed his mouth and blushed.
“N..no… I just, I just don’t want you to make any hasty decisions and think things through.”
“Don’t worry. I won’t make any hasty decisions,” Em said. She didn’t really know when she had decided it, but she had decided that she’d stay with Remy if he just wanted her around. They could think about all the technicalities after she got scolded by her parents and was freed from being grounded. But she knew that she was supposed to be with Remy and believed that he thought so too despite all this resistance.
“I’ll let you rest now. Try to get some sleep,” she said and pressed a kiss on Remy’s forehead.
When she had left the room, Remy sighed deeply. He had missed Em so much and now that they saw each other again he was in this pitiful state. He definitely didn’t deserve Em but just thinking about not being with her felt terrible. Maybe he’d have to believe that she liked him too. There weren’t many signs that showed otherwise.
Maybe being happy and loved wouldn’t be so bad.
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