When I awoke, the first thing I was able to register was a set of hands wrapped around my own, and a body sitting next to me. Frankie's eyes were damp and brimmed with red, but when he noticed I was awake, they lit up completely.

"You're awake."

I gave him a pained smile. "Yeah, Hedgehog. I'm awake. I'm here."

"I thought you were dead," his voice trembled. "You stopped breathing, and your heart stopped beating, too. I didn't know at all how to contact the ambulance, so I carried you for a couple of blocks, then Mark came and transported you there on his back."

"How long have I been out?"

"Almost 28 hours," he said, and I grimaced. "Do you remember anything?"

"To be honest?" I rubbed my head, which was throbbing slightly. "Not much. The last thing I remembered was us being at the gym, and...I think we were talking about combat or something?"

"Yeah. We were going to spar. You said you were going to take it easy on me."

"Well, that's actually literally what happened. You did technically win that fight."

His face fell. "Oh, no, I didn't. You didn't even have a chance to do anything."

"We'll say you won that one, anyway," I grinned at him. "What about my family? Do they know?"

"They're in the waiting room right now. The doctor said only one person at a time. Do you want me to get them for you?"

"No," I replied, and I was being honest. I just wanted to enjoy the next few moments with my sweet, precious mate. After all, he was the only one who could make me better.

"This is all my fault," he whispered. "All of it."

"No, Frankie, none of this is your fault," I tried to reassure him.

"I heard you, you know. That night when Chantelle first came over."

"You what?"

"Not all of it," he admitted. "Just bits and pieces. I was drifting in and out of sleep, when I heard you talking about how you were sick because of me."

"Oh. Was that all you heard?"

"I heard about what we had to do, too," he shifted awkwardly. "You know...that. I tried to be more affectionate with you because I know you said you liked it. I thought it would help."

"Listen, what I said that night? Don't take it seriously. We don't have to get intimate. Not if you don't want to."

"I'm willing to do it if it means you'll stop hurting," he said, although he didn't sound too comfortable with the idea.

"Frankie, are you even ready for that?"

"Yes," he said, but I could see through his uneasiness.

"Are you sure? You don't sound sure at all. And don't lie to me, either, because I can feel it through our mate bond."

The emotional link between us hadn't been completely established yet since we hadn't consummated our bond. However, my mother had always taught me to be in control of my emotions, and I was thus more adept with the mate bond than most non-mated weres.

I could see the conflict on his face. "I...I don't know, Bennett. But even if I don't know if I want to do it, I do know that I can't stand seeing you like this."

"Then it's settled. We're not going to have sex, because I know you're not ready for it."

"Please, Bennett. We have to. There's no other way."

I shook my head. "I don't want to force you into anything you don't want to do."

"I don't want you to be in this much pain, either," he retorted.

"It's okay, Frankie. It's okay."

"No, no, it's not okay," he began tearing up. "We weren't even given a choice in all of this. But you're actually trying to make it work, and you've been way too good to me, yet you're the one who's being punished. Oh, goddess, it should've been me. I've been so selfish."

"Don't say that. I could never wish for any type of harm to come your way."

"Neither would I," he said miserably. "But look at what happened."

"Exactly. Which is why I'm not letting you make this choice. If we do have sex, then it'll hurt me knowing that you never fully consented. Our first time is going to be special, Hedgehog. Not because you feel forced to do so, but because you want to."

"But..."

"No," I repeated firmly, letting my Alpha command slip through so he would have no choice but to obey.

He sniffed. "This isn't fair."

"No, it isn't," I agreed.

"Why does it have to be like this?" he asked me, his eyes pleading.

I sighed. "The Moon Goddess can be rather sadistic at times, I admit. I'm not saying it's right, but the reality is, we're in this situation together. And I'm determined to make it work."

"I honestly don't know what we're going to do."

"We'll figure something out, Frankie. We'll take it one little pawprint at a time, okay? We'll start slow, like what we've been doing so far."

"One...little pawprint?"

"Yep. And when we're ready to take the next step, we'll know. I'll make sure everything works out for us."

"We'll make sure everything works out," he corrected me. "Together."

-

After Frankie and I spent our little alone time together, my other family members came to see me. My father was quite worried for my health, and he had even refused to tell me any new information about the rogue attacks.

"No, Bennett. I'm not telling you anything about the rogue attacks until you recover."

"I need to know, though," I tried to sit up, although my dad forced me back onto my pillows. "Have you heard anything new?"

"It won't kill you to go a day without hearing any updates."

"But I already died yesterday."

Chantelle was equally as anxious, and gave me a big hug as soon as she entered the hospital room. "It's the mate thing you told me about, isn't it?"

"Unfortunately so."

"Jeez, your Moon Goddess is really going to kill you."

"She better not," I frowned. "I'm not even an adult yet. Heck, I haven't even graduated!"

Chantelle pursed her lips. "Have you spoken to Frankie about it?"

"Yeah. We're taking steps to improve our relationship."

"Good," she sighed in relief. "I'm glad things are working out."

Even Nic had taken the time off his busy schedule, postponing one of his meetings, to come and visit me in the hospital. "Hey, little bro. Dad told me you were in the hospital. Said the doctor told you it was mate issues?'

"Something like that," I sighed.

"Is Frankie not taking care of you?" His tone grew darker. "Did he hurt you?"

"We're figuring it out, Nic. And no, he didn't hurt me."

"Oh." I could hear the suspicion in his voice, but I wasn't going to be blabbing our personal business to him, even if he was my brother. I'd go to him if I needed some advice, but right now wasn't appropriate.

"If you need anything, you can always talk to me," Nic offered, patting my shoulder. "I'll always be there for you."

"Thanks. And I will, I promise."

"Good. Well, have you heard any updates from the rogues?"

"Well, you're still recovering. I'm not sure I need to burden you with information right now."

"Not you too!" I groaned. "Seriously, I need to know! I'm not an eggshell."

"You were clinically dead on and off for the first 8 hours you were here. We had to fly in Doctor Elizabeth Beyer, a top werewolf cardiologist all the way from Germany."

"Oh. Well, then, I'm a hardboiled egg."

He rolled his eyes. "You can still crack the shell on a hardboiled egg, dumbass. How else are you supposed to eat it?"

"You get what I'm trying to say! Just please, tell me what happened. I need to know."

Seeing the desperate expression on my face, his gaze softened and he relented. "Fine, I'll spill just a little bit. So far, we've had one rogue attack in Hamilton. Just one. And I've got a meeting scheduled tomorrow with some of the private packs from the GTA."

I heard a ding from his phone from one of his messages. I was able to catch Rosalie's name on one of the texts.

Rosalie's name, with heart emojis around it.

I frowned. "Nic, did you find your mate?"

Nic smiled mysteriously and stood up from his seat. "I should get going, bro. I'll see you later, okay? I hope you get better soon."

"Wait! I'm your brother, tell me! Is she yours? If she is, we can exchange mate stories together!"

He ignored me and shut the door behind him. Sighing, I slumped back onto my bed, and began to analyze all my life choices that led to me lying on this hospital bed like a fool. With everything that happened in the past day, I was starting to feel pretty overwhelmed.

You're an Alpha wolf. You don't follow or run away, you take charge. You can, and you will get through this.

My internal motivational speech brightened me somewhat. However, there were still some questions lingering at the back of my mind that needed to be answered. And why Rosalie was so important to some of the closest people in my life, I had no idea.