July 11th-

As soon as the pack doctor had cleared me to leave the medical center, I left. I packed up what little I had in my bag and hurried down the long staircase to the front door before the breakfast crowd came to the packhouse. Sam wasn’t there to say goodbye. I was glad he wasn’t there. One look into his beautiful eyes, I would have lost my resolve to leave.

He’d arranged for a car and driver to take me back to Nana’s house. My driver’s name was Sylvie and she refused to look me in the eye. I didn’t need to be a mind reader to know what she was thinking. She thought I was insane to leave someone like Sam. Maybe I was crazy, but I needed to be with someone I could trust.

___

The pain first started when we were about a mile away from the house. The skin around my bite mark started to itch like crazy as it morphed into a dull throb. I bit the inside of my cheek. Pride and pure stubbornness wouldn’t let me reveal the pain I was feeling to Sylvie.

July 14th-

Dear Diary, I am afraid I might actually be dying and not in a sarcastic way. During my first night back at Nana’s house, the mark on my neck started to burn, sending hot waves of pain throughout my whole body. No amount of ice or unsafe amounts of pain medicine could stop the fire.

Over the next few days, the pain grew worse. Every fiber of my body ached. I couldn’t see straight. I curled up in a little ball in front of the toilet, waiting for death. Even the smell of my own vomit didn’t bother me anymore.

One name entered my mind. I weakly called out their name, though my voice wasn’t any louder than a whisper. “Sam!”

Downstairs, I could hear the splintering of wood as the door flew in and rapid footsteps up the stairs. The bathroom door swung open.

“Katie! I’m so sorry.”

“S-Sam?” I couldn’t trust myself to be sure. It could be the fever talking.

“Katie…” Sam gathered me into his arms and held me. For the first time in three days, the pain started to go away. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t think this was going to happen.” He started to lick the bite mark. The burning pain was replaced with cool relief.

“Sammy?” My head rolled forward. “W-what’s… what’s happening? Y-you feel so good.”

“I’ll make the pain go away. I promise. I’ll take care of you.”

___

When I opened my eyes again, the pain was gone. I was lying in my bed, in my Nana’s house. Sam lay asleep on top of the covers next to me. Somehow while I was unconscious, he’d had the entire room cleaned. It looked better than it normally did, even when I felt well.

I studied Sam’s face as he slept. He normally was the epitome of style and health. There were dark circles under his eyes and a few days growth of beard on his chin. He wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me closer to him.

“Good morning, sweetheart,” he rasped. He looked at me through his long, dark eyelashes. “How are you feeling?”

“Better, I think. What happened?”

He smiled tiredly. “Your body was protesting being away from me. The bond between us is strong.”

I ran a hand through my rat’s nest of curls. Sam’s world still didn’t make any sense to me. “Will it always be like that? I mean, pain… when we’re apart?”

He shook his head. “No. I’ve only heard of this type of thing happening to couples that both fight against the bond.”

“You look terrible.” I put my hand on his cheek. “No, I don’t mean it like that. I mean… Were you hurting too?”

He nodded sadly. “I could feel everything that you were going through. It hurt me knowing that you were in pain and I couldn’t help you.”

“I don’t ever want to feel like that again,” I say quietly, burying my face into the crook of his neck. I found his scent to be extremely comforting.

“Neither do I.”

___

“It wasn’t supposed to happen this way, you know,” said Sam. He’d carried me into the now-clean bathroom to take a bath. I was now buried up to my chin in Nana’s to-die-for clawfoot tub covered in a blanket of bubbles. He sat on the floor across from the tub. After the last few days, neither of us were too keen on being far apart from each other.

“What do you mean?”

Sam smiled and I could see the dimple I adored. “Well, when I first saw you in the grocery store and you spit your soda on me,” (I still cringe at the memory.) “I knew that you were my forever and that I desperately wanted to see you again.”

“Is that why you kept coming by the grocery store every day?”

Sam blushed. “Yes, that’s why I kept by the grocery store every day.”

“Someone has a crush. Someone has a crush.” I tease. Sam blushed.

“Will you let me finish my story, darling?”

“Yes, sorry.” I sink into the tub up to my eyeballs.

“Anyway,” Sam grinned. “I knew you were human. So, once I worked up the courage, I asked you on a date.”

“What do your people normally do when you meet the one?” I interrupted again. My inner anthropologist was intrigued.

“Well,” Sam scratched his head. “Basically, we both mark each other and go on with our lives together.”

“What if you’ve never met them before?” I ask. A billion questions fluttered inside of my head.

“When you have an eternity together,” he said, “there’s plenty of time to get to know your mate. Can I continue, please?”

“Yes, sorry.”

“The plan was to court you and eventually marry you in a human ceremony before all your friends and family. When we were attacked by a pack of rogues on our date and you were knocked unconscious, I had to get you to safety.” He wiped at a stray tear on his cheek. “I never meant for you to feel like a prisoner,” he insisted. “Fiona didn’t understand who you were to me and kept you under lock and key for the pack’s protection.”

I nodded as the pieces started to fit together. Fiona did seem like the type to matters into her own hands. “And then what happened?”

“I was returning home with a couple of my guards after dealing with the rouge situation to find you wandering in the woods. I was furious that you could have been in danger and I wasn’t there to protect you.”

We fell into silence. I covered my hair in bubbles to make it look like I was wearing one of those old-fashioned powder wigs. Sam chuckled.

“I’m angry at myself for hurting you and losing your trust in the process.” His voice was barely a whisper.

“Date me.” Sam looked up, startled. My declaration even startled me a bit. “Date me. I can see how t-things might have gotten out of hand.” This was an understatement. “But if this thing is going to work, I think we should give it a try.”

Sam pressed his lips to me. “Thank you, my darling. I will make it up to you.”