She ignores me.

"Iz ..."

She slowly moves off the bed and attempts to stand but stumbles and falls, causing me to catch her in my arms.

"Can you walk?"

She shakes her head, refusing to meet my gaze, so I scoop her up in my arms and carry her bridal style.

The walk home is spent in silence, neither of us saying anything. When we reach the Alpha quarters in the packhouse, I set her down on the bed.

"Please Iz. Say something."

Tears prick her eyes and she hastily wipes them away, clearly trying to hold it together.

"I'm fine."

I take her hand, seating myself next to her.

"You're not."

"I said I'm FINE."

I sigh and am about to release her hand when she breaks down, giving up the façade of being okay. I cradle her face in my hands and gently wipe away her tears with my thumb.

"It's okay Iz. Everything's going to be okay. You're safe."

"I'm s-sorry for ignoring you."

"You were stressed."

"That's no excuse," she retorts.

"It is in this instance. You had every right to be mad at me. I failed you again."

She shakes in my arms and I kiss her forehead, feeling her calm down and relax under my touch.

"I forgive you. How long will it take for the wolf suppressant to wear off?" She whispers.

"About another day more, maybe less. I miss Jack."

"Isaac, she just reminded me: my third heat is coming soon isn't it?"

Dammit. I forgot about that.

"Yeah, it is. How do you want to deal with it this time?"

"The dancing seemed to work last time. And this time should be the last one, right?" Iz asks hopefully.

"If you get pregnant."

"Do you want kids Isaac?"

"Yes. And I think you'd be a great mother. Seeing you interact with Carrie, even if she isn't the child she claims to be, made that very clear to me. But only if you want kids."

"I do."

"Then we don't need to worry about the heat. Just make sure you're with me when it starts."

I gently kiss her forehead again, resting my chin on her head, pulling her to me.

"We'll be okay."

"I know." She replies quietly.

"What do you want to do now? We've got all day."

"Don't you have Alpha stuff to do?"

Yes.

"No."

"Don't lie to me. I know you do." I give up lying.

"You're right, I do."

"Can I help you with it?"

"No, you're my mate, not my servant. And you just came out of hospital; you should be resting."

"I need something to distract me from this. From everything that happened."

"Only if you're happy with it. And I'm not letting you tire yourself out alright?"

"Fine. Just let me help you."

I lead her down to my office where there is a large stack of paperwork piled up on my desk, mainly accounts and finance details that I need to go through. I sigh. Even with Iz, it's going to take a while as I don't want to overwork her. I doubt we'll finish it today. I pull out two seats for us and we both take a smallish pile of papers.

"So what are we actually doing with all this?"

"Checking it all adds up, nothing's missing, making sure the payments are up to date. Things like that. If there's anything that needs a signature just pass it to me."

"Okay. I guess we better get started. Do you have any calculators?"

"Yeah. They're in the bottom right cupboard. I'll have one too please." She passes on to me. "Thanks."

We get started, slowly making our way through our individual piles. The going is so slow we are not even half way through our stacks by lunch but it's a start. It's reduced the amount of paperwork by quite a bit. I glance over at Iz to see she's fallen asleep; she must have been more tired than she admitted.

Careful so I don't wake her, I carry her to our quarters and tuck her in, smiling to myself as I notice how, even unconscious, she tries to hold onto my shirt and buries her head in my neck.

Our mate is adorable.

I know.

I turn to leave the room but I am stopped by a quiet whimper.

"Iz?"

She whimpers again, her expression contorted into fear, her body shaking even while asleep.

"No, no. Don't leave me. Don't leave me here. Please don't go. Don't go. Don't leave me!"

She trembles violently yet does not come out her dream, still trapped in the nightmare. I instantly reach out to her, gently shaking her shoulder.

"Iz, it's okay. Wake up."

She mumbles something in her sleep then suddenly jolts upright, breathing heavily. I sit next to her.

"I'm here Iz. It was just a dream."

I take her hand but she suddenly flings her arms round my neck, bowling me over backwards onto the bed, leaving her lying on top. I gently pull us into sitting position again so my back is to the headboard and she's leaning against me. A small tear drips down her cheek and I wipe it away, making her look at me.

"I-Isaac?"

"Yes Iz, it's just me. You're safe."

She gives me a hesitant smile and I lightly kiss her lips. She leans into me, her head resting on my chest, my arms around her protectively. After a few minutes I feel her breathing return to normal, and her tense muscles relax.

"What happened? The last thing I remember is working on the account stuff."

"You fell asleep, so I brought you up here. You clearly overworked yourself and you need to rest."

"What about the work though? It's not going to go away. We still need to do it."

"Not we. Me. You are going to sleep. You just came out of hospital. You need to get some sleep Iz."

She can tell I'm not going to let her to win this argument and gives in, closing her eyes, and I gently move her so she's lying down. I am about to leave when she reaches out to me.

"I don't want to be alone Isaac. Don't go." Her words echo the words she uttered in her nightmare and I hesitate.

Silently, I ponder how to stay with Iz and still get some work done and come to an easy solution. I scoop her up in my arms and carry her back to my office where I set her down on a small couch in the corner. My mate quickly goes back to sleep, her long lashes brushing her cheeks and I settle back into my work, gradually shrinking the large pile of paper in front of me over the course of the next several hours.

It's getting late when I finally stop for the day; I am mentally shattered from the constant work for five hours, without break. Iz is still asleep, having slept through pretty much the entire day. I'm tempted to move her back to our bedroom but she looks so peaceful lying on the couch, and I don't have the heart to disrupt that.

Instead, I pull out the spare blankets from the small cupboard under my desk and and lay one on her, being careful not to wake her and sweeping her hair off her face. Even in sleep, she reaches for my hand and her eyelids flutter slightly as she debates over consciousness and eventually decides against it, sinking back into sleep. I smile slightly at the thought and lock the office door; no one is disturbing my mate while she's asleep. If someone needs to talk to me, they can mindlink.

I open my mind to the Pack link and am instantly swamped with messages from numerous wolves, all telling me that the Praetorian's security force are coming to the pack house, looking for us.

Isobel's POV
I am awoken by a deafening sound of feet running along the hallways of the pack house. It sounds like the metal boots of the Praetorian and his men, causing my heart to race in fear; I'm terrified of going back there, back to that room. Isaac sits on the other side of the room, hunched over his work, seemingly oblivious to the approaching footsteps.

We're going to be okay Iz.

No, we won't. Isaac isn't going to stop them.

He came for us last time.

He came for Carrie.

But forgot about her the moment he felt your pain.

That won't stop them taking us again.

I know I've won the conversation judging by the frustrated silence from Jack.

When did you start trusting Isaac so much?

Since the mate bond finally convinced me to forgive him and give him a second chance.

He wouldn't have come for us when the Praetorian took us for interrogation.

He did. And he said, had he known what the Praetorian would do he wouldn't have let him imprison us. He loves us Iz, regardless of whether we choose to love him back.

Of course I love him. I'm just losing faith in him.

Let him regain that faith. Give him a chance.

The hammering of boots increases in volume, indicating the distance between us and them is decreasing, each step in perfect time with my heart, my pulse racing.

Isaac notices I'm awake and gives me a small hug.

"It's going to be okay Iz."

Then they knock at the door. Isaac quickly releases me and gestures for me to stay on the couch. He says the dreaded words.

"Enter."

Two men enter, not the Praetorian but common soldiers under the Praetorian's command.

"We have been ordered to take Luna Isobel back into custody." One of the guard states calmly, yet his respectful use of our apparent title of Luna suggests he does not want to do what he's been ordered as I doubt the Praetorian would approve of the honorific.

Slowly, I get up off the couch and mentally prepare myself for returning back into the Praetorian's care; I have to do this or he'll never leave us alone and I will be forever living under the threat of being arrested. I couldn't cope with that. I am about to walk out the room to follow the guard when Isaac grabs my hand, preventing me moving.

"No."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Isaac stood up for her! Yay! You have no idea how long I have been waiting to write this. I hope you enjoyed. I really have no idea what else to say, except I'm planning to finish this book before I start other stuff or I'll get bogged down in unfinished books.
Bye,
WORxxx

Happy - Pharrell Williams

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