Kade's POV

As I started to wake up, I could hear someone crying next to me as they softly shook the bed and someone else in the room was whispering soft things to them. I was able to open my eyes and look down at Joey, whose forehead laid against the bed while his body shook with sobs. I was able to reach over and place my hand on top of his head, but when he didn't pick his head up and continued his sobs, I started to run my fingers through his hair.

"Cody, don't touch me," he said between sobs.

I looked over at the beta who had a huge smile on his face as he looked over at me. "Uh, that's not me."

Joey's head shot up and I finally saw his beautiful face that was puffy and wet with tears. He lifted his hand and placed it on mine that was on top of his head. He placed my knuckles against his forehead as he gripped it and continued to cry.

"I'm okay, baby, I promise you that I'm okay," I whisper to him as I rub my knuckle over the middle of his brow. He shakes his head as he grips it tighter. I look over at Cody who has a sympathetic look on his face along with Melissa who sat behind her mate's standing form.

"You died, Kade, your heart wasn't beating for six minutes," Cody told me.

I gave him a confused look because if my heart wasn't beating, then Joey's shouldn't have been either. That's how this true mate thing worked. "What about Joey though?"

Melissa and Cody shared a look before Melissa walked around to the other side of the bed to take my other hand. "Since Joey's a wolf, sedatives and drugs don't affect him, which means if you were to be killed by them, he wouldn't be affected through your bond."

My mind starts to race because we were told that if one of us died, then the other one would too and now, this is what I hear. If this was to ever happen again, Joey would be devastated and scared and things that I can't even think of. I look up at Melissa again. "But I thought-"

"We know," she interrupts me, tightening her grip on my hand. "we talked to the elders this morning and they told us that it makes complete sense and they don't know how generations of elders haven't realized that. If one of you is killed in a way that the other being isn't affected by, then you won't be dead due to it."

I give her another confused look because she just basically told me that there were more things that could happen like this. "What else could happen that wouldn't hurt us both?"

Cody cleared his throat, taking a step forward as he crossed his arms. "Verbena is a plant that hunters and other beings use to weaken wolves. It isn't dangerous to humans until a certain point, but just one drop for us could harm us. If someone was to use that on Joey, you wouldn't be affected."

I think for a second because I've definitely heard that name before. Melissa chuckles, squeezing my hand. "The other name for it is vervain."

I practically facepalm when I realize that it's a thing from Vampire Diaries. I decided to just ignore the whole subject and focus again on my beautiful mate. I gripped one of Joey's hands and guided it away from his face and placed it against my chest where he could feel my heart beating in my chest. He gasped, looking up at me before I pulled him up and into the bed with me. He carefully wrapped his arm around my stomach and placed the side of his head on my chest as my heartbeat calmed him down.

The door opened and Dr. Moore walked in along with Lila, who smiled when she saw the way her son laid next to me. My hands ran through his hair to calm his breathing down because it must've been really hard to have to stand there while your mate is literally dead on the ground.

"How're you feeling, Kade?" Dr. Moore asked.

"Tired and weak," I whisper as I realize that my throat is still very scratchy. There's an oxygen tube wrapped around my face and going up to my nose that was helping me regulate my breathing.

"So what happened was the hunters gave you multiple sedatives repeatedly that led you to overdose because they obviously weren't skilled at knowing how much and when. Your heart stopped beating for six minutes but we were able to help you and once you got back here, we put a tube down your throat to reach your stomach and used activated charcoal to soak up the excess drug," Dr. Moore explained to me.

I nodded my head. "How long have I been out?"

"It's been three days," Lila said as she walked up to me and my mate. She placed her hands on his shoulders and leaned down to kiss his head before doing the same to me.

"Elder Collins explained the situation to me, the true mate stuff, and because wolves aren't affected by sedatives, Joey wasn't hurt by the overdose," Dr. Moore said to me, confirming what Melissa and Cody just said to me. I keep running my hands through my mate's hair and noticed that he was staring out of the window while he listened to what was being said.

"Also, your parents are on their way here along with Emilie. They said that they didn't want to disturb you while you were sleeping, but now that you're awake, they really want to see you," Lila tells us before motioning for everyone to leave.

Once the door closed, Joey sighed and snuggled closer to me as I stare down at him. "I'm here, Joey. I'm alive."

His shoulders slumped and he pressed further into my chest. "I felt it all. I felt when you took your last breath, how bad your chest hurt while you were getting compressions, when they were putting the tube down your throat, everything. If you hadn't come back, Kade, the last thing I would've felt of you was that breath leaving you."

My eyes softened and I placed my finger under his chin and tilted his head up to look at me. "That's not the last thing though, I'm here, I'm alive, I'm breathing. I'm going to be here for a long time to continue to annoy you, okay?"

He chuckled, nodding his head. "You better."

I cupped his face and he sat up to place a soft, feather-like kiss against my lips that still felt numb. His hand ran down my shoulder to my arm and to my hand to grab it in his before he pulled away from my lips to kiss around my face.

"I'm so happy you're okay," he whispered, setting our foreheads together.

"I am too, I couldn't even imagine never seeing you again," I told him, snaking my hand around the back of his neck to pull our lips together again.

Joey and I lay in bed with the TV playing some game show as Joey massages my shoulders and Cody and Melissa sit in the chairs next to the hospital bed. The doors open and my parents and Emilie rush in to give me big hugs.

"Oh, my sweetheart. As soon as we heard what had happened, we wanted to rush straight down here but we were told that you probably wouldn't wake up for a few hours," Mom whispers to me.

"Hi, Mom," I said, holding her as tight to me as I could. Joey moved off the bed so Emilie could snuggle to my side with my arm wrapped around her shoulder.

"How are you? Are you okay? Do you feel any pain?" Dad asks me.

"I feel fine, they've been taking really good care of me here," I tell them as Emilie hides her face in my shoulder as I pull her closer to me and hold her free hand.

"Maybe we need to take you to a real doctor," Mom suggested.

"Dr. Moore knows exactly what he's doing and because it had to deal with stuff with werewolves and hunters, we wouldn't be able to tell them the real story of what happened. They would see it was a sedative overdose and want to keep him for a psychiatric evaluation, which isn't something we need to deal with," Joey explained to my parents.

I nudge Emilie's arm and she looks up at me with tears running down her face. "Hey, I'm okay, Em. I'm perfectly fine. They fixed me up and I'll be back up and running within a few days and I'll steal Joey's card and we'll go shopping, okay?"

She giggles and wipes her tears with the sleeve of her shirt. "Really?"

"Oh, absolutely. I'll persuade him and we'll have an amazing time."

She smiles and lays her head on my shoulder again. We watch as Joey talks to my parents to explain the whole situation to them because they weren't leaving here without a real explanation. Emilie reaches over and grabs my hand. "What if it happens again?"

I look down at her and wish I could tell her that this wasn't ever going to happen again, but at the same time, I'm now an alpha of a fucking werewolf pack. I have an unusual mate bonding with Joey that many people want to experiment with and there's plenty of hunters in this world who are constantly searching for werewolves and werewolves' mates along with rogue packs that want revenge on my pack. "If it does happen again, I'll be okay. I'll come back and we'll have the rest of our lives to experience together. This isn't something you need to worry about though; there's a whole pack protecting me, okay?"

She nods against my shoulder before I turn up the volume on the TV and we guess the answers before the game show contestants do and just have a fun evening together as a small, little family that's recovering from a traumatic experience.

Two days later, Joey and I were walking from the car to the quarter house because they finally let me leave the hospital after running tons of tests on me. Joey wouldn't leave my side through the entire time. Even when they made me take MRI, he stood in the gallery to watch and make sure I was okay and because he's the alpha, no one feels like they can say no.

We walked into the house and I could immediately smell Lila's cooking and I had never been happier to have some home cooked food. Conner, Cody, and Melissa were sitting on the couch, watching TV but were more engrossed in their conversation than whatever was playing in front of them.

We said hi to everyone since I hadn't seen them yesterday or today before we made our way to our bedroom and before I even had the door opened all the way, someone had their arms around me as tight as they could be.

"I'm so sorry," Isaac sobbed into my ear and I ran my hands up-and-down his back to calm him down. He pulled away to look over me before laying his forehead on my shoulder and crying into it even more.

"I'm okay, I promise," I whispered to him and Oliver came over to me to give me a side hug before telling me that I was looking healthier than I did when he saw me when I was still asleep.

"You died and I couldn't do anything and I caused it because I was too weak to get out of the damn restraints and-" Isaac chokes out before Joey interrupted him by placing his hand on his shoulder.

"You did the best you could have. We don't hold anything against you because you did absolutely nothing wrong. Don't blame yourself, okay?" My mate said in a fierce tone and I noticed that his eyes were their electric blue, which meant he was probably thinking about everything again.

"You think your mate is going to get out of this one? As soon as he gets here, I'm going to rip his bright blue eyes out of his goddamn head and shove them down your throat." The words hit me like cold water being splashed onto my face and I stumble back, having to be caught by my mate.

"Baby, are you okay?" Joey asks as he slides his hands up to set on my shoulders. More phrases ran through my head that must've been said while I was asleep or not paying attention because I genuinely don't remember hearing them myself.

"...you dumb fuck"

"Someone seems a little protective of their alpha"

"I'll hurt that boy over there and we all know if he gets hurt, so does the other alpha"

Someone's hands force me to look into theirs, breaking me from my trance and I instantly feel the tears that are running down my face. I try to look away from Joey, but he lifts my face again to look at him. "You're okay, I promise you."

"It's my fault, I knew something was going to happen, I could feel it and I didn't say anything," I whisper as I sob into Joey's shoulder. He kisses my head before holding me close.

"No, baby, it's my fault. I knew how bad the rogue situation was and I still let us go. That's on me, not you. You have no reason to ever blame yourself," Joey whispers to me.

"There's no reason to blame anyone because no matter what, they would've found a way to do this. Even if it wasn't then, it would've been some time," Oliver says as he places his hands on Isaac's shoulder to lightly massage.

Cody popped his head into the room and held up a movie case. "We're about to watch a movie while we eat dinner if you all want to watch."

After I finish eating, I lay down to get comfortable with my head in Melissa's lap while she cuddles with Cody. Joey picks up my feet and starts to massage them while my whole body relaxes and I fall into a peaceful sleep.

"If you move, pup, I won't hesitate to kill him," the man says and Isaac immediately stops moving. I notice the way his eyes scan the situation to find a way where he can get the gun away, but he can't find a situation where a bullet doesn't go straight into my head. The man reaches blindly behind him to grab a needle that's already half filled with liquid and I yelp when the needle goes straight into my bicep. Isaac has to physically restrain himself from lunging the man as my body starts to become dizzy, but not so much that I fall to the ground.

The man reaches out and grabs my shirt collar and presses the gun to my temple. He motions for Isaac to go in front of us, so he can't do anything behind him while we walk out of the room. As we walk down a hallway, I notice the metal walls and the rust building up on it and it tells me that we are definitely in a warehouse.

The gun is pushed even more into my temple and I wince, then realize that I have a perfect opportunity to get the gun away from me. I have to mentally prepare myself because this could either go really right or really wrong.

I slam my hand up to connect with the gun, but he catches my hand and throws it down to my side before he kicks his foot into my lower back and I fall to the ground with a loud crack to my spine. I scream out and Isaac growls before turning around to attack the man. Before Isaac can reach the man, the gun is brought up and a bullet is brought between my best friend's eyes. "ISAAC, NO!"

I try to crawl over to him, but my back screams in pain and my legs go numb that makes me unable to move. The man kneels next to me before he puts the gun up to my head again, which burns my temple because of the shot he just fired, making me yell out in pain.

"I should've just killed you when I found you, you pitiful excuse for an alpha," the man says before he pulls the trigger.

I scream as I shoot up in the bed with sweat pouring down my face and I immediately hug my knees to my chest as I sob. I realize I'm in Joey and I's bed when he rushes into the room and takes me in his arms to hold me to his chest.

"Everything's okay, I'm here," he whispers to me as he places a soft kiss on my head.

"What'd you dream about?" Isaac asks as he sits down on the bed next to us with Oliver standing behind him. I see the way he's slightly fidgeting with his hands to stop them from shaking.

"He shot me," I whisper as I dig my head into Joey's chest as he holds me close to him.

"You're okay, you're safe, you're right here with us," Joey says to me and I hold my breath as I can feel the panic starting to rise even more in my chest. I reach out blindly to grab at my mate's shirt and Isaac gets off the bed to cup my face in his hands so I'm staring at him.

"Match my breathing," he tells me in a soft tone as he takes one of his hands to press against his chest to feel his heart beating. The panic still wants to be let out so it's difficult for me to focus on my breath.

I swallow before watching Isaac's chest as I can feel his heart beating underneath my hand and I start to let out slow, shaky breaths that makes my body shake to try and let the panic wash away as I match my breathing with Isaac's. He lets go of my face and I set my hand down before turning towards Joey again who brushes his hand through my hair.

"You were reliving it, Kade, and I don't want you to have even more trauma from this experience by you thinking of the possibilities of what could have happened. I want you to focus on what did happen because you're safe. You and Isaac are both safe and will be as long as I can help it, okay?" Joey whispers to me.

"Okay," I whisper back as I pull him to lie down and wrap his arms around me to feel warm and protected by his strong embrace.

"We'll leave you two alone," Oliver says as he places his hand on Isaac's shoulder who starts to get up before I shoot up and grab his hand.

"No, don't leave, please," I tell them before they exchange looks with Joey, who nods and they get comfortable laying on the end of the huge bed.

"Just go to sleep, baby," Joey whispers to me as he wraps his arms around my small figure and nuzzles my face into his chest so I can feel his chest beating underneath my head. I sigh in contentment before closing my eyes and falling back into a deep sleep.