"Oh?" Grace repeated, scowling at him.

"Grace, this evening is going to be really busy, I don't think now is the time to mark you." Brandon replied, scratching his neck and nervously looking down to the floor.

"You just said dealing with everything wouldn't take too long." Grace replied, narrowing her eyes at him accusingly.

Brandon stayed silent, adverting his eyes to look at his new pack members.

Grace scowled at him. "Unbelievable." She scoffed.

Turning her back to him, she picked up her crutch and walked away, ignoring the pull of an invisible rope that seemed to have wrapped around her heart binding her to him as well as the urge to land the end of her crutch in his own nether reasons. Aware that this may however prevent them from having children in the future, she refrained.

"Grace, come on. Please." She heard him say behind her.

Grace was angry and incredibly confused. He was a werewolf! They were meant to mark their mates within the first few days of meeting. It was part of who they were. The blood rituals kept their culture alive. Mating and Joining a pack- reproduction and safety. It were ingrained in their DNA just as much as it was for humans. She couldn't help but feel unwanted, unworthy.

"I honestly thought giving him some time would help, but now he's just being a tool." Amy said, wrapping her arms around Grace.

"I just wish I knew why." She said, sighing sadly. "Well done on being awesome today by the way. I think Chris is both in love with you and terrified of your ass kicking abilities at the same time." Grace said, glad to see her friend happy.

"Thanks, Grace. You were amazing too. If it weren't for you we would never have been able to get those cuffs off. With Hunt arriving so soon after we released him, things could have turned out very different if you weren't there. You'll make an awesome Luna- My Luna."

"What?" Grace gasped in surprise.

"Chris and his family are all over there, plus your my best friend, do you really think I would leave you to whip all these wolves into shape?" Amy laughed.

Grace smiled as a few of them glanced over, scowling, Chris the only one looking over with a huge grin on his face.

"Now you just need to get that mate of yours to explain himself." She continued.

"He has his reasons." Jake said, coming to stand by her side, offering Grace a reassuring smile. "But he should have talked this all through with you ages ago."

Grace shrugged, not trusting her voice in case the tears pricking at her eyes escaped. She didn't want to break down here in the middle of a field surrounded by people she was expected to co-lead.

Everything was consuming her. Her fears and insecurities beginning to play on a loop inside her mind.

Would Brandon ever mark her, claim her? Would his pack accept her? Would she ever make a good leader? Would she even become a leader? What about her old life? What would happen to her house? Would anyone miss her, did anyone miss her?

"Come on, I'll take you home. Thomas is staying behind to help clear this place up in case any humans stumble across it, and Amy is staying with Chris and going to the Arion pack as a representative of ours. I don't know what Brandon is planning on doing." Jake said, breaking the chain of thoughts.

They all turned to look at Brandon, who was staring back at them. His eyes narrowing at the sight of Jakes hand hovering on the small of her back.

"Take me home please." She whispered.

Thomas waved goodbye from a group of wolves that now surrounded Hunt's body, frowning when he saw that it was Jake and not Brandon that was leading her to the cars that Hunt and his men had abandoned at the front of the house.

Rolling his eyes, he stalked towards his friend.

Amy walked with her, giving her a quick hug before running off to stand by Chris, who automatically wrapped his arm around her waist and drew her close to him.

Turning away from the loving couple she walked around the house with Jake and after throwing the crutch onto the back seat, climbed into one of the cars.

"Hey!" Jake shouted as he attempted to sit down in the driver's seat. Instead, Brandon had him by the scruff of his shirt, pulling him away from the car. Without saying a word he climbed in slammed the door, started the engine and took off down the dirt track road leaving a grinning Jake behind in the dust.

They sat in silence, Grace crossing her arms in silent protest at him not talking to her about why he didn't want to mark her.

"Are you not going to say anything?" Brandon asked, breaking the silence as they reached the main road.

Grace scowled at him. "Apparently you're the one who is not telling me something." She replied.

"Please, Grace." Brandon said, glancing over to her as he continued to drive.

"No. Damn it Brandon! Don't you want me anymore? Is that it? Because if it is, please just tell me to leave and I'll go." Grace snapped, her insecurities on her mind.

The car skid to a stop.

"Is that what you think?" Brandon asked, turning in his seat, staring at her with wide eyes.

"What do you expect me to think?" Grace replied sadly. "I told you I loved you, you haven't said it back. I want you to mark me, but you haven't done that either and won't tell me why."

"I love you. You are my life." Brandon replied. His eyes serious, his fingers curling in her hair as he turned her to face him.

"I love you, Grace. When you said it first, I was shocked. I had planned out a picnic for the weekend, over by the lake with chocolate covered strawberries and everything so I could tell you." He took a deep breath as Grace sat in stunned silence.

"As for mating. I wanted to mark you the moment you woke up in the hospital and looked at me. You know, you blushed and your heart rate picked up." He chuckled at the memory.

"Then what's stopping you?" She whispered sadly.

"I'm afraid." He replied. His thumb moving her clothes away from her neck, softly caressing it with his thumb.

"Brandon." She whispered, wrapping her own hands around his shoulders, moving herself closer him so she was almost sat on his lap.

"I'm afraid that something will go wrong. I was reading up on your condition, how wounds take forever to heal, if they do at all. Then about how sometimes medicines, foreign chemicals you know, can make you even worse. What if my venom, on my teeth, going into your bloodstream, ends up poisoning you? Then there is the ritual itself, you know. Taking you to bed. Making love to you. I don't want to hurt you, my wolf will be in a frenzy and I can't promise not to hurt you. One wrong move and you could dislocate something!" His words tumbled out in a jumble.

"Why didn't you say anything sooner?" She asked.

"You were happy. So happy." He replied, as though her question had the most obvious answer.

"You're a fool." Grace punched his shoulder, angry with him for keeping all of his worries a secret.

"Firstly, so what if it takes a little longer to heal? That's just what happens. Secondly, fate would not have made me your mate if I couldn't actually go through the ritual to be your mate. I've had allergic reactions to just about everything. If something does go wrong, Doc is close by.

Thirdly, do you think people who are disabled just don't have sex? Come on! Sure we might have to adjust some things and take a bit more care, but that's all. I trust you, Brandon. I trust you with my life and I trust you with my body. I love you!"

"I love you too, and I'm sorry. You're right. Of course you're right. All I can think of are the ways I can lose you. I lost everything, then I found you and almost lost you too. Now I have my pack, I can be the leader my father always wanted me to be and the man you deserve to have."

"You will be an amazing Alpha, Brandon." Grace whispered, climbing into his lap, hugging him tightly.

"And you will be the strongest Luna I could have hoped for. You saved me Grace. Today you were the only thing that kept me going when I was chained to the wall. I thought I was dreaming when you waked into that room and took off those cuffs.

I had to survive in the fight was because I couldn't imagine not being there, next to you as you live your life. I know everyone will love you when we show them how strong you really are. Though I actually think everyone is a little bit afraid of you after they watched you club Hunt with your crutch, though I have to say I thought it was halario-." Grace put a finger to his lips, silencing him.

"Just shut up and kiss me."

---

THE END

30 days, 18 chapters and just under 35K words. This story was written live for the #justwriteit challenge of September 2015 and the #visible campaign, dedicated to getting more mental and physical disabilities and illnesses into literature (You can discover more information about #visible in the official campaign book on my profile)

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For more information about the conditions in raised in this book, please don't hesitate to message me and I can point you in the right direction for the country you are in.