Forever in the Past and Forever in the Future

When | wake up, Marco is sitting in the corner of the room. He stands and walks over to me when he

sees me stir.

“Luna, you're awake. Everyone's gonna be so relieved,” he sighs.

“Marco, how long was | asleep?” | rub my eyes. | still feel exhausted.

“You've been in and out of consciousness for about two days, Luna.”

| look away from him as | think back to the events leading up to right now.

“Call me Kas, Marco. I’m no one's Luna,” | scoff.

“Okay, Kas, since we gonna be casual now, I'm gonna give it to you real,” his voice is calm, but his

professional voice is gone and his Spanish accent is much thicker than I’m used to hearing from him,

“First off, | wanna apologize for hurting you. | was doing what my Alpha ordered. It felt all wrong and |

could see it was all wrong and | shoulda fuckin’ known better. | wanted so badly to just tell you but |

wasn't allowed. | wanted to quit and just go back to being a regular guard. Cause | didn't wanna see

you hurt like that, you know? But | didn’t want you to think | abandoned you. So | stayed for you. You're

more than just my Luna. You’re my amiga. Shit, you're more like my lil' sister, Kas.”

He puts his hand over his heart and looks up, “| swear to the Moon Goddess, on my fuckin’ life, Kas. |

swear Mama Sanchez's life. As long as I'm your guard, | will never let no bullshit order from anyone get

in the way of your safety ever again. It ain't gonna happen. Not while I’m on duty. Not while James is on

duty. Cause he feels the same way.”

| don’t know what to say. | appreciate his apology. | know why he behaved the way he did, but I’m still

angry and hurting. | turn my head away and look out the window.

“Now, with that outta the way. | gotta say, I'm fuckin’ mad at you, Kas,” his voice is thick with attitude

and disappointment. | whip my head back around to glare at him. Excuse me? He’s mad at me?!

“If something was wrong or something was bothering you, I’m hurt and personally offended that you

wouldn't trust James or me to tell us there was a problem. We woulda found a way to help you,” he

turns his face to look me straight in the eyes and shakes his head, “We're your guards. And you didn’t

trust us enough to tell neither of us nothing. We thought you knew that you could talk to us about

everything. But you didn’t even consider it. That’s a sharp fuckin’ knife in the heart, Kas. The three of

us spent so much time together. We've been through so much together and you can't trust us enough

to say you were going through some shit?”

“I-I’m sorry, Marco. I-didn’t me-” He holds his hand up.

“Don't. If you'd rather have guards that don't give a shit and just follow orders. Guys that just do their

fuckin’ job and go home at the end of the day and don't think about your well being once they off the

clock, just say the word and James and | will step down. Otherwise, just remember next time there's a

fuckin’ problem, we consider ourselves more than just your guards and we hope you think the same,"

he scolds.

"I-L understand," | say, looking at my hands in my lap, feeling very guilty now, "I don't want you or

James to step down. | would very much like for you two to stay on as my guards. And | promise, if |

have a problem, | will speak to you two about it."

"And if anyone ever asks, | will deny this conversation ever happened. Clear?” “Crystal,” | murmur.

“Now. Kas, | need you to get in the wheelchair. | have to take you down the hall,” his professional voice

has returned as quicky as it disappeared.

“Why? What's down the hall? Do they need to run a test? Can't they do it here?”

“Kas, you've only been awake ten minutes and you're already trying my patience. Please get in the

wheelchair before | make you. | don’t care if you're a goddess. | don’t care if you are my Luna or if you

think you are no one's Luna. | need you to come with me down the hall and the doctor said you're not

allowed to walk there.”

His tone is a little too firm, so | decide not to test him further. He helps me climb out of the bed and into

the wheelchair. When I’m comfortable in the chair, he puts a heavy blanket over me and wheels me out

of the room. He casually rolls me down to the other end of the hall, humming lightly as he goes. We get

to a room with two armed guards standing at the doorway. They stand at attention when they see us.

“Arnie, Tyree,” he greets the pair cordially. “Hello Luna,” both the men say in unison as they bow their

heads to me.

“Yeah,” | say. | hate the formalities. I'm not their Luna. | was their Alpha’s mate, but that is gone now.

“Hey, Marco,” Tyree says, “He's still out. You sure you want to take her in?”

“She is literally made for this, guys. She needs to be in there,” he raises his eyebrows at the guards.

Who the Hell is in this room? He seriously wants me to heal someone right now? He must be joking.

Arnie opens the door and stands back. Marco wheels me into the dimly lit room. There is a light over

the bed, illuminating a man surrounded by wires and tubes. Tubes are going into his mouth helping him

breathe and IVs are pumping fluids into him. Little beeping sounds are coming from multiple machines.

A doctor and nurse are standing next to the bed looking at a clipboard. “Greetings, Luna,” the doctor

says to me sympathetically, but | barely register that he’s talking.

It can't be. It can’t. Can it? No. My heart skips a beat. He jumped off the cliff. He crashed into the river.

He died. | saw it.

| look at Marco confused as | start to stand up. He takes my hand and helps me.

“Mister Sanchez, | don't think this is appropriate,” the doctor says.

Marco ignores the doctor and quietly speaks into my ear from behind me, “They fished him out of the

Blood River. His heart had stopped. They were able to resuscitate him but he isn’t healing. He needs

you, Kas.”

He pushes a button on the side of the bed and it lowers down, making it easy for me to climb on.

Wordlessly, | navigate around the tubes and wires, never taking my eyes off the man's face, and sit on

my knees next to my mate. | can’t take my eyes off of him. He is so bruised and swollen that if | didn’t

feel the faint pull of our bond and smell his coffee and dark chocolate scent, | wouldn't have known it

was him. Bronx is alive.

“She knows what she’s doing, Doc. This isn’t their first rodeo when it comes to near-death

experiences,” Marco says to the doctor, “Just be ready to take that breathing tube out when he wakes

up.”

“Mister Sanchez, the chances of-,” the doctor starts to say.

“I can do it,” | growl, never looking away from Bronx. In the corner of my vision, | see him back up a

step.

“This is different than last time, Marco. | won't be able to heal him all at once. It's going to need to be

several sessions to completely heal him. Doctor, will you be able to keep giving him pain medicine once

he wakes up?” I still don't take my eyes off of my mate. What if | look away and he disappears? It

seems like a legitimate possibility at this point because this has to b ea dream.

“Yes, Luna,” he confirms obediently.

| take Bronx’s hand, it’s ice-cold and I can barely feel our sparks.

“Bronx? Saint?” My voice is quiet. Bronx is deathly still, not even a slight movement. | brush my fingers

over the stubble on his chin. Still nothing.

“I-I'm sorry Luna, but he can't hear you,” the doctor says sympathetically.

| give him a threatening glare, making him back up a couple more steps.

“Lex, are you there?” | say as | close my eyes. “Yeah, Kas. I’m here. | feel more like an ass than a wolf.

| caused so much trouble and now our mate is hurt,” she whimpers.

“Lex, we can talk about it later, right now, we need to heal him. Just like we learned at the coven,

alright? Nothing fancy. All by the book. This is going to be complex. Focus on the most important body

functions first. Okay? Just enough to wake him up and help Saint to start healing him. Then we rest

and come back to do more later.”

“Okay, what are we waiting for? | have to fix what | caused. Let's do this,” she says with determination.

| pull off some of the sensors on his chest so | have room for my hand to lay flat. The sensors start

going crazy. The nurse rushes over and turns off the machines they are attached to. | place my one

hand on the middle of his chest and the other on his forehead, then close my eyes. | take several deep

cleansing breaths to focus. | start with his heart and lungs, then his brain, and his bones and organs. |

flow my energy in sealing tears and breaks, pulling out the weakness, absorbing it into my own body. |

finally heal bones leaving my positive healing energy behind. | feel the warmth on my hands as the

energy goes into him.

| hear the nurse gasp. | open my eyes to see her staring, mouth wide open, at the purple aura around

us glowing brightly.

| look down at Bronx as his eye flutters open and he groans loudly. He looks around groggily before his

eyes land on me. He turns his head to me and tries to raise his hand to touch me. Marco gently puts it

back down.

“Don't move yet, Alpha,” he says gently to Bronx.

"Marco's right, Sweetheart. You need to let that dose of healing energy absorb before | do it again,” |

whisper softly to him, “We don’t want a repeat of France. Is Saint in there with you? Is he okay?”

Bronx nods slowly and points to his mouth. The nurse comes over and removes the breathing tube,

making him cough weakly. “Alpha, don’t try to talk yet, not until you've had some water. I’m going to add

morphine into your IV for the pain. You're going to feel sleepy. Don't fight it. Your wolf will be able to

help heal you better when you're sleeping,” the nurse instructs. He gives her a weak thumbs up.

Marco pushes a button so Bronx is sitting upright and holds a cup of water with a straw so Bronx can

drink.

After a few deep gulps, Bronx finally speaks. His voice is gravely and quiet, “Did we get him?”

“Yes, Alpha,” Marco confirms, “Beta Milo is working with the Elder Council to wrap up details. No need

for you to worry about any of that now, sir. Just focus on recovering. That's what is most important.”

Bronx just nods, “Thank you, Marco. Can | have some time alone with my mate, please?” Everyone

bows to him and leaves the room. Before Marco closes the door he says, “I'll be right outside if you

need anything, Luna, but | don't think you have anything to worry about anymore.”

| nod and Marco closes the door, leaving Bronx and me alone with the beeps of the monitors.