eye on my mate for any sign of further distress.
The journey was over before I knew it, and I had a moment to be glad Matt had removed the gate separating his property from the rest of the pack, so I didn't have to slow down heading up his driveway. Then I realized Matt had no idea I was coming. Belatedly, I hit the Bluetooth and inspected my phone to call him. A short conversation later, I was already parked and lifting my mate as Matt and Eli came rushing out to greet me.
I barely had a chance to explain and request to see their epsilon before I found the man himself watching from the porch. Isaac, like every other healer-type I’d ever met, looked mysterious as hell and emitted powerful vibes, leaving little doubt of his gifts. I didn’t care how long that gray beard was or whether his shirt paired well with his red corduroy pants. I just wanted to know if he was the real deal. Then he spoke in the elevator and made me a believer.
His eyes were kind, even as his words socked me in the gut. "Don't worry. Thirteen is stuck in this form because his wolf is the sole thing keeping him tethered to our world. Your presence will assist in bringing him back. But first, we must take care of his wounds and alleviate much of the pain. All will be well in the end. It's been foretold."
When he referred to my mate as Thirteen, I assumed he was talking about how many patients he’d seen and couldn’t understand why. Maybe to take my mind off the stress while we headed to his clinic?
Looking down at my mate, then back at Isaac, I frowned in confusion. "Why did you call him Thirteen? Do you number your monthly patients or something?"
"Why ever would I do such a thing? No. I called him Thirteen because it is his name. Or rather, the number assigned to this dear, unnamed soul."
Fuck, if my heart wasn’t already breaking, hearing that nearly brought me to my knees My mate wasn’t merely unclaimed at birth—nobody had even taken a moment to name him somewhere along the way.
Eli asked the question before I could. "Pardon me for asking, Isaac. But how do you know the details?"
Isaac rocked back on his heels, managing to look bored as he glanced at the small, worried omega. "The same way I know everything. My spirit guide told me." After that, there was nothing but silence. We made to the clinic area and Isaac had me lay him on the scarred surface of a large wooden table. While he started his examination, I held Thirteen in place, mostly because I needed to touch him, and let my mind drift.
Somehow, not having an alpha scratch an X over your heart was nothing compared to being left unnamed. Maybe the fates knew what they were doing when they matched mates. I couldn’t think of anybody better prepared to love and protect this previously unwanted omega more than I would.
And when Isaac said my connection would be the only thing to save him since he was so loosely tethered to our world right now? Damn. My wolf wanted to break free and howl our pain. As badly as I wanted to do the same, I was doubly determined to save my mate. To keep him and hold him close. To love him so hard he wouldn’t remember ever having gone without it.
If any of my buddies could hear the sappy thoughts my heart was sending to my brain, they would either keel over from shock or laughter. Either way, they wouldn’t believe I was capable of it. Probably. I knew I hadn’t known I was this mushy.
Smiling at myself for being so weird, because who wouldn’t be mushy at a time like this, I blocked out the rest of the room while I began working alongside Isaac, picking burrs and brushing Thirteen’s fur with a soft brush. Isaac handled the physical first, removing a bullet from the right shoulder and tending to his wounded paws before he did anything else.
I had no clue why Isaac lit candles and spritzed incense while he chanted over Thirteen. There was more to the ritual—a rattling stick came out at one point, and a small gong was struck at another—but I barely paid attention to any of it.
My entire focus was on the small, toffee-colored wolf. Isaac guided my hands, resting one