Amnesia - The Matlock Pack: Book One

Thursday 31 December

~*Auden’s POV*~

I stood to the side and witnessed Kennedy and Casey’s ceremonies take place. It was clear they were both still shocked by the morning’s events.

I couldn’t help but think it was all well overdue. Spence had pushed Takeshi’s buttons so often these past few months, even years, that it was bound to only end with him losing his Beta position. With what had transpired over the past week, it made sense that Takeshi had finally had enough.

I only hoped the council would feel the same, especially as they hadn’t been involved in the choice of the new Beta or Gamma.

Once the ceremonies had taken place, Kennedy and Casey left the office, talking between themselves. The change of Gamma roles had come at the perfect time, as the Warrior Training course would start mid-January, which would give them plenty of time to complete the handover. Kennedy would have the harder time of the pair because he wouldn’t get a handover, but I knew Takeshi wouldn’t let him flounder.

“Do you think I’ve done the right thing, Auden?” Takeshi asked as the door shut. He leaned back in his chair and rubbed his eyes with the heels of his palms. “I’m so tired, I can’t think straight anymore.”

I moved to the chair that wasn’t blood soaked and lowered myself into it with a sigh. “How long have you been awake?”

He contemplated the question for a moment. “I don’t know.” He rifled through the top drawer of his desk and pulled out his phone. He clicked it on to see the time, then threw it on the desk in disgust. “Ugh… Fucking messages.” He rubbed his temples. “It’s almost eleven now, and I’ve been up since five AM yesterday… So, that makes it… What? Thirty hours, now?”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “And you don’t sleep much at the best of times, either.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Takeshi said, waving his hand around to dismiss me.

I focused on his palm, still wadded with blood-soaked paper towelling. I stood up and grabbed it over the top of the desk. “You need stitches, Takeshi. This wound is deep.” I studied him more closely, to find a deep gash running up his right arm hidden among a deep layer of mud, as well as several minor scratches and bruises littering his torso.

“I need a shower more,” he said with a tired grin. “And you still haven’t told me if you think I’ve done the right thing.”

I laughed and shook my head, my hands still holding his. “You know you’ve done the right thing; you don’t need my approval.”

His eyes met mine steadily, suddenly serious. “You’re right. I don’t need it. But it sure is nice getting it.”

I blinked at his sudden intensity, the tension that abruptly crackled between us. “You always have my support, Takeshi. You know that,” I said quietly. Taking a deep breath, I let his hand drop and went to the door, shifting back into doctor mode. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”

He watched me carefully from the other side of the desk before picking up his phone and getting up. “If you want to stitch me up, Auden, you’re going to need to do it in my apartment. You get way too professional in the hospital.” He strode past me, out the door, and headed down the corridor to the elevator.

I smirked and shut the door behind us. “That’s because I’m a doctor, you idiot,” I called after him playfully. He waved his hand over his shoulder in dismissal as he continued walking. I just knew he had a grin on his face at my words. “Let me get my kit and I’ll meet you upstairs.” He entered the elevator, turned around and gave me a thumbs up.

And yes, he did indeed have a grin on his face as the doors closed. Cheeky sod.

Shaking my head at him but smiling to myself, I headed for the stairs. Grabbing my field medical kit from the hospital, I took the elevator up to his apartment and knocked on his door, waiting for him to answer.

“I’m going to have to give you access,” he muttered when he opened the door, before immediately turning around to go back into his apartment. “Make yourself at home while I take a shower,” he said to me, heading for the bathroom.

I shrugged, then closed the door. “Be careful with your palm. The wound might re-open,” I called out to his disappearing back. Dumping my med-kit on the kitchen bench, I grabbed a glass to get a drink of water. I’d been here often enough over the years that it felt like a second home, so I settled on the couch, picked up a magazine from the coffee table and waited for him to be done.

A little while later, I heard a slight commotion coming from the bathroom.

“Uh, Auden? A little help here?” Takeshi sounded alarmed.

Groaning, I grabbed my kit and headed for the bathroom. “You opened your hand up again, didn’t you?”

“No…?” He let the word drag and made it rise at the end like he was asking a question.

“What have you done?” I asked flatly as I opened the door to the now hot and steamy bathroom.

Takeshi stood clean, but naked in the middle of the bathroom, holding a blood-soaked towel hard up against his right arm, with yet more blood dripping heavily from underneath it onto the tiled floor. “Technically, it isn’t my hand I’m worried about at the moment.”

I immediately went into triage mode. “Sit down.” Leaving the door open, I pointed to the toilet. He slipped over the wet tiles before stumbling into the toilet and onto the closed lid. I grabbed what I needed from my kit and peeled the towel from his arm to look at the injury. “You reopened the wound and the hot steam in the bathroom is making it bleed more heavily.” I looked closely at the gash. It looked like it had been done with a razor-sharp claw. “Spence did this?”

Takeshi nodded. “It was the only lick he got in.”

I reapplied the blood-soaked towel back to his arm. “Hold this and put pressure on it. I need a clean towel.” He followed my order, and I slipped over the wet tiles to get another one from the cupboard, then slid on my way back, before I knelt at his side. I picked up some antibiotic cream from my bag. “Okay, easy now.” I slowly swapped out the towels, getting him to apply pressure on the new towel.

When the towels had been fully swapped over, I applied pressure on his forearm to stop the bleeding while he held his upper arm. While we waited, I looked him over. His long black hair was still dripping water from his shower, as was the rest of him. Water droplets clung to his skin everywhere, but he looked clean of all the mud that had covered him earlier. The scratches that I had seen before looked like they weren’t going to be an issue for him, and the bruising was mild. My eyes were roaming his skin for any injuries, so I couldn’t help but notice his resting cock, especially when it twitched ever so slightly.

I felt my cheeks flush and looked away. Sure, I’d seen him naked many times when he’d shifted, but never up this close. The tension I had felt back in his office rushed back, the air crackling between us. What the hell?

I coughed awkwardly. “Uh…” I started, blinking as I tried to regain my professional air. “I think the bleeding has stopped,” I mumbled. “Can you keep pressure on it? I need to clean it before I can bandage it.”

There was a pause before Takeshi answered. “Sure, Auden.” His voice sounded gravelly, almost husky. So completely unlike how I’d ever heard him before.

Not looking at him, I rose from my kneeling position to go looking for a washcloth. Once I found one, I ran it under warm water, then grabbed a bar of soap and returned to him to clean the wound.

I began my work at his shoulder before moving down his arm to his wrist as he held it close to his groin. After the somewhat embarrassing moment earlier, I needed some time to collect my composure. By the time I’d finished, the water droplets that had been sitting on his skin had disappeared, yet his hair was still wet.

And his cock was now semi-erect.

I coughed again, then stood up and took a step back from him, watching him cautiously. “I still need to stitch your hand, but I can’t work on it in here,” I murmured. His darkened eyes were following me with curiosity. “There’s better light in the kitchen…” I was desperate to keep things professional between us. I was mated, for fuck’s sake!

Which reminded me…

“What did Cody do to me yesterday?” I asked, moving towards the door to head to the kitchen. “Why did I wake up here this morning?”

Takeshi let out a ragged breath as he stood up, wrapped the cleaner towel around his waist, and followed me out of the bathroom. “She made a deal. Her voice for your freedom.”

“She gave up her voice?!” My eyes widened as the consequences of her deal became apparent. I put my hand out to the kitchen bench as I swayed.

“It’s only until she finds her fated mate,” Takeshi said, coming up beside me. “It won’t be forever.”

“But what if she never finds her fated mate?” My heart pounded. What had she done?

“I guess she thought the risk was worth it,” he whispered. He put out a hand to wrap a loose tendril of hair behind my ear. “I can’t say that I altogether disagree with her.”

I stared at him. “Takeshi…” I said in warning, my head tilting away from his hand. “Jackie’s my mate.”

He let his hand drop. “No, Auden. He isn’t,” he said sadly. “Not anymore. You only need to look at where his mark used to be to see that.” He drifted his fingers along my collarbone where Jackie’s mark had been until yesterday, before pulling them back. “You’re free from him. Free to do what you want. Go where you want.” His eyes darkened again. “Fuck who you want.”

I gulped, then took a deep breath in. I have to keep things professional, even if my panties were suddenly warming in an alarming way. “Give me your hand. It still needs stitching.”

He smirked at me, knowing exactly the effect he was having on me, but gave me his hand, anyway. “We put you in here because we put Jackie back in your apartment. We thought here would be safer for you.”

I contemplated what he was saying as I worked on his hand. I felt him wince when I started stitching, but he settled down quickly. “Good call. I can only imagine what he’s doing right now.”

“You’re welcome to stay here until he moves out,” he murmured. I could feel his eyes on me as I worked.

“How sure are you he’ll move out?” I asked. I knew what Jackie was like. He’d probably stay there purely out of spite.

“I’m not. It won’t change the fact that you’re welcome here. For however long you need.”

I finished up the stitches and turned to face him. “Thanks Takeshi.”

He tilted his head in acknowledgement. “I’m always here for you, Auden. You know that.” He smiled warmly at me.

“I know.” I brought my hand up to his cheek and let my thumb drift softly over his skin. He closed his eyes and leaned into my hand before I realised what I was doing. I coughed and pulled my hand away from him and awkwardly held it to my chest, like I’d burned myself. “Uh… I should probably go and check on Cody,” I muttered before coughing again. “And Nat.”

His eyes were still closed when he smiled at my words. He slowly opened them and gazed at me with a cheeky, knowing look. “Sure, Auden. Whatever you need.” He glanced down at his palm. “Thank you for this.” He waved his stitched hand around. “I’ll switch on access to this apartment for you while you do what you need to do. It should work for you when you return.”

I nodded in thanks before escaping the apartment, leaving Takeshi standing at the kitchen bench smiling at me, still wrapped in the slightly bloodied towel.

What had I just got myself into?

I took the elevator down to the second floor where my apartment was, thinking that I should probably get some clothes if I was going to be staying at Takeshi’s for a while. Instead of going straight in, I paused at the front door. I put my hand on the handle and pressed my ear to the timber and listened. I couldn’t hear anything, but something felt off.

I jerked back when I felt something crash into the door, making it shudder. A second thud landed further down the hallway, then a third a minute later, further away still. I released the handle and backed away from the door as quietly as I could.

I guess Jackie wasn’t taking the loss of my mark as well as I was taking the loss of his.

Figuring my clothes could wait for another day, I took to the stairs and went up two floors to Cody and Nat’s apartment. I needed to talk to my daughter.

When she finally answered the door, looking bleary-eyed, I marched past her before she’d had a chance to get out of the way and headed straight for the sofa. “I’m guessing you were asleep.”

She nodded, then yawned as she joined me. She grabbed out her phone. “It was a long night.”

I took her hand in mine and stared at her. I took a deep breath, letting it out raggedly. “You didn’t have to do what you did, Cody.”

She smiled at me. A sad smile, a smile that told me everything without her having to say a word. Yes, I did, her smile said. And I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Letting my tears flow, I wrapped her in my arms, feeling the tension in her body. “Thank you, my darling, sweet child. I am so very proud of you.” I kissed the top of her head and held her close.

She embraced me, her shoulders heaving as she sobbed silently, the tension leaching out of her limbs as she wept. She must have been so nervous about how I would react.

Sure, I was furious with her for calling Nahi, but she was an adult. She could make her own decisions, her own mistakes. All I could do was be there for her when she fell, so I could lend a hand to help her back up again or cheer her on when she excelled at something. There was no use taking out my anger on her when the cards had already been dealt.

She’d made the deal with Nahi, just like I had so many years ago. And now, just as I had to live with the consequences, so did she.

After several minutes, we let each other go.

“I’m going to stay with Takeshi for a while,” I said, getting the conversational ball rolling. “He’s kindly offered to let me stay until your father leaves the apartment. I don’t know when that will be, but I’ll let you know once I do.”

She nodded, then picked her phone up. “Have you seen him yet?”

I shook my head. “I went downstairs before I came here, but I could hear him throwing things around, so I figured it could wait.”

She grinned at me and gave me a thumbs up.

“You glowed when she touched you,” I said cautiously. “You glowed like her.”

Cody let the smile drop from her face, but nodded.

“She changed the terms on you too, didn’t she?” I furrowed my brow. This was what I was most worried about.

She paused for a moment before typing. “I was almost like you, Mum. If I’d had sex, I would have become a mystic, just like you.”

Cody was still a virgin? Huh. I had to admit, that news surprised me. “If you’re not a mystic, what are you?”

“I’m just like her, Mum. I’m a Bunyip.”

I frowned as I thought that through. “What does that mean, Cody?”

Her fingers flew over her phone. “I don’t know yet, exactly. She’s told me I need at least a year’s worth of training. I’ve deferred my Uni course so she can train me.”

I let out a sigh of relief. It sounded like Cody had every intention of still going through with her tertiary studies, and a year wouldn’t make any difference to her overall life plans. And as much as Nahi annoyed me, I knew she’d train Cody well. It was me who always put off her sessions, never her. She took her powers extremely seriously, so I assumed she’d pass that dedication on to Cody.

Alternatively, Cody could loosen Nahi up a bit. Goddess only knew how much that woman needed to get the stick out of her arse. And if anyone could do it, it would be Cody.

“When do you start with her?” I asked, wondering how much time she was still going to be here for.

“Not sure, but it’ll be after the New Year. She said that there were things that needed to happen here before I could join her.” She shrugged, holding her hands in the air, palm up.

I rolled my eyes. That sounded exactly like Nahi. Giving just enough of a hint to allude to something, but not enough to let anyone else know what the fuck she was talking about. “What about Nat? She’s a Rainbow Serpent?”

Cody nodded, but raised her hands up in the air again to shrug. “You’ll need to talk to her more about that. Seems like Alex has secrets of his own.”

I chuckled. That didn’t surprise me in the slightest. “Will do. We have an appointment on Saturday, so I’ll talk to her and Alex more then.” I got up from my seat. “I’ll let you get back to bed, sweetheart. See you tonight for the midnight fireworks?”

She nodded as she walked me to the door. “I’ll come find you.”

I smiled as I left. She was a good kid. Slightly mad, but a good kid.