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."

if anyone ever asks, | will deny this

have to take you down the hall,” his professional voice

down the hall? Do they need to run a test? Can't they

care if you are my Luna or if you think

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

cordially. “Hello Luna,” both the men

I'm not their Luna. | was their Alpha’s mate,

You sure you want

this, guys. She needs to be in there,” he raises his eyebrows

this room? He seriously wants me to heal someone

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

beat. He jumped off the cliff.

to

Sanchez, | don't think this is appropriate,”

ear from behind me, “They fished him out of the Blood River. His heart had stopped. They were

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

first rodeo when it comes to near-death experiences,” Marco says to the doctor, “Just be ready to take that

of-,” the doctor starts to

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

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

Luna,” he

it’s ice-cold and I can barely feel our

voice is quiet. Bronx is deathly still, not even a slight movement.

sorry Luna, but he can't hear