Tyla's Fight

"I don't want any damn tea!" Tyla threw her arm up, slamming it into William, causing the glass teacup to go flying out of his hand and shatter against the bedroom wall.

He growled out of frustration and helplessness, as his Moon Bride continued to fight the heat and refuse help from him or Iris.

"Don't take it personally." The old healer told him. "A female in heat is a force to be reckoned with. Her wolf is angry, but your wolf needs to show her affection and tenderness."

"She won't even let me near her." He put his fingers to his forehead and massaged down to the brink of his nose, sighing loudly as the stress of Tyla's heat was draining him.

Tyla ignored him and the nagging healer. If it was up to her, they'd both go away and leave her alone. The pains in her body we're getting worse; stronger and more frequently. She'd been told about wolves going in heat, but her pack hadn't suffered heats for decades.

"Honey, if you'd just mate with your groom, the pains would subside. It's the calling of the Moon." Iris told her. "The Moon may even bless you with a child."

Tyla hurried to the bathroom and puked into the toilet. The thought of a child at that moment made her sick, well, it may have been the heat that physically made her vomit, but she definitely did not welcome the idea of getting pregnant by William. In truth, she wanted William; her body throbbed at the thought of mating with him. It wasn't her lack of sexual desire keeping her from taking him to calm the heat, it was the knowledge that William was in love with another female, Sasha. If Tyla got pregnant, he could take the baby from her and raise it how he'd choose, even though they were married by the Moon.

Males had authority among wolves, especially powerful males with powerful families. Sure, her own father was powerful, but Alpha Tyler didn't care about her, he'd never support her fight to keep the baby of William decided otherwise. So, she'd suffer through this heat, even if it took weeks so that she wouldn't bare his child.

Tyla washed her mouth out and then walked back out into the bedroom. William was across the room, hunched over the chair, as though he was suffering from something as well.

"It's getting harder to ignore the urges." He told the women.

"You're doing well." Iris put her hand on his back to offer some comfort. "Please, at least eat and drink something, both of you," Iris said as she pointed to the food she'd sat down nearby. "You'll both need your energy."

"Fine." Tyla griped, but she grabbed some fruit and began eating. The sweet natural sugars on her tongue soothe her for a moment as she savored the taste and the calmness in the air.

"The fruit will help. So will the tea that you just spilled all over the floor." Iris eyed her. "I've been involved in treating this pack since I was a young girl hanging on my mother's apron as she helped deliver were babies. If you'd trust me, perhaps I could help. Don't you trust your own pack's healers?"

"Azzora doesn't have any of their own healers," Tyla told her. "We usually use the pack hospital and facilities."

Tyla's grandfather had helped found and fund the local private hospital that all the upper packs in this part of the region use. The doctors, nurses, and staff were all supernatural and of course, the private hospital only excepted supernatural patients. The hospital wasn't only for emergencies or surgeries; it had general doctor's offices and even a dentist's office so wolves could avoid a human dentist discovering their fangs.

The private hospital and others like it around the world were great for the wolves that lived in secret among the humans, but it also took away the power of the healers that benefited the packs as they had for thousands of years under the Moon. Healers, like Iris, were special and brought something personable and in some ways enchanting to the packs. Packs that abandoned the Moon's gifts were sacrificing something irreplaceable, and healers were indeed gifts.

"Dear," Iris put her hand on Tyla's chin and gently pulled her head up to face her. "I know that your pack has lost many of our ways, but you being around this pack has awakened some of them inside of you. That is most likely why William was able to turn under stress, while usually, your pack can't. It's why you are in heat, but I worry about you since this is new to you. Typically, a female in heat will mate with a male to calm the heat. If the female doesn't mate, it could take weeks. It's painful and torturous, even with a healer's help. I worry that if you won' take your male, your heat may be even more complicated with your pack's condition. It may be longer and even more painful.

"No!" Tyla refused once more. "I'll deal with it."

The sound of footsteps coming down the basement stairs interrupted Iris's urging.

"Iris!" Beta Payne opened the door to the bedroom and called out to the healer. "Alpha Ram needs you to come back and look over Tymarie."

The Beta stopped speaking and looked pale as his eyes suddenly widened and he jerked his head sideways, taking in the scent of the air around him.

"Out!" Iris yelled at the male, but he seemed to not hear her as he stepped towards Tyla. "Payne, out now!"

Payne ignored her, as though he was in a trance, stalking towards the female in heat. Iris grabbed his arm and slapped him hard in the face. The male shook his head as the sting of her hand seemed to awaken him from the trance.

"Get out of here!" She told him once more.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean…" The Beta looked embarrassed as he gained composure and backed away.

The sound of two more males behind him coming down the stairs alerted Iris. The males were in the same trance from the heat. William began to growl as he lunged himself in front of Tyle to protect her from any male that came her way.

"Go get your men out of this house, Payne. Don't let any males here again!" Iris ordered the male. Payne nodded in agreement and took off out of the room, slamming the door behind him. She could hear a struggle outside of the door, but it was brief, and it was apparent that Beta Payne had full control of the situation now.

William was still standing guard only inches away from Tyla and she could hear a low growl still coming from him. His growl had a new effect on her body and she hated herself for being so attracted to the male that devoted himself to someone else.

"I have to go," Iris told them. "I need to go check on your sister. I'll return later."

Tyla closed her eyes as a wave of pain washed over her aching body. She moaned as she gritted her teeth and gripped the pillow on the bed beside her.

"I need to go too," William announced to Iris. "Tell the Alpha to have his men lock me in the barn or somewhere other than this house, but you need to take me out of here too."

He was sweating and breathing heavily and he stepped away from Tyla.

"No, you can't leave me here alone," Tyla said.

"I have to." He told her.

"How convenient." Tyla sighed as the wave of pain faded away and she got a moment of relief before the next wave would come.

"Tyla, you don't understand," he said. "Your heat…it's getting stronger and I'm getting weaker. It's going to be uncontrollable for me soon. You refuse to mate, so I have to get out of here before it's too late. It's getting too hard to fight it."

Iris nodded in agreement and headed with him to the door.

"No!" Tyla screamed out to him. "Stay. Just stay. You won't need to fight it. I'll stop fight it." She closed her eyes as another pain hurricanes over her. "I need you. I want you."