What is family

Anabelle opened her eyes, and she was in the infirmary. How did I get here she thought to herself? She began to sit up in the bed and realized she wasn't alone. Kayden sat in the chair next to her bed with a worried look on his face. "Are you okay, how do you feel?" he asked her.

She wasn't sure as she didn't exactly know how she got to the infirmary. "What happened? How did I get here? She asked groggily. "You fainted. The nurse did some blood work and um…" Kayden trailed off and looked away. Anabelle suspected there was something abnormal in her blood test that he didn't want to tell her. "What were the results Alpha", she asked. "I'm not sure right now is a good time", he began but she cut him off – "please tell me what the results were"

"Ehm well, your test results showed wolfsbane in your blood, which could have only been ingested in food or drink to go unnoticed. Have you been feeling okay the last few days?"

Now that she thought about it, Anabelle had found her food to be tasting weird the past week but had put it down to being in a new place and her nerves being shot. "Um. Yes, I have but I thought nothing of it, I mean I only eat in my mother's house so how would I have…."

Kayden frowned and she saw his eyes gloss over. He must have been mind linking a pack member probably Daniel, his beta. "I want you to stay in the packhouse for the time being until we can figure out how this happened and who put it in your food".

Anabelle nodded and agreed. She suddenly remembered that he was her mate and wondered what that meant. "So, um eh, I guess you're my mate," she said. He chuckled and said, "yes, we're mates".

She shuffled in her hospital gown and blushed when she realized she was naked underneath the gown. Sensing her discomfort, Kayden informed Anabelle that her clothes were in the locker beside her. "You needed an x-ray, just in case".

Just then there was a knock on the door and the nurse came in with discharge papers for Anabelle to sign, but Kayden took them and signed them. This annoyed Anabelle, she wasn't a child, she could fill out her own hospital forms. He must have noticed her grimace because he told her that as he signed her in, he had to sign her out. "Oh, and the discharge form needs your address, and you don't know our address yet".

She paled at this. Our address?? She was going to be living with the Alpha?? She felt like she was going to faint again. "Don't worry, we don't have to share a bed straight away if you're not comfortable with that. But we will need to mate soon as I am the Alpha and I need my Luna beside me" he said. With that, he took her clothes out of the locker and placed them beside her. "I'll be outside when you're ready to go" he smiled at her and left the room.

Alone with her thoughts, she realized what he had told her. Someone in her mom's house had poisoned her. She was mated to the Alpha. She would be living with the Alpha. Just then she realized that the only people in her mom's house were her mother and Evan. It had to be one of them that had put the wolfsbane in her food.

She knew that Evan was disgruntled about sharing their mother's attention, but would he really go as far as poisoning her food? She quickly got dressed and brushed her hair before exiting the room. She thanked the nurse for taking care of her and walked toward Kayden. "Ready to go?" he asked her. She nodded and he took her hand and led her out of the hospital. She wasn't used to holding anyone's hand, but she couldn't deny the feeling of warmth that filled her body when he touched her skin.

Wondering what the future would hold, she climbed into Kayden's car and realized the seat was warm. "I went ahead and warmed up the seat for you, it's electric and the controls are right there if you want to alter them. I hope you don't mind I just didn't want you to be cold", he said. This filled Anabelle with gratitude that he had thought to do that. "Of course, I don't mind Alpha", she said. "Kayden. Call me Kayden", he said smiling at her. "Kayden", she corrected and buckled her seatbelt.

Kayden lived in the packhouse on the very top floor. The second floor was reserved for the beta and his future family, the third and fourth floors were for unmated warriors, and the bottom floor was the kitchens and shared gathering areas. The packhouse had a huge garden outside for gatherings and parties.

Anabelle was in love with the packhouse. The only time she had been inside was a few hours earlier when she went with Daniel to see Kayden…. And fainted. God, what a way to introduce yourself to the Alpha she thought to herself, and our mate Luna added. Anabelle was still overjoyed she could hear Luna again, but at that moment, she shushed her.