~~
Griffin
~~
I couldn't believe my ears when I was told what was happening. The Alpha and Luna, Reece and Trinity, were on their way back from France. They were rushing to get home so they could strategize. There was going to be a battle. A possible conclusion to this war we have been waging over the last year.
The evil Warlock known as Edmond was advancing on the city and there would be casualties. I knew that there would be a lot of people injured. I knew that my services would be needed. But that didn't mean that I wasn't worried.
I didn't want to see any senseless loss of life. I didn't want to see those hideous monsters that had attacked us when we went to the Warlock headquarters. I didn't want any of this.
I wouldn't run away though. I wouldn't shirk my responsibilities. I am a man and a wolf. I would follow through with my duties with honor, dignity, and pride. That's what it means to be a man and a wolf.
I wasn't wanted on the front lines. I wasn't going to be there to see the battle. No, I was to be kept close to the edge of the city. I was meant to be on call for when the battle was over. I had to wait until I was needed.
There was someone else that was supposed to wait with me. Someone I hadn't met yet. She had come back with Trinity and Reece from France and had been granted an ability that was like my own. We were both healers, we wanted to help people. We were the same.
I was sitting in a coffee shop at the edge of town, waiting for the other healer to arrive. I didn't know what she looked like or even what her name was, but I would smell a wolf when they came in and I could just wait for her to come to me.
I had been waiting for about twenty minutes when I scented something that made my mouth water and my whole body want to react. A beautiful woman had just walked into the coffee shop. She had a lightly tanned complexion that looked natural, not like she had been in the sun to accomplish it. Her hair was chestnut brown and so long and wavy that I wanted to run my fingers through it. Her eyes, which I could see perfectly from where I was sitting, were such a bright crystal green that they looked partially transparent. She was stunning. The perfect figure, the most beautiful face, she was pure perfection and I was instantly in love.
I saw her looking around like she was trying to find someone specific. Was she trying to find me? She was a wolf after all. Was she the healer I was waiting for? I sincerely hoped so, because that scent of jasmine and tea told me that she was my mate.
I stood up, just staring at her and saw that she was looking at me with an equally shocked and happy expression that matched the one I knew was currently on my face. I watched with barely suppressed joy as she walked over to me with a smile on her face.
"A-are you Griffin?" She sounded nervous for a moment. Scared even, that she might have the wrong person.
"Yes, that's me." I sighed as I answered her, happy to have her come to me.
"My name is Lana." She looked relieved. "Queen Trinity sent me here to meet you."
"It's wonderful to meet you Lana." I was smiling happier than I had expected I would when meeting this woman.
I had given up on ever finding a mate. I was forty-four years old and had dedicated my entire life to helping others. I never thought I would ever meet the woman of my dreams and fate when such a trying time was upon us. I didn't know if I should trust what was happening or if I should think that I was dreaming. Just for good measure I pinched myself, hard.
"Ouch!" I yelped when I felt the pain hit me.
"Why did you do that?" Lana asked me as she sat at the table I had been sitting at.
"I wanted to make sure I wasn't dreaming. I wanted to make sure I was fully awake because you're like a dream come true."
"Are all the men here such charmers, or is that just you?" She looked nervous again, like she was worried about my reaction to her words.
"I don't know about the others, but I for one am happily falling for you already Lana." She laughed then and the sound was so sweet.
I hoped now that the battle wouldn't happen. All I wanted was to sit here and talk to Lana all day.
We talked all day. I learned that Lana had joined the Sentinelle when she was twenty-six years old but she still looked like she was no older than twenty. I felt like a pervert just thinking about her in a sexual way. I know that I didn't quite look forty yet but I know how old I was.
Still, I may look close to twenty years older than Lana but she was older than me. She was twenty-six when she joined the Sentinelle but that was in the year nineteen hundred and two. One hundred and nineteen years ago. That meant that Lana was now one hundred and forty-five years old. She was more than a hundred years older than me and still looked so much younger than me.
Did that make me a cradle robber or a grave robber? Or was Lana a cougar? I really didn't know how to label this age difference between us. Still, I was happy to have finally found her.
I also learned that Lana had joined the Sentinelle mostly because she hadn't found a mate yet and no one was interested in marrying someone with magic eyes. That was what the people of her village called the color of her extremely beautiful eyes.
Lana had learned of the Sentinelle and their loyalty to the future queen. She figured that if anyone would ever accept her differences it would be the future queen. She had served the Sentinelle with that hope in mind for so long. And apparently, she was not disappointed.
When Lana met Trinity she had been accepted immediately. Trinity didn't see anything different about Lana and the two of them got along well from the beginning. So well, in fact, that Trinity had gifted Lana with a healing ability just like mine.
I was happy to hear what Lana wanted to do, and what she was capable of doing. I would see to it that she was trained properly and proper documents were procured to allow her to be the lead nurse in my clinic. Lana looked like a quick study and I would love to work with her every day.
Lana said she no longer had any family since they would have perished long ago. Their descendants were not her family, according to her. She gave up that life and everything that was part of it.
I told Lana that my family came from a different pack. That I was brought here as a little boy to be raised by my extended family that had already fled the former pack. My sister had followed me shortly after. We had lived together until we came of age but I changed my last name and went to medical school. I wanted to live my life the way that I wanted.
My sister, Vivian, kept the family name of Westbrook. I know she had a baby that I never got to meet before she left town since I was in medical school at the time. I tried looking for her several times over the years but I never found anything.
The rest of my family back home basically meant nothing to me. Here in Colorado I had my uncle and his wife who raised me. They were my family but they passed away a few years ago. So, in a sense, both Lana and I were alone in this world, and that is why it was so much better that we finally found each other.
We talked endlessly. Buying more coffee, ordering sweets and even getting lunch. It was all so wonderful that it made me forget that we were going to have work to do. But life wouldn't forget since we were eventually called in by Trinity. We needed to hurry.
We made it to the battlefield as quickly as we could and we instantly saw the carnage and the senseless loss of life. I was called immediately to the side of a man named Shawn. I had met him before, he was one of the personal bodyguards for Trinity, the Luna.
Shawn was dying. He was poisoned. And there wasn't much I could do. I poured every ounce of skill and magic that I possessed into trying to heal the man but the toxins were moving through his bloodstream too fast.
I was forced to step aside as Shawn's mate, a vampire, turned him into something that none of us had ever seen before. Shawn was going to be half vampire and half werewolf.
While I did what I could to help Shawn, Lana had gone with Reece to help the others. Once it was certain that Shawn was going to live and I wasn't needed for him I too went to help the others. I healed the injured and helped to count the dead. It was not an easy day.
In the end there had been three dozen lost to the battle. I guess it could have been worse but it still pained me to see. A man who protected and valued life as much as I did would never be OK with the amount of violence that was in the world.
I wanted to spend more time with Lana when the day was over but I was too exhausted mentally and physically. I told her goodbye and promised to see her soon when she came for training at the clinic.
