••• Still Jason's POV •••

I watched the blood flow smoothly down the tube and into my mate.

  I keep checking my watch, and it's only been five minutes, but it feels like hours.

  I've spent the entire time, eyes glued open, staring at the tube leading down my mate's throat.

  I know that can't be comfortable. And she's gonna be sore when she wakes up.

  Not only her throat, but her jaw probably too. It's holding her mouth open, so it's gonna be dry as a desert.

  There's also a small trail of drool that's dripping out of the corner of her mouth.

  It's kinda cute.

  But every time my eyes go there, I can see the clear plastic so close by in my peripheral vision, so my mind shoots right back to the worst.

  At the end of the sixth minute, I finally allow my eyes to travel somewhere other than Maria's mouth or my watch.

  They rolled over her face. She's beautiful. I mean, I knew that before I saw her unconscious, but now she's just so. . . Peaceful. When she's awake, I don't like how she looks at me. She's either looking at me like I'm the most annoying person she's ever encountered, or like I'm the dumbest.

  Why couldn't it be something like fear? It's easily reversible and kills two birds with one stone. There wouldn't be any resistance and she could be an example for everyone else.

  But no, she has to roll her eyes, laugh like she knows something I don't, and keep her chin up.

  Why does she have to do the last one? It's the most obvious sign I have no control over the situation. It doesn't help me in my dealings and makes me look bad.

  I only need it to fall for a second. After, I would pick it right back up.

  And things would be so much easier.

  But now, her chin's up because her head needs to be tilted at an angle so she doesn't sophisticate. And she's not rolling her eyes, talking back or laughing at me.

  She's just laying there. Still, and. . . And helpless.

  That doesn't leave a good feeling in my stomach.

  But she also looks pure.

  Like the young girl she is, I suppose.

  The bold look she always holds in her eyes makes that fact slip my mind, I guess. She's only seventeen.

  'Yes, and probably very inexperienced.'

  Ki!

  'What?! Don't worry, we'll fix that.'

  I rolled my eyes.

  He has no filter.

  My gaze went straight back to her.

  This all just makes my heart ache for her more. How beautiful she is, but also how much pain she's in.

  How much pain she's in because of me.

I can't believe I did this to her.

And after today, I have to go on hurting her, because backing out of this deal is not an option.

I just wish she would just, compromise. It's not that hard. She's making it so much more complicated than it needs to be. She's the one that can change all this. Is it really that hard to just submit? And if she does, everyone else will follow.

Ugh! Why does she have to be so difficult!

'I know, many have told her we will be just and kind rulers. Once we get through the bumpy patch, we could actually start living up to that. But noooo.'

I nodded and sighed out of frustration.

. . . Ki, this doesn't get in the way of your plan, does it?

'No, but it's going to take a while to get any sort of results. It was going to anyway, but this might have set us back a bit.'

Okay, as long as we're not ruined.

'Oh, far from it.'

I nodded. Good.

 
  It was hard eyes that fell on Maria next.

  And then they immediately softened when they took in her state again.

  Okay, enough plotting against her. We'll have her to ourselves soon. Her love and submission.

  Well, maybe not soon, but at some point.

  For now we can feel guilty for what we did.

  . . . Look at her Ki.

  'Don't remind me.'

  "Hey," Rose's voice sent Ki to the back of my mind. "Don't worry too much," she told me.

  "I mean, worry, feel bad, you deserve it. But not too much. She's had worse, she can take it," she said.

  "Is that supposed to make me feel better?" I raised my brow.

  She shrugged, "Maybe. But it could have also been a wake up call."

  "Wha —"

  Before I could ask the girl what the h3ll she meant by that, Maria started jolting and squirming.

  Ki immediately came back to the forefront, but stayed tensely quiet. I, on the other hand, "What is going on!?" I questioned, jumping out of my chair. But it didn't last long. I swayed from side to side, then fell right back into the chair.

Oh right, blood being drawn, better take it slow.

"What's happening to her?!" I asked again, only leaning forward this time.

  "Exactly what they told you to bring us here for," Rose said, her and Brandon Jumping into action.

They took an arm each and pinned it to the bed, while Doc rushed to detach me from the blood sucky machine thingy. The thick liquid abruptly stopped flowing through the tube, which is good, because Maria started making unsettling choking and gagging sounds a second later. The doctor ripped the tube right out of her throat, and I had to restrain myself from jumping up and yelling at her to be more careful.

I can feel Malaki fidgeting, agitated and jumpy, as well.

She knows what she's doing, I breathe to calm us both down.

My attempt to keep my cool didn't work for long, though, because Maria's jolting and squirms turned to full on thrashing of her limbs. I felt my breathing and heart rate skyrocket to a million. Rose and Brandon looked like they were seriously struggling to hold her down. I was having a war with myself trying to decide if I should help hold her down, or pry the two off her.

  My eyes were raking her body frantically, trying to figure out whatever was causing this fit. They finally found their way to her face, and she no longer looks peaceful. Her eyebrows are furrowed together and I can't tell if that's a layer of moisture over her eyelashes. She's letting out small whimpers that are jabbing at my heart strings. She looks. . . scared. Terrified.

  "Alright! What the h3ll is going on?!" I hollered, standing up and leaning over her, ignoring the dizziness.

Brandon let out a strained sigh, "She's having a nightmare," he informed me with suppressed panic in his voice.

It made my own panic build in my chest. I looked around frantically at everyone, "Well, wake her up!"

  I didn't even think to question how the h3ll a simple nightmare could cause all this. But how could I, when she looks like she's witnessing something terrible right before her strong eyes? It's even more heartbreaking that it's all behind her lids, and I can't do anything to stop it.

  When no one jumped into action, anger racked through me. I let out a growl fit for an alpha and took action myself.

  Mid reach to her shoulders, I was grabbed from behind. The anger built up into almost rage at that.

  What the h3ll are they doing trying to keep me from helping my mate?

  I struggled and pushed and pulled, and the weight on my shoulders only intensified.

  I heard something distant. Something maybe calling out to me. I wouldn't know, though. I'm so focused on being outraged and panicked at the same time that I can't hear Rose calling my name.

  Until she slaps me across the face, and physically moves it to look at her.

  "Listen! If we wake her up now, there's no telling what she'll do! She won't be able to think straight and might very well attack us and win." She gave me a pointed look right into my eyes.

  "Yeah," Brandon started, "she's pumped up on blood directly from a live source. Her mate's at that."

  "So. . . that's bad?" I hear a familiar voice from behind me.

  I looked back, and it's my second in command helping to hold me down.

  He saw me looking and shrugged. "I figured they knew what they were talking about."

  Before I could react, Brandon answered his question. "A pure blood that just drank from a live source without it being apart of their regular diet? Yeah. It's bad. She's practically on cocaine."

  Wait what?

  "Why?" I question, trying again to calm myself down a bit.

  "Because, basically, you get this huge power rush, and it heightens all your senses, including your talent, and if you're not used to it — especially for a pure blood — it can be. . . Rough," Brandon explains.

  I narrowed my eyes at him, "what do you mean 'rough'?"

  Rose looked back up from Maria with an annoyed expression, "They go all koo koo crazy because, they can't control their senses. We have to wait it out so she can calm down."

  "I swear, man, you need to get educated," Rose tacked on, shaking her head and focusing back on Maria.

  Zach and the doctor are no longer holding me back, but I can tell Doc is still ready to pounce at any second.

  "Hey, cut me some slack," I put my arms up in defense, "you're a different species."

  "A different species that you took over the territory of," Rose shot back.

  "Well —"

  "Yeah, did you not do any research?" Brandon rose his brow.

"I did but —"

"And, your mate is one," Rose shook her head disapprovingly again.

"What does that have to do with —"

"AH!"

~~~~~~~~~
(A/N)

Hehehe. Yay cliffhangers.

Stay tuned!

This chapter was 1,600 words of Jason talking to other people, (in alternative to himself) while Maria was asleep the whole time. Progress.

Thanks for readiiinnngggg!

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~ The Awkward flower