28

The rest of the trip away was cut short after only one more day, Isabella and Hunter were both too on edge to enjoy the rest of the trip and they both - even if Hunter didn't want to admit it - wanted to get home to try and start to help Leila as quickly as possible. The whole journey home Hunter seemed stiff and rigid, Isabella felt cold without actually feeling any cold air around her and she tried to sleep most of the journey with her head pressed against the glass window.

"Isabella, we're here" Hunter says gently shaking her arm making her jump up

They both start to walk towards the big pack house without saying a word to each other, Isabella knew it was only because Hunter was stressed but it was starting to feel as if she had done something wrong to make him behave in this way, he felt like a stranger.

"I'm sorry" Isabella whispers hugging at Hunter's side, she wasn't sure why she was saying sorry but she felt it to be necessary yet Hunter didn't say anything to her but he also let his arm on the side that she was hugging fall down on her back to hold her gently.

As they walked into the pack house, Hunter called out some names and within a couple of seconds they were right in front of him clearly showing that they had dropped whatever they had been doing to come straight to their Alpha.

"All of you on me" he mutters turning on his heel to walk away but when Isabella tried to walk alongside him he stopped abruptly

"My office" he barks and they all continued walking in that direction without even blinking

"Hunter" Isabella sighs looking up into his eyes, silently pleading with him to open up to her

"You need to go and see the Doctor remember, we both promised that you would go to see him as soon as we got back home" he explains before trying to walk away again but Isabella pulls him back, if he wanted to pull away from her he could've done but he allows her to pull him back

"I love you" she says her voice catching slightly

Hunter's eye instantly fill with warmth that he only has for Isabella and she knows that everything is going to be okay, he places his hands on either side of her face and just looks into her eyes for a couple of moments

"And I love you Isabella but you have asked me to do something, you asked me to find and help my sister and that is what I plan to do" he says before pressing his lips to hers so forcefully that all the feelings he had been holding back were flooding back between them

"Okay.. well you go and do what you need to do. I'll come and see where you're up too once I've spoken to the Doctor" Isabella smiles shyly before walking away, she can feel the smile on Hunter's face as she does as he momentarily forgets about everything that was troubling him.

-

"So how am I?" Isabella asks smiling sweetly at the Doctor who had walked back into the room

"Tired Isabella" the Doctor says sternly

"Huh?" she replies confused, she didn't feel tired

"I can see the confusion on your face, you might be sleeping but for whatever reason you're not truly going into a deep sleep so you might as well be awake" he says trying to explain further

"And how do I go to sleep even though I'm already asleep?" Isabella laughs at the strangeness of his explanation.

"You need to relax, I know that might be hard but you need to find a way to relax before you go to sleep at night so that you can get a proper nights rest" he shrugs not really knowing the answer him self

"But I'm needed" Isabella sighs, she wasn't even sure how true this was but she liked to tell herself this was the case

"Right now you're running on fumes and if you keep up this way you'll be no use to anyone because I will admit you into the hospital again on total bed rest" he warns and Isabella wants to argue it but she knows there is no point, he knows better than she does but she just finds it so hard to relax, she always had done since her adoptive father had died and everything had changed for the worse.

"Yes Doctor" she smiles with a mock salute

-

After meeting with the doctor and going over some other information about nutrition and keeping healthy in general. There was no physical injuries anymore but Isabella was forgetting about her own health to help others around here, the doctor knew all this without even knowing the details.

Isabella went straight to the kitchen to make some food even though she wasn't hungry, she liked interacting with people around the pack house she just wasn't very good at it. Luckily she bumped into Ava almost immediately who luckily had nothing to do until later on that night so she led Isabella to the cinema room of the pack house, there had been other people sat in there when they first went in but one by one they all made excuse to leave.

The look on Isabella's face said it all and Ava knew exactly what she was thinking.

"Hey don't let it get to you, they just need to see you like I see you. You're knew and have more power than they could even dream of so just spend more time around them so they can get to know you... I mean of course you're always going to have more power but you'll find that the more approachable you are to them the more they will be friendlier towards you" Ava explains before Isabella rests her head on Ava's shoulder, she couldn't believe how close the two of them had gotten and how nice it felt. It would be strange for any two people to get so close, so quickly but even more so for Isabella who had a hard time to trust anyone but it was particularly nice to have a female friend she trusted so they could talk about things that she couldn't talk to Hunter about.

"I mean..." Ava starts with a laugh "the last Luna wannabe that Hunter had in here was a complete bitch to everyone because she thought she was better than they were so they're worried you might be the same but once they get to know you'll they realise you're nothing like that"

Ava takes a huge deep breath after her rant only for it to hit her exactly what she said and who she said it too. Isabella's head jerked up immediately to look at Ava who had blushed dramatically. Ava knew that Isabella was one of the sweetest people she'd ever met but when people with mates got jealous they could be completely different.

"What was she called?" Isabella asked. I wasn't that she was going to do anything but clearly this relationship was somewhat serious if she was nearly the Luna and Isabella wanted to know about it, she knew that Hunter would have a life before her so it could be expected that he might have been in a relationship even if Isabella did wish that she was Hunter's first she knew that was unrealistic

"Her name is Chelsea"

In walks a stunning blonde girl with the longest legs, biggest smile and the perfect body figure. It was hard for Isabella to believe that Hunter could go from someone as beautiful as that to what she believed to be ugly self.

"Hello" Isabella smiles sweetly not wanting to come across as jealous

"Hi Darling" she says smiling patronisingly large "How is Hunter? I've been travelling round the world for the past two months and haven't seen him yet... does he still do that thing with his tongue?" she says keeping a completely straight face. Isabella feels the anger building and rising in her body but she forces it back down wanting to be the better person

"Well anyway, must dash. Let Hunter know that I will be seeing him very soon" she grins "Toodaloo"

"I hate her" Ava sighs "Well done you for staying calm"

-

When Hunter came to bed that night it was the first time Isabella had seen him since going to see the doctor, he crawled into bed, turned the lamp off at the side of the bed and lay down with his back towards Isabella and she knew she had done something wrong in his eyes

"What's wrong?" Isabella asked nervously

"What did the doctor say?" he asks turning on the lamp at the side of the bed and sitting up to look at her, totally disregarding her question

"Not much" Isabella shrugs not wanting to worry him even though part of her already knew he already knew the truth

"That's not what he told me" he points out like there isn't such a thing as patient confidentiality "I'm the Alpha King of course I can find out this information" is he also a mind reader? "He told me that you're exhausted and you're not eating nearly enough" he says like a parent rather than a mate

"I eat and I sleep.." Isabella shrugs trying to not make a big deal out of it

"Sleep I can't do anything about a part from making sure you have early nights and late sleeps in but the eating, I can help. Each day until I say otherwise you will eat 3 meals a day with someone - it will most likely be me because I know you won't want anyone else to know" Hunter explains with a warning face that says don't argue this

"But..."

"No"

"I know but.."

"No - there is no discussing this. I will do anything to make sure you're healthy and if that means force feeding you like a baby then that is what I'll do" he says once again lying down after turning the lamp off and going to sleep.

Isabella couldn't get to sleep due to the stress she was feeling, she this was the opposite of what the doctor ordered but her brain had just always worked in overdrive. Isabella would try to impress Hunter with the eating but she couldn't and wouldn't force herself to do something she didn't want too - forcing never helped anyone.

And they still had the Chelsea matter to discuss... if eating together solved anything they might be able to talk more.