25. Raine
25
Raine
True to Rose’s word, Wren does show up bright and early in the morning.
She grumbles as she rolls out of bed, pushing past him with a shove of her shoulder that barely even moves him. His eyes fixate on me as he hovers in the doorway, causing me to sit up and rub at my eyes.
I’m just about to throw back the covers, figuring that he wants me to join them, when he says, “Food will be brought to you shortly. Do you need anything?”
I open my mouth, about to tell him no, when a wave of nausea hits me. I haven’t eaten in days and at the mere mention of it, my morning sickness has decided to rear its ugly head.
Shoving my sheets back, I try to move as slowly as possible as I rise to my feet. The room around me spins while black spots cloud my vision. I’ve been running on pure adrenaline these past few weeks and without any food in me, it seems my body’s finally decided to call it quits.
I sway on my feet as I try to head for the bathroom. Suddenly, the room around me goes blurry.
“ Shit! ” is all I hear before darkness claims me.
***
My body feels weird when I come back into consciousness. I have no idea where I am or what time it is. The fuzzy memories of when I collapsed are the last thing I remember.
Voices surround me, sounding near and far at the same time.
“…yeah, because they haven’t fucking fed her , Nyx.”
“She’s a breeder. She’s supposed to be well-fed.”
“ Look at her . She’s skin and fucking bones. I’ll be surprised if she hasn’t already lost the pregnancy.”
The answering growl sends a chill down my spine. “ Don’t say that shit.”
“Well, that’s the reality of what we’re dealing with.”
I struggle to push through the darkness surrounding me, but it’s so hard to. Everything is heavy, weighing me down until all I can feel is the pressure to remain where I am. Curiosity has me interested though; I want to know what they mean.
It sounds like Wren talking to, or rather scolding, his alpha.
Which is…not good. Especially if they’re talking about me. The one silver lining to all of this is that I know for a fact that I’m still pregnant. However, if Nyx is planning on me getting rid of it so he can get me pregnant himself, then what does it matter if I lose it?
That’d certainly make his life easier.
“We need to take her to a healer,” Wren says.
There’s a long sigh that answers him. That’s all I remember hearing until my waves of dizziness pull me back under and I’m lost to the darkness yet again.
For some time I float there, letting my body relax into the nothingness that I can only describe as beyond oblivion. Here I don’t hurt. My pain and suffering are nothing and mean nothing. I want to stay here forever, and yet, my wolf howls at me to return to the surface.
Blinking my eyes open is harder than I remember, but when I finally manage to, the light overhead is soft.
“Hey, she’s awake.” Rose’s voice comes from somewhere on my left.
I try to lift my head up from the pillow, but find it difficult to move even a single inch off of it. Instead, I turn my head to the left to see where Rose is, and find myself staring at a very real line of fluid hooked up to a needle going into my arm.
My eyes widen immediately.
“Oh shit.” Rose’s hand darts out to press down on my shoulder, keeping me pinned to the bed. “Don’t move, or you’ll rip the line out.”
I wasn’t planning on it, but now I’m feeling suddenly claustrophobic.
Had I been so bad that I needed an IV? And how the hell did they get this?
“Let me take a look at her.” An older woman comes into view, her eyes squinted from age while she readjusts the glasses perched on her nose.
I hold still while she leans over me, examining me with her eyes while she hums softly to herself.
“Um.” My throat is so dry. “I’m fine.”
Behind the older woman, I spot Rose crossing her arms and giving me a frown. Clearly I’m not all that convincing.
“Dear, when was the last time you ate?” the older woman asks.
My lips part as I try to think up some kind of lie, but nothing comes to mind. My head is so fried from being locked down in the cellar that I can’t even think of the kinds of foods I should be eating while newly pregnant.
She leans away from me and then presses her hands into my stomach.
The discomfort has me grunting.
“Still in there,” she says, smiling at me.
For some reason, Rose lets out a soft exhale. When I glance over at her again, she looks more relaxed than she had been only a moment earlier. “I can go get her something to eat.”
“I believe our alpha is already doing that,” the woman quips.
Rose nods. “You need anything for her, granny? Ointment? Supplements?”
“No. But could I trouble you for a glass of water? I believe our breeder is thirsty.”
Rose turns away from the bed and walks around to the other side of the motel room. She heads out of the room with the key in her hand, shutting it snugly closed behind her and leaving me and the older woman alone together.
She gently pulls my sheets back up over my body, tucking me in like a grandmother would their precious grandchild.
It strikes me as so odd, considering she hardly knows me.
“I’m sorry to meet like this,” she says, smiling again. The wrinkles in her face deepen as she does so. “I’m Elder Eris.”
Elder? Wait, surely Nyx didn’t actually run all the way to his packlands to retrieve her and bring her back here, right?
Fuck, how long have I been out for?!
“Um. Raine. It’s nice to meet you,” I say. “How long have I been asleep?”
She turns to readjust my IV drip. “A few days, dear. You gave everyone quite the fright.”
Days. Gods…
“Sorry,” I mumble.
If Daniel would’ve let me have even a scrap of fucking food before he gave me away, then maybe none of this would be happening.
My anger for him flares.
He risked my baby too, but of course, he couldn’t give two shits about that either.
“How are you feeling, dear? A little bit better? I put some vitamins in the drip as well. You looked awfully pale when I arrived. Was your previous alpha not aware of what to feed a pregnant female?”
I swallow and shake my head.
At this point, it’s better to simply keep my mouth shut. Anything outside of that is only going to further cause damage to whatever reputation I have left.
My entire body jolts when the door to the room is shoved open so hard that it knocks against the wall, sounding like a bomb going off. I cower, waiting for whatever it is that’s attacking us to charge and take down Eris before reaching me.
The last thing I expect to see in the doorway is my new alpha, Nyx, looking furious.