Chapter 13
Waking up feels like digging myself out from beneath wet sand. My limbs are so heavy that it takes several minutes for me to gain enough feeling to twitch my fingers. Even my thoughts are sluggish, struggling to connect to the pain I know should still pound through my body.
As feeling comes back, my panic increases. A warm, firm body presses against mine.
My breath picks up, matching the crazed beat of my heart. My thoughts scream to push away from whoever this is, to escape before they can hurt me again, but I can’t make my body cooperate long enough to open my eyes, let alone to move my arms.
A purr rattles to life beneath my ear, taking the life out of my feeble attempt to move. I try to protest, but my words come out slurred and unintelligible.
“Shhh, it’s okay. I’ve got you, sunshine. You’re safe.”
Sunshine. It takes a monumental effort to force my eyes open and tilt my head back far enough to see his face.
As soon as his blinding smile and blue-green eyes swim into view, the rest of my senses kick back online, and I’m drowning in his key lime scent.
A sob escapes my lips, and his smile falls.
He presses his forehead to mine, holding me tighter while I fall apart.
“I’m so fucking sorry, Bea. I never should have left you in Starburgh to chase that asshole.
If I had been with you… you never should have been in their hands.
” Tears slowly trail down his cheeks as he stares at me, so much emotion swirling in his eyes that it makes me cry harder.
“Never again. I’m not leaving your side.
You’re going to have to get used to me clinging to you like a sticky toddler. ”
“Even when I pee?” I croak.
Ridley gives me a watery smile. “All the time, sunshine. Day or night, in the bathroom or out of it. I love you too damn much to let you have another moment of peace.”
Pain rips through my abdomen, so fierce I have to squeeze my eyes shut to fight against it. It grows in intensity, making me whimper.
“Bea?”
I can’t respond to Ridley’s concern. It feels like I’m being torn apart from the inside out. As the waves of pain swell, my body goes limp, and I pass out, barely hearing my mate yelling for help.
When I wake a second time, I don’t feel as disoriented. My body is sore, but I can shift and move my limbs. Walking would likely be out of the question, but I’ll take just being able to move for now.
Feeling the bed empty, my eyes fly open.
If it weren’t for the beeping of the hospital equipment, I would think our earlier interaction was a dream.
Swinging my head to the side, I let out a relieved breath when I see my Alpha passed out in a chair beside my bed.
I relax against my pillows, feeling safer now that I know I am not alone.
“Bumblebee.”
I startle, jumping and sending sparks of pain through my lower half. Turning to my right, I see my parents crowded around the other side of my bed. They were so quiet; I didn’t realize they were here. Or maybe I was so paranoid Ridley wasn’t here that I didn’t notice any noise they made.
“Dad?”
He jerks forward, sobbing loudly as he buries his face in the top of my hair. His hug hurts, and I wince, but I reach up with one hand and pat his arm. The sour tinge to his buttery popcorn scent is heavy in the air now that he’s close enough for the descenters in the room not to work.
“Oh, Bea,” Mom chimes in, reaching around Dad to take my other hand. My other dads crowd behind them, teary-eyed as they coo over me. It’s suffocating in the best way. After feeling so abandoned and alone in the breeding rings campground, I’ll gladly take all of their fussing and fretting over me.
“We were so worried,” Mom tells me. “Having Omen call to tell us you were missing and likely hurt… Well, none of that compares to getting here and seeing just how injured you are.” Her voice shakes, so my father wraps his arms around her, comforting her as best as he can.
“Omen was the one to call you?” I ask, furrowing my brows. Why would my best friend be the one to relay the message about my disappearance? How did she even know in the first place?
“Yes, well, that’s a story for another day,” Dad sputters, a spark of anger flashing in his brown eyes.
I want to ask more, but the door to my room opens, and a nurse walks in.
After checking my vitals and all the bags attached to my IV, she tells me she will send the doctor in soon.
Whatever relief I felt being surrounded by my family evaporates.
The doctor will want to discuss the damage done to my body, and I am not ready for that conversation.
Ridley sits forward, having woken when the nurse arrived. He slips his hand in mine and squeezes several times. “It’ll be okay, sunshine.”
Jerking my head, I bite back my response. It won’t be okay, because I’m not okay. I’ve been avoiding facing the reality of what Doctor Harrison took from me since I woke back up in that cage. Some truths are too difficult to face when you’re already reeling from the trauma you’ve been through.
A middle-aged woman walks in several minutes later, dressed in a long lab coat with black scrubs underneath. “Miss Powell, it’s wonderful to see you awake. How are you feeling?”
I shrug. “Like I’ve been through hell.”
She glances at me from where she’s putting information into her computer. “An understatement, I’m sure. Are you comfortable with everyone staying in the room while we go over everything we found or?”
My head shakes rigorously, bouncing my curls into my face. “Who would you like to stay?” the doctor asks as I brush my hair aside.
“I don’t want to know,” I choke out.
“Miss Powell, understanding the extent of the physical damage from your ordeal is important.”
“Sabine,” Mom calls, trying to catch my attention.
“Tell her.” I point to Mom. “I give my consent to have all relevant medical information passed to my mother, Shelby Powell. She can make decisions regarding my care going forward, and she can tell me everything when I am ready.”
Ridley rubs his thumb along the back of my hand and scoots his chair closer to the side of the bed, drawn by the visible signs of my distress.
“Are you sure, bumblebee?” Dad asks, glancing between me and the doctor.
When I nod and turn onto my side, ignoring the spike of pain moving through me, my parents sigh and move with the doctor out into the hall.
My nurse returns a moment later with a consent form for me to sign, and then it is just me and Ridley in the room.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper. “I know you probably want to know, too.”
His fingers gently grip my chin, tilting my head back so I can see his face. “I want whatever is best for you, sunshine, and if that is waiting to hear what the doctor has to say, I support your decision. All I care about is keeping you safe and helping you heal.”
He leans over the side of the bed and presses a soft kiss to my forehead. “Do you need anything right now?”
Words clog in my throat, thinking of all the things I need but don’t dare to ask for. He tilts his head, hair falling across his forehead. It’s grown out since he left in August, amplifying his boyish charm.
The door opens again, drawing our attention away from each other.
My heart skips a beat when I glance over to see Orion and Shiloh walking into the room.
Their eyes immediately find mine, shock warring with relief in Orion’s vibrant orbs.
Shiloh’s shoulders drop slightly, but his expression is as unreadable and guarded as ever.
“You’re awake,” Orion breathes. His arms loaded with…
well, I’m not sure what he’s carrying. Dark circles line his eyes, likely matching my own.
Knowing what happened with his former mate, my disappearance must have been difficult for him to process.
A small part of me feels bad for causing him distress, but the rest screams that it was a situation out of my control.
I didn’t choose to be kidnapped, so I can’t blame myself for the way my mates react.
He practically trips over his feet as he crosses the room and carefully sets everything on the empty chair my parents had been using.
“I brought you some things I thought you might need,” he says hurriedly.
Bags are pulled from a large tote and sit on my legs, each sealed tight and stuffed with fabric.
The small suitcase from my apartment is stacked there too.
He turns, gesturing wildly to everything.
“I wasn’t sure what would help most, but your friend Omen helped pick things out. ”
Tears brim in my eyes as I pick one up and flip it over, realizing they’re scent sealed and filled with blankets from my nest. Picking up another, I slowly undo the seal and am hit with the comforting notes of ozone and sea mist. Orion’s scent.
These are his clothes, and in the other bags appear to be the rest of my mate’s clothes too.
“This is…” I can’t get the words out past the lump in my throat, so I spread my arms instead, silently asking for a hug.
He crushes me to the bed, holding me a little too tight given the injuries on my battered body, but the warmth of his scent and the heat from his body make the pinch of pain worth it.
“You can’t do this to me again, butterfly,” he whispers, nose buried in my hair. “I can’t handle losing you, too.”
Instead of responding, I just hold him tighter. Wordlessly, I relay my wish to always be at his side. We can’t control where Fate takes us, but as long as we have each other, we can survive anything thrown our way.