Chapter ThirteenGrace
Chapter Thirteen
Grace
“ C an I see Wes now? ” I asked, as the nurse wheeled me from the strange MRI I’d had. Exhaustion pressed down on me. I still wasn’t entirely sure what had happened other than I’d had a couple of seizures and was in the hospital.
Part of me really wanted Wes, though so far I hadn’t seen Wes–or Evan.
However, I had briefly talked to a detective and a hospital social worker.
Knowing I wouldn’t get put on a psych hold for mentioning Fade or alphas was a relief.
But I was still afraid, not that I’d slip and mention parallel worlds, but that my lack of records or knowledge of their world might make the doctors suspicious.
If everything seemed a little off to me, I might seem a little off to them.
“You need to rest. I think someone went to get your things,” the stern nurse told me as she brought me to a room upstairs.
Things? I nodded. I’d been trying to say as little as possible. Except when that male detective and the hospital social worker tried to imply that Wes hurt me. That I shut down.
Fortunately, the nurse hadn’t let either of them talk to me for long. The detective had no updates. What if they found nothing?
What if they did?
Not to mention, I was here in Wes’ world, with the man I’d dreamed of for seven years. I felt so many things about this.
Too bad my brain wasn’t cooperating. My fingers itched to write equations I couldn’t quite remember and figure all this out.
We arrived in a private room that felt more like a hotel than a hospital. She hooked me up to some monitors as I sat on the rather large hospital bed.
I wouldn’t blame Wes if he left me here. After all, I wasn’t his problem, and I didn’t want to mess up the life he’d built.
If this was weird for me, what was it like for him?
Brennan’s reaction worried me. That guy had some issues. He also reeked of privileged asshole–the kind that could cause problems.
There was a knock on the door. “Peaches?”
Evan came in with a duffle bag and some balloons attached to a little bear.
“Evan.” It was nice to see someone– and he looked happy to see me.
The nurse gave him a look. “Excuse me, you are?”
“I’m Evan, her omega.” Evan showed her the sticker on his shirt and gave me a kiss on the cheek. “Roll with it,” he whispered, putting the balloon bear on the nightstand.
“Those are so pretty. Thank you.” The gesture overwhelmed me. I looked around. “Where’s Wes?”
“Hopefully, he’ll be here soon. I brought your things.” Evan took stuff out of the duffle bag. “We were so worried, we even forgot to put shoes on you.” He bent down and put fuzzy sage-green slippers with little pom-poms on my feet.
They’d been bare, but someone had given me socks.
“Thanks.” They were so soft and plush.
Evan added a couple of chenille pillows to the bed and wrapped a matching blanket around me–all the same shade of green.
The nurse finished up and gave us a look. “You can stay, but let her rest.”
“Promise.” He kicked off his shoes and got on the bed with me, covering us with another soft and fluffy blanket.
I snuggled into him, desperately needing that reassurance. “Hi.”
“Hi. Cuddle right in there.” His voice got soft. “Okay, Wes is still at the police station. Did you talk to anyone?”
I nodded. “A detective that wasn’t Lexi and a social worker. But I didn’t say much other than that Wes didn’t hurt me and what I remembered from yesterday. It’s so hard to think, and I’m so tired. He’s at the station?”
“Yes. They’re still looking for who hurt you. Let me tell you what’s going on.” Evan filled me in as we snuggled on the rather comfortable hospital bed.
“Nothing, so much of this means nothing .” I frowned. “But having a record is good, right? Why would Wes get slapped with a neglect case? I don’t understand.”
“I know, Peaches. Oh, I had to change your birthday year so you were a year older, just to head off… things.” Evan looked anxious.
“Why?” I frowned.
“Did Wes ever mention anything about bonds and mates?”
“Maybe?” I thought for a moment and another memory bubble popped. “It’s like marriage, right? Only you can feel each other. You said there’s a concern that he’s not taking care of me, but what about me taking care of him? It’s a partnership; mates take care of each other.”
“They do.” He stroked my hair. “Did Wes ever bond with you? Bite you, but not just a nibble, like a special bite.”
Again, I thought for a moment, trying to find everything in my brain. There it was. “Oh. So we could find each other. But I only felt him when we were together in our dreams.”
“Do you feel him now?” he asked.
My nose scrunched. “I wouldn’t even know what to feel. Should I?”
Evan kissed my temple, soft and light like a butterfly. “Concussions can mess with bonds. You won’t be able to read his mind, but you should be able to sense him and his feelings. You… you should also be able to feel me.”
“I should? How?” I blinked. All I felt was fatigue and pain.
“Since I’m bonded to him, we should technically feel each other through our bond with him.”
“Oh.” I got comfortable on his chest. “So what does that have to do with my birthday?”
“First, your world uses a different year system. Second, Wes said that he bonded with you when he was nineteen. Considering how your birthdays fall, there was never a point where you were eighteen with him being nineteen. So, I changed it so you were legal when he bit you. Just to head off any other issues,” he told me.
“Oh. Okay. That makes sense.” Honestly, it didn’t matter to me. Wes getting in trouble, did. “Um, you have two marks, right? One for each alpha? Did I get that right?” I saw them last night when he had his shirt off.
“Yeah.” He took off his polo shirt, and I saw two bite marks, one on each side of his neck.
“The one on the left is Wes, the one on the right is Bren. Jett has a bite from Brennan, too, same place. Only alpha bites leave physical imprints, but believe me, I’ve marked all three. ” He gave me a lusty wink.
Oh, was that why I liked to bite Wes? He’d never complained; if anything, he told me to bite harder.
“Is that why I want to snuggle you and why you smell good?” I buried my head in his neck and inhaled his lemonade scent.
“Could be. Or because you think I’m sexy. But go ahead. We need to convince the hospital that while we might have things to figure out, no one’s being neglected.” His arms wrapped around me.
“We’re going to pretend?” I winced. Lying made everything worse.
“No. We’re going to act on these genuine feelings we have. All three of us. Responsibly and consensually. We’re going to work all this out, including some hot sex, ice cream, and therapy.”
“I… I’m going to have to go home, eventually. Spencer’s right, I don’t belong here.” If I played house with these two and then had to leave…
“He also said that doesn’t mean you have to go. Part of working through this and not just acting on it, is so that if you go home, no one goes to pieces. Not that I want you to go home. No one’s going to make you have sex, but I’m all for that.” He nuzzled me and gave a little sexy growl.
I laughed. “I’m here for the banter.”
This place made me thirsty– especially for Wes and Evan.
And Spencer? Oh, yeah. All of Evan’s guys were so sexy. Even Brennan-the-grump.
Still, what was I thinking? I barely knew them. But it felt so right.
“Good. I know you’re still trying to work through everything, but people are going to expect us to act a certain way,” he told me. “I’m your omega. Us cuddling in your hospital bed–perfectly normal. My bringing you fluffy blankets and pillows, very normal.”
“These blankets are like clouds.” This world seemed full of soft blankets, and I was all for it.
“Did I get the right shade of green?” he asked.
“It’s a pretty shade of green,” I said, petting the soft blanket.
His eyebrows rose. “Forest or spring?”
“Emerald. But sage green is nice, too, I like it.” I cuddled into him. “I like snuggles.”
“Me too. Still like pink and cookies?”
“Mauve and chocolate chip.” I nodded. “What else is normal?”
“You sleeping in Wes’ or my shirts. Someone from the pack always being here with you. Wes and I touching you. Oh, and lots of little normal couple things.” He started playing with my hair, which was comforting and made me sleepy.
Normal couple things? Yeah, I wasn’t sure I knew what those were.
I leaned into his touch, because it felt nice.
“I’m pretty sure that I wasn’t very good at relationships.
After my mom cut me off, I was in my PhD program and too busy trying not to starve.
Also, going through massive and expensive therapy to get over what my mom put me through. Not to mention I have issues.”
“They cut you off?” He frowned. “Oh, you remembered something else?”
“You’re right. I did.” My brows furrowed as I tried to think. There really was no rhyme or reason to what I remembered other than older memories were a little easier.
“Take your time, Peaches.” He kissed my forehead.
I winced as a particularly painful memory surfaced. “After I was rehabilitated, I went to the local state university to study to be a teacher,” I said slowly as I shoved the memories together.
“She literally had the love of math beaten out of me. When I found it again and decided to pursue my childhood dreams of getting my PhD in math instead of coming home, teaching and marrying some church boy, yeah, she cut me off. My dad and I eventually reconnected when he divorced my mom. Still, I didn’t even know my mom had died until one of my brothers accosted me right before I graduated to inform me she left me nothing and everyone hated me.
Once that would have devastated me, but I no longer cared, I was living my dream.
And now… now I’m here. I still don’t know why or where here is. ” My actual dream.
While Wes had told me he lived in Rockland , I never did specifically figure out what mountain range he lived by.
His world had been strange, because while some cities and states were called the same things, other things were different.
Not that we’d really dug into the geographical, historical, or political differences of our worlds.
Mostly we just talked about life– school, our families, hobbies, our hopes and dreams. I never asked him to draw me a map.
“Wow, you remembered a lot, good job.” Evan stroked my hair.
“That one hurt,” I whimpered.
“I’m sure it did. You can still achieve your dreams here. I think Spence would hire you.” Evan kept stroking my hair. “But that’s good to know. While your mom keeping you from him will help Wes from being deemed a neglectful bond mate, you’ve been an adult for a while.”
“I didn’t think he was real. I’m struggling with that, Evan. They hurt me, drugged me, told me over and over I was imagining things, and now…” I shook a little. It was so much to take in.
“Sorry, Peaches.” He nuzzled me again. “I’m sure this is so much for you. Don’t stress too much about keeping things straight right now. I’ve got you.”
“Because I’m the disoriented one with the head injury? None of this is Wes’ fault. You can’t neglect someone who doesn’t exist. But it’s not like I can tell the whole truth. I should never have come here.” I sniffed, feeling awful for causing problems.
“Did you come here? Like, did you flee the men chasing you and you came here so Wes could keep you safe? Were you dumped here?” he prodded.
Squeezing my eyes shut, I tried to picture it. I was running, there was shouting, and then… black. Park bench. Those guys. Nothing else came. “I don’t know.”
“That’s okay. We’ll get to know each other a little. You should know things about us and the rest of the pack,” he added.
“True. I know what you, Jett, and Wes do for a living, but what about Spencer and Brennan?” I was curious, especially after Spencer just knew I wasn’t from here.
“Brennan’s in real estate. He’s loaded–and so is his family.
His mom owns half the city. He’s also grumpy, likes privacy because he grew up in such a public family, and is overprotective, which explains, but doesn’t excuse, him this morning.
Spencer’s a genius who made a shit-ton of money in pharmaceuticals, then shifted into biotech.
He’s always had an interest in quantum physics, but I’m not sure how he figured out so fast that you weren’t from here–I didn’t tell him,” Evan told me.
“He said that I smelled of neutrons. I didn’t know they had smells, but it makes sense that some sort of particle might cling to you during inter-world travel. Do you think he can help me get back?” Oh my god, Spencer was hot in a sexy silver fox way. I’d make some science with him.
Whoa, girl. What about Wes and Evan? There I went with the thirsty thoughts.
But multiple husbands seemed to be a thing here.
“Do you want to go back?” Evan asked.
I thought about it for a moment. My gut instinct was to say no, despite my brain insisting that I had to. “Won’t my being out of sync mess things up? I don’t want to cause an incursion.”
“I’ll leave that to you and Spence. His offer of a lab is sincere. But you should let your brain heal first.”
“That sounds good. Will you explain what a gamma is? I’ve never heard of it. Only alphas and omegas.” Being here in his arms felt so good, so right, even though I’d just met him.
“I’ll do you one better. I brought those videos.” He got up and took the laptop out of his bag. “I have to go to work soon, but we’ve got enough time to watch some.”