Chapter 55 Mirabelle
Mirabelle
Iwake up slowly. To the feel of soft fabrics and even softer murmurs.
Hmm, that’s unusual. My mates sound different, even if they’re trying to talk softly.
That’s when the scents around me seep into my consciousness.
They’re not the calming fresh basil, soothing eucalyptus, fiery charred sage, or thick leather of my mates.
They’re... sweet?
“I think she’s starting to wake up!” A voice whispers, the excitement in her words palpable.
Wait a second. Her voice?
I drag myself closer to consciousness, each beat of my heart dragging me forward.
“We should turn out the lights a little bit, the light may hurt her eyes after all the drugs she’s had to take to keep her knocked out.”
“That’s a good idea! I’ll go do that.”
Drugs? Knocked out? What is happening?
“Ah dammit, her heart rate is going up.”
“Is that bad?”
Someone steps up beside the bed I’m laying in, their soft hand squeezing mine.
“It’s okay Mira, you’re safe!”
That voice... There’s something so incredibly familiar about that voice. But I can’t put my finger on it.
I force my eyes to blink open.
At first, everything is blurry. But then I see it.
A familiar pair of russet brown eyes.
And lemons.
Sweet lemon meringue.
“Gwen?” I rasp out.
“Oh my gosh, Mira! You’re awake!” She gasps, covering her mouth with her other hand as she lets out a quiet sob.
Is this... real? Where am I? How is Gwen here?
I turn my head, blinking as I try to take in my surroundings.
I’m in a room.
A hospital room of some sort, based on the IV’s still stuck to my arms. For a second, they have my heart pounding as flashes of the last time I was attached to an IV flash through my mind.
“Hey, hey, hey, Mira, you’re okay,” another voice says.
My eyes go wide as I meet a familiar pair of storm grey eyes.
“Reyna?” It’s my turn to gasp, tears burning behind my eyes. “You’re okay?”
“I’m okay,” she says, flashing me a soft reassuring smile as she takes my other hand. “Thanks to you and your help. I never got a chance to thank you for helping me, back at the facility. I’m alive, thanks to you, you know.”
“Did you—did you make it back to your mates?” I whisper.
“I did,” Reyna nods, her gaze softening as she looks at me.
“What—what are you doing here? With Reyna?” I ask, my head flopping a little as I turn to look at Gwen.
“Her and her pack helped rescue all the girls from the facility! It all happened so fast! It was pretty much all in the same day you were sold! We’ve been looking for you ever since!”
“You—you’ve been looking for me?” My lower lip wobbles as I look at these two omegas.
“’Course we did,” Reyna nods.
I can’t hold it back anymore. I burst into sobs.
“All the—all the girls, they’re—they’re safe?” I say as my chest heaves.
“They are,” Gwen says, squeezing my hand before wiping at her wet cheeks.
“Reyna’s pack is super powerful. Her pack and another pack called the Ward pack have made a ton of changes to the Omega Center.
We all live on the grounds, but we have our own places and we’re learning to live independently. It’s amazing! You’ll love it!”
I wipe at my own cheeks before shaking my head, my heart rate picking up.
“What about—what about—“ I shake my hands from their hold and press them to my shoulders, crossing my arms over my chest as I press my palms into my bond marks. I reach out through the bond, desperately trying to feel for my mates.
The connection is weak and shaky, but I do it. I feel them.
I can practically taste their relief.
“Your bondmates?” Reyna asks, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips.
“Yeah,” I nod, frantically, my eyes bouncing around the room.
“I just have a couple things to confirm with you first, Mira. Your mates, who are they?”
“Rowan, Griffin, Ash, and Rage! Do you—do you know where they are?” I rack my memory to try and figure out what I last remember, but a lot of it is a blur. What even happened to me?
“I do know where they are,” Reyna nods reassuringly. “When you bonded with them, it was because you wanted to, correct?”
“Yes! They’re mine!” I nod frantically.
“Good. Thought you’d say that. We just had to make sure. You were unconscious when you were brought here, so we had no way to confirm that some foul play wasn’t involved until you woke up.”
“Can I see them? Please? I—I—“ I rub at my chest, struggling to swallow past the lump in my throat.
“’Course you can. I’ll let security know they can be let up,” Reyna says, pulling her phone out of her back pocket and shooting someone a text.
“They’ve been waiting for you to wake up,” Gwen whispers conspiratorially, an excited glimmer twinkling in her eye. “They care a lot about you, you know.”
I narrow my eyes at her, my nose scrunching. “I know. And they’re mine!”
“Of course they are,” Gwen giggles. “So territorial! It’s adorable, you know. Don’t worry, there’s plenty of fish in the sea. I’ve never seen so many attractive alphas in my life! Probably because there weren’t any back at the facility.”
If this were any other time, under any other circumstances, I’d want to hear more from Gwen about what her and the other girls have been up to, but my eyes are locked onto the door.
I’m practically bouncing in the bed, my hands clutching the soft blankets on the hospital bed so hard my knuckles are going white.
The delicate bond I can feel pulsing in my chest grows stronger each second. Is it because they’re getting closer?
“You were in rough shape, when you first came in,” Reyna mentions.
“Your hormones were so fucked we had to put you into a medically induced coma while we gave you all the corrective hormones. From what we learned from your mates, one of your captors at the Mercer Family Farm fed you an incomplete artificial heat inducer that really messed with your hormones.”
“Mhmm,” I nod, absentmindedly, turning my attention to her. “But my mates saved me. They protected me! They’re not in any trouble, are they? Me being sick wasn’t their fault!”
“Took us a bit of time to figure that out,” Reyna says. “Maybe a little too long, but we got it in the end. None of them are in any trouble, not even your beta.”
At that moment, the door flies open and I meet a pair of flashing silver eyes.
Before I know it, Ash is beside me, completely ignoring the fact that he almost bulldozed Gwen.
“Holy shit,” he breathes out, burying his face in my neck. His chest heaves as if he just sprinted all the way over here. “Holy fucking shit, Shortcake.”
He pulls back, cupping my face and pressing his lips into mine in a possessive and claiming kiss.
It’s short, but it still leaves me breathless.
“I love you, I fucking love you,” he pants against my lips.
My heart practically stops in my chest as his forehead rests against mine.
“I love you, too,” I breathe out.
“You have no idea—no idea how long I’ve waited for you to say that.”
My attention is drawn to the door as Rage’s massive form appears in the doorway. His chest heaves like he also ran here.
Reyna steps back from beside my bed, giving Rage the space to hulk towards me.
He reaches a hand out towards my face, his large fingers trembling as he stares at me like he doesn’t think I’m real.
I reach up and press his hand onto my cheek.
“Hi, Rage,” I say, smiling up at him.
“I love you, Mira,” he rasps, collapsing down onto his knees beside my bed and resting his head in my lap.
“Oh, Rage,” I say, blinking rapidly to try and stem the tears that’re threatening to spill over. “I love you, too.”
His hand trembles even more against my cheek at my words and I can’t hold back any of my tears anymore.
Griffin appears next, dropping Rowan from his back unceremoniously when he sees the tears on my cheeks.
“Oh God, what’s wrong?” Griffin asks.
“Nothing,” I say, wiping at my cheeks. “I’m just—just—I love you, Griffin.”
His expression melts as he makes his way to me, practically shoving Ash out of the way to stand at my bedside.
“I love you too, Sweetheart. So fucking much. You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting to say those words to you.”
Ash, thank goodness, lets himself get shoved away. Maybe the guys have all gotten closer, since I’ve been unconscious.
“Took you guys long enough,” Ash teases Rowan, who’s slowly approaching the foot of my bed.
“Shut your mouth, I don’t see you trying to sprint with an old gunshot wound to the leg,” Rowan snipes back, his eyes not leaving mine for a single second.
“Hi, Rowan,” I murmur, beckoning him closer and patting the bed beside me.
He’s the only one of my guys who even has a chance of fitting on this bed with me. The moment I gesture towards him, he doesn’t even let himself think. He’s just there next to me and I curl my body around his.
“I love you, Rowan,” I breathe into his chest, soaking in his clean basil scent.
“I love you too, Sugar. You were just saving the best for last, huh?”
“I mean, I told you I loved you first,” I say, lifting my head from his chest and smiling up at him.
“What? This’s the first I’ve heard of that,” Ash growls from the foot of my bed, massaging my calves through the blankets.
“What’s in the past is in the past,” Rowan says, waving his hand before flashing me a conspiratorial wink.
A mischievous smile tugs at my lips as I wink back at him. If he wants to keep that moment between the two of us, that’s fine with me.
“How long have I been asleep for?” I ask.
“A week and a half, Sweetheart,” Griffin says, fingering the braid someone must’ve put my hair in while I’ve been asleep.
“A week and a half too long, if you ask me,” Ash mutters.
Rage shifts, standing to his full height. “You’re... okay now?” He asks slowly, as if he’s scared to hear the answer.
“I definitely feel fine!” I glance past my mates to Reyna, who offers me a smile and a thumbs-up. “I’m okay, now, Rage. You don’t have to worry about me.”
“We’re going to leave you guys now,” Gwen whisper-yells from the doorway, grinning from ear to ear. “Seems like you guys should get some privacy!”
I blink at her, sitting up more in my bed. “What—what happens now, though?”
“Your mates already have your condo all set up for you,” Reyna explains. “It’s a separate unit just for the five of you on Omega Center grounds. First of its kind. But it’s all yours. They’ve been getting it ready for you all week.”
I turn my wide-eyed gaze to my mates who all offer me their own smiles or smirks and nods of confirmation.
“We’ve got an actual home to bring you home to now, Sugar,” Rowan says, squeezing my hand.
“We—we do?” I breathe out, losing the fight with the sting of tears behind my eyes.
“We do, Sweetheart. You don’t have to worry about a thing. We’re safe now.”
I burst into even more tears, but this time, all four of my mates are here to hold me together.