Chapter 35
Waking up sucked. I could tell something wasn’t right, but the sour memories of Steven only came back when I opened my eyes, when I’d already figured out this was a hospital.
It was dark, so at first, I thought the person standing at the foot of the hospital bed was machinery, one of those beepy hospital thingies.
When the hair and back ticked the person box, I still thought he was one of the hunters.
I must’ve made a sound, because Linc spun on his feet. He’d been texting, the screen illuminating half of his face.
“Hey.” He put his phone away and sat in a chair at my bedside that was clearly angled as if he’d been sitting in it for hours already. “Ell and Dom are okay.” He smiled, but it looked hollow and fake. “You’re okay too. Except for the broken arm.”
I followed his line of sight to my left arm. It was in a cast. That was funny. I couldn’t feel it at all. I felt pretty good, in the same way chewed gum feels good when it’s still in the mouth and hasn’t dried out and calcified yet.
Yeah, I wouldn’t be writing any great copy soon.
“What… Where…”
Then I started crying, just artless, unceremonious sobbing. I didn’t even know what had come over me.
“Shh, it’s fine. Everything’s fine.” Linc moved from the chair to my bed and was actually holding my hand, the one that didn’t have swollen fingers sticking out of a bland white cast.
I suddenly remembered the worry that had nagged at my mind. I lifted my left arm to wipe the tears away, but that move actually cut through the pain meds they had me on, turning my sobs into a hiss of pain.
“Fuck!”
Linc cupped my cheek. “I should’ve said. Don’t move.”
I wanted to sink into his touch, but I had to know. “Was it true? What you said, about me being pregnant?”
A smile ghosted over his lips. “Yes. We’re at Ell’s hospital. He’s not the only pack member working here, so I was able to let them know. You didn’t have a miscarriage. You’re still pregnant.”
I had feelings about that. I couldn’t sort through them though, not then. “W-where’s Dom? And Ell? Are you lying to me? You’re lying. Are they okay?”
His brow furrowed. “Yes, yes they are. They’re downstairs. The doctor wanted to have them monitored overnight because no one is sure what they were injected with. They’re fine though.”
“Ell got tased.”
He nodded. “They’re monitoring that too.”
“When can I go—"
The door opened, and Vi walked in.
“Is he awake?”
Linc didn’t move off the bed, didn’t even turn around to greet her. “Yes, Vi, he’s awake, but I don’t think he’s up for whatever this is about.”
She snorted. “I’m sorry to inform you that that’s not an option.” She rounded the bed and leaned against a window on that side of the room. From there, we could look at one another. “You are unusual. In a good way though. You being an omega actually makes you a lot less suspicious than you were.”
Linc’s head turned sharply, and he narrowed his eyes at her. “Let him be. I’m not asking.”
She lifted her hands in surrender. “Calm down. He’s family as far as I’m concerned, and…
hmm, he might make me a great-aunt, I guess?
Something to think about for another time.
We have people coming in to help—that’s what I wanted you to know.
If Marcus’s ex gets out of surgery, that’ll be one more person we’ll put behind bars for this.
” She shrugged. “We can only hope for one less.”
Linc nodded. “I’m getting Marcus a lawyer. Dom and Ell too.”
“Can’t hurt, but they’re more likely to be witnesses.”
The uneven edges of my cast reminded me of a plastic wrapping, of a sandwich devoured with barely enough time to breathe in between bites.
“There was another werewolf there. He was in the car with me. He was in the road, and Ell got out to talk to him.”
Vi clicked her tongue. “Yeah, that’s another can of worms.”
Linc fussed with a support pillow I now realized was in bed with me for my broken arm. I didn’t know they made special pillows like that. So interesting. I had the urge to look them up and shut out everything else.
Linc touched my unbroken arm. “You don’t have to worry about him. Smith is watching him.”
“They starved him.”
Vi bared her teeth. “Did they.”
“He’s fine now, Marcus.” Linc sounded confident about that, and him being so close to me was good. Him touching me was good.
“Ell and Dom are downstairs?” I asked Vi.
She nodded. “Yup. Ell is still too out of it to be a bad patient, but Dom’s getting there. I think they’ll let him come up sooner rather than later.”
I nodded. I was about ready to ask for them to get me something that would make me sleep when the memories started to come back into focus.
“Did they tell you about Camelot?”
Vi cocked her head. “Camelot? Like in the Arthurian legend?”
I attempted to shrug. That was actually okay, pain-wise, but my muscles or tendons or whatever else made the movement happen normally now felt out of whack. It was dawning on me that I’d be very sore before too long.
“No. I mean, I don’t know. They said they were going to take me to Camelot. They said you gave me a disease? Like an STI, but something that makes me fall for werewolves.”
Linc laughed, dry and humorless, then wiped his face. “Is that what they think? What they’ve been telling themselves?”
“They were talking about…training Dom and Ell, I think. Something like…storm something. Storm dogs. I’m not sure. Training in the way you’d train a dog, you know?” I said. Vi’s face twisted into a grimace. “Sorry.”
“Not you, Marcus.” She took a deep breath. “What else do you remember?”
I licked my lips. Linc saw and got up off the bed. There was a pitcher on a table beside my bed, and he poured water into a glass then handed it to me.
Vi let me have my drink. Good thing too. I hadn’t even realized I was thirsty. Linc took the empty cup from me when I was done and turned right back to the pitcher.
“I can get you something else too if you like, Marcus.” Linc put the refilled cup into my hand. “I’ll get you anything you want.”
I took another swig. “Tea?”
He huffed, and this time, his smile was real. “I think I can make that happen. I’m not sure they have oolong here though.” He looked at Vi.
“It’s okay,” I said before he could kick her out. “There was a truck. I didn’t really see much, but they had this big truck waiting when we came out of the woods.”
Linc nodded. “We saw that. It was probably how they got the ATVs there.”
“Should’ve realized that.” I looked at Vi.
“I don’t really know anything else. It sounded like there were other people at that Camelot place.
Scientists. Maybe that’s how Steven started with this?
Then again, maybe he was always like this.
Doesn’t matter.” I drank some more water.
Tears flowed from my eyes, and Linc wiped them away with the pads of his thumbs.
“Steven wanted to fix me. He said they had a way to do that.”
Vi’s eye turned to slits. “From liking werewolves?”
“I guess. Oh. There was something about heralds? I think Steven is a herald. The werewolf guy said he tried running away once, but there’s a tracker in his collar. That’s wild, huh? Putting a collar on a person who doesn’t want that.”
“That is one word for it.” Vi pushed off from the window. “I’ll let you get some rest. Marcus, if you remember anything else, tell me or Linc. I’ll be downstairs with Ellie and Dom.”
I nodded. “Can you tell them to rest?”
She chuckled. “I can tell them. Can’t promise they’ll actually listen to me though.
” She put her hands on her hips. “My grandma used to say that’s the thing about alphas.
No one can tell them what to do, not another alpha, certainly no beta.
Unless there’s an omega in the room. Alphas love listening to their omegas.
Or that’s what they say. Let me know if that’s true sometime, okay? ”
She walked out of the room, leaving me alone with Linc and a silence so big it needed its own chair.
“Are you mad?” I asked.
Linc’s eyes widened. It made me notice the rings under them.
“Am I mad? No, Marcus. I’m beyond relieved. I’m not mad.”
I looked around the room. “Did you give me your jacket? I remember not wanting to lose it, but then I fainted. Huh. Never fainted before. Don’t like it.”
He took my empty water cup. “I don’t like you fainting either. I think it’s in Smith’s car. The jacket, I mean.”
I nodded. “Good. I didn’t lose it, then. You know, I was thinking before all of this, and I think I have a gut feeling about wanting to stay. With you all. Except the biting… I don’t know about you biting me, Linc.”
The door slid open, and that head of red hair made my heart beat faster even before I saw the rest of Dom walk in.
“Do you mean that, Little Red?”
He wore sweatpants and a sweatshirt that was too big for him. It was Ell’s. I didn’t know how I knew, but I was sure, so sure. If Dom wore Ell’s shirt, then Ell had to be okay. No, there was no causality there, but it made all the sense to me in that moment.
I nodded, then said, “What did they do to you?” My voice broke, and I sobbed, unable to control it.
Dom walked around the bed.
Linc held up his arm. “Nope, don’t sit there. Mind his arm. You can sit over here.”
A few seconds later, I had Dom on the bed with me, and Linc had gone out to find me tea. Dom brushed my hand away whenever I tried to pull his sleeves up and get a look at him.
“Look at you being all tenacious, Little Red.”
“I just want to see what they did to you.”
He caught my wrist and sighed. “Marcus, stop. It’s okay. It’s scratches. They’ll be completely gone in a few days. Benefits of being a werewolf. Hey, can you stop the cute pouting and listen to me for a second?”
“I’m not pouting.”
He chuckled. “Sure. Whatever you say, Little Red. Too bad though. Your pout is adorable.”
“Oh, shut your mouth.”
He leaned forward. “Really?”
I shrugged. “Whatever.” I looked him over, trying to figure out if he was really okay. His skin was chalky, and while he seemed in a good mood, his back wasn’t quite as straight and his eyes weren’t quite as bright as normal. He looked tired. “What did you want to say?”
He sighed. “I wanted to apologize. When we told you you were pregnant, I obviously wasn’t thinking straight and I was saying really offensive stuff.
Or…what I said wasn’t offensive, but it wasn’t the right order of doing things.
I should’ve said that—” He cleared his throat.
“Linc and I had talking points, just so you know. I don’t remember what they were now, but I should’ve said that I’m going to be with you, whatever you decide to do.
I loved you first. I’ll always love you first.” His eyes turned skyward as he thought.
“Not chronologically speaking, obviously. I mean, I love you first, and that you’re an omega who can have kids is something I love because it’s a part of you, but I care about you first. As a person.
Oh! It’s like the tea snobbery. I love you, and the tea snobbery is okay, almost as cute as your pout even.
That’s how I feel about the pregnancy too.
I just got carried away. Don’t hold it against me, okay, Little Red? ”
“I didn’t know you did speeches.” My voice was crackly, like static on an old-timey radio.
Dom shrugged. “Hidden talents. I’m also really good at geraniums.”
“I noticed.”
“I want to be good at you too. I’ll learn how. Starting right now.” He looked at my arm. “Bet that gets itchy.”
I laughed. “Are you kidding me right now?”
The door slid open, and Linc walked in holding a tray with several cups on it.
“Okay, so they had green tea, but I didn't like how that smelled, and they had a black tea that’s not like your oolong at all, and I also got you chai. Not sure what’s in that, but it smelled really fresh. There’s also some herbal tea in case you prefer that.”
Dom looked up. “Hey, are you good? Stupid question.” He got to his feet, moving slower than he normally did.
He walked around Linc and hugged him from behind.
“I told Marcus I’m sorry. I don’t think he hates me.
You look like you think someone should hate you, but I don’t think anyone does. Marcus?”
I hated Steven, but I didn’t want to say his name, not then. “Nope, I’m good.”
Dom kissed Linc’s neck. “Hear that? Now, you figure out if our boy can stand any of those teas, and I’ll go get the nurses to tell me where the good coffee is at and bring one to you. That sound like a plan?”
Linc’s controlled expression unraveled, and while he didn’t cry, a wet sheen washed over his eyes. “You should be resting.”
“Yeah, but I’m getting you coffee first. Then I’ll beg Marcus to let me sleep in the bed with him. That sound like a plan?”
Linc nodded. I did too. I didn’t even want tea anymore. Dom next to me sounded a whole lot more appealing than the tea.
Dom kissed Linc’s neck again then walked toward the door and slid it open.
Linc looked at him over his shoulder. “Thank you, Dom.”
“It’s what family does.” Dom shrugged and closed the door behind him.
I sipped some of the tea, but I was getting so tired. I was asleep before Dom came back with Linc’s coffee, but in the middle of a pleasant dream, I felt something warm settle against my side, and I knew I was home.