Chapter 53
BAILEY
It was strange waking up alone. The front door was locked, but I knew he had to have gone for a run with the guys since his phone and keys were here.
He seemed restless last night, waking me up a few times by tossing and turning.
I’m sure he’s bothered by the fact that a drone was in the village.
I initially told myself it was a coincidence, but of course it’s not. It’s definitely something more.
Halfway through my first cup of coffee, Jase’s phone rang and it was Taylor. I answered it and that led me to now, here in Jase’s parents’ house, babysitting a sedated Sherry.
I’m in their dining room, which has been transformed into Sherry’s hospital room. The dining table is against one wall with the chairs stacked beside it. The table is now the prep station for Sherry’s care, piles of IV bags, medication, and other medical supplies on top.
I’m in the recliner that’s now in the corner, which was where Robert sat when me and Stacy visited. It has obviously been relocated for whoever is watching over Sherry.
My job is to just sit here, so I’m trying to read an e-book on my phone, but can’t help but feel strange about being in the Creed house babysitting the sedated sister-in-law who hates me.
She looks so normal and non-bitchy while she sleeps.
I’ve always thought of her as pretty on the outside and hideous on the inside. But I now feel sorry for her.
When I got here, Taylor was flustered and apologetic.
Her middle child got into a fight at school, the fourth this month, and she needed to go in to pick her up.
She told me she’d just finished doing all she needed to do for Sherry and there’s nothing for me to do but be here until Val and Robert get back, which they’ll do before Sherry needs more meds or an IV change.
I’ve only been here about half an hour and have just gotten off the phone with my mom, who enjoyed her spa trip, was stoked for us when I told her about the trip Jase planned.
And I suspect Mom is hoping I don’t go to Alaska as she’ll miss me, but she was 100% supportive if it’s what I choose to do.
She also says she’s dying to meet my wolf.
She’s so happy for me, knows how hard it was in my adolescence to watch my peers meet their wolves.
Mom took that on back then like it was her fault for not being shifter, which I never wanted her to do.
Mom isn’t sure if they’re going to the party tonight as they’re waiting for word on who the council is inviting. They’ve decided they’re keeping the gathering smaller with the code orange status, so Mom wants also to organize a party for me and Jase when we get back from Italy.
It’ll be awesome seeing some of our people tonight, though, especially getting to do it in public as Jase’s mate.
***
Sherry groans and it startles me, causing me to snap from reclined position in the chair to sitting up straight.
I’m now watching from the edge of my seat, wondering if this is normal. Taylor didn’t say anything about Sherry making sounds.
She groans again and her eyes bolt open. They bolt open so instantly and go so wide that it’s creepy. She blinks twice before her nose twitches and her gaze snaps to where I’m sitting.
She frowns and sits up gasping.
“What the fuck?” she whispers, looking around the space.
I jump to my feet. “It’s okay. It’s okay. You’re fine.” I press my hands out in what’s supposed to be a calming gesture, I guess.
“I’m fine?” she asks, looking bewildered.
“They’ve had you on a… healing regimen.”
“Why am I in the dining room?”
“You’ve been sedated. They’ve been… maybe I should get Cat here.” I fish around the recliner for my phone.
“Why are you here?” she demands.
“Your family has been taking turns looking after you and your folks are taking Gwendolyn to the airport. Taylor had an emergency come up so she asked me to just sit here with you to make sure you’re okay until she or your parents get back.”
She’s frowning. And her eyes are active. She’s putting things together, I think.
She looks at her arm, at the IV that’s attached. Her eyes move to the stacks of medical supplies on the table. She swings her legs over, as if to get up but reaches between her legs. There’s a hose there. A catheter.
Her expression hardens. I know my phone is in this chair somewhere, I just had it, so I’m feeling around for it.
“What do you mean sedated? Am I wearing a… a… diaper?”
“I can call Cat or your mom and put her on speaker for you.”
“Where’s my phone?” she mumbles, disoriented.
“I have no idea,” I say as I continue to feel around for my phone. Finally, I hear it hit the rug underneath.
“They left me with you?”
Awkward.
“I’m just lending a hand.”
I’ve called Cat’s line. It’s ringing.
Her expression sours. “Of all people?”
Something changes in her expression. Her nostrils are flared. “You’re mated to my brother.”
She’s looking at my neck.
The sourness on her face starts to take that turn, the turn I’ve seen so many times I’ve lost count. It always starts out like this, with her looking me over like she finds me disgusting. The next step is for her expression to twist into something sinister before she’ll say or do something cruel.
“Hello, Bailey!” Cat answers her phone.
“Sherry’s awake,” I say with urgency. “I’m alone with her.”
“Shit,” Cat says.
“Oh, I bet you’re happy, aren’t you?” Sherry sneers.
Yep. The sinister sneer has arrived.
“Finally snagged yourself the alpha of your dreams, huh? While I got stuck with… with…” Her expression crumbles and she’s suddenly hyperventilating and holding her stomach.
“I’m calling Jase now,” I tell Cat.
“On my way,” Cat replies.
I’m calling Jase, but end the call after just one ring because I remember Jase’s phone is at home and he’s not.
The council alphas are probably together, maybe still shifted, I don’t know, so I call my dad. If he’s home, he’ll be here in less than five minutes.
I think she’s remembering. She’s remembering what she did.
“No,” she says, looking down. “No fucking way.”
I don’t think she’s talking to me.
Dad answers his phone cheerily. “Hey there, Mrs. Creed!”
“Dad, can you get to the Creeds’ quickly? Sherry woke up and I could use some assistance here.”
Sherry’s eyes change, maybe because of what I just said, and she’s pulling her IV out, undressing, and fuck! She’s shifting.
“Shit!” I shriek as my phone is knocked from my hand by Sherry’s brown and gray wolf, who jumps me, growling, teeth bared.
As I’m landing on the carpet, claws swipe across my face with an instant burn. She’s on top of me, growling in my bleeding face. Her teeth are massive and very sharp-looking from this angle. But her eyes are filled with anger, with calculation.
An internal alarm bell is going off. Knowledge. She wants me dead. She’s going to kill me.
Her tongue swipes out and tastes the blood that drips from my face. Her eyes change. Yes, the angry female in predator mode? She’s just tasted my blood and she wants more.
I only just got Jase. I have children in my future. Jase’s children. Bookshelves with a rolling ladder and a trip to Italy kissing under the stars on a Venetian gondola with runs in the forest together as wolves and his dimples and I can’t let her fucking kill me!
The panic spikes even higher in my bloodstream, so high I nearly miss the sensation of bubbles bursting in my chest, but the sensation becomes bigger than the panic and suddenly I see muffled light and know my wolf is struggling to get out of the tangle of my clothes surrounding her small form.
As she gets free, I see the surprise in Sherry’s wolf’s eyes.
My wolf growls at her.
Sherry’s wolf looks baffled for a second but then her lip curls revealing those giant teeth, which now drip with saliva. She closes in, definitely still in predator mode, ready to attack despite my much smaller size.
There’s a sudden crash in the room as well as inside my chest that I quickly know the source for because Jase is here, shouting a deep and guttural, “Don’t you fucking dare!” as he’s grabbing her wolf by the scruff and physically whipping her across the room.
Sherry’s wolf yelps as she hits the wall and falls limply to the floor behind her hospital bed.
“Submit!” he shouts.
She immediately bares her neck and belly.
My wolf growls and lunges, running and sprinting into the air, getting a mouthful of fur, going at Sherry’s wolf’s throat.
I get the strange sensation she thinks Jase is presenting it to her for her to ruin, but before she’s got more than the mane of fur in her mouth, Jase is quickly plucking her up into the air by the scruff.
My wolf growls and snarls, snapping jaws in Sherry’s direction, but Sherry shifts to her human form and curls into a ball.
Jase turns my wolf, looks into my eyes and commands, “Bailey, shift!”
I land softly on the rug by his feet and he’s immediately moving between me and his sister, shielding me.
Panting, adrenalin still surging, I scramble for my clothes, hearing people coming in, feeling shaky and adrenalin-fueled, and also proud of my wolf, who burst through because I was cornered and under threat.
Like she’s supposed to do. Like she’s becoming part of me.
And I couldn’t control what she did, she certainly couldn’t have done much to protect me from an adult wolf in attack-mode, but she tried, fully believing she could save me.
I feel even more connected with her than before.
And Jason saved me. He got here in the nick of time and I vividly feel his rage like it’s a monster expanding from my own skin.
“What the fuck?” Jase shouts at his trembling sister. “You attacked my mate?”
“What the fuck is going on?” Sherry demands, tears streaming down her face. “Tell me what’s happening!”
“She just woke up,” I say. “Taylor asked me to watch over her but said she didn’t need any medicine.”
Jase looks over his shoulder at me and the burning rage that glows in his eyes somehow goes from level ten to level five-hundred.
“What the fuck happened to Bailey’s face?” he demands, his hand collaring his sister’s throat.
I swipe my cheek and there’s blood.
Cat rushes in now, with my dad. I’m hiding my nudity behind the chair, getting dressed.
Jason’s sister’s face is red, verging on purple as he chokes her.
“Jason!” I shout. “Let go. You’re choking her to death.”
Jase responds with a guttural growl, not taking his angry gaze off her face, not releasing his grip on her windpipe.
“Jase?” my dad calls out. “Let’s talk this out, son.”
“She hurt Bailey,” Jase grits out, glaring at his sister. She’s in pure panic mode, eyes bulging, nails digging into his wrist.
Jase abruptly releases her and she’s gasping for breath.
Jase’s parents just pulled into the driveway. I see them getting out of their car through the dining room window. Thank goodness.