Chapter Eleven
Bennett
June
In the nearly forty-eight hours that I’d spent in Felix’s room, his nurses had seemed particularly obsessed with ensuring I was well-fed and hydrated.
After the scare with Felix’s meds, I’d refused to get out of the bed and had been holding him ever since.
My eyes were barely open the following morning when Julia walked into the room and thrust a glass of water in my face.
“You haven’t gotten out of that bed to use the bathroom since yesterday afternoon. You’re either sitting in your own urine or dehydrated,” she said, giving me a stern look.
I reached for the water as I pushed myself up. She was nearly right about both of those things. My bladder was so full it throbbed with a dull ache and could possibly burst at any moment, and my mouth was as dry as the Sahara.
I chugged down the water in quick gulps while she waited for me to finish. I handed her the empty glass. “Thank you.”
She nodded. “Go to the bathroom. I’ll stay with him while I order your breakfast.”
“I’m fine,” I lied.
“You’re not,” she sighed and sat in the chair next to the bed. “Do you know why we have so many systems in place to make sure that family members, especially alphas, are taking care of themselves?”
“I presume it’s because you think we’re all loose cannons,” I grumbled, shoving both hands through my hair. The strands were slick and oily, clearly in need of a good wash.
When was my last shower?
Julia pursed her lips and glanced at Felix.
“Alphas being pulled from their omegas when they’re sick is agony.
We understand that those feelings sometimes lead to aggressive behaviors and, of course, we want to mitigate that.
Honestly, watching an alpha wait for their omega to wake up is a lot easier than watching the omegas wait for their alphas.
They never take care of themselves and would all probably sooner shrivel up and die than leave their alpha’s room. ”
“Do you have a point?” I asked, forcing my voice to remain level as my bladder throbbed, begging me to get out of this bed.
“My point is, if he wakes up, you need to be ready to be there for him. Because if you’re not taking care of yourself and he can sense that, it’ll only add more stress to his recovery.
” She stood up and offered me her hand. “Get out of the bed. Go to the bathroom. Do something about that hair. Two days ago, the nurses were gossiping about the hot alpha left and right, now they’re all talking about how you smell.
I’m sorry to say your odor doesn’t remind them of pine trees anymore—at least not living ones. ”
I snorted and took her hand as I climbed out of bed. “You’ll stay with him? The whole time?”
“The whole time. Stop at the nurses’ station. There’s a bathroom down the hall with a shower and they have supplies and fresh clothes for you.”
“Clothes?”
Julia nodded. “Your sister left them with us when she brought you dinner last night.”
“Why didn’t she just give them to me?”
Julia’s lips quirked upward. “She claimed you wouldn’t bother unless we forced you into a shower.”
“Oakley is such a pain in my ass,” I mumbled as I shuffled to the door. I turned back for one more glimpse of Felix to get me through the next hour without him. “If anything happens to him while I’m gone, I’ll probably kill you.”
Julia nodded. “You’re not even the first alpha to tell me that this morning. You’ll have to be more creative if you want your threats to land.”
Fair enough. The probably likely didn’t help my conviction on the matter.
Wet hair hung loose around my face as I scanned the notifications on my phone.
A text from Oakley confirmed that Calvin would clean up from the break-in and then run things at the garage for the rest of the week.
Ally had sent three question marks, her no-words-needed way of checking to see how Felix was doing.
Clara had asked me to give her an update after I talked to the doctor today.
Reid had asked how I was holding up, and a message from Wyatt simply said, “Call me.”
I responded quickly to each of the women and Reid before taking a seat in the family lounge and calling Wyatt. The phone rang and my stomach grumbled, ready for that breakfast Julia had promised.
“Hey, Bennett. How’s he doing?” Wyatt asked.
“Good. Last night the nurse told me they might start reducing his sedation meds today. He could be awake as early as tomorrow.”
“That’s great news.”
“If he’s not brain dead,” I snapped.
Wyatt took a deep breath, and I forced myself to do the same. “I know it’s hard. But you have to hope for the best.”
“Why did you want me to call?” I was fed up with niceties for the time being.
“I’m going to put you on speaker phone. I’m at the station with Donovan.”
“Did Felix ever talk to you about where he got his drugs?” Donovan’s voice was loud and jarring compared to Wyatt’s calm baritone.
“No,” I said.
“So he doesn’t know anything about where they came from?” Donovan asked. The hair on the back of my neck stood up at the question.
“Is that why this happened? Someone thinks he knows something?” I asked. My chest tightened thinking about the drug ring that Felix had mentioned. He’d brought it up so casually though, like everyone knew about it.
What if knowing about that has something to do with why he was hurt?
The last thing I was going to do was offer up any insight into what Felix may or may not know.
“We don’t know,” Wyatt said. “As far as we know this could be an isolated incident.”
“But,” Donovan interjected, “there have been rumblings of increased drug activity and a few of the nurses at that hospital have been under investigation. The name you gave us of the nurse who gave Felix his med yesterday, Carissa, she was one of the nurses who was investigated by the hospital when a batch of fentanyl went missing a few months ago.”
I rubbed my temple. “Look guys, I’ve had about eight hours of sleep since Felix’s accident. Can you spell out your suspicions so I don’t have to think, please?”
“We think you’re right to be wary of Felix’s care team until we uncover more information,” Wyatt said. “I’m sure your instinct is to stay by his side, so do just that. Don’t leave him alone any more than you have to until we know more.”
My heart raced. I need to get back in there now.
“What about the fingerprints in his car? Did you find anything?” I asked.
“They were inconclusive,” Donovan said. “A lot of them were yours. Others weren’t a match for anything in the system.”
“Is Ryder in the system?”
“Surprisingly, no,” Donovan said. “We likely won’t know what happened in that car unless Felix wakes up.”
“Until Felix wakes up,” I corrected.
“Go back to him. I’ll text you if we find anything else,” Wyatt said.
“Any leads on the break-in?” I asked. “Is it related?”
“No, we don’t think so,” Donovan said. “It was most likely someone taking advantage of the situation presented by the open door.”
“Then why smash up the place?” I demanded. “Felix’s battery had a loose connection a couple months ago. And I had a flat tire. Ryder could be responsible for all of this.”
“You’re reaching,” Donovan said. “Best to leave the detective work to the police.”
“Fuck you, you arrogant prick,” I yelled.
If it weren’t for Oakley, I’d tell this fucker to get fucked daily. Being a cop was the worst thing to happen to his giant ego.
“Okay,” Wyatt yelled. “That’s enough. Bennett, if you remember things like that, text me. Maybe it will mean nothing, but maybe there’s evidence of Ryder or someone else hanging around and messing with you both.”
“Thank you. I’ll let you know what Dr. Tanaka says about weaning him off the meds.”
“Good.” Wyatt’s voice cleared and the background noise of being on speaker filtered out. “Ally is planning to visit in a few hours, but there’s a full moon tonight so she’s getting twitchy. Prepare yourself.”
I chuckled and ran a hand through my almost dry hair. “Will do. I’ll offer to get her some kibble. That usually helps.”
Wyatt laughed heartily. “You clearly have a death wish.”
“Maybe.” I shrugged. “See you later.”
I hung up the phone and walked back into the ICU, scrutinizing every nurse I passed.
I hadn’t seen Carissa myself and wasn’t sure what she looked like.
When I’d spoken to Dr. Tanaka last night, she’d assured me that the mistake was not Carissa’s fault and convinced me to keep her on Felix’s care team.
I’d been too exhausted to fight anymore because I’d agreed.
Maybe it’s better this way. I can keep an eye on her if she’s still here in the hospital.
The scent of tobacco hit me like a brick wall as I stepped into Felix’s room, turning my empty stomach. Bile rose in my throat as my eyes landed on Ryder standing next to Felix’s bed with a smug smile on his face.
“Where’s Julia?” I asked.
“She got called away for an emergency,” Ryder said, reaching for Felix’s hand.
I growled and advanced on him as I snatched his wrist away from my omega. I dug my nails into his skin until the metallic scent of blood filled the air. “If you so much as touch him, I will slowly remove your limbs from your body.”
“You have to know that the alpha in me wants to touch him. Heal him.”
“You can take the alpha in you and fucking rip it to shreds for all I care. Felix isn’t your omega.”
“Right. There’s only a bond between us that says otherwise.”
“Your bond doesn’t mean shit with me in the picture. You and I both know that.” My canines dropped and I bared my teeth.
Ryder tipped his head toward Felix. “But does he?”
“Get the fuck out of here or I’m calling security,” I growled, finally dropping his wrist. “I know you had something to do with this.”
Ryder shook his head. “You don’t know shit, and you can prove even less.” He stepped closer, his breath hot against my ear. “I have more legal standing to make decisions about his medical care than you do. If I don’t want him to wake up, I get a say in that, whether you like it or not.”
Panic rippled through my veins as my hands shook at my sides. I pushed down the fear, not wanting him to scent it. “What good does keeping him in this state do for you?”
“Every day he’s sedated is a day that makes his recovery harder, his memory weaker. Maybe I just want to punish him for leaving me.” Ryder grabbed Felix’s hand before I could stop him. “I’ll see you again soon, baby,” he said before pressing his lips to back of Felix’s hand.
I grabbed Ryder by the shoulders, wrenching him away and shoving him toward the door. Felix’s monitor started beeping. His heart rate was climbing quickly. “Get the fuck out of here.”
Ryder chuckled on his way out, brushing past a nurse with long, dark braids who came running in.
“I’ll see you later, Carissa,” he said, winking at her.
She cowered in his presence even as he returned his attention back toward me.
“I’ll be back with paperwork to have you removed from the premises. Enjoy your last moments with him.”
Carissa’s head swiveled between the monitor and me as Ryder disappeared from sight. “He’s stressed. Get into the bed with him,” she demanded as she ran back out of the room.