Chapter Thirty-Six – Kayla
Staying in a hospital isn’t too different from staying in the studio apartment I shared with my brother.
Hayden’s connection to Alabaster Security helps him get the best doctors, along with a fancy private room, complete with a pull-out couch that transforms into a bed.
I stay there with him as he undergoes surgery and observation.
I meet new faces, a revolving door of people who care and love Hayden.
His family, for one.
His mom, his dads, his brothers, and his little sister.
When they funnel into the room for the first time, I am overwhelmed by all of the hugs and the love radiating from each of them.
His mom acts like we’re already a pack, like we’re married or something.
The way they treat me, it’s as if I’m a part of their family already.
It’s… nice. It’s normal. It’s everything I could want. Everyone should have a family like his, to love and support them no matter what.
As his parents and brothers crowd around the bed, talking to him, his little sister sits by me on the couch. I’m not sure how old she is, exactly, but I can tell she’s an omega. Her light brown hair has some color to it, bright purple tips that give the girl a bit of flair.
“How’d you two meet?” she asks, eyes wide as she stares at me.
“Um, we met while we were both working,” I say, not sure exactly how much to tell her, or how much his family knows about it in general. “I thought he was a landscaper.”
She laughs. “I don’t think Hayden has ever mowed the lawn.” She gets quiet for a few moments, and then she drastically changes the subject by saying, “You’re really pretty.” The way she says it, so bluntly, so matter-of-factly, startles me.
I’m so startled I can’t even thank her. It’s true that I’ve been eating more like a normal person each day—hospital food isn’t the best, but it’s better than starving myself.
I wouldn’t say I’m gaining loads of weight, but I do feel better overall.
Eventually, I’d get there. It’ll take some time, but I have all the time in the world now.
Her next question: “How old are you?”
“Twenty-five.”
“Wow, twenty-five? I didn’t know omegas could go that long without a pack.”
She’s right. We’re not supposed to. Then again, we’re not supposed to starve ourselves and deprive our inner omegas the nourishment they need to thrive, but I don’t want to admit to her that’s probably the only reason I never wound up in a pack.
Well, other than my brother, but for obvious reasons, I don’t want to bring him up.
So, instead I choose my response carefully and say, “It’s just how it happened for me.”
She purses her lips and glances at her family ten or so feet away. “It’s kind of scary, feeling like you have to find a pack so fast, but it’s good to hear stories like yours. We don’t all have to find our packs right away.”
I’m really not good at this comforting stuff, but I do my best. “It’ll happen how it’s meant to happen. You’re still so young, I wouldn’t worry about any of that stuff right now.”
Hayden’s family stays for a while longer, and when it’s time to leave, it’s round two for hugs. As his mom squeezes me tightly, she says, “As soon as Hayden is out of the hospital, we are going to invite you both over for a cookout. I’ll make a cake. Are you a chocolate or a vanilla person?”
As she releases me from the hug, one of Hayden’s fathers mutters, “There’s a right answer.”
I don’t have much experience with either chocolate or vanilla cake, so I imagine the look on my face is more of a confused, slightly concerned, deer in headlights kind of look, to which his mom smiles and says, “How about one of each? That way everyone is happy.” As she says it, she tosses a glance over her shoulder at the man who claimed there was a right answer.
Still don’t know if the right answer is chocolate or vanilla, but if she’s going to make both, I suppose it doesn’t matter.
They funnel out of the room, leaving me alone with Hayden.
I move to the hospital bed and sit on the semi-uncomfortable chair that rests just beside his bed.
He watches me with a slight smile on his face.
He’s propped up with a bunch of pillows, wearing a hospital gown, something I’ll never get used to seeing him in.
“Well?” he asks with a lopsided grin. “What’d you think of ‘em? Sorry I couldn’t prep you beforehand—”
I shake it off. “They were great. No prep needed.” And I mean that, so I hope he knows it. “They were really nice. I wish I would’ve had a family like that growing up.” It’s impossible not to sound wistful when I say that last part.
“Well, anything that’s mine is now yours. You can take my family any time you want. Seriously, anytime. From the outside, it might look like all rainbows and butterflies, but I assure you, sometimes they can be pretty annoying. My brothers—”
As he goes off and tells me about all the pranks his brothers used to pull on him when he was younger, I can’t help but smile. Sure, getting annoyed every once in a while probably happens with anybody you have to live with, but it still sounds nice.
Only when he’s done describing a prank involving glue and feathers do I say, “Your sister was really sweet. Curious, too. I think she’s already stressing about finding a pack. She was shocked at how old I am.”
He shrugs. “Of course she was shocked. Our mom was technically dating our dads before any of them turned eighteen, so their pack was pretty much set in stone. I’m no omega, but I can imagine how growing up and hearing that story over and over might make her feel pressured.”
I don’t know what makes me ask this next question, but I do.
“If she doesn’t want to find a pack right away, will your family be okay with that?
” It didn’t sound like his brothers had packs yet, but it’s a lot more common for alphas to be older, more set in their careers and their lives, before they settle down.
Truly, his parents getting together before everyone was eighteen is out of the norm.
The way Hayden looks at me after that makes me wonder if the answer is obvious.
“Of course they’ll be okay with it. It’ll be whatever she wants.
Just because they got together young doesn’t mean they expect all their kids to—just look at my brothers.
They don’t have an omega. They’re not the kind of people who hold omegas to different standards. ”
It’s strangely comforting to hear that.
After that, time passes slowly in the hospital.
He gets visited by coworkers and friends, all of whom are shocked to see he has me by his side, which makes me think finding me was truly not something he anticipated.
Hayden wasn’t out looking for an omega for himself; he was just doing his job and I happened to cross his path.
It’s a few days later when a familiar face strolls into the room, followed by an unfamiliar one: Pax and a pretty, blond-haired girl who is clearly bonded to him, if their mixed scents mean anything.
Now that I’m not starving myself, I can pick up on these things a lot easier.
“Pax,” Hayden beams at him. “What are you doing here? Did you come to break me out of this place? I’m dying to go home.”
Pax harrumphs as he nears the hospital bed. “Sorry, you’ll have to follow your doctor’s orders on that.” He folds his arms over his chest, then glances at me. “How are you holding up?”
I shrug. Besides talking to the police and being stuck in this hospital room, everything is fine. Just… just fine. I like to think I’m dealing with everything pretty damn well, considering the events that happened recently—and the fact that Bradford is still MIA, wherever he is.
The über alpha doesn’t prod. He glances at the girl standing beside him, and she steps forward.
Her gray eyes size me up. “Raeka,” she says.
“Raeka Chase. Used to be Raeka Whittenhall, but now the only Whittenhall omega is my sister. Are you hungry? Let’s grab some food from the cafeteria. I’m starving.”
Before I have the chance to say anything, she hooks her arm through mine and leads me out of the room.
I don’t want to leave Hayden’s side—the only time I haven’t been with him is when he was in surgery. Pretty much, ever since, I’ve been glued to his side, but Raeka doesn’t give me the opportunity to argue.
Besides, I could eat, and a hospital is a safe place for an unbonded omega like me.
A bonding bite, a somewhat magical thing that will mix our scents forever… not something I ever thought I’d want, but honestly, it’s something I’ve thought more and more about lately. It would be the one last thing, the final step to truly becoming Hayden’s.
And Bradford? There’s so much I want to do with him.
The cafeteria is downstairs, and apparently regardless what the time is, there are always people coming to get food and people sitting down to eat.
Raeka and I each grab a tray—the food is a la carte—and we each fill up our trays with whatever we want.
She goes for fruit and salad, while I go for all the sweets I can fit on the tray.
By the time we get to the cashier, I suddenly remember I don’t have any money on me, but Raeka offers to pay.
As we sit down at an empty table, she tears open the plastic wrap around her disposable fork and uses it to mix her salad and the dressing she put on it.
“So, you’re Kayla,” she starts, and then she shoves a whole fork-full of lettuce into her mouth.
“I have to admit, when Pax told me about you, you are not what I thought you’d be. ”
Is that a good thing or a bad thing? I go for one of the cupcakes I grabbed.