Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
Two weeks later
Storm
“Twirl for me, Kitty,” I growl, my eyes on her body where she has four different holsters strapped to her body. Two are for her guns, one is added to the back of her bra for her stun gun, and the last is for her knife.
She is fucking stunning, especially only wearing a bra, panties, and her weapons. Holy fuck.
“You’re enjoying this too much, Storm,” she says, blushing as she turns for me. Her long hair is pulled back in a tight braid, and she’s getting ready for her first night back at work.
Dr. Royal texted her at two in the afternoon begging her to come in. If he hadn’t saved Lore’s life, I’d kill him. I don’t want her to go back, but I can’t ask her to give up any part of her life.
“How could I not,” I mumble. “Is the draw alright?”
To add insult to injury, Arsenal, Burner, and Nick are coming over tomorrow night. Marie is going to crash hard after work before seeing them. It felt so far away when we initially planned this, but now life seems to be fast forwarding.
It’s funny how that works. While the meeting with the rest of the club won’t be for a few days yet, I’m still feeling the pressure.
The house is nowhere near ready for visitors, but I don’t really care about that with the club. They saw the house with almost no furniture and don’t give a fuck about that.
“I know these won’t be the weapons you typically carry,” I add hurriedly. “Arsenal knows to bring you new weapons to play with tomorrow.”
“They’re guns, not playthings,” she murmurs, showing me how smooth the draw is on the different holsters.
One of them is attached to her bra, another is a Velcro holster that sits comfortably on her thigh, and the knife is Velcroed to the small of her back. All of them are within easy reach, and allow her to move freely. The special material will also keep a metal detector from finding them.
“You’re every wet dream I didn’t know I could have,” I sigh happily, grinning when she shakes her head at me.
I still get a kiss before she turns away to get dressed, so I’m happy.
“I won’t be gone for long,” she says, pulling on a pair of jeans. You can’t tell she’s wearing any weapons at all, and I watch as she pulls on an oversized, comfortable sweater. Lore is driving her in the cage to keep her warm today.
“I know. Wilder made you something that’ll be easy to eat on the go at the hospital,” I say, keeping her in view as she brushes her teeth in the bathroom.
She already ate an early dinner with us, a real meal that’ll keep her full while she’s running around the emergency room.
“It’s only a few hours,” she reminds me, grabbing her shoes to put on downstairs.
“I know,” I say, walking her downstairs.
Ugh, I’m not hiding my anxiety very well. Lore is going to camp out in the waiting room, but there’s always the possibility that they may kick him out. Or worse, that the tether of the bond will hit its limit, and Marie will get sick.
Yep, it’s fine, but it also could blow up in our faces.
“Storm,” Lore growls when he sees me. I feel as if I blinked and I ended up downstairs. That’s disassociation for you.
“Mmhm?” I ask, blinking. I figure he’s going to give me something to do, but instead he fists my hair and pulls my head back.
His lips are soft as he kisses me, and that alone takes me by surprise. Lore Monroe doesn't typically do gentle. Controlling and punishing?
Fuck yes.
But gentle is something he reserves for Marie.
Lore teases me until I moan, opening my lips, and then he’s deepening the kiss to include tongue. While it’s more intense, it’s not his usual kiss.
Finally, he raises his face, appearing both amused and concerned.
“Stop spiraling,” he rumbles. “It’s one shift, and we’ll evaluate how many hours Marie wants to work afterward, okay?”
“Okay,” I sigh, feeling a little better. I didn’t realize my anxiety was hitting so hard.
“You can check in with me as much as you want,” he adds.
“Okay,” I say again, relaxing even more.
“Do you need things to do while you wait for five in the morning to roll around?” Lore asks, his hand still in my hair as he presses his forehead against mine.
“I think I do,” I breathe.
“I’ll text you a list,” he says. “I think Marie might enjoy a progress photo of her bike, don’t you?”
“Don’t bother Ryder on my account,” she says, a smile in her voice. “I bet he hasn’t had a chance to even get the parts in.”
“Our club delivered them to him last week,” Lore chuckles. “You’re right though, I’m sure he hasn’t been able to get much done yet.”
“We put in a free rush for him,” I remember, grinning.
“You two are just as bad as I am,” she says.
“Fuck, I really want you to be able to ride before the first freeze comes in,” I groan. “We’ll be forced to drive the truck when the snow hits. I don’t like to worry about black ice, and that shit is everywhere here.”
“I am perfectly fine waiting,” Marie says with a dainty shrug. “Now, you’re going to make me late. I adore you, but you know I fucking hate that.”
My lips twitch at how many times we’ve had this fight, and I nod as I pull away from Lore.
“I’ll see you when you get back,” I say.
“I’ll have a smoothie waiting for you before your nap,” Wilder adds, leaning against the wall, watching with Ransom.
“Thank you,” Marie says, reaching for her leather jacket, despite having other sweaters.
It makes me happy to see her in it, and then she and Lore are out the door.
Now to keep busy until they get back. Fuck.
Marie
I race into the locker room to change, my heart slamming in my chest. I played it very calmly for everyone’s benefit, but I’m very nervous about this shift. I change into a fresh pair of scrubs, put my things away, and tell myself that my life isn’t batshit crazy.
Even though I’m wearing enough weapons to be Army Nurse Barbie.
Shaking my head, I mutter, “Normal is a social construct, Marie.”
Walking quickly out of the locker area, I bump into Dr. Royal.
“Sorry,” I sigh. “I’m here.”
“I see this,” he says. “I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t need you. We’re actually escaping the ER for a few hours.”
“Oh?” I ask, chewing on my lip.
That’s fine. He’s still in the building.
“Is that a problem?” he asks, confused.
“Nope,” I say. “Where are we going?”
“I need to run some blood tests on some special patients,” he says, already leading the way out of the ER.
I don’t feel a twinge or warning from the bond as I leave, and then I’m pulled into taking patient information, helping Dr. Royal with blood draws, and running it over to the laboratory.
For some reason, he’s got beef with the labs. Every time he sends labs down there, he has to pull rank. It’s ridiculous.
Rolling my eyes at all the inter hospital nonsense I encounter, I get sucked back into the hustle and bustle just as easily. No one asks where I was, or how I am. Patients come first, and not my emotional bullshit.
I’m completely fine with that because my alpha is alive, and in the waiting room—
My legs go out from under me as my heart feels as if it’s about to be pulled out of my body. I’ve been working for about six hours, and everything has been fine.
What the fuck is happening?
Lore.
“Marie? Talk to me,” Dr. Royal barks, getting in my face as I gasp for breath like a fish out of water.
Fuck, this hurts.
“Lobby,” I rasp. “There’s someone there. You’ll know. Get him back into the waiting room if he’s outside. Now.”
Dr. Royal runs for the waiting room without any context, and I close my eyes as I reach for Lore through the bond. I can feel him, but the bond sickness doesn’t fucking care.
He’s alive, he’s alive, he’s al—
The bone crushing depression lifts and I suck in a breath in relief. Ugh, that sucked.
I’m pushing myself up onto my knees, unsurprised that no one else on the floor stopped to attempt to help me. It’s not as if they could have, but still.
Nurses aren’t allowed to become the patients here. Opening my eyes, I blow out a breath of relief. I can feel the intense remorse from Lore, and I attempt to tell him I’m fine.
I should have told him my concern about the bond, and to not leave the building. That was my fault. While I hinted at it, I never specifically mentioned I thought it would trigger the bond sickness.
Dr. Royal is back, his eyes stormy as he holds out his hand to help me up.
“I think we need to talk,” he grunts, letting go of my hand once I’m standing to walk toward an office.
“Is she going to get fired for fainting?” a nurse asks, none too quietly.
I ignore her, following Dr. Royal. I collapse into a chair once he closes the door, and he doesn’t say anything until he’s sitting down.
“Why is Lore in the waiting room of the hospital, Marie?” he asks.
“Bond sickness,” I whisper.
I’m coming down from an intense adrenaline dump, and now I’m struggling not to cry. My nervous system is really mad at me at the moment.
“Shit,” Dr. Royal says, grabbing the tissue box on the end of his desk as the first tear falls.
“I thought he was dead!” I sob, shaking my head. “I went to the funeral, almost shot his fucking brother, and found a soul match. My body just…turned against me.”
I take a few sheets of tissue, shrugging helplessly. I don’t even know why I’m telling him all of this. It feels as if I need to purge, and he’s the only other person who knows Lore is alive.
God, he saved his damn life.
“He walked into the house during my heat, and I honestly don’t know if I would have survived it if he hadn’t,” I say, shaking my head. “I was burning up from the inside out, and nothing helped. Every cell in my body was screaming for the one alpha I couldn’t have.”
“Marie,” Dr. Royal gasps. “We told him he should go home, but none of us had any idea how bad it was. You didn’t come back to work, and I didn’t know when the funeral was.”
“That funeral wasn’t something you’d have wanted to go to,” I reassure him, blowing my nose.
I still can’t stop crying, and I sniffle as I think about how crazy that day was.