Chapter 14 - Spoiled
Alyssa's POV:
I blew a breath out, sitting in my now silent room as Brent walked Anderson, my mom, and Tenley out into the hallway. I laid my head against the pillows trying to fight off the exhaustion. The pain medication had worked wonders and I was now left feeling like I could sleep for hours. However, I had a feeling Brent wanted to speak with me as he had suddenly cleared the room so I was doing my best to stay awake. I rolled my head to the side, able to see the back of him as he spoke to Anderson while digging his wallet out of his back pocket, presumably to pay for the ice cream. He looked so good. Dark jeans hugged his tight ass, and the dark green sweater he wore was pushed up to his elbows, showing off his toned forearms. I admired his dark hair, it was quite a bit longer than the picture in the pack house.I didn't mind that a bit. I absolutely loved that I could put my hands in it… before my fantasy got too far off the ground he was turning around walking back into the room with a huge grin on his face.
"What's so funny?" I asked my handsome mate.
His hand rubbed across his stubbled chin with the other hand in his pocket, "oh, my love, nothing is funny about how much you desire me and my tight ass," he grinned at me, lust filling his eyes.
My cheeks flamed for what felt like the millionth time with embarrassment. The bond. The stupid, yet completely, wonderful bond. He had just 'heard' every last thing I thought about him. I wanted to melt into the bed. I sank down into the pillows, pulling the blanket up over my face.
He quickly crossed the room and sat on the bed, gently tugging the blanket down, "oh, little mate, do not be embarrassed. I greatly enjoy that you desire me so..." He leaned down and pressed a kiss to my forehead, followed by another to my cheek and then another to my lips. Each kiss made me more at ease.
I peeked up at him, still seeing the grin plastered across his gorgeous face and I rolled my eyes, "or is it that the Alpha is full of himself and this is just feeding his ego..."
He laughed loudly at my jab. I was obsessed with his laugh. It vibrated through me, causing my own grin to stretch widely across my face that I had made him laugh so deeply.
Wiping tears of laughter from his eyes he finally spoke, "oh, life will never be boring again with my two fiery redheads around."
"I am glad my suffering is so amusing to you." I smugly crossed my arms, "I have never been on this side of a bond before and I forget to close off some parts..."
He linked his hands in mine and sighed, "I know you haven't, and I would be lying to you if I didn't absolutely love that I am the first to share this strong of a bond with you, but I am extremely sorry for all you had to go through before we met."
I smiled at him, his validation of my trials was incredibly refreshing after being on the other side for so long, "don't be sorry, it wasn't your fault. Besides, we should be heading to your pack soon, right? This place, and its memories, will be long gone."
He cleared his throat, suddenly going solemn, "it's our pack now, not just mine, but I need to talk with you about our departure."
I attempted to sit up at the concerned look on his face, not liking the sudden turn from light hearted to serious, but my head was beginning to throb again with nausea also creeping in so I settled back into the pillows. I had to close my eyes as the room began to spin at my sudden attempt to sit up. Brent pressed the call light for the nurse and soothingly rubbed my arm, "okay my little luna," he cooed, "let's not go trying that again, okay? You need to lay back and rest."
"What is it you're not telling me?" My eyes burned with unshed tears.
He cleared his throat, "both Dr. Grace and Dr. Greer, the doctor that will be taking over your care at our pack, have both advised that due to your concussion, it is not safe for you to travel any distance for the next two days, but we can leave the evening of the second day," he offered as if that should give me any amount of comfort.
His words hung in the air as he watched me for my response, but I couldn't speak. I shut my side of the bond completely off. I couldn't bear it right now. I was supposed to get out of here... I was supposed to get out of here! I was supposed to be safe away from him. I had told myself this all day long, every time I felt panic rising, I would remind myself that I would be leaving by the end of the day. That I would be away from this place, from these memories. I should've known he would mess this up, too. Brent had promised to keep me safe from any more of Dalton's attacks, but he couldn't. Injuring me so badly that I would be in this hell for another two days was so perfectly Dalton and nothing, or no one, could protect me from him. With the day taking too much of a toll on me, I decide to roll over and attempt to get sleep.
"Alyssa, please don't shut me out," he replied sadly as he attempted to comfort me.
"I will never get away from him… he will always find some way to control my narrative. I don't know why I allowed myself to have any hope. I'd like to be alone, I'm very tired and would like to take a nap. Good night, Alpha." I was numb. My eyes burned with tears, but there was nothing left to cry. The last thing I heard was the soft close of the hospital door.
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Brent's POV:
I was fuming. I knew it wouldn't go well, but I never expected her to shut me out.I had expected her to be upset, but this? Really? I was doing my best to be understanding of the situation, but my past was creeping in like a choke hold and the possibility of another rejection took over my thoughts and senses. I would not survive this one. My feelings for Alyssa we re so much stronger than I ever felt for Maci in just the short time I'd known her. I was pacing a hole in the fifth floor waiting room when my Beta interrupted my thoughts.
"Hey there, storm cloud. Who pissed in your cheerios?" He mused at my dark composure.
"Anderson, I do not have patience for your ridiculous jokes," I spat through gritted teeth.
His eyes widened at my demeanor, "okay, what happened?" He asked, sitting down after shutting the door behind him.
"I told her what both doctors had to say and she completely shut me out! Saying that she should've never had hope and that Dalton would always find a way to control her." I seethed, "oh and then she called me Alpha, and told me she needed to be alone." My chest was heaving with all the emotions going on inside of me .
Anderson tapped his lips as he formulated what to say, "man, I know you're worried about another rejection, which you need to tell her soon that she is not your first mate by the way, but Luna has been through some shit, dude. Don't you remember what it was like when I brought Jessica back to the pack? She was scared of everyone, including me. It was a lot of work, but we made it, y'all will too."
I sat down in a chair, leaning my elbows on my knees to steady myself, taking in what he had just said. Anderson came over to sit next to me, putting his hand on my shoulder, "she's an abused woman, whose attacker is less than twenty minutes away, and she thought she was finally getting away from him. Give her some time to process this before you go jumping to the conclusion that she's going to reject you, yeah?"
I sat up, taking a deep breath, "I hate it when you make sense."
"No you don't, you'd be lost without my glorious advice," he said as he patted my shoulder.
I glanced sideways at the cocky Beta, "Anderson?"
"What's up boss?"
"You may be right, but stop touching me."
His hand dropped from my shoulder back to his lap, "yep, got it."
I looked around, suddenly realizing someone was missing, "where is Tenley?"
"Oh, she's with her mom. We came back up after the ice cream and we walked in and noticed you were gone and a nurse was giving Alyssa more pain meds. I could tell she had been crying, and I asked if I should bring Tenley to you. She told me she would like some time with her so I left her there and came to find you." He shrugged, telling me every detail in true Anderson form. He never left out a single thing, which could be annoying at times, but made him an incredible Beta.
I stretched my legs in front of me, staring down at my hands, "I'm going to go back and check on them now."
"Sounds like a plan. I'm going to head to my room at the pack house, it should be ready by now. Let me know if you need any more of my award winning advice," he said before flashing a smile my way.
"I think I'm good on the therapy talk for now," I grumbled.
He laughed in response as we parted ways.
I began the walk back to my mate's room checking the time to see it was nearing 3:30 in the afternoon. I hadn't realized so much time had passed.
I finally reached her room and hesitated as I held my hand over the door handle, and finally having decided I would be okay with whatever she asked me to do, I opened the door. However, nothing could have prepared me for what I saw on the otherside. I stood cemented to my spot, taking in the view before me. Alyssa and Tenley were snuggled up and sleeping soundly. Seeing my girls so peaceful after a wreck of a day sure did something to me.
I carefully sat down on the couch on the opposite side of the room as I didn't want to wake them. I mulled over what I would say to Alyssa to get her to trust that no harm would come to her while she was here for the next two days. I practiced my speech over and over again in my head as I listened to the soft breathing of my sleeping mate and child. I then began to look around the room when something caught my eye, the restaurant menus I had requested earlier this morning were nestled between the other items that had been transferred to Alyssa's new room. I quickly, and quietly, got up to grab them and returned to my seated position. I took out my phone and used the light to look over the options. I'd be damned if I broke another promise.
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Alyssa's POV:
I blinked multiple times, looking over to the clock and seeing it was 6:00 pm. I had been asleep for over two hours. My arm was numb from laying under my sleeping child. I looked around, my heart sinking as I realized Brent was still gone. What had I done? I thought as I carefully pulled my arm from under her. I had just gotten the courage to test the mate bond when I heard the door open, and a delicious smell hit my nose, causing my stomach to growl loudly with hunger. An even more delicious sound hit my ears, the chuckle of my mate.
"Come here, please," I quietly requested.
He quickly sat the food down, rushing over to me. He whispered trying not to wake Tenley, "what is it? Are you okay?" His voice was full of concern as he looked me over.
I shook my head no and began crying, "I'm so sorry I told you to leave," I cried, talking as quietly as I could, "I am just so scared and I hate being here. This has all been too much, I just thought I was finally getting away and two more days in this hell feels like a lifetime, but I shouldn't have spoken to you like that."
He cut me off with a quick kiss, "Alyssa, do not apologize. I won't lie and say I fully understood your reaction, but after a talk with our overly cocky Beta, I do understand it much better now. I was not sensitive to what you have been through. I was wrong to assume that two more days would be justifiable after everything you have had to experience here. If I could safely take you out of here right this minute, I would. But what Dalton is not going to do is take you away from me permanently by us leaving too soon. We will bide the rest of the time here, and then we will travel once you are more healed."
I smiled and pulled his face toward me, giving him a much anticipated kiss. I poured every ounce of my feelings into the previously closed bond, finally getting to tangle my hands in his hair.
We were interrupted by a second growl of my stomach which caused my mate to pull away from me, "is my little Luna hungry?" He asked while laughing at the intrusive sound.
I sheepishly grinned and nodded my head yes.
I couldn't help but feel like a kid in a candy store when he started pulling meals for all three of us from the to-go bags. He had kept his promise.