Chapter Thirty Four
Fingers combed through my hair gently as a pair of voices held a whispered conversation.
“It was like I could hear everything, I just couldn’t wake up.”
“So you could hear the doctors and nurses talking about your prognosis?”
“Yeah. Which, by the way, is a scary as shit conversation to be heard about you while you can’t do anything about it.”
Jerking up, I rubbed at my heavy eyes.
“Dallas?” I mumbled sleepily, afraid I was dreaming.
He sounded better. Fantastic even.
How could he have gotten so much better in what I assumed was just a couple of hours?
Finally managing to open my eyes, I found him sitting up in the bed with my head in his lap and his fingers entwined in my hair.
He still looked pale and sick, but he was awake.
“Hey, beautiful,” he greeted me as I scrambled up onto my knees and held his face in my shaking hands. “We were wondering when you’d finally wake up.”
I let out a wet laugh as I pulled his face to mine, inhaling his sweet apple whiskey scent deep in my lungs as I kissed him. “I could say the same about you, asshole.”
Brooks looked happier now than the forlorn presence he’d been when I walked in earlier. He was practically vibrating in his chair as his green eyes bounced between us. “I’ve been calling him Sleeping Beauty for the past twenty minutes since he woke up.”
“Does that make me the prince?” I asked with a loud yawn. “How long was I asleep for anyway?”
“About four hours,” Maverick answered as he held out a paper cup of lukewarm tea and a donut.
I nearly spit the minty liquid out as I gaped up at him. “Four hours? My Mom is going to kill me.”
We’d agreed on two after I’d threatened to throw a very expensive bust of George Washington at the Secretary of the Interior and she’d still looked pissed about it after I’d stomped out of the room victoriously.
Four hours meant I was either about to get the lecture of a lifetime or the silent treatment and neither were options I had the mental capacity to handle right now.
“What if you just didn’t go back?” Zeke asked from where he was standing against the far wall of the hospital room. “You’re a grown adult, Lennon, what can she do?”
I thought about Agent Kidwell who was probably still standing in the hallway. Something in my gut told me that that woman would have no qualms with physically picking me up and dragging me back to the White House kicking and screaming.
Then again, there was also the real reason I needed to go back.
Carter’s words a few days ago about my mother’s demons had been constantly ringing in my head and I wanted to know what he was talking about. My mother didn’t seem like she had any of those outside of her grief for my father… which she rarely let show these days.
No, Athena Holloway rarely showed any weakness.
“I don’t want my relationship with my Mom to be broken forever,” I told them softly. “She’s the only parent I have left. I know it doesn’t make much sense…”
“It doesn’t have to,” Dallas said firmly, his fingers sliding into mine and squeezing. “You wanting to have a relationship with your mom makes sense.”
Everyone in the room looked at him with confusion.
“What?” he asked, glancing at Brooks.
“Nothing, we were just wondering if you went through a personality transplant while you were in your coma or something,” Brooks answered, reaching out to feel his twin’s forehead for a fever.
Dallas batted his brother’s hand away. “Knock it off, I can be sensible sometimes.”
“When?” Maverick asked, sounding so genuinely curious that the rest of the room started to laugh.
The sound of it made my fingers and toes tingle with happiness and I wished I could throw caution to the wind yet again and run off into the sunset with them and never look back.
…but of course that wasn’t in the cards for me today.
Three sharp knocks came from the doorway.
“Miss Holloway, you’re expected back at the White House immediately,” Agent Kidwell said, her voice monotone.
I didn’t want to go. Looking at my pack, I wished I could bring them with me and my mother would welcome them into the fold with open arms and things could be simple.
“Hey,” Zeke said as he helped me dress quickly. “Don’t worry, this will be over soon and we’ll all go back to the house on the Cape together.”
“Promise?” I asked, my voice wobbling again.
His dark eyes crinkled in the corners as he smiled and leaned in for a kiss.
“I promise, and to seal that promise, I’ve got a present for you.”
He dug through his pockets for a moment before pulling out an old brass locket. It was in the shape of a heart with what looked like a compass embedded in the center.
“It was my birth mother’s. I always keep it with me and I’d like for you to keep it with you now,” he said as he secured it around my neck.
“Are you sure?” I asked, holding up in the dim light of the hospital room. On the backside were what looked like Japanese kanji etched into the back.
“Yes,” he said, suddenly serious. “Promise me you won’t take it off, no matter what.”
I nodded before throwing my arms around his neck and hugging him tightly. Then I made my last rounds around the room, kissing and hugging my alphas before covering Dallas with my coat so my scent would at least be close.
“Aren’t you going to need it?” he asked, his glasses sliding down his face because he’d lost so much weight over the past few weeks.
Gently I slid them back up and kissed him all over. “You need it more than me right now, you stubborn alpha. I’m just going from the car into the house. I’ll be back in a few days to lay down with you again, so keep the bed warm for our next nap, okay?”
He tugged me down for one last kiss on the lips. “I love you, beautiful.”
“I love you too,” I murmured against his mouth.
“Miss,” Agent Kidwell said impatiently from the doorway.
“Okay, okay, I’m coming. Geez, I swear even Maverick wasn’t this anal retentive when he was the head of my security.”
“Hey!” I heard him protest as I followed Kidwell out of the room.
I just grinned.
A few moments later I was hurrying out of the hospital and into the darkly tinted SUV that was waiting for me. It was a bit older than the usual model, the leather seats looking a bit more ragged than usual.
“What happened to the other car?” I asked as I picked at the frayed threads.
Agent Kidwell slid in after me, murmuring into her earpiece. “Flicker is on the move.”
I waited for her to answer my question.
“Another protectee at the hospital needed to use it so we had to use the next vehicle nearby,” she finally told me, probably realizing I wasn’t going to give up until she answered me.
I frowned. That had never been normal protocol. The only way that would happen would be if another one of my family members needed the vehicle.
The hospital had been silent, peaceful even, the entire time I’d been there.
I stared at Agent Kidwell.
“How close were you with Agent Brady?” I asked, keeping my voice casual.
Kidwell looked up at me from her phone. “He was my training officer and I worked under him for eight years, why?”
I shrugged. “You just were always on the outskirts when I was growing up, so I was wondering why I never got to know you better.”
A muscle twitched in Kidwell’s jaw. “I am better at logistics, so I tend to stay out of the thick of things.”
“But you’re in the thick of things now?”
The SUV turned down a street and I looked out of the window. We were heading for the highway.
My heart started to hammer in my chest but I just forced myself to keep a smile on my face. “It must be more fun, right?”
“I don’t know,” Kidwell said as she pulled her earpiece out of her ear like we were about to have a girly gossip session. “Having to babysit you while you sleep naked in a hospital bed isn’t my idea of fun.”
My inner omega’s hackles rose at the insult in her words but I pushed it down. Now was not the time to leap across the small space and claw her eyes out.
Instead, I steered the conversation away from my alphas. “Were you there that night? You said you worked in logistics, so that means you’re the one who tracked all of my movements, for security purposes.”
My brain was trying to work a million miles a minute to put together exactly what the hell was going on.
From the moment I sat in this vehicle that was clearly not right I knew that wherever I was being taken to was definitely not the White House, and judging by Agent Kidwell’s calm demeanor she was a part of it somehow.
I was just having trouble connecting all of the pieces before she shut me up or put a bag over my head or something.
My eyes darted to the passing scenery.
The urge to focus solely on that in hopes of remembering where we were heading was strong, but largely impossible. I rarely went anywhere on my own, which meant my sense of direction was… well, let’s just say it left much to be desired.
That meant I needed to figure out why this woman seemed to hate me so damned much.
“I was,” Kidwell said, her eyes watching me like I was some kind of rabbit and she was the hawk getting ready to tear into me with her claws. “I was in the other SUV.”
Run, run, run, my inner omega chanted, suddenly deciding that instead of a fight response, flight would be a much better reaction in this moment.
Glancing at the car door, my stomach sank when I realized that there were no door handles on the inside.
Stupid Lennon, I cursed inwardly. I’d been so wrapped up in my twitterpated thoughts about seeing my pack again after so long that I hadn’t looked at a damn thing before getting into this SUV.
“So you saw Agent Brady get shot and did…” I asked, trying to bait her.
“Agent Brady was a brave, but ultimately stupid man,” Kidwell said dismissively. “He gave his entire life to the U.S. Government and for what? A pension that barely pays for his house and his children’s education? Health insurance that only covered half of his wife’s breast cancer treatments?”
“My family covered the other half of those,” I told her through gritted teeth.
“If your mother fought harder for cheaper healthcare your family wouldn’t have needed to pay for it,” Kidwell snapped back.
I leaned back in my seat. Two years into my mother’s first term she’d lost her majority in the senate and the balance of power had shifted, so much of her agenda had to be put on hold until this election.
“So you’re kidnapping me because you want her to give universal healthcare? Do you think she has a magical wand that can make that happen?” I asked with a scoff as I crossed my arms over my chest.
I was done pretending like this interaction was anything but an abduction.
Kidwell just snorted. “Please, I don’t actually care. I’m just telling you that Brady might still be here if he followed the money like I did. In fact, now that I don’t have to pretend anymore, you’re going to meet my benefactors very, very soon.”
Then she lashed out at me with something shiny in her hand.
It pricked my neck and darkness began to tunnel my vision.
Then there was nothing.