CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX - Mariska
It didn’t matter that the cot was incredibly uncomfortable, I would have slept like crap in my own bed. Without my Alphas.
No. Not mine anymore.
That thought haunted me, and it took forever to fall asleep. When I did, dreams that I couldn’t remember had me waking up with sweat pouring down my back and tears in my eyes.
Miss Eloise looked much better than she had a few days ago, even if she was still incredibly weak. I’d come to take care of her, but she ended up soothing me as I cried off and on for over an hour.
In the morning, I helped her with her bathroom routine and fed her breakfast. Afterward, I painted her fingernails with a bright red polish Lyla had left on the bedside table. There were tiny snowflake decals to put on when the paint dried, and it took a few tries as my hands weren’t the steadiest.
“I’ll have to bring in your Christmas pajamas, and then you’ll look even more festive.” I planned on decorating the room too. The doctor expected to send Miss Eloise home before the new year if she continued to do well, but she’d definitely still be in the hospital for Christmas.
“Both pairs.” She smiled and glanced at the TV on which her roommate was watching some morning show. “Plus have Lyla bring the Christmas knit cardigan she gave me last year. Sometimes it gets chilly here.”
I knew the one. It had an army of nutcrackers on it. Absolutely Lyla’s style.
Lyla, who was at the moment locked up in her suite with two Alphas.
I didn’t know why I was finding it so hard to believe.
I hadn’t meant to find a compatible Alpha at a Christmas tree farm, never mind a whole pack of them, and then to have my heat triggered.
The pieces of my heart still sat heavy in my chest, but I wanted Lyla to be happy.
If Jason and Ozzi were the Alphas for her, then I would support that. Even if they were in Primrose House.
Did Miss Eloise know? Surely Lyla wouldn’t have told her, so I wouldn’t say anything. It wasn’t my place. “I don’t know if Lyla will be able to come today. She isn’t feeling that well.”
“Oh? I hope her Alphas are taking care of her.” Miss Eloise nodded with lips pressed together in concern.
I almost choked on my next inhalation. Panic fluttered in my chest. Miss Eloise knew? How much did she know? Oh God. I grabbed my bottle of water and took a swig. “What?”
“You didn’t know? Oh dear.” Miss Eloise sighed and lightly patted my hand.
“Lyla didn’t tell me herself, and while I was asleep most of the time she was here, I know the signs of an Omega going into heat.
She tried to hide it, like you.” She gave me a patient smile.
“Yet Jason came in and asked my permission for him and his packmate to care for her while in heat. He’s a nice young man.
I’ve known his family for most of my life. He’ll be good for her.”
“You knew?” And she was absolutely fine with it.
More than fine, it seemed. My mouth still felt dry and I drank down the rest of my water.
“I saw them when I stopped in at the house before coming here. I didn’t know if…
Perhaps you ought to tell Lyla you know and that you’re okay with it. I bet she’s really worried about it.”
Miss Eloise nodded, her eyelids drooped. “I’ll do that later when I send her a picture of my nails. Right now, it’s time for a little nap before lunch.”
I lowered her bed back and pulled up her thicker blanket. “All right. I’ll go grab some brunch from the cafeteria.”
A nurse walked in and smiled at us. “Are you Mariska Belmont?”
“Yes.” My stomach tightened. Why would a nurse be asking for me unless it was bad news about Miss Eloise?
“Your ride is waiting outside for you. Just go out door F.” Her smile grew as she said it.
My ride? I’d planned on calling Lyla to maybe pick me up later, but if she couldn’t, I’d get a ride share. I hadn’t called for anyone yet… Unless Lucian came back.
I’d said my teary-eyed goodbye to him and told him not to worry about me.
He offered several times to do any errands I needed, to bring me anything I wanted, and to help any which way.
So sweet, but I was done with the pack. I had to cut every tie to them off cleanly to be able to break away, or I feared I might find myself back at the farmhouse.
“Is it a blue pickup?” I asked and then just in case added, “Or a black one?”
“Nope, not a truck.”
My cheeks heated as I thought of the next possibility. “A Mustang?”
“No.” The nurse laughed, a light and musical sound.
“Are you sure the ride is for me then? I didn’t call anyone.” The last possibility was that Lyla had sent Jason or Ozzi. I wasn’t terribly comfortable with that, but maybe she needed me for something.
“They said your name specifically, and they knew you’d be here with Eloise.”
This was strange. I had to at least go see who it was. I wasn’t planning on going anywhere just yet, but if it was really a fluke and it was a ride share, I could reserve them for later.
“Go on, dear.” Miss Eloise made a weak shooing gesture. “Go home, relax for a while, get something to eat. I’ll be just fine.”
I bent and kissed her cheek before fetching my coat and phone. “I might not go anywhere, but I’ll text you if I do. Get some rest and I’ll see you later this afternoon.”
The nurse kept smiling this big smile as I walked by. She went in to check on Miss Eloise and her roommate as I left. I heard laughter ring out from their room fifty feet down the hall.
Other members of the hospital staff grinned at me as I walked to the exit. What the hell was going on?
I looked down at my cell. There were still tons of messages and calls from the pack, but I forced myself to ignore them. Every time I thought about what happened, everything inside of me hurt. With every breath, I missed them, but I had no choice other than to be strong.
Nothing from my family, but I never expected to hear from them again.
There was also nothing from Lyla or Emberlee.
It would help ease my pain a little if I had someone to talk to about everything.
Both were excellent listeners and hopeless romantics.
I was the realist. I had stopped believing in love and happy endings once Jack had screwed me over.
So why was I so upset over losing the pack now? I had set down the rules. Yet spending more and more time with the Alphas, I found myself secretly nurturing happy ending scenarios. Not real ones, but romantic nonsense nonetheless.
My eyes began to burn with threatening tears. Nope. This wasn’t what I needed right now. I had to put the pack out of my mind. I had a mystery about an uncalled ride to solve.
I tapped my screen, closing everything and leaving it on mute, as I pushed open the door with my hip. Slipping my phone into my coat pocket, I raised my head as I walked outside and gasped loudly at what I saw. My hands flew up to cover my gaping mouth.
Parked by the sidewalk was a bright red sleigh trimmed with tinsel. The inside was lined with thick fur as white as the two horses hitched to it. One whinnied as the door swished shut behind me and pawed at the ground as if to say ‘where the hell have you been?’
A driver in a Santa hat sat perched on a cushioned seat with reins in hand and smiled my way. The same sort of smile the nurse and the rest of the staff had as I walked down the hall.
Standing beside the sleigh were three men. My Alphas.
No! Not mine. Not. Mine.
Balthazar wore a red coat which hugged his broad shoulders and muscled arms, reminding me of his sexy Santa Claus outfit. He was the reason women fantasized about kissing Santa under the mistletoe. He held a beautiful bouquet of red and white roses, and stared at me as if he might devour me.
In a sleek and luscious long black leather coat, Jasper stood with his sultry blue gaze burning into me. He had a woolly white blanket draped over one arm and a slow smile curled his lips.
Lucian’s pale gray coat matched his eyes, but they blazed as our gazes met. The world seemed to slow down as he walked toward me. While my emotional pain had been holding back any heat pangs overnight, a sudden surge had me swallowing a whimper.
I’d thought that the worst of my heat was over, maybe even completely over without stimulation from the pack, but I had barely caught a whiff of their combined tantalizing scents, and I was aching to be knotted.
“Mariska.” Lucian smiled and everything in me went to mush. The urge to throw myself at him seared inside my veins. I wanted his sweetness and for him to roughly rut me like an animal. “Will you do us the honor of joining us on a sleigh ride around the park?”
My legs wouldn’t move when I ordered them to turn around and march back into the hospital.
It was safer that way. I would forever be emotionally scarred from their lies, from being seen as merely a breeder, but something in me whispered that there was so much more to these men.
I needed to give them a chance to show me they saw me as more than simply an Omega.
But why? I internally screamed at myself. I was going to California. They weren’t. We’d never see each other again.
The whisper seemed to embrace me. For closure, for some peace of mind. Something I would never get from my family. A faint light of hope in me suggested more, but I smothered it and held up my chin.
“Okay.” The word trembled, but I got it out.
Lucian offered his hand, but I didn’t take it. I followed him to the sleigh and gave Balthazar a warning look as he moved to greet me. They were all guilty with what happened involving my family, but he was the one who looked at me and could only see the mother of his babies.
Jasper jumped up into the sleigh, and I let him help me up the two big steps. Being short sucked sometimes, and with the growing ache between my legs, I wasn’t completely steady. I settled into the corner of the seat facing forward, and I was surprised to find it warm.