Chapter 44
CHAPTER
FORTY-FOUR
TROY
I have so many conflicting feelings inside of me. I’m grateful to still be alive, and angry my omega could ever think I wouldn’t want her. She and my pack are my entire world and always will be.
Each of them are broadcasting worry, sadness, and happiness that I’m alive. There’s not an ounce of pity in their gazes, for which I’m grateful. I don’t think I’d be able to handle seeing it.
I’m finally out of the hospital after being there over a week, but that’s because Doc advocated for me. I no longer need the chest tube and I seem to be healing appropriately for almost having died. He’s going to oversee my care and ensure I don’t suffer from any complications.
I’m also ready to get out of the public eye. Alisa and my pack only left the hospital to shower and change, and I know none of them are sleeping well. I need to tell them about what happened to me, but between pain, exhaustion, and losing my voice during my hospital stay, I haven’t been able to.
“I need to talk to you,” I whisper. I’m propped up on a million pillows in one of the lower bedrooms of our home, and they’re sitting around me, refusing to leave my bedside.
Hospitals always remind me of being sick. I want to find a sliver of normalcy, even if it’ll be difficult to find it.
“We’re listening,” Lyle promises.
“I need my emotional support omega,” I decide, lifting my left arm. Alisa crawls into bed with me and is careful where she lays her head. “Ugh, Doc should be here too.”
Silas walks out and sticks his head out of the door to wave him inside. It’s not a surprise he’s nearby. We’re certainly keeping him busy with the amount of injuries we are all prone to.
I’d laugh, but it hurts too much.
“I assume this is about what happened to you,” Doc says as he enters the room. At my nod, he continues, “In the spirit of saving your voice, we should tell you what we know first.”
“Okay,” I rasp. I bruised my vocal cords screaming and it still hurts to talk.
Lyle begins by explaining Mitch’s part in things.
I knew some of this because Avery doesn’t know when to shut the fuck up, but it helps fill some of the holes in my understanding.
Mitch hijacking shipping containers from the shipping company explains how she has been able to transport her “inventory.”
“Ella is dead.” I don’t know why, but those are my first words once my pack is done filling me in on everything from finding out Mitch’s niece is the woman who attempted to scare off Avery and her goons in the garage to finding me in the underbelly of Savannah’s streets. “Avery is responsible for it.”
It would have been so easy for the window to save me to close. If…
I force myself to take a breath and I drag my hand over Alisa’s tangled hair. The strands are so soft despite the way it tumbles into her face.
“How did those photos get released?” Alisa asks. “I don’t completely understand that.”
“I get the feeling Tina is responsible for that. She’s Avery’s minion.”
“Fuck, I know that name,” Easton breathes. “We have her fucking card. I didn’t put things together when you met her at the hockey game.”
“She’s blonde and pretty?” Alisa asks, pushing herself up slightly as I dip my head in agreement. “I can still remember how creepy it was. Tina was kind of pushy and insistent I should get out of my own way to make friends.”
“That’s how she’s kidnapping omegas now,” I explain.
Silas moves to the side table to bring a cup to me, and I suck hard on the straw to drink some water.
It feels good on my sore throat, and I wince as I push the straw away with my tongue when I’m done.
“She’s targeting people on their own, and convincing them to go out with her.
Coffee dates, clubbing, a party. She chooses the people no one will miss.
Ella didn’t have a pack anymore and wanted to have fun. ”
“Which also made her vulnerable,” Lyle groans. “How do you know she’s dead?”
“Lyle was really hoping he could kill her,” Easton smirks.
“I don’t want to feel bad for her,” Lyle confesses. “Having to save her ass would be a real bummer.”
I shake my head even as my lips twitch in amusement. This shouldn’t be funny.
“Avery and Tina told me they sold Ella and the Russian they sold her to sent photos of him fucking her to death,” I explain.
“Fuck,” Lyle sighs.
“It kind of sounded like Tina had various conversations with Ella. I wonder if she knew who she was to me or if it’s a coincidence.
I don’t know exactly how she ended up with the photos, but they were the ones who released them.
This could all be a series of unfortunate events or very premeditated,” I explain.
“I hate them,” Alisa says quietly. “However it happened, they hurt you.”
Time to bite the bullet.
“Avery wants to be a mom.”
Silence greets my words, and I can gradually feel the horror building.
“She wants a son because she feels she doesn’t have any power or strength in the world.” I know my face is saying exactly what my thoughts are on this. Fucking bully. “Avery figured the best way to make this happen is to force me to get her pregnant.”
“Fuck no,” Alisa gasps.
“Goddamnit,” Lyle hisses.
“All evidence suggests Avery didn’t get what she wanted,” Doc says over the growing explosion of conversation. “She drugged you, right?”
“She did. My dick didn’t want to cooperate, and then I couldn’t finish. It was almost like I was stuck.”
“It backfired,” Doc snorts. “She got too desperate and fucked up the dosage. It doesn’t minimize what she did to you though.”
“Tina will do anything to keep Avery happy. It’s such a fucked up and toxic relationship.
They did talk a lot about expanding their business into international markets, and how they’re targeting omegas,” I rasp.
I remember something and fist my hand to keep from grabbing Alisa.
I don’t want to hurt her, no matter how strong my emotions are.
“You can’t use your sprinting website anymore, baby. Promise me.”
“Tina…” Alisa’s breathing begins to shorten into gasps and her eyes grow unfocused.
“Wait, wait. I’m fucking this up. Look, I remember Avery mentioning she wanted a writer.
They’re collecting people with different talents.
I imagine part of it is because artists and writers tend to keep to themselves,” I tell her, shoving myself higher up on my pillows before pulling her into my arms.
“God, that’s smart,” Easton mutters. “People who are known to ignore calls and drop off the face of the earth are more vulnerable to be taken. By the time anyone thinks to check in or swing by their home, the trail is cold.”
“Ugh. I just wanted one thing,” Alisa says. “Fuck.”
“We’ll find a different way to find you a body double,” Lyle promises. “East is right. The way Avery thinks is scary.”
“I don’t think it’s all Avery,” I insist, cradling Alisa against me.
My heartbeat is steady despite what I’m talking about, and it’s probably because I’ve spent a lot of time processing.
I need a therapist appointment soon, but I have to get this out.
“Tina is helping Avery scale her business. They’re fucking diversifying. ”
“Ew,” Silas mutters. “Imagining her counting her money and giggling is giving me indigestion.”
“I had to listen to them discuss what buyers they’re going to contact next. They’ve been networking. Tina keeps her organized because Avery can’t concentrate,” I explain. “If we can cut off her ability to ship people, I would feel better about all of this.”
“She hurt you, and here you are thinking about others,” Alisa sniffles.
“It’ll help me from losing my mind,” I admit. “I’m going to need to talk to Dr. Mac Cárthaigh soon. There’s a possibility I did get her pregnant. Whatever she was giving me to get my cock hard also caused me to have a lot of precum. It doesn’t always take ejaculation.”
“We’ll cross that bridge when we need to,” Silas says. “‘What ifs’ aren’t healthy, Troy.”
“You’re right. She didn’t do anything to me I can’t heal from. I’m not going to magically hate you, Alisa. I can tell the difference between your touch and hers. It was all so fucked up.”
“The ball for anything you need is in your court,” Lyle says. “This being said, we are still going to be annoying.”
“We’ll still continue to sleep in your room,” Alisa adds.
“The chairs aren’t good for you,” I complain.
“I’d agree with you but it’s a losing argument,” Doc laughs.
“Thanks a lot. Has anyone noticed that Mitch is gone?” I ask. Hopefully not.
“We may have told his niece not to go looking,” Lyle says.
“I’m shocked,” I grin.
“My ‘give a shit’ button is pretty broken. I do have to call people back soon.”
“For the election?” I ask.
“Cassidy,” Alisa says. “We had a small group at our doorstep because we stopped responding to calls.”
“When your world is ending, some people want help, while others don’t want to be stared at while they flounder,” Lyle says.
“We either have the answers, can find them, or hold space while others figure it out,” Silas adds. “We threw the spoons in the garden and couldn’t be bothered to look for them.”
“Well then. Is this damage control?” I ask.
“Pretty much. We were assholes,” East sighs. “We didn’t have any idea where you were. In past situations there’s been some direction for us to work in. Avery wanted to breed you. Money doesn’t sound as if it even crossed her mind.”
“Ew. Can we not use the term breed unless it’s about our omega and we’re the ones breeding her,” I grumble.
Alisa cracks a smile and shrugs. “I’m feeling petty, Alpha.”
“I need some context, Alisa,” Doc grunts. “Are you going to turn me into a baby doctor?”
“I don’t know if I’m healthy enough to carry a baby but I think I’d like to try.”
“I think getting enough calories will always be something you’re going to struggle with, but we can work around it,” Doc says.
My heartbeat definitely begins to increase as they start talking about how to help her gain enough weight to carry a baby.
“Are we serious right now?” I ask, my voice cracking.
“I think we might be,” Easton says, unable to stop smiling. “Funny how that happens.”
Yeah, we were just talking about some really heavy shit, and now here we are.
“I may be the alpha who puts you on lockdown,” I groan.
“I really am done playing professionally. I can’t deal with all the bullshit that comes with it.
I don’t want to look over my shoulder and wonder if I’m good enough to stay with my team or not.
Avery is dangerous, and I don’t want to think about what she’d do if she found out you were pregnant.
“I’m not saying I’m not for it. I want babies with you, Little Fighter. I really fucking do. All the babies. We have the election and more people paying attention to our pack. I need you to be safe.”
“I’ve been thinking about pulling out of the election,” Lyle says seriously.
“No!” Alisa and I yell at the same time and Lyle rocks back in his chair in surprise.
“I want to be selfish and tell you to pull out, but I can’t,” Alisa says. “I fucking hate that our pack seems to be the people to make real changes happen.”
“Ditto,” I state.
“Then all the issues still stand. Alisa is home more often than not, but we’re going to have to make appearances together,” Lyle reminds us. “Our kick off event is in a couple of weeks.”
“The gardens,” Alisa muses. “What does the set up look like? Will one of you be able to stand with me?”
“I plan to,” Easton says. “I’m also going to ask the Five Packs to help with security.
Pack Alston is opening a company that’ll offer bodyguard services, and I’m going to hire them for events.
I know shit happens, and sometimes one of us is pulled away.
I need someone whose entire job is protecting you. ”
“Okay.” Alisa chews on her bottom lip, her tears from earlier beginning to dry on her face. “I think I can handle that.”
“No one will talk to you,” Silas says. “We’ll make sure the guard is big and scary.”
Her lips twitch at that, because my girl is seriously allergic to small talk. “So we’re going to do this. Lyle is definitely running.”
“I guess I am. I really was thinking about quitting too. You all are more important to me. Oh. Troy, Easton got annoyed that the hospital wouldn’t give us updates while you were in surgery, and now our pack is registered to include you and Alisa. We’re official on paper.”
“Wow. I’ve missed a lot.”
“It has always been something we planned to do. Sometimes you need a kick in the ass to make the adjustments,” Lyle says.
“And then hack into the computer network and back date it,” Easton fake sneezes.
“I love you guys,” I chuckle.
Alisa yawns and I feel myself getting sleepy too. Sleeping in the hospital sucks. I much prefer my bed.
“I’m going to get some food started,” Silas says, standing. “Alisa, rest with Troy.”
“I need to return some of these calls,” Lyle says, making a face as he follows.
“I’m going to see if I need to clean anything up from the past week,” Easton says. “I might also give Mitch’s niece a call. The Furies are going to need a new owner.”
“If she was in the will, I hope she knows something about hockey,” I grimace. I do not want to be in her shoes. Though, she could simply sell the team.
“I’ll report back.”
Easton walks out and I listen to Alisa breathe until my eyes get heavy. The troubles of the world will wait while I sleep with my girl. They have to.