3. Chance #2
I chose that moment to leave the room. Once the two of them got going, neither was likely to back down.
The most amusing part of their relationship was that Sven never raised his voice or seemed to get irritated, no matter how irate Alice became.
He wouldn’t let her get in the last word.
He just continued on with his steady, measured responses.
“Chance,” Alice called before I could escape. “If you’re planning to get any sleep tonight, you should carry your mate upstairs. We can take out her IV or leave it in.”
“I can crash on a chair.”
“Bullshit,” she said, waving me off. “Sleep beside your mate so you’re not foggy tomorrow.”
I made my way back into the makeshift hospital room and stopped just inside the door.
Reese was standing near the head of the bed, running her hand through Rena’s hair with one finger up to her lips, warning me to be quiet.
My mate’s eyes were closed, but her breathing wasn’t steady or slow enough to indicate that she’d actually fallen asleep yet.
“You wanna escape this prison?” I asked quietly as I walked closer to the bed.
“If I thought I could move, I’d already be gone,” Rena replied, her eyes opening slowly.
I grinned because I knew she was telling the truth. “Alice says we can move you upstairs if you want.”
“What’s upstairs?”
“My room.”
My sister-in-law rolled her eyes and mouthed, smooth.
“Nice try,” Rena replied.
“You want to stay in this shitty hospital bed, I won’t stop you,” I said, glancing at the nearly empty IV bag. “But I’ve got a king up in my place, and you might actually be able to get some rest.”
“And where will you be sleeping?”
“Next to you.”
Rena just stared at me.
“I know you still think that walking away is a possible solution,” I added. “But now, in this moment, you don’t need the heat fucking with you on top of everything else.”
I’d already noticed that my muscles didn’t burn quite as bad as they had in the kitchen. I’d been able to ignore it for the most part. The symptoms of the heat weren’t debilitating—yet—but I could already feel them ramping up. The urge to touch her was so strong that I was fidgeting.
“He’s not wrong,” Reese confirmed reluctantly.
“You’re doing pretty well—way better than I was—but Alice said that’s probably because your body is trying to heal.
Sooner rather than later, it’s going to realize that you’re healing just fine, and you’re going to get smacked in the face with that shit. ”
“Not if you drive me home,” Rena countered, looking at her best friend.
“Jesus, you’re stubborn,” Reese said in exasperation. “I know that you always think you’re right about everything, but I’m telling you, the heat is going to get worse. Walking away will never fucking work.”
“It’s worked before!”
“It was excruciating for Beau,” Reese said quietly, her exasperation morphing into a simmering anger.
“You have no idea how painful it was for him. I understand being reluctant, Re. I understand not wanting to flip your life upside down, okay? I get it. But the sooner you get with the fucking program, the better off everyone will be.”
“Just because you hopped into bed with the first Vampire that knocked on your door doesn’t mean that I’m going to do the same thing.”
“Okay, that was a super fucked thing to say, and I’m going to pretend that you didn’t say it because you were just in a goddamn car accident, and I can’t pull you out of the bed by your hair,” Reese shot back.
“Why don’t you, for once, get out of your own way.
So you’re not sure? Cool! Let Chance convince you.
Hell, just get to know him, at least. I love you, but if you haven’t noticed, Re, we’re dealing with some shit here, and you don’t get to add to it because you’re being a chickenshit. ”
I kept my mouth shut as Reese stormed out of the room.
I knew better than to step into a family argument.
I appreciated the thought behind my sister-in-law’s speech, but I would’ve preferred she hadn’t said any of it.
If Rena was dead set on walking away, there was nothing anyone should do to convince her otherwise.
The idea of her rejecting the bond made my guts clench, but forcing her to tie herself to me was just as abhorrent.
There was a reason that we had to ask permission before we completed the bond.
It wasn’t just a vow. Vows could be broken.
Completing the mating bond was an agreement to be connected to another forever.
Outside of losing our heads, our lives would last an eternity.
She would outlive everything she knew and every human she loved.
It wasn’t a decision that anyone should be pressured into, and I refused to let my mate be bullied.
“Listen,” I said after a long moment of watching her glare at the empty doorway. “We don’t have to decide anything tonight.”
“That’s so magnanimous of you,” she grumbled.
“Would you just let me fucking finish?” I asked, leaning into her eyesight.
“Go on,” she replied snottily, gesturing with her hand.
“I’m not your enemy, and you don’t need to treat me like shit for me to get the picture.”
She jerked like I’d slapped her.
“You’re not sure you want this. I’m aware, all right?
But neither of us is going to get any sleep if you stay down here.
That bed is shit, and the chair is worse.
Sleeping in my comfortable bed isn’t going to imply anything on your part except, maybe, intelligence.
If we can bear it, I’ll even sleep on the fucking floor.
If not, I’ll keep my hands to myself and sleep beside you. ”
I swallowed hard, forcing myself to stop speaking.
“It’s not you,” she replied softly. “It’s the whole thing?—”
“Doesn’t matter,” I brushed her off. “You get to make your own decisions. That’s the bare minimum, all right? I don’t get to have an opinion on that.”
“I’m not trying to be a bitch.”
“Just comes naturally?”
Her eyes widened, and then her mouth twitched when she realized I was joking.
“Can I just be super fucking clear for a second, and then I’ll drop it?” The words in my head just kept piling on top of each other.
“Sure,” she replied slowly.
“I want you more than I’ve ever wanted anything in my entire life.” I stopped to clear my throat. “I would do anything for you. Kill. Die. Being your mate is the reason I was born. So be a bitch. Throw your weight around. There’s nothing you could do that would change things for me.”
“Good to know.”
“That doesn’t mean I won’t sling shit back at you. I’m not a fucking doormat.”
“I hear you.”
“Now, do you want to sleep in an actual fucking bed, or do you want to stay down here? Gonna be honest with you, I’m exhausted, and I’d like to go to sleep either way.”
“I don’t think I can walk up any stairs,” she confessed so quietly, it was nearly a whisper. “I don’t even think I could get across the room.”
“That’s not a problem,” I said, shaking my head. I reached for her IV and unhooked it before lowering the rail on the side of the bed. “You don’t need to do anything.”
She was warm and soft and solid as I lifted her into my arms, the thin hospital blanket coming with her and draping nearly to the floor.
“Shit,” she hissed, her arm wrapping around my neck.
“Hurt?”
“No more than it already did,” she said, a little breathlessly. Her body relaxed in increments as I stood in the center of the room, making sure that she was secure in my arms.
“Remember that everyone can hear what you’re saying,” I warned her as I carried her out of the room. “So wait to detail all the ways you’d like to play with my parts until after we’re in my rooms.”