Chapter 39
Chapter
Thirty-Nine
COLTON
Blinking, I sat up and looked at the time. Cursing, I stood and realized that Kayla had already been moved. Candice or Lauren must have snuck in. My shirt was a casualty of my sleeping too long. I had leaked through it and everything was tender and sore.
Last night had freaked me out so much that I struggled to fall asleep. The way Marcus had looked at me. It was the same way his dragon looked at me. It sent a wave of heat through me. Almost as if he were mine again.
I wanted to say it was alright. That I didn’t mind.
Well, really, I wanted to apologize for Kayla waking him up.
He was still recovering from his injuries.
When Tyson had carried his lip body in, my knees gave out.
There was blood all over him. Beau also had many injuries, and I helped her while one of their flight doctors treated Marcus.
After they bandaged him up as if they were about to put him in a sarcophagus, he said that Marcus was incredibly lucky to be alive. If Beau hadn’t caught him, he would have died.
I helped Candice as we changed his bandages every day.
It was horrible not knowing when he would wake up.
We didn’t know what condition he was in or what the poison had done.
I relayed all the information I could to the family.
There really wasn’t much else I could do.
We didn’t know what was in Dylan’s concoction.
It could have been what removed Marcus’ memory or simply was used to knock him out.
I shamelessly listened in on the conversation he had with his parents this morning. It seemed like he had at least some of his memories still. So there was something else they used to alter everything. To wipe me from his life.
I’d used the book as an excuse to talk to him. I wasn’t expecting him to answer the door shirtless. It threw me for a moment, and I tried to keep my eyes up where they belonged. He seemed as awkward as I felt.
When I shut the door to Kayla’s nursery, I had to pull myself together. I busied myself with picking up before going into the bedroom. Eventually, I leaned over the desk and let myself break.
Marcus and I had to start over from scratch. There was no guarantee that we could recover his memories. My Alpha could be lost forever, and that thought broke my heart.
The bond was holding together by a thread. My side was a little stronger, but my wolf had disappeared. After the pain we went through for each of the bond-breaking injections, I didn’t blame them. I spent most of that time curled up, whimpering while Beau or Lauren rubbed my back or scented me.
Jumping in the shower real quick, I washed my hair before pulling it up in a ponytail and then attaching the pumps. I sat at my desk, scrolling through my emails. One of them I pulled up and felt my heart sink. It was the confirmation of the withdrawal from school.
I’d talked with Mike about it. There was no way I was going to be able to start classes. Next week, the summer session will end, and I am completely unprepared to take classes for the fall term. My scholarship had to be forfeited. Mike said he could try to see about an extension, but I told him no.
With everything going on, I had to accept that my dream of being a teacher would have to be put on hold.
I’d already been working under Tyson as his apprentice and I loved it.
It gave me work to do, and it wasn’t nearly as stressful as trying to juggle classes while caring for Kayla.
As time wore on, it was more about whether I could survive to the end of the year or not.
I closed my email and swapped over to my messages.
Sabrina had sent call me about eight times in the past hour, with one from Mike telling me to call her.
I dialed her number rather than going to her contract.
It rang once before she squealed over the line.
I winced, glad I had put it on speaker rather than my ear.
“Good morning to you too.”
“How is little Kayla this morning? Is she good?”
I rolled my eyes. “What am I? Chopped liver?”
“No. You’re my best friend. Who has the most adorable little baby and I want to cuddle her more.”
Laughing, I sighed. “She is with Lauren, I believe. The two of them have been bonding over the room with all the stained glass that Tyson made years ago. Apparently, I needed some sleep. I ended up sleeping for three hours.”
“My god! Three hours! How dare you, Colt!” Her sarcasm was not appreciated.
“Yeah, well. I was ready to burst when I woke up.” I looked down at the bottles currently sucking the life out of me. “I’m almost ready to swap to a second bottle on just this pump.”
Sabrina laughed. “You make me want to have pups and not have pups at the same time.”
“Glad I could be of service.” I let out another long sigh. “I miss you guys.”
“Aww…Colt. We miss you too. I’m sorry we haven’t had time to come up more.”
I shook my head, knowing that she couldn’t see me. “I know. I don’t expect it. You still have classes and everything. I just…it’s lonely sometimes. Kayla is an excellent distraction, but I feel myself falling more.”
“Is it getting worse?” Mike chimed in from the back.
“I don’t know, honestly. Marcus just woke up and he’s around. It’s…weird. The pain subsided as soon as he came home. I just feel really weak right now. Lately, my shifting has been haywire too. My wolf doesn’t want to come forward and there just isn’t anything I can do.”
Sabrina hummed over the line. “What did Eva say?”
“Basically, the trauma I am going through is going to take more time to heal. I just need to be patient.”
“How are you doing with Marcus?” Sabrina asked tentatively.
I grabbed one of my empty bottles and quickly swapped bottles, covering the two that I had filled up and put them on the desk. “Not great.”
“Colt! You saved him! You got through to him and you got the family to save him. He could have died! What do you mean, not great?”
“It’s not that simple. I don’t exist in his world.
Not anymore. Ebony wiped me from him. He’s confused and lost. He doesn’t know what’s real.
What am I supposed to do? Tell him he needs to act like my Alpha?
That he needs to step up and be a father to Kayla, whom he didn’t know existed until six days ago?
Five of which he spent unconscious?” I pressed my fingers into my eyes.
“He came into the room last night and I nearly…I nearly broke. I thought it was his dragon with the way he looked at me. It felt like Mar…my Mar. Then he just stammered and slammed the door. It hurt so much, but I don’t even blame him for it. He doesn’t know me.”
Sabrina and Mike were quiet.
“I don’t know if I can do this. Reintroducing myself. Being his friend. Learning this version of him. Having to interact with him knowing that he doesn’t remember anything. I am losing the hold on my thread. If I have to do it…and I lose him because he doesn’t want me…”
“If there was anyone who was strong enough to stand up against it, it’s you.”
I slammed my fist down on the table. “I’m tired of being strong! I’m fucking tired of it! I just…”
My head fell into my hands. I wanted to give up.
If there was anything I wanted to do, it was to fall apart and not put myself back together.
It hurt so much. It hurt so much every time they kissed and fucked.
It hurt so badly, but the fact that he flew back to her, even knowing the truth, tore my soul apart.
“Maybe…we could go on a vacation? Take you and Kayla somewhere. Relax on the beach or something.”
“I hate sand.”
There was silence for a moment before all three of laughed. If anything, I needed this with them. Turning my head to the side, I looked at my phone.
“I think a vacation might be fun, though. Maybe we could go to Italy or something.”
“Oh! I’ve always wanted to go to Rome! I heard the shopping is amazing!”
I chuckled. “Lai says it’s amazing for shopping. There is a lot of history too.”
“And an entirely new government system to hack! It’s perfect.”
We all burst out laughing again.
“I think that would be good. When should we go? Fall? Winter? Rome in the snow? Do they get snow?”
“I think fall would be nice. Kayla would be big enough that I would feel comfortable traveling with her. Maybe we can get Beau and Lauren on board. They can babysit a couple of times.”
Sabrina agreed before going quiet again. My eyes narrowed, and I knew there was another reason she had called. More than just to bug me about Kayla.
“What is it?”
“Alpha Genesis…Mike got into his systems.”
I sat up, looking at the phone. “And?”
“He’s on the move. He knows where you are, Colton. You need to be careful. You can’t leave. Not alone, and they can’t see you. Not until Alpha Genesis is dealt with.”
Sitting back in my chair, I adjusted the suction before sighing. “I don’t know how to deal with him at this point. I just want to say that he won. I’ve lost Marcus, and I don’t know if I’m ever going to get him back.”
Mike stepped up to the phone this time. “You know that was never his goal. That was Ebony’s. Marcus was her end goal.”
“Which she got.”
“She didn’t. Marcus isn’t with her, Colt. He’s home. He also knows something is wrong. It’s not over yet. There is still a chance to bring Marcus back. You just need to have faith.” Sabrina, my ever-glass-half-full spot of sunshine.
I turned off my pump and set the second set of full bottles on the desk. “I’ll talk to Tyson about it. If Alpha Genesis is on the move, and he knows I’m here, his plan will pop up. Tyson might be able to do something that won’t endanger anyone.”
“You need to kill him, Colt.”
My eyes widened, and even Mike hushed Sabrina.
“No! Alpha Genesis needs to die. He’s never going to let it go, and he’s already gone too far. He will not stop. It’s only going to get more and more dangerous. He needs to die. Someone needs to either bite his head off or burn him to a crisp. I don’t care which one it is, but it needs to happen.”
Sabrina snorted before continuing. “You can throw that she-bitch in there too. The two of them need to die. It’s non-negotiable, Colt.
You have to understand that. Everyone around you: Marcus, Kayla, Marcus’s nieces and nephews.
They will always be in danger so long as you aren’t in his hands or he isn’t dead.
End of story. I know you are sweet and wonderful, but the two of them are evil and they need to face the consequences of their actions. ”
Staring at the phone for a moment before I rested my head on the desk, supported by my arms. It was so much less complicated when it had just been me.
I could have run. Part of me wondered if I should have.
None of this would have happened, and maybe, just maybe, we all wouldn’t have been in pain as much as we were now.
“Colt, stop.”
I snorted. “I hate you, Mike.”
“I know. I love you too. You’re not alone. Even if it feels like it sometimes. You’re not. With or without us.”
“I’ll talk to Tyson later.”
Sabrina let out a huff. “I love you too!”
Smiling, I leaned my head to the side. “I love you too, Rin. I’ll talk to you later. Plus photos, I know. She’s getting so chunky lately. You’re going to love it.”
“Yes! Thank you!”
“We’ll talk to you later. Stop trying to give my mate baby fever.”
I let out another snort. “I could describe the sheer pain my nipples are right now from getting sucked every few hours.”
“Okay, yeah. I’m done. Have a good day!”
The phone clicked, and I barked out a laugh. There was a knock on the door, and I looked up to see Candice holding Kayla. She was bright-eyed and far more alive than she should be. Sitting up, I smiled.
“Is she being good?”
“She is perfect, per usual. Did you get some sleep?”
I rolled my eyes, but nodded. “I did. You didn’t need to sneak in.”
“You have barely been sleeping. You’ve been trying to do this on your own, even with the schedule set up. We might not be as young as we used to be, but we aren’t nearly as old either.”
Getting up, I leaned in and Kayla was already reaching for me. I picked her up and placed her so that her head was just above my shoulder. Her favorite thing seemed to be looking over my shoulder.
“How is Marcus?”
Her lips pursed for a moment, but a smile broke out on her face. “He…um…got into the milk.”
I cocked my head to the side. “The milk?”
“Your milk.”
For a moment, I looked at her before my eyes widened and I scared Kayla by laughing too loudly. Candice laughed with me. I couldn’t remember the last time I laughed so hard. It was a release of so much tension that was holding me together.
“There is no way. Candy, no. No he didn’t.”
“He did. We didn’t have any milk left. He got up early this morning, and I wasn’t awake.” She struggled to speak while laughing. “Three glasses.”
My jaw dropped open. “Three? What did he say? It doesn’t even taste like normal milk!”
“He asked if it was one of my nut milk experiments after saying it was a little on the sweet side.”
I squeezed my eyes tight, but I couldn’t hold back as I laughed. “I mean, it’s not bad. I was going to freeze that batch. I just…I don’t know. I’m overproducing so if he wants to drink it…”
“Colton!” Candice slapped my arm. “You would let my poor son not know what he is drinking?”
“It’s not marked! Who drinks something from an unmarked bottle?”
We could not stop laughing. It was too funny. By the end, I figured I would leave that one in there for him if he still wanted it. Otherwise, I would freeze it later. Just as long as he didn’t drink directly from it, it was fine.
“Colt.”
I hummed, unable to stop smiling as I swayed to settle Kayla.
“You’re amazing, you know that?”
Snorting, I rolled my eyes. “You can’t tell someone who is simply trying to survive that they are amazing. I’m not amazing, Candy. I’m just trying to survive.”
“That’s not true, and you know it.” She flicked my nose. “Marcus said he was going to lie down for a couple of hours. You can come down and eat. Ty got some pastries for breakfast. I’ll make you some coffee and we can figure out what to do with little Kayla for the rest of the day.”