Chapter 30
Riley
Reid, I reach out to him.
Riley, Baby, where are you? They won’t let me see you. Are you in pain? I can feel the desperation coming off him through the pack link.
I’m okay. I think I’m in a room near yours. My mom’s here. My bleeding’s stopped, and my shifter healing is already kicking in. What about you? Are you in pain?
I'm fine. I shouldn’t even be here. My healing’s already begun; I need to be with you.
I close my eyes a moment, trying to just center myself after everything. They won’t let you. There’s security outside your door, and my doctor made sure I knew I wasn’t allowed to go anywhere.
He’s quiet a moment, and I figure I've lost him for now. But he reaches out again a moment later. Your dad’s grilling me.
I grimace. I don’t envy you. I take it that your doctors and nurses are gone?
Yeah.
He waits a beat again, and I can tell he’s distracted. My father’s probably demanding an accounting for tonight. Reid, remember, you did nothing wrong. Tonight was not your fault. He doesn’t say anything, but I get the feeling he heard my words.
The nurses continue to work on me. Finally, they go over instructions for healing and then they leave us alone in blissful silence.
My mom walks over and takes the seat next to me.
“Hey, Baby,” she says softly, pushing the hair off my forehead.
“Are you in pain?” There’s so much concern in her gaze, it’s almost too much.
I take a deep breath. “I’m okay. It’s not bad right now.”
“Hopefully, in a few hours all the pain will be gone,” she says quietly.
She takes my hand in hers. “Do you think Reid is really okay?” I ask, unable to focus on anything else.
“He’ll be fine. You need to focus on your healing.”
I give her my best stern look, and she raises an eyebrow in return.
“You do realize I know that look, right? And it hasn’t ever worked on me, and it won’t work on me now.
No, I’m not taking you to see Reid.” She puts her hand up.
“And that’s not because I don’t want to.
It’s because they put a nice big security officer right outside his door, and we’re not going to tangle with him.
We’re doing our best to keep our heads down, Riley, especially after tonight.
We can’t risk any more attention.” I take in her stiff body language and her hushed voice.
“Is it a mess?”
She gives me a sharp look. “It’s not for you to worry about; you have to focus on healing.”
“Mom—”
“Don’t you, ‘Mom’ me. I’m still recovering from seeing you covered in blood. So, you will focus on healing and not worry about anything else.”
“How long do I have to stay here?”
She glances at the closed door and then back at me. “They’ll have to at least keep you overnight, and then your father and I will push for them to release you.”
I sigh and will my body to relax; I feel like I’m still running on adrenaline. My mom settles in the chair next to my bed, and I turn towards her. “Was anybody killed?” As much as I’m dreading the answer, I hate not knowing more.
“No, thanks to you and Reid and Slate.”
I look at her in surprise. “Slate was there?”
“He was nearby when Reid sent out that you were under attack. He helped hold them off until your father and the others could get there.” I can see the anger below the surface, the anger she’s barely holding off.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
She blinks. “What’s wrong?” She uses her scary mom voice, and I kind of regret asking now.
“I mean, besides the obvious,” I add.
She stares at me and then says something I’m completely unprepared for. “When you and Reid have a girl one day and she’s attacked by evil creatures and has to fight for her life and when you get to her, she’s covered in blood—”
“Okay,” I interrupt. “I get it.”
“Then,” she pauses and gives me a sharp look. “Then you will understand.” She waits for me to argue with her, but I’m not stupid.
“Why do you think they attacked?” I ask quietly.
She shakes her head. “I wish I knew.” She sounds weary, and I hate that she’s here and not at home.
“Mom, you don’t have to stay here.”
“I do.”
“But—”
“I’m staying, Riley Alyssa.”
There’s a soft knock at the door. Based on the way my mom doesn’t even turn towards the door to see who it is, I figure she knows who it is.
So, I’m unsurprised when my dad opens the door and comes in.
He walks over and stops beside my mom, dropping a hand on her shoulder before he looks down at me.
He scans my injuries, and I wait for him to say something.
It’s always bad when he’s quiet. When the silence stretches, I begin to feel the force of his alpha power.
I have a feeling everybody’s been feeling that tonight.
“Hey, Dad.” I finally say, trying to break the ice.
My mom must say something to him through their bond because he glances down at her a moment and then turns back to me.
“How are you feeling?” His voice is deeper than usual, but I’m not surprised.
His wolf would be riding him hard tonight.
My dad is a very protective man—protective of his pack, his children, and his mate.
He would see tonight as a failure on his part to keep me safe.
It’s ridiculous, of course; but that’s how my dad is.
“I’m fine now,” I tell him honestly. “My body is healing quickly, and I'm not in pain.”
“You’re not in pain because of the high dose of drugs you’re currently on,” my mother informs me.
“Well, then, I love drugs.” My joke falls flat, and I finally meet my father’s eyes.
I shudder at the dark look there. That look promises retribution and revenge.
“I’m okay, Dad,” I finally tell him. And then I ask the question I’ve been dying to ask.
“How’s Reid?” His face darkens even more, and I don’t let it go.
“Don’t look like that. Tonight was not Reid’s fault. ”
My father crosses his arms over his massive chest. “It’s his job to keep you safe when I’m not there.”
“And he did,” I argue.
“You were lying in a pool of blood,” he snaps.
“Yes, I was; and you know who was lying on top of me?” I ask, getting angry.
“Reid. You know why? Because he couldn’t shift to protect me.
He did the best he could do. He fought off so many of them, and then he shielded me with his body when they kept coming.
I couldn’t move, Dad. I was stuck there.
I couldn’t run, couldn’t fight back. Reid could have kept fighting, but he didn’t.
He stopped defending himself, so he could shield me with his body.
Did you look at his back?” He doesn’t respond.
“Go look at his back. I’m sure it’s shredded from where they got him while he was protecting me.
” My mother sucks in a breath, but I don’t look over at her.
“You don’t get to come down hard on Reid when he did everything in his power to keep me safe, to keep us both alive.
” My mom makes a sound at my words, but I continue.
“Without him, I’d be dead, Dad.” My mom makes another pained sound, but I refuse to look away from my dad. “I owe him my life.”
My mom stands up and starts towards the door. “Where are you going?” my father asks in a rough voice.
“To thank my future son-in-law for saving my daughter tonight.” She walks out the door, closing it a little harder than necessary.
I look back at my dad. “If you were hard on Reid, you need to apologize to him.”
My father scowls at me. “I’m not going to apologize to him.”
“Dad.”
He meets my gaze with a stern expression. “If I was wrong, I would apologize. I’m not wrong. It’s his place to keep you safe no matter what.”
“Which he did,” I argue.
“And I will thank him for that, but it’s also okay for me as his alpha and your father to remind him of that.”
I take a deep breath and feel the fight go out of me. “Just please be nice to him.”
He steps closer and touches my hand. “It’s Reid. He’s been like a second son to me since he was young. You don’t need to tell me to be nice to him.”
I realize there’s truth to my father’s words. I stare up at him, and suddenly, I feel absolutely exhausted. My father pats my hand. “You need to rest.”
“When can I see Reid?” I ask, battling against eyes that feel too heavy to keep open.
“I’ll figure something out. Can you rest now?”
While he’s here and I have his attention, I have to know. “Why?”
His face darkens, and he doesn’t pretend not to know what I’m talking about. “I honestly don’t know.” He suddenly looks like he’s aged several years, and I hate that.
“We’ll figure it out,” I tell him. He doesn’t agree or disagree.
“Zane’s going to stay here tonight to make sure you can rest.” I frown.
“He’s the only one I could get the hospital to clear staying, and that’s because he’s your brother.
I have to work with the team that I sent to the hotel and see what we can find.
Your brother won’t let anything or anybody past him. ”
I know that. “What about Reid? He’s not exactly able to fight back quite yet.”
“Slate’s staying with him.”
I frown. “What about Evie and Tessa?”
“They’re both staying at the off-campus house the guys live in. Quint is there, and I sent over four enforcers. They’ll be safe.” He stands up. “You need to focus on healing and nothing else.”
“Thanks, Dad.”
His face softens, and he leans down and kisses my cheek. “I love you, Riley.”
“I love you too, Dad.”
The door to my room opens, and my mom walks in, anger all over her face.
“That boy’s back is shredded. You’d better go thank him for sacrificing himself to keep our daughter safe.
” My father opens his mouth, but she shakes her head.
“Not a word unless it’s to sing his praises.
Go.” She nods at the door, her expression stern.
My father sighs and then walks over to her. He kisses her long and hard, and I look away. I’m used to it, but that doesn’t mean I have to watch. “I’ll be back,” I hear him say right before the door to the room opens and closes.
My mom walks over to the chair she vacated when she went to see Reid and sits. “Is it really bad?” I ask.
She levels a look at me. “Of course, it’s bad. What part of his back was shredded did you not get?”
I groan, and anger rises up in me. But she continues in a voice that’s not quite so stern. “But his healing is kicking in, and they gave him strong drugs as well.”
We both know that may not even touch it because we burn through drugs quickly, and they leave our systems without really doing anything.
But we can hope they’re doing something to relieve the pain for Reid.
I want to reach out to him, but I don’t know what to say.
And I’m hoping once my dad leaves him alone, maybe he can sleep so he can recover.
Honestly, the best thing we could both do is shift.
It would be incredibly painful to shift in this condition, but if we could, it would speed up our recovery.
Obviously, it’s not an option while we’re both stuck here.
But hopefully, tomorrow when we’re discharged, we can go home and shift and begin to heal even more quickly.