Page 19

Della

I open my eyes to my sister’s tear-stained face.

Outside my door, someone has their back to the glass panel. It won’t take me three guesses to figure out that it must be her alphas out there.

Sunlight streams in through the window on my right.

It’s a bright, early morning, and I don’t know how long I’ve been unconscious.

I’m wearing a blue hospital gown, and the white sheet covering me is almost too tight, compressing me.

Maybe it’s a good thing I can’t move. When I lift my arm, I wince as I pull on the needle stuck in the back of my right hand.

Everleigh smiles slightly as she squeezes my left hand. “Hey, how do you feel?”

“Hungry.” My voice croaks when I speak, and she gets up to grab me a cup of water with a straw that she holds to my cracked lips to sip from. “Don’t you dare tell the doctors that. I know exactly what they’ll serve up, and it’ll be nothing I want to eat. I mean, hospital food?” I make a face.

“ Della …” she whispers, her eyes filling with tears.

“Don’t cry. I’m good. Pinky promise.”

She squeezes my hand again. Harder this time. “You nearly died.”

“I’m like a Squishmallow. Indestructible.”

She doesn’t laugh or even smile. “What happened?”

“I might have done something a little reckless.” My back no longer hurts. I feel slightly woozy and wonder if the lack of pain I’m in has everything to do with the needle someone stuck in me, pumping me up with something to numb the pain.

I wish they would double the dose. Maybe then I could stop thinking about what those alphas did to me in that dark room with the freezing concrete floor.

“You had marks on your back and the doctor said?—”

“Doctors exaggerate all the time, so people don’t sue them. I’m fine. Did they say when I could get out of here?” I start to sit up. Ever pushes me back down again.

It is disturbingly easy for her to do.

She leans closer. “Della. You had a stroke.”

Okay. That’s not good. “But I feel okay now.”

“They want to keep you here for a few more days to observe you. They found a drug in your system, and they didn’t know what it was.”

“You’ll be our science experiment. What happens when you give a beta a double dose of great grandpappy’s special sauce? I’d say something interesting with the way you’re sweating. Got an itch for my knot, yet?”

A cold sweat chills the back of my neck as I push away the memory I’m desperate to forget. I swallow the lump in my throat and offer my sister another reassuring smile. “They got rid of the drug?”

But not the memories of what came before those drugs.

Of what those men did to me.

She nods. “It’s out of your system now. But it took some time.”

“Please tell me I’ve not been in a coma for the last ten years and missed out on the first flying car.” I quip.

She doesn’t smile. “This isn’t funny, Della.”

I drop my smile, knowing how much she worries about me. “I know. What time is it?” The sunlight makes me think it’s early.

“Ten in the morning. You’ve been unconscious for over twenty-four hours.” Her eyes grow misty. “They said you’d be out for longer, but I told them you wouldn’t. No one fights harder than my little sister.”

My eyes prickle with tears at how close I came to losing her. “How did you know where I was?”

“Lucas Security. Garrison called when they found you.”

The distant sound of male voices and footsteps in the hallway pulls me back to the factory. Heart racing, I choke down my fear. “I feel better now. What’s stopping me from going home?”

Her expression doesn’t change. “The police were here before. They want to speak to you about who took you.”

I don’t intend to speak to the police about anything. They can’t help me. “Have you gotten any sleep since then?”

“A little. Kylian is getting coffee. Do you want something?”

“The only thing I want is for you to go get some rest. I’m good.”

“I’ll get a doctor.” She releases my hand and stands up.

“I’d kind of like to hold off on being stuck with needles right this second. I just woke up. Get some rest. I’ll be okay here.”

“Then I’ll get a nurse.” She pauses, eyeing me closely. “The doctors said you should talk to someone about what happened to you. They have a psychiatrist at the?—”

Yeah, that’s not going to happen. “Ever, I’m fine.”

“You were abducted and attacked and?—”

“Drop it,” I snap.

She looks hurt, and the door snicks open. “Everything okay?”

Rune’s big bulk fills the doorway as he flicks his gaze between us.

“We’re fine,” Everleigh says softly. “She’s being stubborn.”

I snort a laugh. “When am I not? I know you want to help, and I appreciate it, but I’m okay. Honestly . Talking has never helped. Not like punching someone in the face or kicking a wall, you know?”

She releases a sigh. “No, I don’t know.”

“I do,” Rune says with a smile. “I still have a dent in my wall.”

I kicked their entryway wall when I found out Lawrence had taken Everleigh. Imagining that it was his balls made me feel a little better.

“Go, Ever,” I say.

“I’m not leaving you on your own,” she replies, determined.

“Lucas Security said they’d watch over you,” Rune adds. “Just say the word and I’ll have Garrison park someone on this door who will kill anyone who so much as sneezes in your direction.”

“Let's hope it isn’t a nurse or a doctor, huh?” My next yawn is fake, but Everleigh is showing no signs of leaving, and I need her to go before she cycles back to talk of doctors, cops, and even worse, psychiatrists.

“Go. You said the cops would stop by to ask me questions, right? I’ll be here napping until that happens. ”

“And if whoever hurt you comes looking for you?”

“They would have to know where to find me.” She opens her mouth, but I keep talking. “And they think I’m dead. They won’t come after me.”

I thought I had died. When I first woke in the hospital, I thought Ever was crying over my dead body.

“I could do with changing out of these clothes and grabbing a shower.” With visible reluctance, Everleigh gets to her feet and draws me into a hug.

I hide my wince from her when she touches my back, and I keep up my smile as the rest of Pack Ashe appears in the doorway.

It doesn’t look like any of them got a wink of sleep.

“Can you make sure she gets some sleep?” I tell them. “She looks exhausted. If she wants to come back tomorrow, then whatever, but she needs proper rest in a proper bed.”

“One of us could stay here with you,” Rune suggests.

“No need.” I fake another yawn. “I’ll be sleeping too. And you all look like you need rest as much as she does. I’ll be fine.”

They eventually leave, Everleigh promising to come back in a few hours.

The second the door closes after her, I drop my false smile and pull the needle out of my arm. Wincing, I set the needle down on my tray and rub the blood spot with a tissue I grab from a box next to a vase of bright yellow sunflowers—my favorites.

I have no intention of speaking to cops, doctors, or anyone at all.

I just want to get out.

My legs have other ideas.

The second I stand, I grab the bed before I can fall. I’m deciding how to leave without having to rely on my legs when my door bursts open and my mom rushes in, startling me so badly that I don’t immediately scream at her to get out. “What are you doing here?”

She’s wearing jeans and a T-shirt, her shoulder-length brown hair pulled back from her face, revealing bags under her hazel eyes. She seems much older than the last time I saw her—more worn down and tired.

“Everleigh told me what happened.”

I stare at her. “She did what?”

“You’re my daughter. I deserved to know.”

“No,” I bite out, “She’s a good person who thought you should know. She was wrong. You don’t deserve to know anything.”

She grips my arm. “I’m here to take you home.”

Everleigh might be the forgiving type. Not me. I want nothing to do with the mother who failed us so badly.

I try to shrug her off, but she clings tighter. “No. I’m not going with you, Mom.”

“You were always so stubborn,” she snaps. “And look what happened. Someone nearly kills you and you still?—”

“Is there a problem?”

I turn to the doorway at the familiar male voice, struggling to believe what I’m seeing.

My math professor, of all people, steps into the room, wearing the tweed coat that had all the girls at Haven googly-eyed.

Except, there’s something about him that is not communicating professor vibes. He’s more commanding than before.

My mom puffs up her chest and glares at him. “I don’t know who you are, but this is nothing to do with you. I’m here to take my daughter home.”

“I’m not going with you,” I deny.

“You need me.”

“You sold your last daughter to an abusive alpha. Do you honestly think I want anything to do with you?” I pull away from her so hard that my world spins.

Someone catches me and steadies me, then nudges me back onto the bed.

I blink, bewildered, as Professor Vincent stares my mother down. “ Leave .”

“I’m her mother,” Mom cries.

“Which is the only reason I’m asking nicely instead of opening a window and pushing you out of it.” He steps forward. “Keep this up, and I will not be asking nicely again.”

My eyes pop.

Wow !

Mom looks from me to Mr. Vincent and back again.

“You can’t let him speak to me like this. Della, I gave birth to you. I brought you into this world.”

“Which you chose to do. That doesn’t mean you get the right to treat me like shit. Get out. You stopped being my mother the day you sold Everleigh. Leave .”

“You’ll regret this when you have nowhere to go. Everleigh has her alphas, and you? What do you have?”

Mr. Vincent steps up to my mom, blocking my view. “I’ll see you out.”

Mom doesn’t move.

“I wasn’t asking for permission.”

Whether he crowds her out or she realizes she’s not going to win this confrontation, I don’t know. But she leaves, and so does Mr. Vincent.

Alone, I take a second to recover.

I can’t stay in this hospital even if I wanted to. If those alphas learn I survived, those jackasses will come looking to shut me up.

Knees shaking and wobbly, I push myself to my feet. My world spins.

I don’t recall falling.

I’m on my knees, struggling to stand, when Mr. Vincent makes another one of his sudden appearances. His hands on my arms are warmer than I thought they would be, and he helps me back into bed. “You’re not well enough to be walking around. Is there a father I should expect to barge in here?”

I blink at him, “A father?”

“Yes.”

I shake my head. “My dad walked out on Mom before I was born. I never met him.”

He drags the sheets over my bare legs.

The moment he’s finished, I drag them off and move to get up. “I’m leaving.”

“Where?”

I fumble for a lie when I hadn’t expected him to ask. I hadn’t expected him to be here at all. “My sister’s house.”

Lie.

Everleigh’s moved on. She doesn’t need me to get in the way of her happy life.

“If that were true, then you’d have left with her.”

“My apartment,” I lie.

I don’t have an apartment. For a hot minute, I had a studio after I left my mom.

There was no way I could stay with her after what she did to Everleigh.

Then I was staying in the staff quarters of Lawrence Wentworth’s mansion as I worked in the gardens and stable, all while waiting for an opportunity to see my sister.

“I’ll take you,” he says.

“No need. I can get there myself. You can go.”

He meets my gaze for a beat. “Then I’ll leave you to it.”

“Fine.” I nod.

I watch him walk out of my room and wait five minutes. Then, I get up.

I’m looking for my clothes when he appears in the doorway, glowering. “You’re lying.”

“What?”

He steps into my room. “You were lying about having an apartment. You might think you’re a good liar, but you’re not. You’re one of the worst I’ve ever heard.”

I stare at him. “You have the social skills of a ferret. You know that, right?”

He blinks. “A ferret ?”

“Yes.”

His phone vibrates. He checks it briefly and focuses on me. “Can you walk, or do you need a wheelchair?”

Did I miss part of a conversation?

“I don’t understand.”

“You’re coming with me.”

“And I don’t have a say in the matter?”

“You can walk if you’re able, or I can get a wheelchair.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you.”

He steps closer, bending to meet my eye.

It takes everything I have to slow my racing heart and not show him my fear.

I’m not afraid of him. Not afraid of anything, but something inside me is different.

“What happened to you is on my head.” My eyes widen in surprise at his quiet but intense words.

“Until the alphas who hurt you are behind bars or six feet under, you’re my responsibility.

I do not intend to let you come to harm again, Della Jackson.

So, are you walking, or am I getting a wheelchair? ”

I startle. “What did you call me?”

“Della Jackson. Your real name.”

Shit. He knows everything then.

“There was a girl,” I blurt out, suddenly remembering the omega from outside the school gates. “Mercy.”

“She’s fine. Cut up her hands getting over the gate, but she’s okay.”

I slump in relief. “Is she still at the school?”

He shakes his head. “One of the teachers said her dad collected her and took her home.”

Thank fuck.

I get up.

My legs immediately crumple.

He sets me back on the bed. “Wait here.”

He returns a minute later with a wheelchair. He manages everything.

A nurse asks him where he’s taking me.

“She’s ready to leave now. Don’t try to stop us.” And he wheels me right past the wide-eyed nurse.

This man looks like my math professor, but that is absolutely not the vibe he’s throwing out.

He helps me into the back of his car, a discreet black Audi, and slams the door shut before rounding it to climb into the front.

The slam of the door throws me into a flashback so hard it hurts.

My mind keeps trying to pull me back to the past.

I refuse to let it.

“Don’t you have to get back to school to teach?” I ask as he pulls away from the hospital.

“No.”

I stare at his back as he drives. “Because…”

Steel-gray eyes hook mine in the rearview mirror. “Because.”

“Alrighty then,” I mutter, buckling up and crossing my arms.