Page 45

Jonas

O nce again, I paced a tiny hospital waiting room as one of my packmates fought for their life.

And once again, I was powerless to do anything to make it better.

I felt like a shitty alpha.

Not that there was anything I could’ve done. I hadn’t even known Verity had gone to talk with Freddie. Grif went looking for her when she hadn’t come back from the bathroom.

While I knew Chet had a wife, I hadn’t even considered that she’d come after Grif.

The fact I hadn’t planned for that made my stomach churn.

Then again, I didn’t know that Verity’s old coach, her ex the fútboler, and that beta model, were wrapped up in this.

Fuck.

Grif sat in AJ’s lap, beside himself. Rightfully so, considering he and Verity only bonded yesterday. He’d probably felt the whole fucking thing.

Verity had protected Grif with her body. Faced a nemesis.

And barked .

While I was worried sick about my little alpha and needed her to be okay, I was proud of her. Because we were alphas. We protected them. When she needed to, she had.

I just wished she hadn’t gotten shot .

The media was all over this, given how fresh Grif was in the press. Kylee and our pack publicist were on it. Dimitri and a few others were here at the hospital trying to keep us from being swarmed.

Dean looked at me with tear-stained eyes. “I…I was thinking of asking her to bite me tonight.”

“She’ll be okay, Love.” I pulled him to me. His cozy scent went salty with worry and sadness as I ran my fingers through his hair, trying to calm him down.

Inside I was a bundle of anxiety, and it took everything to keep that tamped down so Dean didn’t get it through our bond. Please let her be okay.

“We’re going to take a little walk. We’ll be back.” AJ had his arm around Grif as they left the waiting room, in a trail of sour rain.

Mercy was on her phone, expression worried. Verity’s crutch lay next to her. It had been forgotten when Grif and Verity left with the ambulance.

She looked over at me, eyes teary, makeup smeared. “Who do I tell? Should I tell a parent? I feel like I should tell a parent.”

“Start with Creed or Grace? If you need to tell a parent, they’ll help you figure out which one,” I assured. I hoped we didn’t. Though I wasn’t sure any of the parents would give enough fucks about Verity to actually show up.

Grace could come ready to stab us with a fork, though.

“Okay. I already texted Creed. I also told my coach what happened. I’m not leaving my sister.” Her expression grew fierce. “I texted Verity’s friend Saphira because I don’t know how to get a hold of Dr. Winters.”

Good. Someone from her university should know what happened.

A doctor walked into the room. “Grif McGraff?”

“I’m Jonas, I’m head alpha. Is she okay?” My heart skipped a beat.

He peered at his tablet. “She’s not listed as being in a pack. But I have a mate in her record. A Griffin McGraff.” The doctor looked around.

“I’m Grif’s head alpha.” It was hard not to rush him and shake the answers out of him. Was she okay? I’d be gutted if she wasn’t.

“I’m her sister, you can tell us.” Mercy joined me, look no-nonsense. “Mercy Thorne.”

“Please tell us.” Dean put his arms around my waist, voice a near-whine.

The doctor’s look softened as he checked his tablet. “Mercy Thorne, sister, and one of her emergency contacts. As long as it’s okay for me to talk about your sister with them present.”

Mercy nodded. “Please do.”

“She was lucky. So lucky. The small bullet went clear through her shoulder, so there’s not nearly as much damage as there could have been,” he told us. “We stitched her up. She’ll want some rehab.”

Verity was still going to PT for her stroke, so a little more wouldn’t hurt. Thank goodness it wasn’t more serious.

“We’re going to run a few tests because it seems like she hit her head pretty hard when she fell. Then we’ll admit her for observation. She’s a young and healthy alpha, so I’m sure she’s hardy and will heal fast,” the doctor told us.

A day or two of observation? We could deal with that.

“Is she conscious?” I asked.

“She’s asking for Grif,” he told us, looking around as if it would make him magically appear.

“You know she had a stroke, right?” Mercy gave him a look. “Also, the medicines she can’t have?”

The doctor gave her an indulgent look. “It’s all in her file. She’ll be fine and you’ll see her soon.”

“I think I’m going to be sick.” Grif trembled against AJ as we sat in the pack-sized room in critical care.

Well, we sat. Dean snuggled against Verity in the hospital bed. There was food on the table that some of the Knights had brought.

The monitors beeped, as Verity lay in a deep medicated sleep, after having a bad reaction to something they gave her. One moment she’d been with Grif after finishing some tests, the next moment she hadn’t been okay.

Life was so fragile.

“She’ll be fine. They stabilized her, she’ll sleep it off, and be okay,” I reassured Grif. “Her scans all look great, just a little concussion. She’ll be okay.”

I kept telling them that, willing it to be true.

Grif was taking this hard, and I was afraid he’d spiral because of it.

“Dude, I can’t believe Verity took a bullet for someone.” Hale, looking like trouble in cowboy boots, sauntered in like he had no cares, holding a box of pizza and a bundle of balloons.

“She took it for her mate, you moron.” Mercy ran at her brother and hugged him, causing him to nearly drop the box.

He looked over at Verity. “She’ll be okay, right? Did they catch the asshole?”

“Yeah. One of the hockey players literally chased after her and brought her to the police over his shoulder, kicking and screaming. Oooh, pizza? Thanks.” Mercy took the box. “Cute balloons, wow.”

“Oh, it wasn’t us.” Dare joined him. His pants looked like they’d fall off his ass and I’d never heard of the band on his shirt.

Hale opened the box and took a slice. “It was your friends in the lobby.”

“Well, that was nice. It smells good.” Dean crawled off the bed and got a piece.

“Where’s Grace?” I looked around, fully expecting her to storm in and ask me why I let her sister get hurt.

“At a conference in France. I sort of haven’t told her yet because I’m not feeling a Grace tornado right now. I’ll tell her in the morning. Creed offered to come, but I told him to stay in Rockland and send these fuckers instead.” Mercy shrugged, tying the balloons to a vase of flowers someone had already brought.

Dare looked over at her. “She’ll be okay?”

“She’s heavily sedated, but she’ll be okay,” I assured. “Thank you for coming out.”

“Absolutely. The shooting hit the news. Mama’s beside herself,” Dare told Mercy. “I’ll keep them at arm’s length, okay? But you should text her.”

“I will. Please keep them away. The only parent I want right now is Dad–only if he left Mumsy in London.” Mercy hugged her brother tightly. “I don’t even want Grace or Creed. Just you two assholes.”

We sat around, talking. Grif got up and crawled into the bed with Verity, holding Dean’s hand over her body.

“Creed got us a hotel. Mercy, want to crash with us for a few hours? Get a little sleep? Take a shower? Change out of your ballgown? Aren’t you fancy? You wear that shit like every night, right?” Dare asked.

Mercy scratched her nose with her middle finger. “We were at a charity fundraiser, you ding-dong. You can leave. I got my hugs. I’m fine now.”

“You can go with them if you want, Squirt. You can also go home. There’s nothing wrong with getting a little sleep. We can trade off. Someone should get some things for Verity, anyway,” I told her. We should eventually change, since we were still in our gala finery.

“Squirt?” Hale snorted.

“Only Jonas can call me that.” Mercy made a face. “I’ll get Verity’s things. You’ll pack her thongs. She doesn’t like wearing thongs in hospitals.”

Dean tried not to laugh. “I’m so grateful for that information.”

Mercy left with her brothers in a cloud of plum-scented worry.

“I’d like to take Grif home,” AJ whispered. “I’m worried about him spiraling. He needs to be tucked into bed and taken care of. We’ll come back in the morning and then you and Dean can go home for a bit?”

“That sounds like a good plan if he’s willing to leave her side.” Because Grif didn’t look too good and his scent was still sour.

“Boo-Boo, would you like to go home and shower? Get Verity’s things?” AJ got up and went to Grif.

“I… I don’t know. I want to stay with her, but I don’t feel good.” He looked stricken, wrapping his arms around AJ.

“You know this isn’t your fault, right?” I told Grif. “Not only didn’t you have any idea that Chet’s wife would come after you, Verity’s job as an alpha is literally to protect you. A job I’ve reminded her of. She won’t blame you, so don’t blame yourself.”

I needed him to understand that. He took things too hard, too personal.

Grif sat up. “I… I know. It’s just…”

Dean squeezed his hand. “I know. Go home, Gumdrop. Curl up with AJ and sleep for a couple of hours. Bring me some clothes? I think I need some hospital thongs.”

“I’ll bring all the thongs.” Grif snorted. He gave her a long look, then turned back to his husband. “You’ll watch over her for me?”

“Of course. I’ll make sure she gets all the cuddles and knows we’re here. After all, I was supposed to spend the night with her.” Dean’s look grew wistful. “I love you, Gumdrop.” He leaned over and gave Grif a kiss.

“We’ll be back in the morning,” AJ told me. He planted a kiss on Grif’s temple. “Come on, Boo-Boo.”

Grif kissed Verity on the cheek. “I’m going to leave you with Dean for a few hours. But I’ll be back with some clothes for you. We’ll take your dress to the cleaners and see if they can get the blood out of it. I love you, Kitten.”

“Go rest. I’ll call you if she wakes up and wants you?” I offered.

“Thanks.” Grif nodded and left with AJ.

“His scent is off. He’s sort of clammy. I… I really don’t want him to spiral.” Dean looked stricken.

“Me neither. That’s why AJ’s taking him home for a bit.” I put the uneaten food in the mini-fridge and checked my messages to make sure no one needed anything. Also, I texted the Knights group chat, letting everyone know that if they were still here, they should go home.

“Will you lay down with us, Babes?” Dean took off his shirt and threw it at the couch, then did the same for his pants.

While it was critical care, she was in a pack suite. The bed was large enough for exactly that–a mate or two cuddling the patient, letting them know they were loved. It sometimes made all the difference in recovery.

“I’d like that.” I took off my shoes, belt, and shirt. My jacket had been discarded long ago.

Putting my phone on the bedside table, I crawled on the other side of her and turned off the light.

I kissed our little alpha on the temple. “Good night, Sweet Girl.” I reached over her and squeezed Dean’s hand. “Good night, my love.”

While I closed my eyes, I didn’t sleep. Also, I kept getting texts. Texts from Kylee. Texts from the hockey group chat. Texts from Charlie and my sister.

AJ

Grif has a fever, I think he might be sick.

Me

If you need to, take him to the Center Clinic.

I could see Grif making himself sick over this.

AJ

If we don’t make it back in the morning I’ll have Mercy bring your things.

Me

Don’t worry about it. You watch over him.

We could always have Mercy sit with Verity while we ducked home for a few hours. Hopefully Verity would get discharged in a day or two, anyway. Especially since the scans showed there wasn’t any brain injury.

Finally, I closed my eyes. Verity would be okay. Grif would be okay.

Everyone would be fucking okay.