Page 8

ASHER

W hoever chose these chairs for the waiting room in the Medical Center did not consider someone sitting in them for this long.

I’m certain their ratings are a zero out of ten.

I'm not recommending this location to anybody, not that I'd have anybody to recommend it to since everyone I care for is in this room…

apart from the one we're all waiting on.

I don't know where she is. I don't know what the fuck is taking so long or why no one has given us any answers. Or actually, I do. It's all down to one person.

Blaze.

Fucking Blaze.

None of it makes sense. I’m reeling over how I’m supposed to feel about this turn of events.

Betrayed? Maybe. There’s something irking me in my soul, but even if that is the case, I can’t bring myself to leave this room without seeing her first.

We should never have left to begin with, but the rage thrumming through each of us was only going to make the situation worse when Polaris did regain consciousness.

I hope she has, it’s killing me not knowing what’s going on.

Once again, I’m battling something outside of my control.

But this time, it’s not for me, it’s for someone else.

Not my blood family or my chosen one, not even a wolf.

A witch.

My witch.

My Silver.

My foot taps vigorously, my knee bouncing with the movement as I try with all of my strength to remain level-headed, but the more time that passes, the harder it gets.

The double doors at the end of the hall that lead toward the exit swing open with force and Minnie waltzes into the room with an extra pep in her step.

It wasn’t there when she left to use the bathroom, but as she nears and a smile spreads across her face, I know she knows something I’m not yet privy to.

She bounces closer and I inch to the edge of my seat, spine stiffening as I brace my hands on my knees. “She's okay.”

Two simple words and the weight of the world crushing down on my shoulders evaporates.

I still, surprised at her words, but before I can quiz her further, Wylder beats me to it.

“How do you know?” He’s as frozen in place as I am, Tatum and Lincoln too, as we look to one another for a silent push of strength.

“She called,” Minnie offers, eyes wide with joy, but we’re all waiting for something… more. That can’t be all she knows or has to share.

Wylder claps his hands together as he rises from his seat. “Perfect, then they can let us in,” he states, taking one step toward the doors that lead back to the patient area, but the moment he does, Minnie’s facial expression drops, confirming that it’s not going to be that simple.

“It's not going to work like that, is it?” It comes out as a question, a hint of hope in my words, but deep down I know it’s true. She offers me a tight smile as she shakes her head, confirming my worries.

“Blaze ended the call,” she states, and Lincoln huffs from his seat across from me.

“She's not safe,” he snarls, the first words to come from his mouth since we entered the waiting room.

Minnie clears her throat, distracting from her brother's outburst as she curls a loose tendril of hair behind her ear. “I’d say she is, actually.”

My eyebrows crinkle in confusion. She can't be saying this right now.

“Surely not,” Tatum mutters, shaking his head as he leans forward in his seat to my left, but Minnie nods insistently.

“She's safe.”

The concern I spy in Tatum's eyes reflects the worry building inside of me.

“You don't know that,” I add, the worry trying to morph into rage, but I fight it down as she shrugs.

“I know that look in his eyes,” she offers, like it’s supposed to make any sense, but as I glance at my brothers, I can see they’re all as confused as I am.

“What look?” I grumble, and she presses her lips together, analyzing the four of us individually before her eyes settle back on me.

“The same look I see in all of your eyes.”

Lincoln scoffs, rising from his seat as he wipes a hand down his face in frustration. “You don't know what you're talking about,” he mutters, but as much as I want to agree with him, I know different. So do the others.

He turns away from us, pacing back and forth, the usual stance our alpha takes when he can't process how he's feeling. Unfortunately for him, it doesn’t look like Minnie is going to let him hide from any of this.

When he turns toward us, continuing his pacing, she cuts the short distance to stop right in front of him. As she folds her arms over her chest, a challenging look flickering in her eyes, he snarls, slapping his hands down at his sides.

“I’m not dealing with this,” he grunts, turning for the exit.

There's no one here to see his downfall but us. That fact does nothing to stop him storming across the room to the exit. His vulnerabilities are creeping to the surface, a feeling he normally runs from as fast as he can, but if his intention is for Minnie to stop her pursuit, he’s mistaken.

“I hope Polaris doesn't choose to deal with you if you can't pull your head out of your ass and admit how you feel.” There’s fire to her words, and to my surprise, Lincoln pauses a step from the double doors, whirling around to face his sister with rage in his eyes.

“You don't know what you're talking about.”

Minnie snickers like he’s played straight into her hands. “Oh, really? Then maybe the right man is by her side right now. If this is how you're going to choose to act, perhaps you should leave.”

He snarls, charging back toward us. She's playing him, and it's working, yet I can't bring myself to stop and step in. The rest of us are all aware of how we feel about Polaris. Him? Not so much.

We all want to be in there. The rest of us are willing to admit it. We’ve already had a similar conversation with Lincoln. We want to claim her, wolf or not, but as usual, our alpha has reservations.

Lincoln’s hands ball at his sides as he nods toward the doors we’re desperate to step through. “We know nothing about him,” he snarls, and Wylder sighs.

“You’re right, but that's probably only because he's a vampire,” he states, and I nod.

Until Polaris, factions stayed within factions, unless it was a full moon party, of course. But this seems to be extending a little beyond that now.

Minnie clears her throat, rocking back on her heels as she folds her arms across her chest. “He’s been hiding himself from her memories.”

“What?” The word snaps from my lips as rage zings through my body.

“She didn't know. She didn't know about being bound. She didn't know he even existed beyond the prick he is to her in public,” she expands, leaving my emotions to collide in my mind, torn over what to think about this turn of events.

Should I be happy that she didn’t know or furious that he would do that to her?

Both.

“It explains the blackouts she’s had, like the time she never showed when we agreed to meet,” Minnie adds, piecing the puzzle together a little more.

Tatum wipes a hand down his face, exhaustion clinging to his features. “I gave her wolfsbane,” he explains, another layer to the fucking puzzle we’re swallowed up in. My heart races in my chest over all the information I’m trying to absorb.

“It was probably a little bit too late by then,” Minnie admits, and I fall back in my seat.

“Why would he do that?” I think out loud, unable to process what the fuck is going on.

“I don't know,” Minnie replies with a weak shrug. “The only person who does is on the other side of those doors with Polaris.”

Fuck.

We don’t need the reminder.

“This situation is fucked,” Wylder grunts.

“More than fucked,” Tatum adds, and I huff in agreement.

My wolf is desperate for me to let out my rage, to unleash the pent up emotions clawing at my insides, but the rational part of my mind is working overtime to not fuck this situation up anymore than it already is.

“So what do we do about it?” I ask, and Lincoln scowls.

“I’m not sharing with a fucking vampire,” he snaps, and Minnie is back in his face a moment later, finger jabbing him in the chest.

“Right now, you're not sharing her with anyone, because you're a fucking fool.”

The door opens to my right and cuts through the tension in the room as we all whip around to see who has joined us, but it's not Polaris, and it's not Blaze either.

Sighing, an awkward silence rolls over the group as the nurse offers us a tight smile a moment before the sound of doors opening fills the room once again, but this time they swing from the exit.

A girl steps in, eyes immediately settling on the nurse like the rest of us don’t exist. I recognize her instantly; a vampire. I'm quite sure she’s a Florentine, one who showed up with Polaris.

“Excuse me, I'm looking for Blaze,” the girl hollers, stopping the nurse in her tracks. The woman, dressed in a set of blue scrubs with her hair pulled back off her face in a slick ponytail, frowns.

“He's not available.” She turns away from the girl, eyes back on the tablet in her hand, but it seems the vampire isn’t willing to accept that as an answer.

“But it’s urgent.”

The nurse sighs before returning her attention to the new guest. “I'm sorry, but it's not possible.” She moves to walk around the vampire, but she stops her in her tracks again.

“If he's unwell, our leader needs to know,” she insists, grabbing the nurse's arm this time, and I sense Minnie itching to interject, but Lincoln plants his hand on her shoulder, holding her back… for now at last.

The nurse frowns, tilting her head, completely unfazed by the manhandling. “Is that who sent you?”

“Yes,” the vampire girl insists, and the nurse nods.

“Then I'll make sure Blaze is aware people are searching for him.” The nurse tries to shake out of her hold once, but the vampire makes it impossible as her knuckles whiten.

“You don’t understand, I have to see him.”

“And I said, you can't at this time.”