Page 27 of Victorious: Part I

Alpha’s breathing is short, sharp bursts as he begins pacing at the end of Livvy’s bed. His fingers race through his hair in obvious frustration. He’s pulling at the tips, he’s so worked up.

“Alpha,” Livvy whispers, but he continues his frantic pacing.

He snaps back to face her, his eyes filled with hurt. “Why didn’t you tell me about Lock?” he growls out the words so deep, so aggressively, that it’s almost unintelligible. But Livvy doesn’t miss it. In fact, she smiles and lets out a small laugh, followed by a slight cough, which then causes Alpha to stop his pacing, staring at her like she is the most fragile thing in the world.

Livvy catches her breath. “Oh, I don’t know…” Her eyes fixate on Alpha. “Maybe because you’re a hothead, and your best friend is a tech genius. Thelastthing I wanted was for you and Loki to go on some side quest tangent thing, thinking you’re protecting me from the big bad doctor.” She exhales while I try to fight back my smile because, Lord knows, she’s right. “I love you, Stone. I love how you want to make sure everyone is perfect enough for the people in your life, but… you can be a little much sometimes to outsiders. To people who don’t know and understand you and the club. I didn’t want to ruin a good thing, and Lock, he’s a good thing.”

Alpha’s head hangs low, then he moves around to the edge of Livvy’s bed, reaching out for her hand. “I’m so fucking sorry that I was an asshole of a husband to you. That I let myself drown after the Cartel took Poppy. I wasn’t there for you. I should have been the kind of man who let you know you could have brought another man by the club and introduced him to us.” He sniffs back his emotion. “I’ll never forgive myself for that, Liv.”

She weakly smiles, her good hand lifting and pressing lightly on the middle of his chest. “There’s nothing to forgive, Stone. Everything worked out how it was meant to…” She stops to catch her breath as Alpha rests his hand atop hers. “Everything at the club is about community, and I love that environment. But I think what I have with Lock is something for me, you know? I wasn’t keeping him a secret as such, just keeping him for me.”

A wave of understanding flows over me while I watch Alpha, who is still trying to decipher her meaning. So, I step in. “Because once Lock is introduced to the club, the guys will start vetting him, and then they will want to start hanging out with him when they see how cool he is. Then, when they both start going to the club, he will be hanging out with the guys instead of her because that’s what guys do, right? I get it. Makes complete sense.”

Alpha raises his brow, rubbing the back of his neck. “You thought the club would steal your boyfriend from you?” he asks.

Livvy frowns, grimacing with pain as she tries to shift a little on the bed.

Poppy instantly fluffs her pillows for her mother. “Here, I’ve got you,” Poppy offers.

Livvy’s eyes flood with tears as she glances up at her daughter, then she exhales with a nod. “If you look to history, Alpha, the clubhastaken things from me,” she simply states, then slides her hand into Poppy’s.

Well, you can’t really argue with her on that fact.

Technically, the club was the reason Livvy lost Poppy. First to the Cartel, then again when Poppy wanted to live with Alpha and me instead of Livvy.

Alpha groans, scrubbing at his face, and begins pacing again. He lets out a long exhale, moving to an oversized chair in the corner of the room, and drops down into it with a huff. Then his head lifts slowly, his haunted eyes locking back onto Livvy’s. “I’m going to find who did this. I swear to you. I’ll make them pay forevery single dropof your blood,” he vows, his voice thick with promise.

A ghost of a smile touches her lips. “I know you will.” Her eyes drift to me as I stand at the edge of her room. “Haven, can you come here?”

Rolling my shoulders, I approach the bed, my chest tight with unshed tears.

She reaches for my hand with trembling fingers. “Thank you,” she whispers. “For saving me. For getting me out of there.”

My insides squeeze with regret. “I’m sorry I couldn’t do more,” I tell her, guilt crushing my chest. “I should have been faster, stronger—”

“No,” she interrupts with surprising firmness. “You riskedeverythingfor me. Now, I need you to promisemesomething.” I nod, unable to speak past the lump in my throat as she gestures for me to lean in closer to her, which I do. “Keep them safe,” she whispers as if she isn’t going to make it through this. “You’re stronger than all of us. They need that strength now.” Her gaze intensifies despite her clearly weakening demeanor. “And don’t let this destroy Alpha. He’ll want vengeance, but don’t let him lose himself to it or fall back into old patterns like drinking. Poppy needs her father.”

My breath catches, but all I can do right now is make sure that Livvy feels comfortable. There’s no way she isn’t pulling through this, so this is all a moot point anyway. But to ease her anxiety, I will tell her anything she needs to hear. “I p-promise,” I manage, my voice breaking. “But you can keep him in line yourself when you recover fully. I need you standing beside me at my wedding to the asshole, Liv,” I tell her.

Livvy chuckles, causing her to cough. Her eyes close briefly, pain washing over her features. The monitors beep a warning as her vitals fluctuate.

“Mom?” Poppy’s voice rises in panic. “Mommy!”

Chapter Eight

HAVEN

Alpha shoots up from the chair, fear washing over his face as my hand rushes to my mouth to capture my gasp. Livvy’s eyes flutter open again, blinking rapidly, her hands darting out for Poppy. “I’m okay, sweetheart. Just… tired.”

Alpha exhales loudly behind me while a nurse appears in the doorway. “Hi all, I’m Miranda, I’m one of the nurses who works under Livvy. Okay for me to come in and check the monitors before adjusting Livvy’s IV?”

Alpha waves her through, and she steps up beside Livvy’s bed, weakly smiling down at her while she checks her over. “Hey Liv, you want some more pain medication?”

Livvy weakly smiles at her friend. “Yeah, thanks, Mir.”

Miranda pushes the meds through Livvy’s IV, then gently rests her hand on her shoulder in a comforting gesture. “You need anything, just buzz me, okay?” she explains quietly before slipping back out.

It’s almost like when the meds hit Livvy’s system, they send her straight off to sleep, her eyes flicking closed as her body finally relaxes. Letting out a long breath, that heightened tension in the room eases slightly. I glance at Alpha, and there is a silent conversation between the two of us, saying that we know we’re going to be here, in this hospital room, for a while.

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