Page 40 of His Pet

"I was on Earth with Ken... and his friends Alex and Lisa..." And now she was in a med unit. Fear flashed through her. "Oh my god, were we in an accident? Where are they?"

"Shhh, shh, calm down," the woman urged, reaching out to take Bella's hands, rubbing her thumbs over the backs of them as she tried to sooth Bella. "There was no accident. You and Alex were kidnapped while you were on Earth, taken by the Wolf. You've just come home."

"Alex and I?" Bella murmured, confused, her brow winkling. But that didn't make sense. They'd gone down as a group of four for safety. Why would she and Alex have separated themselves from their significant others? Something swirled in her head, like a picture that wasn't quite coming together, but then the woman was talking again.

"We've found that being taken by the Wolf, especially for as long a period of time as you and Alex were, is incredibly traumatic," the woman explained, earnest and sincere. The warm kindness in her voice helped to calm Bella much more than her words did. "It's best to administer a drug which makes you forget your time down there, so that you can continue your normal life here. You don't have to worry about any aftereffects. We've been doing this for a while. The government pays for the treatment, at no cost to the Wolf's victims." Her eyes flashed a bit angrily. "One day that monster is going to get what he deserves."

"I... see..." Bella said. Except that she didn't, not entirely. What the woman said made sense, and she was obviously sincere in her emotions, but Bella had the strangest feeling that everything she was saying was wrong.

With a sympathetic look on her face, the woman released Bella's hands, patting them. "I know, it's an adjustment. You've been gone for several months, but it feels like nothing, right? Don't worry, it won't take you too long to adjust. We're releasing you from the hospital today and you'll be able to slide right back into your old life."

"Okay..." Bella rubbed her head. It felt like there was something inside her brain, trying to get out. "Can I see Alex?" For some reason it felt imperative that she find Alex as soon as possible. She wasn't sure why. Maybe just because the woman had told her that they'd been through their ordeal together. They weren't exactly close, although she'd always admired him.

The pressure on her brain seemed to tighten, the more she thought about him.

"Yes, of course," the woman answered, looking somewhat relieved. "Come on, let's get you dressed and I'll take you to him."

It only took a few minutes for Bella to put on her clothes. They felt strange, unnatural, although she didn't know why. Maybe she was still disoriented. It was very odd to know that she'd been on Earth for months and yet she couldn't remember any of it. She recalled seeing the victims of the Wolf being released from the hospital, the blank looks on their faces. This must be why they never answered the media's questions; because they couldn't remember.

Maybe the woman was right and it was a blessing. She shouldn't want to remember.

Right?

They entered a room that looked more like a lobby. Alex was sitting there on a couch, leaning forward and resting his arms on his elbows, speaking to a man seated in front of him. As Bella and the woman came in, Alex looked up and something in his expression cleared, relief showing stark across his face.

"Bella!"

He jumped up and she found herself lurching forward, practically throwing herself into his arms. Her body had moved before she had time to think about it, but once she was pressed against him, his arms tight around her, she immediately relaxed. It felt familiar. Safe. If they'd been captured together then they must have leaned on each other, so that only made sense.

The man and woman had moved together and were talking in low voices, seeming surprised about Alex and Bella's reactions to each other.

"Are you okay?" Alex murmured, keeping his voice low as he pulled away to look down at her.

Even under their current circumstances, she couldn't help but notice how attractive he was. How drawn to him she was. Shouldn't she be feeling guilty about that? After all, Ken was her boyfriend... but surprisingly she didn't feel guilty at all. And when she thought about Ken, all she got was a kind of sick, unhappy feeling. But why?

"I'm okay... just confused. They said we were taken by the Wolf, but I can't remember anything," she whispered, letting some of her consternation show.

"I know... the last thing I remember is being really angry, but I can't remember why." His brow furrowed as he pulled her closer.

Bella liked the way it felt.

"Angry? When we were on Earth?"

"Yeah... I think it had something to do with Lisa, but I just can't remember what." His frustration was clear in his voice, but his words were doing something to her. Stirring some kind of emotional response that seemed to be attached to a memory.

"I think... I remember being mad too... at Ken..." she said slowly, trying to sort through her feelings and the memories that seemed to be little more than wisps floating through her head. "Mad and sad."

"I don't know what happened to us, but I'm going to take care of you, Bella, okay?" Alex pulled her in again, tucking her head beneath his chin and she nestled in like it was the most natural thing in the world. It felt right.

"Okay."

"Get your hands off her!" The door slammed open and Bella jumped, instinctively clutching at Alex as he practically shoved her behind him, already moving into a defensive stance, ready to protect her from whatever was after them.

The man and woman in the room with them both jumped as Ken's father came barreling in. Bella had always been intimidated by him, but she'd grown to like him too. Now, looking at him, something in the pit of her stomach roiled and she felt like throwing up. Her instincts jibbered and shrieked, telling her to flee. Since she couldn't, she just clutched at Alex's back, holding him in place, while simultaneously clinging to him for comfort.

"What the hell?" Alex asked harshly, one hand in front of him to help fend off Ken's father, the other behind him as if to herd Bella. "What are you doing here?"

"Keep my son's girlfriend safe, apparently," Ken's father said, glaring and stabbing an accusing finger at Alex. "He's been kidnapped, taken by the Wolf, just days ago and you're already trying to steal her away from him?"

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