Page 121 of The Alpha's Stealthy Daughter and Her Commander
Which meant she was protecting pack members like Addison, Dax, Caine, Sierra, Hendrick, and Mason. Alpha Davis Edward couldn’t technically touch Paige as a non-pack member. The others he could and there was clearly a lot of silence going around that pack. Which meant Eric was right and a lot of shady shit was going on.
Uncle Bjourn said, “I will give this a little more time for you to resolve this how you like, just know I’m running low on patience. If she won’t answer your questions, then I am GOING to have you bring her here. I’ll speak to her myself. I can’t let this girl die.”
I looked at Ashley. I told him, “I had no intention of letting her die. I had Alexander on standby. If she was dying, I wouldn’t give a shit what they wanted. I’d bring him in.” Uncle Bjourn sighed, “Alright. If anything like this happens again, you’ll be bringing her here. I think I’m making a massive mistake not having you just do it now. Time will tell.” I heard him take a drink and then the sound of him chewing. “Thank god I swiped some cookies from Haley’s house.” Those cookies were the givers of our sanity. He hung up.
I called Alexander knowing this wouldn’t be fun. He answered, “Where am I popping to?” I answered, “Nowhere. My source is injured, but not dying.” Alexander snorted, “I thought you liked this source.” I winced because he had a point.
I admitted, “I do. If it was my call, you’d be here.” Alexander reasoned, “I mean, I could just show up.” I thought about it, but somehow I knew that would cause more problems in the future. God my head was pounding. I had to admit Ashley might die if she met Alexander like this. The second I decided not to bring him in my headache vanished. Gosh that was weird.
I told him, “If this happens again, you’ll be meeting me and Uncle Bjourn in the Hackura realm to heal said source.” Alexander snorted, “Then Uncle Bjourn is not happy about this either.” I rubbed my temples, “I haven’t been happy about this since I met my source. Sometimes I’d swear to you, I’m making a huge mistake. Other times, I’d tell you building trust will pay off. I don’t know. I don’t even know what my instincts say with this situation anymore.”
Alexander sighed, “Been there. Do you need me to conjure you a Karina cookie? She just put out fresh ones.” I sighed in relief, “God, yes.” He conjured several and I handed some to Micah, instantly feeling better about everything. Alexander added, “Call me if you change your mind and I’ll come.” Micah nodded to me. We were making the right call. I told Alexander, “Thanks man. I’ll talk to you later.”
A human doctor entered the room, “I do believe it is a bad idea to remove her from the hospital,” he said. I nodded, not blaming him for his opinion. He had no idea that she’d heal easily nor why. I smoothed an understanding smile to my face, “Thank you. We do appreciate your assistance and advice. However, we aren’t local to the area and we would like to take my sister home to recover with family. We have a reputable hospital nearby and she will be well looked after there.” I knew that the reassurances would help ease some concern.
Micah handed the paperwork to the doctor who looked it all over. He crossed some T’s and dotted some I’s before signing the last page on the clipboard. He looked at us, “I do still think that it would be best for her to remain here, but respect your choice based on her getting care in another accredited medical facility. Please ensure that she does get that care.” I nodded and waited for the Doctor to leave.
When he had, I closed the door behind him. We disconnected the wires connecting Ashley to the machines and I lifted her gently into my arms. Micah opened a portal, and we met Brody on the other side.
Micah handed him a cookie that he snarfed down. I laid Ashley down on the bed and Brody scanned her, making several faces. I asked, “Do you need us to leave for a full body inspection?” He replied, “The scan is fine.” Not normally, but if he felt that way I wasn’t going to argue. He said, “Well, a healing would be the fastest way for her to heal, but I can handle this.” That was that then.
End of Flashback
Micah brought me back to the present saying, “Ashley is not hurt. She is going on a mandated vacation by her friends.” I snorted, “What? Ashley is going on vacation? Ashley Griffen?” He nodded, “After their show in Louisiana with Sierra.” I sat back asking, “Come again? The girl who refuses to take her foot off the gas of life is going on vacation. You’re serious?”
Micah snorted, “Yup. She’s really bummed about the Odette thing.” I sighed, “Where are we on that?” Micah admitted, “Dead in the damn water.” I ran my hands through my hair, “Of course we are. I need to go see Cass.” Micah nodded, “I’m off to my man myself. Hopefully, there are some peanut butter cookies around because I need one.” I snorted, “Yeah, no joke. See you later.” He portaled out.
Hendrix and I walked towards my house. Hendrix commented, “This stuff with Ashley is not your fault, you know? You’ve been trying.” I tersely replied, “I know.” It just didn’t really feel like it wasn’t my fault. It felt like several times I was on the cusp of it all, but answers escaped me every time.
When Ashley had woken up, she only recalled pieces of what happened. She did remember being in a car accident and being in a fight. Several even. Brody had told me that her lack of memory was perfectly normal given what she went through. He said it could come back but her mind might block it forever. Considering she refused to go to therapy, I was going with her mind would block it forever.
I rubbed my temples saying, “Last year while she was out of commission things went to shit. Theo’s mate got kidnapped and we had NO leads. Then Ashley gets better and BAM the sniper calls.” Hendrix laughed, “I don’t think people say BAM anymore. You need to keep up with the kids or you sound old.”
I snorted ignoring the jab, “How is that not evidence she’s the sniper?” Hendrix raised an eyebrow replying, “You know that answer, it's supposition.” I took a deep breath, “It’s going back in the box of shit I’ll figure out later. It’s been going on too long. She’s twenty years old now. How the fuck haven’t I fixed this?” Hendrix pointed out, “She’s not Hackura, nor one of the members of the army. It’s not like you have something like that to use.” I sighed, “I know.”
We parted ways and I walked into the house. Cassie was on the phone with someone talking about telling me something. That meant the person was Angela. I cleared my throat. Cassie evaded with me, and I quite enjoyed the flush on her cheeks. It made me want to throw her down.
She offered a run to distract me, but I could use one myself. It was going well until she collapsed. I caught her and yanked my dad to me. I wasn’t sure what he could do, but surely something. Cassie’s family ran towards us.
My dad hung back. I linked Uncle Bjourn, “She’s calling Alexander. She thought this was a prank.” He admitted, “I thought it was about Melanie. Angela has been trying to figure that all out.” Well, then what the hell had my mate COLLAPSING and calling her brother?!
I looked at Gunner who was furiously typing on his tablet. He cursed, “Fuck! Alexander is just like his mother. His phone is at home, and I’ll just bet he’s not there.” Cassie called Angela. I linked Uncle Bjorn. “Her annoyance at being questioned is coming through loud and clear.” Uncle Bjourn replied, “Be grateful the phone is on speaker, or it wouldn’t.” I knew he was relaxed because Angela would tell them to go to Alexander if it wasn’t ok.
Cassie was still frazzled though. Cassie’s description of Alexander’s emotions were out of character. The man was always calm, cool, and collected on the outside. Even if he was fighting, he was either angry or excited.
When EJ called my mate, I watched my uncle. He was on his own phone. Gunner showed him something that had Uncle Bjourn raising an eyebrow but nodding. I linked him, “Is Alexander out for you? Because he’s not out for me.” He replied, “He’s not.” Thank god.
Uncle Bjourn offered to go find Alexander. How was he going to do that? Alexander didn’t wear a tracker anymore and he didn’t have his phone. Then it dawned on me when I looked at Gunner, who smirked. The only other thing Gunner could monitor was security at the Conner’s houses.
Alexander must have entered his code for one of them. Cassie and I continued our run while my mind was working through options. What did Angela do to Alexander? Was Uncle Bjourn or Cassie right? It couldn’t be a prank, or it was a hell of one he didn’t spot. Why would meeting Melanie sent him and my mate into a spiral though?
We eventually ended up back at our house, where Cassie snapped almost as much food as she ate on her concupiscence. I glanced at the clock noting Ashley was officially on her vacation. I went over the Odette situation with my mate. To my abject horror Cassie started to cry. What the fuck?! I might need to call Beagan to come over because I was stunned.
Cassie was often overly emotion after her concupiscence, but to cry about the absurdity and lack of luck on our side about the situation with Ashley seemed off. I relaxed when I realized it was about her worries for Alexander.
If it made her stop crying, I’d personally go myself to check on him. Or send my best friend. Hell, I’d do anything. Nothing got to me more than her tears. My Uncle Bjourn linked me, “I’m calling you in a second with news.” Thank god. My phone rang in seconds, so he’d meant that literally. I answered. Uncle Bjourn said, “I need you and Cassie up in my office.” Cassie popped us in.
Uncle Bjourn announced without preamble that Alexander was fine. It made sense he was with Melanie McAlister. He’d been head over heels for her for a long ass time. It confused me this all meant Angela’s blurry visions were about Melanie. Why would a woman pursing her dreams of dancing be blurry to my sister in law? She had the strongest sight Faerie had ever seen.
