Page 34 of Dream Girl
Her words were a punch in the stomach. “Shit.”
I’d never hurt her. But the law would think otherwise.
“You’re bonded to her, but it’s not registered. She’s not part of your pack. You’re not married, and you don’t have a legal agreement. Sure, she was missing, but you never filed a missing person report. Not to mention, the Center documented all those old scars on her body–and her current bruises.” Her tone and look were warnings.
I nodded. “I can see what doctors–and the law–might think. But she’ll set them straight.”
“The law will take more than her word into consideration, since she could be coerced, or barked, into saying that it wasn’t you. I handle these sorts of cases all the time. You’ll be considered guilty until proven innocent,” Lexi warned. “Withfacts.”
I gulped, as her words hit me. “Brennan’s probably calling the pack lawyer.”
“Not sure that’s going to help; at least not the way you’d want it to. Brennan’spissed. At least it’s early enough in the morning that you can pass off what she’s wearing as PJs instead of the fact that she has no clothes. Which will be seen as neglect,” she added.
Fuck.
“Here’s your shoes, phone and wallet.” Evan joined us, dressed, holding my things.
“Regardless of whatever you feel, whatever might happen in the future,in this momentyou’ve got to good alpha the ever-loving shit out of this,” Lexi continued. “Evan, will you please help him because you know how this is going to look.”
“Of course. Wes, put on your shoes.” Evan knelt down with us and stroked her hair. “I’m right here, Peaches.”
I took them from him and put my phone and wallet in my pockets and shoved my feet in the shoes, right as Jett opened the door and two beta paramedics came in with a bag and a board.
“She had a seizure. Is she going to be okay?” I asked the female paramedic, voice shaking. I’d just gotten her, I couldn’t lose her already.
She nodded. “We’ll get her to the hospital, and then they’ll check her out. Are you her…” She looked at Grace’s neck and hand, though she frowned at all of Grace’s bruises. “Significant other?”
“Yeah.” I gulped, still clutching her hand. It was the quickest explanation. “We were about to have breakfast. Why isn’t she waking up?”
“It’s common after a seizure this long,” she assured.
“Where are we taking her? The Center? Somewhere else?” the male paramedic asked as he bent down to shine a flashlight in her eyes.
Evan elbowed me. Oh, he was talking to me? Jett was talking to Lexi.
“Mercy Hospital?” I replied. Brennan’s family had their name on the wall. “I’m coming with her.”
“Of course,” he assured. “There’s room for the both of you.” He took a little box and pressed her finger to it to access her record.
Oh shit. Right.
“The grid her record was on was glitching yesterday, so if you get nothing we’ll try again at the hospital,” Evan told him. “We’re good for it, promise.”
“There she is,” the male paramedic confirmed. “Gamma. Wow.”
She had a record? Gamma? What? Confusion shot through me.
Evan came up behind me and whispered in my ear, “I’ll explain later.”
“Grace is pretty special,” I sputtered. What? How? When? So many thoughts and questions were running through my head.
They got her onto a board, and I held her hand as we went outside to the ambulance. Jett and Evan came outside with us, deep in conversation.
I got in the back with Grace, Evan went up front.
The woman asked me questions as she got Grace hooked up to monitors. Terror shot through me as I fumbled through them. Lexi was right, this was going to look bad, and with Brennan not on my side…
We got to the hospital, and as they wheeled Grace into the hallway and spoke to the doctors, she seized again. One doctor shouted, and she was wheeled off. I trotted to keep up, still holding her hand. What had happened? Was it the concussion? Something else?
