Page 82 of Petals and Strings
“Director Cross?” he squeaked out.
“We’re going to visit Caspian Donovan,” he said. He flounced around for a second before looking worried.
“Dr. Malik said no one is to enter until he stops,” he admitted with a wince.
“I don’t answer to him,” Cross said as he moved past. I glanced back in time to see him running off. Likely to tattle.
“He’s going to tell Malik,” Ledger warned him but Cross looked angry, not worried as he nodded in affirmation.
Instead, he nodded at a door. There was a strange scratching sound on the other side that had me glancing back at him, startled.
“What is that?”
He said nothing as he scanned his badge, the lock clicking open and gesturing for us to go inside.
My mouth fell open as I stepped into the small room. The hospital bed was empty, the cabinets closed and locked, and the alpha in question sat on the floor next to the wall, writing.
In fact, nearly every inch of space was covered in his blocky handwriting. Walls. Wood furniture. Door. Hell, even his white sheets.
“Caspian,” I breathed out in shock. Confused by what I was seeing.
He glanced back, eyes almost manic until he saw me. Clarity was reflected back now, the storm seeping away slowly.
“Audrey.” He gestured me over. When I was close enough he pulled me into his lap, my hand falling away from Ansel’s.
His body was coiled so tight it was almost uncomfortable. Then his nose was in my hair and he breathed in deep, letting out a soft sigh as his body deflated with it.
“You’re here. Tell me this is over?”
“Rydell got us back together. We’re here to take you back to our wing,” I said. He squeezed me once and leaned in close.
“I didn’t want to be on a floor without you. The patients there were awful so I feigned mania, started writing on walls. I put memories there,” he admitted. “Figured I’d make use of my time to keep me from actually losing it. I couldn’t let myself slip away again. I think it worked. Malik was so angry.”
I couldn’t help but let out a startled laugh. “Caspian, I thought they broke you.”
“Never again. I wasn’t sure how long it would be, so I started writing to keep me grounded. See?”
I focused on the writing in front of me, reading from where I thought might be a beginning. The first letter was bold, edged into the wall so hard that little remnants of the graphite were left behind.
Audrey sat against the tall glass, a halo of stars and petals surrounding her as she played for us. She might not know we were all there, but we watched anyway, a silent audience.
Didn’t notice that we all were attuned to her without meaning to be.
The omega was a light among the shadows of this facility and I never wanted to be without her warmth.
“These are about us?”
“All of them,” he confirmed. “I wanted to be grounded in reality this time. I refuse to let the world take anyone else from me.”
“Come on then,” I said, standing up and turning to hold out a hand for him. “Let’s head back to our wing.”
“Home sweet home,” he said with a chuckle. Then he blinked around at the walls. “God, I did look insane, didn’t I?”
Laughter bubbled out of me as I nodded. “Just a bit. But who could blame you.”
He sighed and glanced at the director who was watching us with pure shock on his face.
“Can we go back now?” Caspian asked. “I’m good.”
