Page 101 of Patiently Yours
“No, I don’t,” I regretfully say.
She nods. “That’s okay, Stacia. It might come back in time. I’m going to get the doctor so we can discuss next steps.”
“Wait,” I say, halting her retreat. “But… what happened?”
She opens her mouth to tell me, but Atlas puts a hand up. “We’ll tell her.”
The nurse nods with a polite smile before leaving the room.
I look up into the eyes of my alpha, my prime. He looks sorrowful, but also every bit as strong and mischievous. Just like he always does. He watches me, hesitant.
“Please, At,” I say, my voice barely above a whisper.
He closes his eyes and sighs deeply. “Rory found you unconscious,” he starts before walking closer to me. “You… You overdosed, Stacia.”
I hear the words, but they don’t make sense.
“Iwhat?”
“They had to pump your stomach.” This time it’s Kendall, so I whip my head to look at him. “They also think you have a mild concussion from the fall.”
“From the fall?” I don’t even acknowledge the part about pumping my stomach. No wonder I feel so physically empty. “Where was I?”
“Central park. They think you wandered there from downtown.”
Despite the emptiness, I feel nauseous. I close my eyes, willing the memories to appear. I clench harder, trying to rememberanything.
“What happened at dinner, Stacia?” Atlas asks.
I don’t want to remember that.
“Nothing,” I say, very unconvincingly.
“Stacia.” My beautiful beta steps up next to me, sincere seriousness in his gaze. “There’s two possibilities here. One, someone drugged you enough to almost kill you, and if that’s the case, we’re about to become a pack of criminals. Or two, something happened at dinner. You dissociated to the point of blacking out and did what you normally do when you’re emotionally triggered. You looked for drugs.”
I swallow heavily.Isthat what happened? Did I do this to myself?
“Do you think your parents would drug you?” Uriah asks. I shake my head immediately.
“No. Definitely not.” Because they want to sell me and they can’t do that if I’m dead.
“Please tell us what happened at dinner, baby.”
The heaviness of his hand around mine grounds me. I give it a squeeze, holding on for dear life.
“My parents were as awful as ever,” I admit, “but this time, it was worse. They had some news for me.”
“What did they tell you, angel?”
I shake my head. I don’t want to tell them, because what if they realize I’m too much trouble to handle? There’s nothing we can do when it comes to my father, he means what he says and thatterrifiesme.
“That they have a pack for me, they were just waiting for me to dump Derek so they could introduce us. I told themno.” My voice ramps up, tears suddenly welling into my eyes. “I told them I had scent matches, I wouldn’t bond with anyone else. I was ready to throw it all away, but they told me that it doesn’t matter. That you being my scent matches doesn’t matter, because I’m an omega so I have to do what omegas are born to do. They’re trying to force me to bond with a pack from my dad’s company and I don’t know what to do.”
The sobs are out of control now, tears soaking my face. I couldn’t break down like this at dinner.
I must have shut off instead, to protect myself.
Uriah puts his arm around me and tugs me as far as I can go into his body. They all close in towards the bed, their mingle of scents attempting to calm me but the tears only come faster.
