Page 100 of Patiently Yours
“Kendall, go get my keys. Ciro, get something that has all of our scents on it. Then, we need to go.Immediately.”
We all disperse and then congregate by the front door. We step out in silence, but it’s not uncomfortable. This is how a pack works, and this is the first real test we’ve had as one. When one of us starts to fall, there’s another to lift us up.
And right now, we all need to be prepared to lift up our omega.Together.
FORTY-EIGHT
Playing: There You Are by Zayn Malik
It’sa wave of emotions the second I open my eyes.
The first is relief. I feel light, floaty. A little bit hungry. Then I’m so incredibly sore.
I pinch my eyes closed, my brain trying to determine where the discomfort is coming from. I reach up and feel my head, noticing the slight pressure in my skull.
The lights in here are way too fucking bright. Like I’m on stage or under some cartoon-style police interrogation.
“Stacia?” I hear, and there’s movement around me, more than one body letting out breaths of relief.
“Fuck, go get a nurse,” I hear someone say.
“Stacia, baby, we’re here, everything’s okay.”
My vision focuses, I turn my head towards the sound, seeing dark hair and intense eyes. “Uriah.” My voice is scratchy, but bearable. I feel him tighten his hold around my hand, which I didn’t even realize was being held.
The room comes into focus and the white is blinding. The overhead lights are giving me an instantaneous headache. Myhand gets snagged when I go to scratch my nose. I look down to see an I.V. is attached.
Oh shit. I’m in the hospital.
“What”—I pause, forcing myself to swallow—“happened?”
My omega inside of me feels like she’s curled up into a ball. I clutch my hand to my chest, feeling suddenly disappointed. In what, I’m not sure. But the feeling is immense and impossible to ignore.
I look back at them, and they’re all looking at me with hesitant glances. I notice my blond alpha is missing seconds before he’s returning, a pretty beta with a clipboard following behind him.
“Hi, Stacia. Can you answer a few questions for me?” I give her a nod. “What year is it?”
“2024.”
“How old are you?”
“Twenty.”
“And lastly, what is the last thing you remember before waking up?”
I hadn’t really thought about it, but now that I am, I feel my bones go cold. My father’s voice rings in my ears.
You will grow up and do your duty, or you will be forced to.
“Dinner with my parents.”
Uriah’s growl is so low, I think I’m the only one who hears it.
The nurse writes something down. “So, you don’t remember how you got here?”
I try to, I really do. But all I remember is how I felt after my father said those horrible things.
And the whining of my omega inside me. Yelling at me.
