Chapter 16
I must pass out because when I wake up, I’m in the living room on the couch and I’m hooked up to an IV. There are machines beeping around me and it’s like the den has been turned into an infirmary.
“You flatlined,” Adam explains. “We didn’t have time to carry you up the twenty flights of stairs to your room.”
“It’s not that far,” I say automatically.
“It is when you’re not breathing.”
I sit up. I’m groggy and disoriented.
I hear voices coming from the kitchen. “Oh, come here, baby.
Let me clean you up.” It’s Jessica. She’s fawning over Aaron.
“You look terrible,” Adam tells me.
“It’s good to see you too.”
“We should move you to a hospital.”
I glance nervously at the kitchen then back at him. “Will they let me out if I get admitted?”
Adam bites his lip.
That’s what I thought.
2/5
I don’t want to spend what time I have left in a hospital bed, alone. Trapped from the world.
“I’ll make you a deal. I’ll start treatments, but I do it from here.
And we tell no one.”
His eyes widen.
I’m not sure it’s even possible to keep such a secret. I’m
relatively okay now, but as this progresses or if my hair falls
out…
“Leah, I’m not sure-”
“Can you do it or not?”
“You’re taking the pills?”
I nod. Not regularly yet. But I will.
He must sense that I won’t back down because he relents.
“Then yeah. Okay. We’ll find a way.”
“Thank you.” I pick at the sheet that’s draped over my legs. My
one foot is elevated and there are pillows propped around
- On the table that normally has various remotes for the tv
and electronics, I see a vase of lilacs.
“Did you get those for me?” I point at the pretty purple and pink flowers.
“No. Your husband did.”
AARON
*
“Come upstairs,” Jessica says. “I’ll run you a bath and you can
clean up. I’ll bring dinner up to your bedroom.”
Yeah. She’d like that.
But I haven’t taken a bath since I was six and I’ve already
shifted to heal the worst of my wounds. The ones that remain
have been treated by our pack physician.
I’m not sure if Jessica is fluttering around me because she’s up to her usual routine or if it’s because Leah is awake and
maybe fifty feet away overhearing everything we say.
If another male made such an offer to her, I’d rip his head off.
So maybe her “I want a divorce” decree has been coming
for a while. Because I’ve never bothered to curtail Jessica’s
behavior or to try and force her to conduct herself more
appropriately.
4/5
Her parents had served mine and we grew up together. It had
been assumed from when we were kids that she would be my
bride. And when they were slaughtered, I felt responsible for
her. Then there was that time in the canyon and what she did
for me….
So I never fought the idea.
She’s beautiful and biddable and beloved by my pack.
She’d make a good mate.
But…I’m already married.
She follows my gaze to the living room. “Aaron,” she says quietly. “You can let her go. She’s more of a liability than she’s worth. The peace has held for a decade. Let her go and we
can move on with our lives.”
She isn’t wrong.
But… no.
And the attack today, it hadn’t just been me who was
targeted. The wolf that mauled Leah’s leg had been prepared to plummet to his own death. He’d tried to take her over the cliff with him. And that kind of focus spoke of a very targeted
assassination attempt.
“I know she wants a divorce,” Jessica says. She clasps my hand
and brings it to her face. She kisses my knuckles. “Aaron, we
can be together. We can be a family. You can be free.”
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Gifts
I think Jessica is behind this attack.