Chapter 3

Gwen’s pov

The clock on the office wall said 8:47 when I finally closed the file.

My back was hurting and my eyes felt awful like someone had rubbed them with sand. I had been sitting at my desk since seven that morning which translated to thirteen hours of working on contracts for a firm that paid me just enough money to keep me happy that I have a job but not enough to add to my other jobs and get exactly just by.

Omega work. That was what they called it when you had no pack backing, no Alpha's seal on your employment record, no one to call if the hours stretched past decent.

I had nobody to call. so, I just grabbed my bag, turned off my desk light and rushed down the stairs.

The bus ride to the hospital took twenty-two minutes. I spent all of them watching my phone, the way I always did waiting for a call from anyone whose voice would tell me something had gone wrong while I was sitting at that desk being useful to strangers.

No calls.

I exhaled slowly.

The ward was on the second floor. I went up the stairs again and walked through the doors that led towards room four. The room Xavier's money was still paying for. I remembered the chair, recalled his voice and he said you were not meant to be, with him.

I opened the door.

The bed was empty.

Not the stripped emptiness of two nights ago the sheets were still there, rumpled from her small body and a stuffed bear laid sideways against the pillow.

But no Josie.

I was already turning before my brain caught up. I caught the arm of a nurse in the corridor, this time an older one.

"The girl in room four"

"Oh." The nurse's expression shifted, something careful and quick moving through it.

"Her father came. About forty minutes ago. He said he was taking her for a short walk, some air"

"Her father."

"Yes, he signed the"

I was already walking, my hands shaking enough that I could hardly hold the phone. Cole picked up before I even processed the thought of dialing.

"There she is." He sounded happy like someone who just sat down to a meal they really wanted.

"I was wondering how long."

"Where is she?" My voice came out low, stripped of everything except the essential thing.

"Cole, where is my daughter?"

"Our daughter." And paused, I could hear music somewhere enclosed, a car maybe, or a house.

"She's fine. She's right here. She wants to say hello, actually don't you, sweetheart?"

A silence. Then Josie's small and confused voice broke it:

"Mummy.”

"Baby" My throat locked.

Cole was back.

"Come get her. You know the Salem house."

"Bring the divorce papers. Signed."

The call ended.

I stood in the hospital corridor for exactly three seconds. Then I called Xavier.

He picked up on the first ring.

"Cole has Josie," I said.

"He took her from the hospital. He's at Salem."

A silence that lasted less than two seconds.

"I'll be there."

He hung up.

The woman who opened the Salem house door was wearing Cole's shirt.

I recognized it, pale grey, the collar open, the cuffs rolled. She looked me over the way women looked at each other when a man had made the situation into a competition without asking either of them.

She stepped back to let me into the house in silence. It smelled, like sex disguised in old candles and really good wine.

"Cole". My voice traveled upstairs before I started walking.

"Bring her down "

He appeared at the top like he was waiting for me and walked down calmly while holding a glass in his hand.

He held out the papers.

I could see my name printed at the bottom line, the blank space where my signature should go.

"Sign it and she comes down," he said pleasantly.

The woman showed up beside him, put her hand in his, leaned on his shoulder and then she looked at me with deliberate pity.

"She’s been holding you back " she said to Cole really quiet, like I was not even standing a few feet away.

"Holding onto you. It's not fair."

"Josie needs to be back at the hospital." I kept my eyes on Cole.

"She's in the middle of a treatment protocol. You know what happens when her wolf triggers without the suppressants you know what it looks like"

"Then sign." His voice still sounded nice but like the glass smoothness of an untroubled dangerous open sea.

"Or keep standing there explaining things to me. See which one gets her downstairs faster."

"She's your daughter."

Irritation moved on his face like he had been reminded of a minor inconvenience.

"I don't have a daughter."

"I have a sick omega child who can't control her wolf, will never be part of the pack and will never be Alpha, no matter the name on her birth certificate." Then he tilted his head.

"She's illegitimate. Sign the paper."

The word illegitimate went into me like a key into a lock. I felt it turn.

I took the papers, pressed them against the wall and I signed my name and I held them out for Cole to take with the satisfied expression of a man collecting something he was owed.

As I moved for the stairs, the woman stepped in front of me.

not tonight.

I hit her sharply on the sternum which sent her to the marble floor while making a sound that was more surprising than hurt.

Before she could recover I ran up the stairs taking two steps at a time.

I found Josie in the room on the left. She was sitting on the floor in the corner with her knees pulled up to her chest. Her eyes looked kind of glassy and her lips had a blue color that meant she was going to get very sick.

"Mama" Josie said, reaching out for me.

"I've got you" I said as I picked her up and stood up. Her legs went around my waist. Her face went into my neck. She was burning up.

"I've got you, Josie. Hold on."

I took her downstairs walking past Cole without glancing at him. I walked until I was out into the night air.

The nurses met us at the entrance.

They took her from my arms. and quickly, she was on the other side and I was left standing in the corridor, my back leaning against the wall. I slid down until I was sitting on the floor.

That was where Xavier found me. He walked in through the doors really fast and when he saw me sitting on the floor, he came over to me in just a few steps.

I got up because I did not want to be sitting down when he was standing up. I did not want to be that small in front of him. I walked up to him as I stood and put my face against his chest. His arms went around me.

"She will be fine, " he said into my hair.

Twenty minutes later the Doctor walked in through those doors

“Her wolf bloomed and she had a series of seizures. We couldn’t surprise an already bloomed wolf. She’s stable now but you need to know that she is strong. Her wolf is strong. She just needs someone to show her what to do. She needs training.

Xavier looked at the doctor. "I'll train her."

The Doctor nodded and left.

The corridor became hairpin quiet and Xavier's hand was still on the small of my back. I could feel each of his fingers spread warmth through my shirt. This made me feel so safe.

I turned to face Xavier.

"I will marry you".