Chapters 43

Leo's POV

0

"Knock knock, okay if I come in?"

0

Lucas stands at the doorway and he looks exhausted. I wave him in as I take another bite of my cheeseburger. I woke up and was absolutely starving.

0

"Elise, would you mind if I have a moment with him alone?" he asks and Elise nods and gives me a kiss on my cheek and closes the heavy hospital door behind her.

0

"So, doc says you are healing up pretty good. Said that you can get outta here soon?"

0

"Yeah, hoping that I can get out in the morning, but I have no idea where I'm gonna go." I take another enormous bite of my burger.

0

Lucas smiles but he looks anxious.

0

"I'm sure finding you a place won't be a problem. Late night snack?" he chuckles.

0

"Yeah! I didn't think they would make it for me, but they didn't even question it."

0

"You could have asked them to bring you an entire cow and they would. You're their Alpha, you're their king, they'll do anything for you."

0

I get uncomfortable with the thought. "I'm not sure I'm ready for that."

0

"You will be, and you'll have plenty of help."

0

I can tell Lucas is nervous as he picks at the thin blanket laying on the bed.

0

“Where’s my uncle?” I ask.

0

“He’s in the cells and is heavily guarded. Eventually we need to figure out what to do with him.”

0

“I’ve been thinking that maybe I should have killed him.”

0

“Well, you still can if you want.” He says before he takes a deep breath.

0

"Leo, I just wanted to say how sorry I am. I'm sorry for going to that horrible house without you knowing, and for bring back that stupid toy. I'm sorry I didn't protect you the way I should have."

0

"Stop, Lucas. None of this is on you. You found me and you stayed with me. You risked your life for me. You gave me a home and made me a part of your family. It's my fault. I should have listened to you before I went running off into those woods. I was stupid. I should have listened to Gideon too. If I would have then maybe Jack wouldn't be fighting for his life and maybe Angie would still be here."

0

I set the rest of the burger down, suddenly losing my apatite.

0

"Wait, didn't anyone tell you?"

0

"Tell me what?"

0

"About Angie. Leo, Angie's alive."

0

"What are you talking about? How? Where is she?"

0

I can hear a commotion in the hallway and a voice that is unmistakable; it’s music to my ears.

0

"He's awake?... Well I don't care, I'm going in..." I hear from the other side of the door, and then it flies open and she's standing in the doorway and we just stare at each other for a moment until she full on storms to the bed and awkwardly hugs me and I hold on to her so tight.

0

"I told you you were special, didn't I?" She taps my forehead. "You never listen Leo!" she's crying.

0

"Look at you, shit, did I hurt you?" she says brushing tears away and carefully peeling herself off of me as she tries to avoid the bandages and IVs.

0

Gently she pushes my legs over so she can sit up on the side of the bed.

0

"I'm sorry Angie, I never wanted you to get involved in this. I had no idea..." I can't say another word before she interrupts me again.

0

"I met Elise, she's just so nice and I think she's absolutely perfect for you," she makes me smile and I feel my cheeks blush.

0

"She met me too," Leia walks into the room and grabs Angie's hand, "we're mates!" Leia's smile is as big as I have ever seen it and Lucas chuckles and shakes his head.

0

Angie turns her attention back to me and her smile fades.

0

"I was so worried about you, you're my best friend, you know that right?" she asks me and I nod.

0

"Okay, come on, that's enough for tonight. Leo, you need to get some sleep. Hopefully we can spring you out of here tomorrow." Lucas directs people out of the room and Elise sneaks back in.

0

"Why don't you get some sleep in a real bed," I say to her but she refuses to leave.

0

"I'm right where I want to be," she says and I shimmy myself over as far as I can.

0

"Come," I say lifting the blanket up. She doesn't hesitate and she crawls in under it and snuggles gently against me and I feel sparks tingle through my body.

0

"Gideon wants to see Lily," I say.

0

"She wants to see him too, but we want you to heal first."

0

We both fall asleep quickly beside one another and I'm thankful that the nurses didn't have to come in too many times through the night.

0

Elise's POV

0

"Be careful, here I can help you," Leo get's to leave the hospital today and I'm so thankful. I help him lift a t-shirt over his head, careful not to bump into his bandages, and I help him pull a pair joggers up.

0

"I can get it," he says and winces when he bends over to try and pull a sock over his foot. I quickly help him and a nurse brings a wheelchair into the room.

0

"Ready to go?" she says and he grimaces at the chair.

0

"I can walk, I'm fine," He says and you can already tell that his position as Alpha has people reacting. She doesn't push back at all and just rolls the chair out of the way.

0

"Sorry, of course Alpha Leo, what ever you want." she says.

0

"Is my mom awake yet?" he asks.

0

"No, not just yet. It takes a couple days for all the sedation to ware off. I expect tomorrow she will start to come around."

0

Leo nods, looking disappointed, and then walks gingerly to the room down the hall where Jack is, and the nurse is following closely behind, keeping an eye on him.

0

"How is he?" Leo asks.

0

"The same I'm afraid," an alarm goes off through the hospital and the nurse turns quickly to me.

0

"You good with him? I need to take care of this," she says and I reassure that he will be fine.

0

We make our way slowly out of the hospital and the sun is beaming down, it's already eighty degrees here and it isn't even ten o'clock yet.

0

"Where are we going?" he asks.

0

"I thought I'd show you the pack house, your house," I smile and his head is on a swivel, taking in all his surroundings.

0

"This place is depressing." He says.

0

"Your uncle made a mess of things. It will be beautiful again."

0

"Everyone looks terrified of me," It's hard to ignore people peeking out of windows and shying away from us.

0

"They don't know you, it's going to take time for everyone to recover from what Eric did."

0

We walk up to the pack house and it is really incredible. It's made of stone and it's massive stained glass windows and oak doors make it one of the most beautiful buildings I've ever seen.

0

"This place is so big," Leo just stands in front of it and is staring up at it with a look on his face that I can't place.

0

"We are staying in the guest suites," I say as Leo rests and sits down on the grand staircase.

0

"This is yours Leo. All of it."

0

Leo's POV

0

It's been over a week since that horrific night and I find myself spending most of my time either at the hospital with my mother or Jack, or out in the training yard trying to clean up the mess that was left behind and helping to put to rest all those who lost their lives at the hands of my uncle. Elise has been begging me to try and get some rest but every time I close my eyes I keep seeing terrible things and the nightmares have gotten worse.

0

"Any idea how long that coffee has been sitting there?" Roman walks into the empty cafeteria and points to the row of coffee pots. "How are you feeling?"

0

He pours a cup of cold coffee and sits across from me. Even after everything I find him intimidating.

0

"Better, wounds are healing up." I say.

0

"You should try and get some sleep."

0

"Everyone is talking to me all the time through the mind link. It's all so terrible. Pack members telling me about their husbands gone, or missing. Their children. The men apologizing and asking for forgiveness."

0

"Has Gideon been able to help you turn it off?"

0

"He says he can, but I don't want him to. I need to hear them. I need to know what went on here."

0

Roman nods and takes a sip of his coffee and wrinkles up his face.

0

"Are you drinking this?" he asks and I laugh.

0

"No way, I have a coke." We sit quietly and the clock on the wall ticks loudly around us.

0

"You're going to make an excellent leader here, and I will help you along the way."

0

"I don't want to stay here," I blurt out and Roman doesn't look surprised at all.

0

"I know, and we have no intention of leaving you alone either. We're going to take one day at a time. When your mother recovers we will be having a joint council meeting to work on next steps. I also have Alpha Jonathan coming by tomorrow, he wants to see everyone."

0

Leo, you're mom is waking up.

1

"You alright?" he asks.

0

"The nurse just let me know my mom is waking up."

0

"Excellent news," Roman stands but I'm still sitting with confused thoughts.

0

"I'll walk you up there," he says waiting on me.

0

"What on earth am I going to say to her?" I'm suddenly filled with anxiety. I've wanted this my entire life, dreamed about it. I haven't told anyone about meeting my father, I don't know if they'd even believe me, but this is different.

0

"Why don't you start with a simple hello," he says and pats me on the back which is his subtle way to get me out of the chair.

0

We walk in silence up to her room and I hesitate before I go in.

0

"What are you feeling?" he asks, but an emotion I never expected is bubbling up and it's not what I expected.

0

"I'm angry," I say quietly, surprised that this is how I'm reacting after fantasizing about this moment all my life.

0

"Do you want me to come in with you?" he asks but I know this is something I need to do on my own.

0

"She loves you, Leo."

0

"She could have sent me to you, hidden me in your pack, instead of dumping me in the human world, without anyone." I say and I can feel all the horrible emotions coming back up.

0

"Give her a chance, I'll wait out here for you and if you need me you just let me know. Would you like me to get Elise for you?"

0

I think about that and the thought of her comforts me.

0

"Okay, I'll have her come over and we will be in the other room if you need us, sound good?"

0

I nod and with a shaking hand I push the door open and see her sitting up in the bed and she has tears in her eyes. In an instant the anger dissolves and I'm staring at a face that looks like mine. I swallow hard as I walk deeper into the room.

0

"Hello, Mom."