All Chapters of Bonded to the Bastard: My Rejection, His Obsession: Chapter 81 - Chapter 90

Alanza’s POV"Can you hear me, Alanza? You need to stay with us," a voice says, pulling me out of a thick, dark fog.My eyes feel like they are glued shut. Every time I try to drift back into the blackness, the world shakes. I feel a rhythmic vibration beneath me, a steady hum that tells me I am moving. Images flash behind my eyelids like a broken film strip. I see the sneer on Alpha Reynaldo’s face. I hear the cold, rhythmic chanting of the sisters at the orphanage. I see Pascual reaching for me, his fingers like claws.I try to gasp, but my lungs feel heavy. A set of strong arms wraps around me, pulling me against a solid, warm chest. For a second, I think it is Luciano. I try to lean into his scent, but the smell is wrong. It is pine and rain, not the deep, smoky hearth I expect.I force my eyes open. The world is a blur of grey and tan until it settles on a face I recognize."Karlos?" I croak. My throat feels like I swallowed glass.

Alanza’s POV"You aren't exactly the prize I expected to find in that cell," Dr. Ellison says.The man does not even look at the digital tablet in his hand. He just stares at me with eyes like flat, gray stones. I feel the urge to pull the thin hospital blanket up to my chin, but I refuse to show him any weakness. My body hurts in ways I cannot describe. Every breath feels like a dull blade sliding between my ribs, and the bandages around my torso are tight enough to stifle me. Still, I force my shoulders back. I have spent my entire life being looked down on by the Crystal Lake Pack. I am not going to let a man in a clean white coat make me feel small in a place where I am supposed to be safe.He curls his lip. It is a small, ugly movement that tells me exactly what he thinks of me."Let's get the facts straight, Alanza Verity," he continues. His voice is dry and sharp. "You are sucking up resources and time that could go to actual warriors. But, since y

Alanza’s POV"You look like you've seen a ghost, or maybe just a very well-dressed reaper," I said, my voice cracking as I tried to break the heavy silence.Luciano didn't laugh. He didn't even blink. He just stood there in the hospital doorway, framed by the sterile white light of the hallway. He looked exactly like I remembered, yet entirely different. He still had that Alpha air about him—that "I own the oxygen in this room" energy—but the edges were frayed.This was the man who had haunted my dreams and my nightmares. Even now, with my ribs aching and my skin itching under bandages, a traitorous spark of heat flickered in my chest. My inner wolf, usually so silent and guarded lately, wanted to crawl out of my skin. She wanted to baring her neck, to whine, to press into him until the scent of his skin drowned out the smell of antiseptic.I slammed the door on that instinct. I locked it and threw away the key.Luciano finally mo

Alanza’s POV"Where is it?" I rasped, my voice cracking before the words even left my throat.I scanned the sterile room with a frantic, twitching gaze, half-expecting my jewelry to be sitting on the bedside table as if it were just a pair of glasses. It wasn't there. Panic began to claw at my chest, a cold, sharp sensation that rivaled the ache in my limbs.I looked down at myself and felt a surge of claustrophobia. I was pinned to the mattress by a web of plastic and glass. A thin IV line pierced the crook of my elbow, snaking toward a bag of clear fluid. Worse, a catheter line tugged uncomfortably, tethering me to a collection bag hooked to the bed frame. I was a prisoner of my own recovery, unable to even stand up to search for what I’d lost."Son of a bitch," I hissed.I reached for the rolling meal table, but it held nothing but a stack of "Welcome to the Facility" brochures. I doubted anyone ever read those, especially not people

Alanza’s POV"Wait a—Alanza, are you crying?"Luciano stepped toward the bed, his hand reaching out as if to catch the tears before they hit the blanket. I yanked my glasses off and shoved them onto the bedside table, blurring his handsome, worried face into a collection of tan and dark shapes. I didn't want him to see me like this. I didn't want to be the girl falling apart in a hospital gown while he had one foot out the door."I am fine," I lied. My voice cracked, betraying me immediately. "You said you have to leave. So go. Being an Alpha is a busy job, right?"He paused, his fingers hovering near my shoulder. The air between us felt thick and charged, like the sky right before a lightning strike. I kept my head down, staring at the faded floral pattern of the hospital sheets. My mind was a mess of jagged thoughts. He had secrets. He had a caller named Leyton. He had a life that didn't seem to have a shaped hole waiting for me to fill it.