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“He brought new medication for you, too.” Eli paused, glancing at the bedside table. “Speaking of, how are you feeling? Do you want any pain medication? He left something for that.”
I shook my head. “Everything hurts, but no. I don’t,” I replied, pressing my mouth into a line. “I could go without drugs for a bit.” I had no idea what Dr. Brenner had done to me, had given me, if they’d slipped anything into my food…but yeah, no thank you.
Eli nodded solemnly. “Okay.”
“How long have I been out?”
He paused and checked his watch. “It’s been about twelve hours,” he replied. “It was dinner when you showed up. It’s early morning now.”
I nodded slowly, trying to use that information to calibrate myself.
Eli paused before adding something else. “Are you up to answering a few questions? It’s fine if you’re not.”
I gave him a sideways look.How many times have I used that line on someone else? Guess that’s what it feels like. I gave a small nod. “Go ahead.”
He nodded. “Is it okay if I go get Remus and my father, too?”
That gave me pause. It was one thing to explain everything to one person, but Remus and Nic, too?
Eli frowned, squeezing my hand. “It’s okay,” he said quickly. “We don’t have to talk about it right now.”
I frowned back and shook my head, wiping a fresh wave of tears away with my free hand. “No, I…I want to talk about it,” I decided after a minute. “But it was so bad, Eli.”
He made a low noise. “I’m sorry,” he said quietly. “I was so afraid of what—”
I shook my head and cut him off, not ready to face the what ifs yet. I sniffed again. “Let’s just do this, okay?”
“Okay.”
Eli returneda few minutes later with his half-brother and his father, returning to his seat next to the bed. He helped me sit myself upright, leaning against the bed frame before Remus offered me a glass of water. I thanked him quietly, having to physically restrain myself from chugging the whole thing as quickly as possible. Water had simply never tasted so good.
“How are you feeling?” Nic asked.
I frowned, staring straight ahead as I took another small sip. “I don’t know where the facility was, exactly,” I told them. “But I was walking for three days before I got here. I had to stop to sleep. And for Bella.”
And for myself.They didn’t need to know that, though.
Remus rumbled, his arms already folded around his chest. “Do you remember anything specific about the outside? Or how big the building was?”
I shook my head. “I think it was all one floor. I never went up or down stairs, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t exist. We had to go down several hallways to get to the exit, so it couldn’t have been that small.” I paused to take another sip. “As soon as we got outside, I took off. It was surrounded by woods. That’s all I know. The guards weren’t far behind me, and I wasn’t going to be caught again.”
Remus gave a slow nod and Nic spoke back up. “So…how did you get back here then?”
Honestly, it was a good question. I shrugged. “I don’t know. I tried to keep from zig-zagging too much so they wouldn’t catch up with us. I didn’t recognize anything, so…I just trusted my wolf’s senses, I guess. I wasn’t able to shift, and even if I was, I didn’t know if Bella could, and I couldn’t leave her behind, but my wolf still…she knew what direction she wanted to go, and I trusted her. Eventually, I came to an area Ididrecognize as something I’d seen near Remus’ home, but that wasn’t until the day you found me.”
“You found us,” Eli clarified softly, giving my hand a small squeeze.
“Bella’s the little girl?” Remus asked, tipping his head.
“Yes.” I nodded. “Her mother said her name is Bella Nova. Both her parents died when we tried to escape. Her mother was stabbed while trying to keep Bella away from the guards.” I had to stop for a moment, grateful I had the water to sip while I tried to swallow the growing lump in my throat. “She never told me her name, only Bella’s. She said…she said Bella was an alpha?” I racked my memory for all the information the woman had shared with me while shoving her daughter into my arms. I didn’t want to forget any of it; they were practically her dying wishes.
“She said her name was Bella Nova, and they were from the Crescent Moon Pack. She said Bella was an alpha, and there was some sort of prophecy about her? Or about a female alpha? It was so chaotic, and I didn’t have time to ask.” I really wished that I had. My heart felt heavy in my chest. There were so many things I could think to asknowthat simply hadn’t occurred to me as a dying mother shoved her child at me.
Nic frowned, looking pensive as he nodded. “I’m afraid I’ve never heard of it, but I’ll look into it at once,” he said, still nodding to himself. “We’ll make sure no harm comes to Bella.”
“We all will,” Remus added, looking stern. “Longbow and Silverstreak both.”
I exhaled, nodding once. “I promised her.”
