Filed to story: The Alpha’s Pen Pal Book
I say, ignoring her words about Wesley. He can go fuck himself for all I care.
“Less than five minutes.”
“Don’t rush.”
“I’ll rush if I want to,”
I reply.
I feel her amusement and laughter as another nurse walks into the triage area.
“Beta Reid,” she says, stopping at the foot of the bed I am perched on. “How can I help you?” she asks, scanning my body.
“Hello, Paige,” I say, bouncing my foot. “Alpha Wesley insists that you check my abdomen to make sure the wound I received is healed.”
“All right,” she says, pulling out her thermometer. “Let me get your temperature and blood pressure first, and…”
I tune her out as she moves through her routine, checking my vitals and taking notes. My foot bounces the entire time, my hands tapping the tops of my thighs, and she glares at them several times as she tries to do her job. I don’t care, though. I need her to say the words “You’re cleared” so I can get back to my mate.
“When was this wound received?” she asks, lifting my torn shirt to check my stomach and side.
“Maybe fifteen minutes ago?” I say, shrugging. “Twenty max.”
My heart races and my stomach clenches. A wave of panic and stress floods into me through the bond. My wolf snaps and snarls as Taryn’s distress continues to crash into us, and I strain against the command placed on me, wishing with everything in me I could break it and rush to her.
“It looks healed,” she says, her brow furrowing. “I’m not sure what Alpha Wesley wants me to do.”
My neck tightens, and I hold in a growl. “So I’m cleared?”
“You’re fine.”
I try to jump off the bed, but the alpha command pulls me back, pinning me in place. I let out a roar, my claws shredding through the bedding, my wolf fighting against the invisible restraints on us. “Am I cleared?” I yell, gripping the mattress. “I need you to say ‘You are cleared!'”
“You’re cleared,” she says, clutching the chart to her chest and backing up against the wall.
The chains on me snap, and I rush out of the triage area and down the hall of rooms, using my nose to find Taryn. Nothing else matters except getting to her and finding out what has her so upset so I can calm all of us—Taryn, my wolf, and me—down.
Her scent wafts towards me from the same room she was in the night of the attack, and I burst through without knocking. It doesn’t matter what state she’s in. She’s my mate and I’m not waiting to get to her. Not when she’s this distressed.
The door slams shut behind me and I stop in my tracks in the middle of the hospital room, my brain working to catch up with what my eyes are seeing.
Taryn lays in the bed, her forearm bandaged and her knees drawn up, the nurse between her sheet-covered legs. Both of them and the doctor stare at the screen of a small machine, where an image in black and white is displayed, a pulse beating in a line across the bottom of the screen.
I stare at it as all eyes in the room turn to look at me. “What…?” I ask, even though part of me knows, even though my brain has already processed what is happening. But my question is out before I can take it back, and I need the confirmation.
Taryn swallows and glances at the screen and then back at me, her heart pounding, her eyes watery and fearful yet hopeful at the same time. “That’s my pup,” she says, her voice almost too quiet to hear.
But I hear her.
Everything snaps into place. Everything makes sense. I draw in a breath, and take a hesitant step forward, my heart pounding as I watch the screen, not paying attention to anyone else in the room. Time stops and my world shifts on its axis. Everything in me—even my wolf—focuses on the tiny being that is shown on the ultrasound image.
A pup.
TARYNReid stands frozen in the middle of the hospital room, his eyes locked on the ultrasound screen. His heart pounds and his throat bobs, but he doesn’t blink or look away from the image. I bite my lip and blink against the water in my eyes, my hands clenched as I wait for him to react, to say something or turn and run out the door, but he stands there like a statue.
“Taryn?” Dr. Russo asks, pulling my attention back to him.
“Sorry,” I say, flicking my eyes to Reid and then back to the doctor. “What did you say?”
“I asked if you’re okay with this?” He glances at Reid, and I nod, taking a deep breath.
I would have preferred to tell him myself, tell him when it was the two of us and we had time to talk, but there’s no taking it back now. The truth is out there, and now I must face the consequences.
“As I was saying, the pup looks great,” Dr. Russo says, and Reid’s throat bobs again. “It’s measuring a little on the bigger side, but that is to be expected because of its alpha genes.”
“But I didn’t hurt it? The… healing didn’t put any strain on the pup?”
“No. Like I said before, it just affected your own healing. Since you’re unmarked, you can’t draw on the strength of your mate, which is especially important for healers.”
“But if I heal someone again, could it hurt the pup?” I ask, my hands covering my stomach.
Reid’s hands clench, and he flicks his eyes to the doctor, then back to the screen, where my itty bitty pup is still on display. The emotions in our bond blend and jumble together like ingredients in a smoothie, his indiscernible from mine. I push that aside, though, and focus on what Dr. Russo is telling me. Telling us.
“It shouldn’t, but as healers are rare and protected, there isn’t a lot of readily available information out there about them. I’ll have to do some digging, consult someone from the Royal Pack or one of the oracles. Once I find more information, I will let you know. For now, I would suggest holding off on healing anyone again. At least until you’re marked.”
I nod and squeeze my eyes shut, turning my face towards the wall of the room, keeping my breaths deep and even so I don’t cry.
Until I’m marked. He’s so confident that marking is a guarantee for us. That the playboy beta who didn’t want a mate until he met me will now want not just a mate, but a pup who isn’t his.
I wish I had that same confidence.
The nurse removes the wand from me and cleans it off, covering me back up with the blankets.
New Book: Veiled Desires of the Alpha King Novel
Dayson was the alpha of the largest pack in North America. Powerful figures from other packs sought to offer gorgeous girls as potential mates for Dayson. He steadfastly rejected these advances, he was not a pawn to be manipulated. But eventually there came a mysterious girl he could hardly say No. Who was she?