“You told me. Your heart… When you…”
There was a moment then, one of quiet regard, where anyone watching us would have said we stared into each other’s eyes, but there was something different about this. He struggled with something, I could see it in the move of his lips, like he was about to say something but stopped himself. His fingers twitched, the tiny movements coming closer before a long sigh escaped his lungs. He seemed to draw himself up, that massive chest swelling, but before he got to say a word, the green curtain hanging around us was swept aside.
“Hello,” said an older woman, who was quite short and with a soft face. She wore a white coat over her clothes and had a stethoscope around her neck. “I’m Doctor Hobbes.”
“How did I get here? Why am I hooked up to these machines? How long have I been here for?”
At the sound of my questions, my heart rate spiked, and the doctor’s eyes went to the rapidly beeping machine beside me. I shook with the effort of holding myself still, wanting to yank free and run the fuck out of here.
“The boys brought you in unconscious and unresponsive. You experienced considerable trauma, Felicity.”
“Flick,” I corrected her. That had been the name my friends and family had used. Felicity was his wife.
“Flick,” she said with a nod. “We’ve had you under observation for two days and given you some pain relief.”
“Two days! I need to get up,” I said, then my eyes dropped down to where my son was starting to shift. “What about Kade?”
“Some heavy bruising, but we’ve had him on a diet of soft foods. His scars are more…”
“Psychological,” I finished for her, looking down at the boy curled at my side. His eyes fluttered open, and he just looked at me for a second before he realised what he was looking at.
“Mum!”
He threw his arms around my neck, something that had me wincing, Peter taking a step closer. I stared him down over my son’s shoulders, feeling a growl deep in my throat form.
A growl?
“I’m glad you’re awake,” the doctor said, eyes flicking from Peter to me. “It means you’re on the mend. I’ll get Ophelia to come and talk to you.”
“Who’s Ophelia?” I said.
“Sanctuary is her town. She’ll be able to help explain…things.”
Well, that wasn’t vague at all.
I forced my eyes away from the man, and he seemed to get I was uncomfortable and backed away. But he didn’t want to. I saw it in the hang of his head, the line of his shoulders. He wanted…to be a part of this? To be close to me and Kade? What the actual fuck? He was a complete stranger. I’d learned his name minutes ago.
He is pack. He is your mate.
Oh, so we’re still on that, are we?
This is Sanctuary. We are home. He is pack.
And I apparently need an industrial strength anti-psychotic.
As if to confirm this, the black beast I’d seen back at home appeared at the foot of my bed, her green eyes taking in the newcomers who pushed past the curtain and stood beside her. She nodded her head and then winked out.
One of the women was tall, with a ramrod straight spine and a long tail of grey hair pulled back, while the other a woman was about the same age as me with a mane of dark brown hair, her hand going to her stomach in a way that suggested she might be pregnant. Brown hair smiled impishly at me, wiggling her fingers at Kade, but grey hair was apparently the spokesperson. Her smile, when it came, was slow, measured, but it still warmed her eyes.
“Welcome to Sanctuary, Flick. I am Ophelia and this is Jules.”
“So nice to speak to you finally,” Jules said, moving forward and holding out a hand. I shook it awkwardly, Kade curling up tighter against me. “Your head must be spinning, but you’re safe now, I promise.”
“Jules.”
Ophelia said her name gently, and the other woman stepped back with a smile on her face, but when the older woman turned back to me there was a…what? Expression of sadness, pity, concern? It was difficult to say.
“Flick, if possible, I’d like to talk to you about what brought you to Sanctuary. You don’t have to if you don’t want to…” She paused when she saw my mouth open, ready to tell that story right now. That was strange, having someone wait for me to reply, enough that it closed again. She nodded in response. “But I believe it might help the both of us. Jules is one of our newer residents. When I told her we had someone come from the outside, she was keen to come and meet you. It’ll just be a quick chat, or a long one, depending on what you want. The boys have set up an area just beyond the bed.” Peter got up and twitched the curtain to one side so I could see that an adjoining room, complete with TV and toys all over the floor. “You’ll be able to see Kade the whole time.”