Big girls don't cry (Aleida series #1)

2. Beeping from hell

 Beep... Beep... Beep...

The beeping annoys me, and I try to ignore the sound. I can hear two voices whispering to each other somewhere in the room. Someone walks out the door and closes the door behind; someone takes my hand in his or hers and terrified of who it may be, I dare not open my eyes.

"Aleida? Please, open your eyes..." I open my eyes quickly when I recognize the voice; it's Matt. He looks tired and stressed out, but still smile at me.

"Hello, sweetheart."

"Where am I?" I ask with a hoarse voice.

"You're at the pack hospital, darling."

I'm now completely awake. The horror of being in the pack hospital scares the shit out of me. I'm not allowed to go to the hospital under any circumstances whatsoever. Matt has taken a significant risk of bringing me here, and he will have to pay dearly for it.

"Why did you take me here?" I ask with a terrified voice while his smile drops, and he looks miserable before he sighs.

"We had to bring you here. You had left behind a blood trail all over the floor after the injuries you got in the packhouse earlier. We told you to take it easy, but you wouldn't listen. In the end, you just fell to the floor with your eyes closed. We tried to communicate with you and tried to wake you up in every way we could think of. But..." his voice breaks. "You didn't wake up. So I lifted you and ran here with you in my arms. We knew what a risk it was to bring you here, but what the hell were we supposed to do?! Leave you there on the floor? You'd have bled out in half an hour! We brought you here with the knowledge that we would have to pay for it, which is why alpha took Clare..."

My breath gets stuck in my throat. Clare has been like a mother to me ever since my own died. Clare and Matt have no children; therefore, they always treat me as if I'm their daughter. They think it's fucked up how the others in the pack treats me, but I have told them that I don't want them to treat me well when the rest of the pack members are nearby.

I know there would be trouble for them and would instead take a couple of punches extra, as long as they remained unharmed.

"You shouldn't have..." I say with tears in my eyes while he gives me a sad look and takes my hand in his again; he's avoiding my eyes.

"Where is she?" I ask, a bit angrily.

Again, he avoids my gaze and doesn't answer my question. His face that usually has a big dazzling smile, now looks broken. I haven't thought about it before, but Matt's getting to the years now. His dark brown hair now has both one and another gray hair.

The once youthful appearance has begun to give him wrinkles, and he has large darkening circles under his eyes. He didn't look like this when we met at the tavern. Then he was happy and looked good. There's something he's not telling; something's happened while I was out. Something that has affected him enough to make him look like he's gone through hell and back again.

"Matt, how long was I out?" I ask hesitantly.

"Two days," he answers silently.

"Where is Clare?" I ask him again while he continues to hesitate.

"Where. Is. Clare?!" I raise my voice, and I wouldn't say I like to do that, not to Matt.

"The alpha took her as payment for your stay here," he says quietly, and I can see a tear fall alone down over his cheek.

I sit up in the hospital bed, and I don't give a shit that my head is spinning. Instead, I begin to disconnect the machines and draw in a satisfied breath when the beeping finally ends. Matt looks at me anxiously and doesn't look like he knows what to grab from the situation, say or do.