Hooked

Chapter Thirty-Three: Hold Me Again

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, N.L.PETIT 2015.

Chapter Thirty-Three: Hold Me Again

Three days. If not for Adrian and the pack finding me that night, I would have lived for approximately three more days. I had never been so close to death, and suddenly, I began to appreciate life with so much more passion than before.

Chloe, a nurse practitioner who lived in the pack, had taken an entire day to thoroughly examine the extent of the damage I'd done to myself in the month I'd been there. She judged that my body would take another two to three weeks to heal itself properly, and I had no complaints to her. I had never felt more pampered and doted on than that first week back in the house: Alaina was a dream, and she devoted her attention to me without fail. I quickly began to feel spoiled under her care, but she made it clear that she never minded checking on me.

Surprisingly, Vienna proved to be an unimaginably wonderful friend in the days that followed. As the only other who had known William personally, she could relate to the hell I had lived through under his command, and she was the first to understand why I had refused to cooperate with anything he offered. I believed that a lifelong friendship developed between us in the months following, and I knew I'd be grateful to have her around. Because she wasn't leaving anytime soon, according to Ethan.

The only person I had not seen in the first week I'd been home was Adrian, and that was what scared me the most.

~~~~~~*~~~~~~

"Do you want the chocolate chips on top or inside your pancakes?"

"Both!"

I smiled at Matthew as I poured a spoonful of pancake mix into the pan. He propped himself up on a stool in front of me, and I was incredibly relieved to have his company. He was so happy and innocent, and it helped me to deal with the loneliness that returned every once in a while.

"Are you sure your mom would let you do that?" I asked with a grin, knowing the answer.

As Matthew opened his mouth to reply, a masculine voice answered for him. "Well, since his dad is okay with it, I think she'll come around."

The toddler jumped into his father's arms as he entered the kitchen, looking just as healthy as I first saw him. Patrick sat on the barstool with Matthew on his lap and directed his attention to me, smiling in greeting.

"Thanks for making him breakfast. I know he's a handful."

"He's no problem at all," I said. I flipped the pancakes to check that they were done, and then set them on a plate in front of the two. "Would you like any?"

"No, thanks. I'll just eat Matt's."

His son's shout of protest was enough to make me laugh for a few moments before he busied himself with his breakfast. A few minutes passed as I cleaned up the kitchen and wiped the counter, trying to keep myself from asking the questions that had been building up within me for days.

"You're wondering why no one will tell you anything, aren't you."

It wasn't a question. Patrick could see through me all too easily. I took a deep breath to control myself.

"What could be so bad that they can't even tell me?" I asked quietly. "Why can't I even know where he is? He's my mate, the love of my life. We're supposed to devote our lives to each other, and I can't even help him."

My eyes darted up to Patrick's, and I asked the question I wasn't sure I wanted the answer to. "Unless he's not even here at all."

He stared at me, appalled. "Dear gods, Sophie, of course he's alive."