He Came From The Wild

Chapter Nine | Don't Let Go.

Avoiding people was something Braydon was good at and sneaking through the hospital, that wasn't changing any time soon. The shifter nurse got the message he wanted nothing to do with them, only her pack wasn’t as quick to understand. After ignoring another phone call from the Alpha, Braydon made his escape outside – away from the phone and any ‘visitors’. Finding a place in the garden he sat on the grass beside the fountain, trying to work out what to do next.

In the three days that had passed since their arrival, Braydon had only been able to get five minutes alone with Miranda and during the night when everyone was gone, she was asleep. The cold she had woken up with the day before had kept the doctor from releasing her at Jason’s request, but Braydon knew their days were numbered. With rumors circulating that his family had been found, there was no way he would be able to stay with Miranda now and he didn’t know what else to do.

He was so lost in his thoughts; he didn’t notice Miranda until she sat down beside him. Her nose was sore and red, her eyes puffy and the cough was showing signs of getting worse before it would be getting better.

“Should you be outside?” He asked, clearly concerned.

“It’s just a cold, not man flu!” Miranda joked, though the humor was lost on him. “Fresh air and sunshine will do me some good. How are you going?”

She felt guilty for not spending much time with him, if anything she actually missed wasting the day talking about nothing in the forest.

“K.”

“K? Braydon, what’s wrong?” The way he refused to look at her was more of a sign that something was the matter than if he had a billboard over his head.

“Nothing.” He sulked, picking at the blades of grass with fake interest.

“Fine, I’ll just sit here until you decide to talk to me.”

Resting back on her arms, Miranda enjoyed the warmth of the sun on her face, fresh air and time away from her parents. She had told them not to come in this afternoon as she wanted to sleep in peace so she might get over the cold quicker than if she was constantly being interrupted by them. She knew Jason was already trying to get the doctors to release her to fly her home, they talked outside her door as if she couldn’t hear and flying wasn’t exactly on her list of things to do right now. The helicopter had been bad enough and to board an actual flight, she started to feel clammy and nauseous just thinking about it.

“The shifters here want me to join them.” Braydon broke the silence, mumbling part of his worries to her like a teenager being questioned about sneaking out after curfew.

“Really?” Miranda hadn’t expected that, but it did make sense to her. He might not like or trust his kind, though wouldn’t he be better off with them?

“I told them no.” He shrugged, finally daring to look at her.

Miranda felt relieved to hear that, despite thinking it would be for the best - she didn’t want him to go. She had promised to help him, and so far all she had done was sit like an invalid in a hospital room. This was the most time they’d even spent together since leaving the forest and if he did leave her, she wouldn’t admit just how much she would miss him. “Why did you tell them no?”

Braydon didn’t answer, diverting his gaze again. What would he tell her? If he wasn’t going to go with her, that he would be heading back into the wild? He didn’t want to be looked after like a lost pet either. He wanted to hear her say she wanted him with her now she didn’t have to pretend to be nice or like him or anything else.

“You’re not very talkative today are you?” Miranda sighed, taking a sip from her water bottle before coughing some more.

“Did you want to go back inside?”