his forgotten mate

CHAPTER 18

A/N: NOT EDITED.

Chapter 18 Chris POV

I smile to myself, my sons' care for their sisters, if anything, this monster that had them, didn't take that away... I heard it in Keith's voice; I saw it when my injured son, Bailey, limped to go to his sister, fed her while he fed himself. I look down and see Michelle asleep in my arms, and I'm broken, I'm a broken man. I'm angry, confused, torn, and I've stopped processing normally.

No matter which way I look at this situation, fury churns inside me. The anger builds, fills the emptiness of Rainy being gone for 10 years, my brothers ordering others to stop searching, and Adina, Adina, on that stage, claiming hurt and pain, when really she was the cause of it. She gave away a child. Someone her parents took in, her adopted sibling, she gave Rainy away like she was nothing, less than nothing. You – you can't even adopt a pet, without an application and interview, yet she gave away a child and prevented anyone from searching for her.

Ten years, ten long years, never, not once letting it drop that she gave Rainy away, and suddenly, I think the most awful thought yet; I'm happy. I'm elated that she's never been able to conceive, she doesn't deserve to have a child. She doesn't deserve that, and I'm happy she lost that first child. I shake my head, hating myself for even thinking such a thing, because not having a child, doesn't seem like enough.

Adina, she had 3,650 days to mention what happened, 3,650 days to stop the abuse they were suffering. She could have said something, we could have found them earlier – I immediately stop thinking that thought, because I'm holding Michelle, she's in my arms, and she wouldn't be here if Rainy was found earlier. I'm torn, she wouldn't be here, but Kayla wouldn't be so afraid... she wouldn't have suffered for so long.

I replayed the scenes of the last 10 minutes in my head, the doctor in me making all sorts of connections, the most disturbing, albeit small is Kayla afraid of eating. Hungry, but fear overriding the instincts to eat, led me to two options. I was there and that reduced her hunger or, someone had given her food before that made her sick...

.

.

.

When I get to the nurses' station, a black haired, brown eyed, slight build nurse met my eyes, and I'm taken aback, I know her, she worked for me, was in my old pack, "Nancy Jacobs," I say in the form of a question as she blinks.

Nodding, "that's me," she says, and I'm not sure what she's doing here, or that she even left. "What – what are you doing here?" I ask stupidly.

"In the hospital? Or specifically this one?" Cheeky. Still, no one that works in my hospital and was a werewolf ever quit working there.

"The latter," I respond.

"I left when Logan did..." she says, carefully and I swallow deeply, more shame and guilt cakes on.

"It's not the same, I left because I had a child – have still, but Megan was six years old when Rainy went missing. I couldn't be in a pack that... that handled... her disappearance the way it was..."

I tilt my head, "Why wait to leave then?"

Nancy shrugs at me, "Many of us, that knew Rainy, knew her attachment to you, couldn't understand why she'd run away. Especially leaving you and Logan behind? It didn't make sense. Your brother – what he said was to not mention Rainella, so I concentrated on Logan. When he left, I left too, stayed with him, he paid for me to go to medical school to become a pediatrician..." she tapered off.

"I didn't know," I blurted out.

Nancy nodded in pity, her eyes failing down to Michelle, I follow her as well, "I want to take a look at their charts," I say and she pales. Well... I hope she had better bedside manner than that.