Down With The Border: A Shadow People Novel

Chapter 17: What Comes Next?

***Warning: This chapter gets just a touch NSFW towards the end.***

Terrence:

"Hey," Lionel walked into the infirmary room where Viviana laid unconscious in the bed. "Are you okay?"

The nurse wasn't back with the test results yet and all the pain medicine they gave her kept her out.I looked over to her. She had collapsed in my arms and all all I could do was watch that damned rogue run off. He had had a good head start and my guards couldn't catch him.

I closed my eyes as the fluorescent lights flickered and hoped that when I opened them, the scene would changed. I sighed when it didn't.

She was in a hospital gown and her makeup was still on, but it didn't hide the tear stains on her cheeks or the small red splotches that had formed around the large, dark bruise on her neck. The burning in my chest grew with each second I looked at it.

"She's been here two and a half months, and she's been on that bed three times." I didn't take my eyes off of her.

"None of which have been your fault."

"Come on, dude!" I yelled as I hit my knee. "If I had come back from the bathroom earlier, that fucking rogue never would have touched her!" I finally turned to him, annoyance plastered on my face.

"The fucking bathroom. She got choked out because I was in the fucking bathroom too long." I looked back at Viviana. My mate. Who was lying in a hospital bed. Again.

"What a great fucking mate I am, right?" I scoffed.

"Dude, shut the fuck up!"

"What?" I snapped my head towards him.

"Have you even seen how happy shes been these past few months?"

I slowly turned away from him. She did seem happy here. Always smiling and laughing. She glowed every time she did. But that doesn't change the fact that I let her get hurt.

"But-"

"And do you remember what happened when she went back to the city? An angry mob followed her and Amada around! She was so scared that you could feel it, even without a mark!"

My thoughts flashed back to that day. I was so close to trying to break down The Borders with my bare hands. You usually can't feel your mates emotions until you've marked each other, but that day I felt everything. Every wave of fear when someone yelled or grabbed at her. Every tear she cried.

"You wanna send her back to that?"

"Of course not!" I looked up at him, disgusted that he would even suggest it.

"Then shut up! You couldn't have done anything to stop that rogue from finding her. No one could!"

"T...Terence?" Viviana stirred in her bed. She was beginning to wake up.

"Now, end the pity party and go be there for your mate." Lionel whispered before he walked out the door. I groaned and rubbed my face. I knew he was right.

"Hmm," She rubbed her eyes and tried to sit up. "Terrence?"

"Hey," All anger left my body and was replaced with concern for my mate as I moved closer to her and grabbed her hand. "How are you feeling?"

"My throat hurts." Her voice was gravely and crackled. "It hurts to swallow." She hunched over and began to cough violently.

"It's okay," I rubbed her back and tried to keep her calm until she was finished. "I'll call a nurse."