The Alpha House

Chapter Five

"Thank God, you're awake. How are you feeling?"

I tried to sit up, but the back of my head felt like someone had scalped me with a dirty knife. I hissed in pain, letting my head fall gently back onto the soft pillows. That's when I realized I was back in Jamie's room, lying under the cozy duvet. The cold air felt good on my flushed skin for once. My vision blurred for a moment, and then refocused to my right, where I could just barely make out Jamie's outline standing at the side of the bed. I couldn't see his face, which was in shadow from the rising sun behind him.

"I feel...like shit. What the hell happened?" My voice was unrecognizable to my own ears, deep and guttural, and my throat screamed in pain with every choked word I spoke. I had had strep throat once as a teenager, and this was ten times worse.

Jamie didn't say anything for a moment, and I strained my eyes to see his face.

"You were attacked at the club," he said finally.

"And?" I winced from the effort of that one word.

"And what?"

I tried to throw up my hands in frustration, but that's when the rest of my body came into sharp relief and it was like a light switch had been suddenly flipped on. A crippling wave of agony engulfed me, and I cried out.

Jamie was by my side instantly.

"Are you okay? What's wrong?" I could make out his shining blue eyes now, and they looked concerned. I wished I could've shaken him off.

Something in me broke.

"Are you seriously asking me what's wrong? I'm in so much pain I can't even think straight, let alone talk. Every word is agony. And you won't even tell me what the fuck happened--" My voice broke, and I began to cry.

I cried tears of pain and frustration and fear and confusion. I cried because I was overwhelmed by the events of the last three days. I cried because I missed my little apartment downtown, and my own bed, and my favorite pair of Aerie sweatpants.

My throat burned in pain, but I cried all the same. I was distantly aware of Jamie standing there, his hands in his pockets, seemingly waiting for me to calm down but I couldn't. I couldn't even reach my hand up to wipe the snot from my nose because my right hand was all bandaged up and felt like it had been skinned alive.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, my cries turned to sniffles, and my sniffles turned to hiccups. These were so painful that I began to cry anew, but these were silent tears. They streamed down my face and soaked into the duvet that was tucked under my chin.

"You were attacked by one of the new werewolves in town, some college boy from Georgia State," Jamie finally spoke, perching at the end of the bed and still not looking at me.

"We usually keep tabs on the new wolves in town and induct them into the pack, but we hadn't gotten around to doing it yet when he turned. He's new, so he doesn't have a mate yet, and that means that he was...attracted to you. It's some weird werewolf thing, like the heat from the other night. He could basically smell it on you and it drove him crazy. But when unmated wolves try to sleep with someone's mate in heat, it...nature has a way of trying to intervene. That's why he burned you with his touch."

My hiccups slowed, and then stopped. I reached up my good hand to wipe my nose with my sleeve, dimly aware that someone had put a warm sweatshirt over my ripped dress.

"Well, thanks for the heads up," I croaked bitterly.

Jamie's face was impossible to read. If I hadn't been in so much pain I would've groaned. I was already so sick of having to pry every answer out of him.