“Asshole.”
I was wheeled out of the tiny room, into the stark hallway and out big, double doors.
The clean air on my face was one of the best moments I’d had today.
I pushed up out of the chair and stood up.
“Thank you, Nurse Melanie.”
She huffed and puffed and pushed the chair back into the hospital.
Grayson dangled his car keys and opened the door to his black car.
“Get in, cripple.”
I did get in, somehow.
I sat in the back seat and put my leg over the other two seats.
The others got in and we started driving back to the Woodlands.
I sighed, my heart aching for my mate. “I can’t believe we’re going home without Nevaeh.”
Silence.
Were they going to ignore me too now?
“Seriously guys, what the hell happened after I got shot? Did Nevaeh shout to the world that she’d never love us, or something?”
Grayson stayed silent. Stoic. His normal strong, stubborn self.
I turned my attention to Aaron.
“Come on, Aaron. Tell me. What happened with the bears?”
Aaron huffed and sighed for a bit. But I had time. It was an hour drive home.
They wouldn’t make the distance.
After a few more minutes, Aaron broke. “Okay, fine. Basically, we fought the bears, we killed the older one… or Nevaeh did, actually. Then the younger one… Nevaeh’s ex, shifted back. We…” He sighed. “Got sucked into shifting back too. Idiot that I am. And he grabbed me.”
Everything started to fall into place.
Their pride had been hurt.
They were angry and upset.
“So, he used you to get away. What happened after that? Why is Nevaeh’s face all smashed up like that.”
Aaron looked out the window. “He did it, before we got there. And we don’t know what else he did, because she wouldn’t talk to us. Or look at us. Or…”
I waited, and no one continued to talk.
“So, hang on. We had, like, the fight of our lives, which I missed—and our mate walked away—beat up, but still alive. And you just… what? Let her go?”
Grayson finally grunted and spoke.
“Look, we didn’t let her go. She ran… literally ran away from us. Even after she’d been attacked in the woods, she…. She decided she’d rather walk all the way home, than be with us. What does that say about her? About us! About our mating and our lovemaking. Fuck, Brad, I give up. Okay? I can’t….”