Taya was quickly settled into a room, given an IV and oxygen, and monitors were set up to keep an eye on her.
It wasn’t until midnight that Taya’s high fever slowly subsided.
Harper sighed in relief, picked up her phone, and took two days off. Then she leaned against the bed and silently waited for Taya to wake.
They’d both been dropped off at the orphanage when they were about a year old, within days of each other. They had become each other’s everything, and the only other person they’d had any relationship with growing up had been the orphanage director.
Harper raised her hand, touched Taya’s pale face, and sighed.
Taya was unlucky in every way. From the orphanage, to never getting her wolf, to her heart issues.
And the two men she had met and fallen for were both scum bags. Fell in and out of a fevered sleep.
In a daze, I saw a young man reaching out his bloody hands to me.
His face was full of pain. He opened his mouth as if he had said something, but I was too far away to hear him.
I subconsciously walked toward him. “What did you say?”
The young man suddenly stopped talking. His clear eyes were fixed on me.
It suddenly rained heavily from the night sky, washing the youth’s blood-stained face clean.
Only then did I see his face. I rushed forward and shouted,
“Silas!”
The scene changed, and the young man disappeared. I saw Myself kneeling at the door of a nightclub.
A man with a black umbrella walked up to me and asked condescendingly, “Are you clean?”
I nodded with a blush and shyly put my hand in his palm.
When he held my hand, I noticed that the hand holding mine turned into a pair of bloody hands.
The man in front of me also turned into that ferocious young boy. His eyes were red with the ire of his wolf. He grabbed my neck, squeezing, and roared at me.
“Taya! Why did you sell yourself to him? Why did you betray me? Why did you do this?!”
I shook my head desperately. “No, no, it’s not like that…”
I shouted and explained, but the man still pushed me away and turned to leave.
I managed to catch up with him and grabbed his clothes, crying and shouting, “Silas, don’t go! Taya! Taya, what’s wrong?”
I felt someone nudging me awake.
Gradually, I came back to my senses. I slowly opened my eyes, only to see that Griffon and Silas had disappeared, leaving only a worried Harper standing over me, a distraught look on her face.
Only then did I realize it had just been a nightmare. It wasn’t real, and I wasn’t with Silas and Griffon. I was safe.
At least, I had to be if Harper was here, right?
I cleared my mind and swallowed my saliva. I raised my hand to get some water, only to find an IV attached to it.
“You had a high fever, so I brought you to the hospital.”
Seeing that I was in a daze from the fever, Harper spoke softly, explaining, then picked up the gla*s of water next to me and helped me drink it.
After a few sips of water, I slowly regained a little life.
“Harper…”
“I’m here,” Harper responded gently. She lifted the hair on my Forehead that was wet with sweat, put it behind my ear, and asked softly, “Are you hungry?”
I shook my head-slowly and with difficulty-and asked, “Did the doctor tell you anything?”
I still hadn’t figured out how to talk to Harper about what was wrong with me. Now that I’d fell ill and Harper had to take me to the ER, I was terrified she would now know everything.
“The doctor didn’t say anything. When he saw that you had a high fever and were in and out of consciousness, he gave you fluids and antibiotics. They’ve done a blood draw, and we should have the results any time now.” Harper got up and looked around. “Actually, I think it might be in your chart in here already.”
I quickly stopped her. “I’m a little hungry. Can you please get me something to eat first?”
Harper nodded. “I’ll go see what they have for you. Maybe some Jell-O.”
After watching her leave, I struggled to get up, looking around the room.
There. Beneath the bed. My chart.
Perhaps the results would be in it?
I slid the IV pole over enough to give me room to reach the folder and picked it up.
The blood test would show my heart failure, and the last thing I wanted was for Harper to see it. She would be devastated. We had grown up together and relied on each other for survival.
If Harper knew I was about to die, she wouldn’t be able to bear the blow.
I wanted the rest of my time with her to be happy…
I tore the blood results into pieces without looking at the paper, then threw it into the trash can, so Harper wouldn’t see it. Furthermore, I’d make up something to tell her about why they weren’t in my file if she asked. Hopefully, getting me food would distract her from it. I turned around to push the IV pole back to the spot it was in before I’d moved it, glancing out the window as I did so. The window in this room looked out over the parking lot, and I saw a few luxury Town Cars driving in and heading toward the entrance.
When they came to a stop, a group of wolf shifter bodyguards in black suits exited the cars and escorted Griffon out.
He hurried into the hospital with Tara in his arms.
When I saw his anxious look, my heart sank.
I’d come to the emergency department because of a heart attack when I was with him.
What kind of reaction did he have then?
I remembered him standing by the bed and looking down at me while I was curled up in pain. He’d thrown an AMEX Black card at me as if I were a beggar.
He’d thought I was pretending to be sic k to gain his sympathy and get more money from him. There was a clamor of footsteps coming down the hall, getting closer and closer to my room. Since this was the ER ward of the hospital, the rooms weren’t private. The walls facing the hallway were glass, and Griffon would be able to see me as he passed.
But when Griffon rushed by my room, he didn’t even look my way. Harper chose that moment to come back, holding a tray with red Jell-O on it. When she saw that I had moved around in bed, sitting up at the edge of it, she hurried over.
“You just recovered from a high fever. You should be laying down, not trying to get out of bed.” Harper set the tray down and then came over to gently push me to lay down again. “Don’t be so careless with your health right now.”
Warmth spread through my heart at her concern for me, though all the concern and care-taking in the world wouldn’t help me get any better. I pursed my lips and smiled.
Harper peeled the top off the Jell-O and said, “I’ll go see if your blood test results are in. Why were you trying to sit up? You weren’t going to get up and get it, were you?”
When I hemmed and hawed and didn’t answer, she furrowed her eyebrows, and I could see her nose wrinkle up a bit as she sniffed.
Dam n her wolf’s abilities to scent out my nerves and now I wasn’t telling her something. Where’s the report? Show it to me,” she demanded, putting her hands on her hips. Shit. I would rather not lie to her, but…it was for her own good. “I was going to find the doctor, but then he came in and told me the results.”
“And? “It’s just a blood test. I’m fine,” I replied calmly.
Harper stared at me, a serious expression darkening her face. I rarely saw the super protective nature of her wolf take over, but it was written all over her right now. “You’re different from everyone, Taya. You’ve had a heart attack before, and you’re not a shifter. You can’t just get better like most people can. Furthermore, you have to take this seriously.”
For the millionth time, I wish werewolves could be created like they were in books. You mated someone, and they could turn you, make you like them so you could be together much longer than the average human’s lifespan. It would be so much easier than…this.
I mustered up a smile I didn’t feel. “I know. The doctor said that I was fine. My heart is fine. Don’t worry.”
Harper’s eyes narrowed a smudge more, and then what seemed Like a look of relief touched her face. She handed the Jell-O to me. “I managed to find red for you, instead of gross lime green.” She made a disgusted face.
I took the wiggly food and the spoon, then took a bite.
Crisis averted.
For now. Harper looked at Taya’s pale face. She wanted to say something but stopped herself after thinking over it for a second longer.
She was pretty sure she’d heard Taya call out to Silas.
After so many years, it was the first time she’d heard Taya say his name. Harper wanted to ask about it, but she didn’t want to reopen Taya’s deep scars.
Especially now, when Taya was in the hospital. It was probably better to leave the dead buried…right where Silas belonged.