“He hasn’t. When he came back after you left he was drunk, disorientated. We could hardly understand a word that he was saying. When we started to understand we were shocked to say the least. We never thought our son could do the things he was saying. Since that day he hasn’t left that room. He doesn’t eat. He sleeps but he has fits. His mother makes sure he takes his medication. At first he refused that too. Until a few weeks ago, then he started taking it.”
“That’s when I told him about the baby.”
“I understand if you don’t want to be here. I am just glad that you are.”
“I am not going to let him die. Not without a fighting chance.” I turn back to the room. “Tell Markus to come up here when he is free. I don’t want to leave him for long.”
He nods to me. “Thank you.”
I come back in the room and climb into the bed next to Darius. I pull him to my chest. “This doesn’t mean that I forgive you. I am just not going to let you die.”
“I love you so much.” He weeps into my shirt. “I didn’t know what to do when you left. I thought hurting you again would make you come back. Then I realized that would just make you run further away. I have been so lost I didn’t know what to do.”
“Shh, I am here now, that is all that matters. You are going to get better and then we are going to deal with this.” I am petting his hair with my fingers. It feels really unkept.
“It wasn’t Sasha. Just so you know.”
“I didn’t want to know, but actually that does make me feel better. If you had gone back to her I would have felt like I went through all of this for nothing. You would still want your mate.”
“I don’t want her. I only want you. I did it all wrong, but I can’t think straight sometimes. You are the only one that I want.”
I comb my fingers through his hair trying to clear away some of the tangles. At least it doesn’t feel as greasy as I expected. That means he is at least taking showers at some point. “You know that sometimes brain tumors can cause excessive aggression. As well as impared judgment.”
“You were thinking about me while you were gone?” He looks up at me.
“Duh, you are my mate.” He cries even harder.
A knock sounds at the door. “Come in.” I call and a wolf I don’t know brings in a tray with a bowl on it. “Bring it here.” The wolf brought the bowl to me on the tray and left as soon as it was left. It was a bowl of soup, very brothy. If he hasn’t eaten in as long as I think this is a good place to start. “I am going to make a deal with you. You eat all this soup, nice and slow so you don’t get sick. I will give you a kiss. Now do you think you can handle that?”
“I will do whatever you ask. Just don’t leave. I don’t care about anything else. Just don’t leave.”
“I am not going anywhere. Now eat your soup.”
It takes him a while to eat the soup, but I watched him get the whole bowl down. He hands me back the bowl. “I am going to have them prepare a bowl for you in an hour. I want you to be healthy. Don’t argue with me.”
“I’m not. I promise.” He buries his head in my chest.
I chuckle a little. “Really being without me for a couple of months has made you docile.”
He starts crying. “Yes, I have never been without you. This time with you gone was pure torture. I never want to experience that again.”
“Then let’s get you better. I am going to see what the hold up on that doctor is.”
“You’re coming back right?”
“Darius, I am coming back. Relax.”
I wiggle out of his grip and head to the door. I just realized that I don’t have my bag, but Darius still has all my stuff here. I guess that is a good thing. Everything is right where I left it.
As soon as I step out of the room I am met with Markus. “Hey.” He smiles down at me.
“Hey.” I fidget with the bowl and tray in my hand.
“So how is he doing?”
“A bit clingy and needy but I think he is doing better. I got him to get the soup down. He doesn’t look good. You were right, you were sugar coating it.”