Chapter 23
I push through the hospital doors with only one thing on my mind, finding Sam. When I reach the reception area, there's not a single word I can utter but her name.
The receptionist looks at me worryingly. “Young lady? Are you alright?”
“Sam...” I repeat over and over.
Everyone stares at me in pity, they're probably wondering what the hell is wrong with me. No one would understand the shit I've been through this week.
My mother soon finds me, pulls me into her chest and that's when the tears start to fall again. We hold each other for a few minutes.
I break away from her, with a look of desperation in my eyes. I need to see Sam with my own eyes and maybe then I'll be able to speak.
She leads me through the hospital to where they're keeping her when unexpectedly, I see Ryder, Kellan, Bane and Silver standing outside her door, wearing expressionless looks on their faces.
“What are you all doing here?” I don't understand why they're here.
Ryder answers me straight away. “We found her lying on the floor, next to her car.”
“And that's enough of a reason for you all to be here?” I look at each of them individually.
My mother grabs a hold of my hand. “Honey, they brought Sam in. Without their help, god knows what would've happened to her.”
There's nothing anyone can say to make me feel any better at this point. After losing Terry, a person I cared about, it's made me realise that anything can happen when you least expect it, and I don't want to lose somebody else.
“None of you care about her, so please just leave.” I pass the four of them and enter the room Sam is being held in, there's nothing I want more than to just see and hear her breathe.
She lies motionless in the curtained cubicle with only the sounds of the machines encompassing around the room. My mother said to me on the phone that she's suffered a severe blow to the head, resulting in a fractured skull, bruising and bleeding within the brain. She also told me that Sam has a few broken ribs from the attack.
I walk and stand beside her and reach with my hand to hold hers. With her eyes closed and her chest rising and falling ever so slowly, I can finally feel assured that she's alive.
The door opens and in walks my mother, she comes to stand beside me.
“If it wasn't for them Alice, she could've died.” She whispers to me.
I can only look at Sam. “Mum, don't say things like that.”
She turns to me. “I'm sorry honey, but those people out there have a right to be here.”
“They don't care about Sam.”
My mother holds my hand. “They brought her here and that shows to me that they care.”
I consider her words. “Then they were at the right place at the right time.”
“She's lucky, I'll tell you that.” She sighs and shakes her head. “But why would someone want to hurt her like this?”
I shrug. “I don't know.”
“Well, whatever the reason, she didn't deserve it.”
The two of us just look at Sam in silence. We're both probably wondering the same thing, who could've done something like this and why?
“Did you call her parents?” I ask.
My mother nods. “They left just before you came. They said something about leaving and coming back with a few things that Sam might need. She'll be here for awhile.”
“How long?”
“I wish I could tell you honey, but I honestly have no idea. We'll see how long when she wakes up.” She goes to walk out of the room when she stops. “Oh, that reminds me.
When her parents came here, they asked if you could drive her car from the school back to their house.”
I frown. “From the school? But she brought me home in her car, why would she go back to school?”
My mum shrugs. “Maybe she forgot something. I'm going to grab my coat, so why don't you say goodbye to Sam for now and we'll get her car together.”
I lean over Sam, brush her hair away from her forehead and kiss her. “I wish I didn't have to go but I'll come and see you tomorrow. I'll be here when you wake up.”
Just as I turn away from her, Ryder stands just inside the room with his hands in his pockets.
“What are you still doing here? I thought I told you to leave.” I cross my arms over my chest.
“I wasn't going to leave without asking if you were okay first.”
“I'm obviously not okay Ryder! I could've lost Sam tonight, I can't lose somebody else.”
He moves to stand in front of me. “I know. I'm sorry, that was a stupid question to ask.” He reaches for my hand and holds it. 'Is there anything I can do?”
There is something that I've been meaning to ask Ryder, but with everything that's happened, I've never found the right time to ask him. “I want to know why you never cared about me before I was bitten because the moment you started getting involved in my life, was when everything changed.”
“Alice, just because I wasn't involved in your life doesn't mean that I didn't care about you.”
“Yes, but if I hadn't have been bitten, you probably wouldn't even be standing here, right?”
He looks away from me. “Probably not.” He lets go of my hand.
I nod in dismay. “You're unbelievable, you know that?”
He looks at me and frowns. “What do you want me to say, Alice?”
“I want you to say that you didn't care about me when I was a human!?”
“Alice..”
“You didn't, did you? The moment you started caring for me was when it turned out that I was an Alpha too.”
He cups my cheek. “That's not true. I always kept my distance from you. That Monday at school when I could sense another wolf, it finally gave me an excuse to interact with you. It's given me the chance to show you this new gift that you've been given. The bite is a gift, it gives you the ability to hear and smell things that no ordinary person can. Who wouldn't want that?”
I remove his hold on my cheek. “I don't want it and I never will want it either.”
“You can join our pack and we'll all teach you how to embrace this new side of you.”
“I don't want to be in your pack or anyone else's! Don't you get that!? I just want to live my life like a normal person, and if that turns my wolf feral then so be it.”
He shakes his head. “You don't know what you're saying. I know you're hurting because of Sam and Terry, but that shouldn't make you say things like that. You're not thinking clearly.”
I shake my head. “You don't know what I'm thinking right now.”
“Enlighten me then. Maybe then I can understand what it is you're trying to tell me.”
“Okay, then why has it taken this long to find one murderer? You've had all this time to find whoever killed Mr Daniels and Terry, yet you still haven't found who's responsible.”
“Are you trying to say that it's my fault that Terry got killed and Sam got attacked?”
“I'm saying that it's partially your fault.” He looks at me in anger. “How?”
I roll my eyes. “The same person could've done this to Sam! You're a wolf for god's sakes! You said yourself that you've been to every crime scene of where the murders took place and yet you can't find a trace. If I knew how to use my abilities, I wouldn't sleep until the murderer was found.”
He's silent for a few seconds. “I'm just gonna assume that you're only saying that cause you're upset.”
“No Ryder. I'm saying it because you're an Alpha. So, maybe you should start acting like one.” I nudge past him, through the corridor and out the hospital doors where my mother waits for me in the car.