Selene’s POV
“I’m not,” I insist. I’m bobbing through the air, the door drawing closer and closer. Abruptly I realize Bastien intends to remove me from the bathroom, “No, stay here!” I exclaim.
Bastien’s palm presses to my forehead and cheeks, “You have a fever.” He says it as if it’s my fault. “And if you’re so ill that you cannot leave the bathroom, then you need to go to the emergency room.”
Panic blooms in my chest. I can’t go to the hospital. I can’t see a doctor. They’ll find out I’m pregnant. They’ll tell him. “No.” I object loudly. “I’m fine.”
“You aren’t,” he corrects me in a warning tone. “And you know how I feel about lies, little wolf.”
For once I don’t give a damn about his scolding. “I won’t go, you can’t make me!” I cry, desperately trying to wriggle out of his arms. It’s no use, Bastien is too strong for me. I can fight all day long but we both know I won’t get anywhere. “Let me go!” I order angrily.
A warning rumble vibrates in Bastien’s chest. He abruptly settles me on the bathroom counter, clasping me by the arms and bending his head so I have to stare him in the eye. “Why won’t you go to the hospital?”
I can’t think of a single explanation that he will accept. Long seconds tick by as I blindly grasp for any logical answer. In the end I can only say, “Because I don’t want to.” My voice sounds small and pitiful, tear hover on my long eyelashes.
Bastien presses his lips into a hard line. “Not good enough.”
A moment before he moves, I realize what’s about to happen. I jerk away from his body, smacking his arms away as he tried to get a grip on me. I can hear him growling, I can feel the waves of Alpha authority he’s sending my way, but for once I do not quell. I have something worth protecting now, something more important than myself.
We’re a vicious tangle of limbs, but I can feel him winning. I fight like a wild thing, lashing out any way I can, including chomping down on his arm when he tries to wrap it around my back.
The force of his answering snarl startles me into a full on panic. The last thing I remember is throwing myself as far away from him as possible. I hear a loud crack, followed by a sharp pain in the back of my head, then all is dark.
The steady beeping of a heart monitor greets me when I wake, along with the uncomfortable sensation of needles embedded in my arms. My eyes flutter open, and slowly the sterile white walls of a hospital room take shape around me.
Bastien is already by my side.
“What happened?” I mutter drowsily.
“You had a very high fever.” He tells me, brushing a lock of hair away from my face. “I told you we needed to go to the ER but you were very determined to stay on the floor.” If I imagined a hint of a smile on his lips, it was long gone by his next words. “You fought me like a hellcat and managed to smash your head into the bathroom mirror.”
The beeping next to me speeds up as my anxiety surges. I might not remember it, but I know exactly why I fought him so hard. Bastien glances at the machine, mistaking the cause of my worry. “It’s alright.” He promises gently. “There wasn’t any serious injury, just a concussion and a few scrapes.”
“What else did the doctor say?” Please tell me he doesn’t know. Please, please, please.
“Whatever stomach bug you had dehydrated you so much that fever set in. They’re going to pump you full of liquids and send you home.” Bastien explains. My pulse was just starting to slow when he caught me with a look I know only too well. “And when we get there you and I are going to have a little talk about trying to treat your own illnesses.” His voice lowers a full octave, “and biting.”
“Biting?” I squeak.
He nods ominously.
I shrink instinctively beneath his scrutiny. Whatever else has happened between us, at the end of the day he is still my Alpha, and I disobeyed him – attacked him. “How much trouble am I in?”
Bastien stares at me, “You aren’t.”
Relief dissolves the words from my tongue. I feel a rush of affection for this man, the father of my child. If I was as sick as he makes it sound, he may have saved our lives.
“Thank you for taking care of me, Bastien.” He looks as if he’s about to wave the words away, but I latch onto the hand still holding mine.
“You never have to thank me for taking care of you, Selene.” He answers, his earlier warmth receding as he releases me. “It’s my job.”
His words send ice through my veins, erasing the warmth of a moment before. Of course, that’s always what this was to him. I’ve never been anything but an obligation, a duty. An Alpha couldn’t throw a helpless young wolf to the elements, not after a pack member took them captive. His guilt and responsibility forced him into this marriage, and if I’m not careful the same qualities could force him to stay for the baby.
I have to find out what the doctors found, what they told him. A spike of terror seizes me, have I lost it? Is that why he doesn’t know? The heart monitor speeds up again and I do the only thing I can: pray to the Goddess I’m wrong.
