Chapter 125

Ollie’s POV

I sit in one of the chairs pulled up to Hugh’s hospital bed, waiting for him to open his eyes again.

Though we are out of danger now, it’s difficult to allow myself to relax in conditions like these, with Hugh lying there, wires and tubes connected all over him.

At least the heart monitor is beeping steadily, mirroring his heartbeat.

Now that the medical staff have removed the silver bullet, it’s up to his body to repair the remaining damage. I can’t tell if it’s working. The beeping gives me hope, but sometimes it’s hard to focus with the tears in my eyes and the fear in my heart.

His mother, Diane, sits in another chair an equal distance from Hugh on the other side of the bed. She watches Hugh like I do, with a worn expression on her face. Other than filling her in on what happened, we haven’t really said more than two words to each other, and my other mates did most of the talking in that case as well.

Conrad, Declan, and Wes are still in the hospital somewhere. I think it unnerves them to see their brother brought so low. They’ve seemed to taken turns sitting with me and their mother, while other times disappearing like shadows into the halls of the hospital, making excuses like needing coffee or going to the cafeteria.

I know what they are doing but I don’t call them on it.

Instead, I sit there, vigilant and watchful, my full attention on Hugh, waiting for any change in him.

After a long time sitting in silence with the only sound the heart monitor or the chatter and footsteps of nurses in the hallway walking by the door, Diane speaks up.

“Ollie.”

She waits for me to look over at her before she continues.

“Over the years… things were said and done…” She sighs, taking a minute to gather her thoughts. “I should have understood your position better than I did. Being so much older, I should have shown you compassion when the misunderstanding came to light. Instead, I became distant to you…”

She clears her throat. “No, that’s not enough. I wasn’t just distant, I was cruel, moving so swiftly from the only mother you ever knew to a stranger in your own home. And I allowed my sons to treat you so poorly as well. I should have stepped in much sooner, I…”

She shakes her head. “And then there’s Sylvia. We all let her come into our lives and twist things exactly how she wanted them. I feel so much regret, Ollie. I’m so sorry. Truly. For everything I did and didn’t do. You deserved so much more than we showed you in that time.”

I’m speechless for a long moment, unsure what to say. There’s been so much hurt, so much heartbreak over the years, it’s difficult to forgive all at once. But, I can see that she’s trying and that’s not nothing.

There’s a long road to forgiveness, but perhaps things can start here.

“Thank you,” I tell her. “I hope, in time… Well…”

“However long it takes,” Diane says. “You are the mate of my sons. You will forever have my respect if you cannot yet accept my apology.”

“Thank you,” I say again, letting my voice trail this time. I don’t try to say anymore, and neither does she. The moment stretches between us, and for now, that seems like enough.

Hours later, I’m starting to doze in my chair, when a voice says my name.

It’s weak, barely there, but I hear it like a shot to my heart.

I jolt upright, then, seeing Hugh’s eyes peeked open, looking at me, I surge forward off the chair and lean over him, moving as close as I can without disrupting the medical equipment all over his body.

“There she is,” Hugh says and offers me a shaky smile. “My girl.”

“Your mate,” I tell him.

His smile grows wider. “My little fox. Did I do good?”

“You took a bullet for me,” I grumble. “I couldn’t be more furious with you.”

“Yet you are alive. You’re here. You are calling me your mate,” Hugh says. “All of these are positives in my book.”

“Hugh…”

“Come here, little fox, and kiss me.”

“You are injured!” I say, surprised. Fortunately his mother is no longer here to hear this conversation. “You are in a hospital bed. I can’t just –”

“Who’s going to tell? A quick kiss, no one has to know.”

I shake my head affectionately, but still lean in and gently place a kiss to his lips.

He hums like I’ve just given him life.

“I could use a few more of those,” he says.

“Get better first,” I tell him. “Then you can have as many as you want.”

In the morning, Hugh is feeling a little better, enough to sit upright in his bed. My other mates have joined the room once more. Diane was here but recently stepped out to get some breakfast. The worry over her son had kept her from eating. Now that he was well again, the relief made her hungry.

We sit around Hugh’s bed, with things reaching a sort of calm…

As my shock has been wearing off, I’ve slowly been accepting that the brothers are my mates, and maybe that isn’t so bad after all. Not if they treat me like they are, with gentle touches and easy affection. Lingering glances. Small, private smiles.

Even just now, Declan stops to kiss me on the top of my head as he passes by. He had just taken a call in the hallway. Whatever it was, it’s now done.

Though as he comes into my view, I can tell something is wrong. “What is it?” I ask him.

When I do, my other mates all turn to look at him too, as if realizing like I had that not all is well with him. Declan doesn’t give much away, or at least that’s what I thought in the past. Now, I can read him more clearly. Whether that’s from the mating bond, or just my own heart taking notice, I’m not sure.

“That was Professor Hunter on the phone,” Declan says.

“Professor Hunter?” I ask, surprised. Have my mates been in contact with him?

Quickly, Wes fills me in, explaining that he came to the estate with the results of my genealogy test, and that when he left, they asked him to look into Sylvia’s lineage as well, doubting she might actually be their true sister.

This all surprises me – I had no reason to think they wouldn’t immediately buy every lie she ever told them – yet when Declan speaks, I find myself shocked.

“Sylvia isn’t actually our lost sister,” Declan says.

There’s a series of different emotions that cross the brothers’ faces – relief, guilt, anger.

Even though Sylvia used them to hurt me, I can still feel sympathy for them. They trusted Sylvia, someone they should not have believed, and now they have to live with that.

“That’s not all,” Declan says. “Ollie’s brother, the Northern Alpha, is in town. He wants to see his sister.”

They all look at me.

“He’ll want you to go back with him, Ollie,” Conrad says.

I know what the caretaker said about my past, but it’s still difficult for me to accept. It seems now though that the past is finding me, whether I’m ready for it or not.

I suppose I have a decision to make now, one that could change my future.

Do I return with my brother, to the life I was denied since being a baby? Or do I stay with these flawed mates of mine, who have so hurt me in the past?