“You nearly died. More than once. If we hadn’t put you into a medically induced coma, you would have. Scent matches don’t break bonds for a reason.” A deep line forms between her brows. “I don’t know why they agreed to it. They should have known it was far too dangerous to attempt.”
“When you have scent matches like mine, you break the bonds and deal with the consequences after.”
She gives me a long, thoughtful look, forehead puckered. I shake my head before she can ask why I would willingly risk my life doing something the Council staff warned me was dangerous. I’m not interested in getting into why I walked away from my scent matches, because what it really comes down to is they walked away from me first.
My eyes dip to take in the tube in the back of my left hand, and I track it to the bag with the clear liquid hanging from a metal stand next to my bed.
“Saline,” Dr. Whelan explains. “It kept you hydrated while you were unconscious. I’ll remove it after I’ve given you a quick checkup.”
The sobs start with no warning. Huge, air-stealing sobs that stop me from breathing. I’d wondered why she would sit on the edge of my bed. When she draws me into a hug, rubbing at my back and making me cry harder, I figure she must have known these tears were coming.
“I’m sorry,” I cry. “I’m ruining your scrubs, and I don’t even know why I’m crying.”
“My scrubs have seen a lot worse than a few tears,” she says, her voice warm with amusement. “Get it all out, Juniper. Grieving is a normal response to what you’ve lost.”
Having someone hug me, rub my back, and tell me everything will be okay helps much more than I thought it would. Minutes later, my tears have finally stopped, and I wipe my wet cheeks with one of the many tissues Dr. Whelan passed me.
“Are my parents here?” I glance toward my closed hospital room door.
Maybe they’re outside, waiting for Dr. Whelan to give me a checkup before they see me.
She fusses with my sheets. “We called them.”
That’s all I needed to know. I knew this would happen when I walked away from my scent matches. Doesn’t mean it still doesn’t hurt to wake up alone in a hospital to learn my parents never visited even once.
Stupid, Juniper,I think to myself bitterly,expecting your parents to be here to support you through the hardest thing you’ve ever faced.
“They didn’t want to come,” I say.
“They sounded busy.”
“My parents are very good at sounding busy when someone asks them to do something they don’t want to do.”
Like visiting the daughter who just became the first omega to reject her scent matches.
I’ve tarnished the Harrington name, perhaps forever. I’m as dead to them as Pack Wells is to me.
“Did they survive? My… scent matches?” Ihatemyself for asking. I shouldn’t care, and I don’t. After what they did to me,they deserve none of my attention, but maybe the strands tying us together need more time to die?
“They were down for a couple of days. They didn’t require hospital treatment since you went through the bond breaking three times, they experienced it only once. I can?—”
“I don’t want to see them,” I cut in, wondering where my clothes are. I left everything behind at their house, and a tiny part of me had thought that maybe I could still go home. Now I know where I stand with my parents, I only have the clothes I was wearing when I walked out of their lives.
“They were asking about you.”
Hardening my expression is easier than hardening my heart. “I don’t want to see them.”
She gives me a probing look and then nods. “They were… insistent about seeing you. Security had to be involved.”
“Can they get to me?” I give my door a panicked glance.
I don’t want to see them for a lot of reasons, but one of my biggest fears is my reaction to them. What if the bond breaking didn’t work? What if a part of me will always want them?
She shakes her head. “They don’t know which wing of the hospital you’re in.”
I relax against my pillows. “Good. Can I go now?”
“Recovery is going to mean staying longer,” she explains. “You’ve been immobile for two weeks, and your muscles have atrophied. You need to build your strength back up, starting with short walks with a walker and slowly improving your endurance.” She hesitates and adds delicately. “And you’re underweight. Can I assume it had to do with your scent matches?”
