Scent matchesneverwalk away from each other.
I stiffen my spine, clinging to my strength. The worst is over. I got away from my scent matches, and I can start rebuilding my life. Iwillget through this.
“What does bond sickness look like?” I ask.
“Lethargy, fatigue, sleeping for too long and not feeling rested, loss of appetite. You might lose consciousness. Your hormones will go into overdrive. Come back to the hospital if you have any of these symptoms.”
“What will you do if you said this is new ground?”
“Run tests.”
“And?”
She doesn’t immediately respond.
My heart sinks. “You don’t know?”
I thought there would be some medicine I could take.
“We’ll figure things out,” she says reassuringly.
Which confirms that she has no idea.
“Can’t you put me into another coma to get me through my heat?”
“An induced coma is not a long-term resolution, Juniper, and bond sickness will get worse the longer we don’t treat it.”
“But the only known way to treat it is by going back to my mates?”
She doesn’t respond.
I lay back down, eyes burning as I stare up at the ceiling. “I left them, and they are still ruining my life.”
“We’ll figure it out, Juniper.” She pats my shoulder.
I release a frustrated sigh. “I’d feel more hopeful if that statement came with a big, fat needle with a magical drug that made me forget I ever had scent matches. And Ihateneedles.”
I’ve rejected my mates and broken the bonds between us, but it’s not over yet.
I still might die.
I stay in the hospital for five days.
Two weeks unconscious means my muscles have atrophied. It’s a slow, hard and painful process to regain strength and find the motivation to want to get up when a part of my soul feels like it’s missing.
First, I use a walker, doing short laps up and down the hallway, avoiding the curious glances from the nurses and the other patients on my floor. They would have heard about the omega who rejected her scent matches and nearly died in the process.
I eat whatever the nurses put in front of me, and I watch every news channel, horrified by the news of Haven Academy's shutdown, and clueless about where my sister River might be. Dr. Whelan said that Garrison had visited me while I was in my coma. He brought me my clothes, and more importantly, my great-grandmother’s bracelet, all of which had been at the Council building since they rushed me to the hospital in the white shift dress I’d worn for the bond-breaking ceremony.
Dr. Whelan told me he’s busy interviewing other omegas to help them escape their alphas if they want to, but she left me his card. Garrison had explained what his work was in the car on the way to the Council building, but I was so relieved to be away from my scent matches that I didn’t listen as well as I should have. I could call him to ask for his help to find River, but the work he’s doing is too important to take him away from it. I’ll find my sister on my own.
When I’m too tired to walk and bored with TV, I call my parents. That never goes well. Alice, my parent’s housekeeper, usually answers. The dial tone follows soon after she hears my voice. It hurts. Alice loves me. Shelovedme. I’ve known her since I was five years old, and now she won’t even talk to me.
My parents won’t speak to me, and they’ve instructed the servants to hang up when I call. It’s not the first time I’ve calledsince I woke up, and if I weren’t so worried about River, I wouldn’t call again.
But I keep on doing it, expecting that this time it will be different. Like an insane person head-butting a wall, convinced the next time they do it, it won’t hurt.
Chapter 16
