Ignoring my grandfather for the moment, I lay my cheek back down gently against Harper’s leg. She still feels ice cold. Or maybe that’s just me.
Her face, pale and lifeless, keeps coming back to the front of my mind no matter how hard I try to push it away. She must have been so fucking scared. I don’t know how she managed to get herself stuck in the freezer, but she obviously couldn’t find the release hatch to get out.
Gabe is almost catatonic next to me, guilt pulsing through the bond enough to make my hair stand on end. The freezer was his idea in the first place. He kept shouting that we didn’t have enough space to feed four hungry alphas. We gave in when he started yelling at Rogue one time, asking him if we expected him to pull food out of his ass or spend his life at the grocery store. We knew he just didn’t want to go back after the attack. He got his freezer.
Gently, I reach out, careful not to startle him, and carefully stroke my fingers through his hair. He turns his face to the side, ignoring me. I’ll let it go for now, but not for long. He’s made so much progress in the last few weeks, with Harper here. I won’t let him withdraw into his shell again.
My eyes are pulled back to her like a magnet. She seems to have a little more color now, her chest slowly rising and falling, but she’s still unconscious. My gaze flicks to Rogue as he sits up, keeping his arm over her and turning as if to shield her from my grandfather’s gaze.
Ezra keeps his head turned, respecting the hormones that are clearly riding Rogue right now. He lifts his medical bag up, shaking it gently and murmuring to Rogue in a quiet, soothing tone. Rogue is tense but takes a step back to allow Pa to take a look at our girl.
I swallow, hard.
We failed you, little omega.
How the fuck did this happen?
Pa checks Harper over carefully, taking her pulse and pulling a cuff from his bag to measure her blood pressure. His fingers skip over her collar and he shoots a questioning look at Rogue.
Rogue shakes his head, whispering, “The compound.” Pa rolls his eyes and continues with his slow examination. I mentally throw pushy vibes at him, needing him to hurry up and tell us what’s wrong. He doesn’t miss a beat before he snaps his teeth at me, and heat rises up my neck. I feel like an unruly teenager again. When Pa gets down to her legs, he frowns, pushing the mottled skin in and out. Her skin color hasn’t returned to normal from her left knee down, and I’m petrified as to what it means.
His gaze collides with mine and softens as he reaches out a hand and moves it over my hair. I haven’t seen him in a while, and guilt hits me as I realize what a shock this would have been to him when I called out of the blue like that. Pa brought me up, and we’ve always been close. But the last few weeks with Harper have felt like we’re in our own bubble, hiding away from the world.
He looks over his shoulder at Rogue. “She seems to be out of the woods, but I need to hook her up to some fluids. I’ll need you all to jump up now so I can get some blankets on her.”
We all growl in unison, none of us liking the idea of leaving her side.
Pa just raises an eyebrow, and we all squirm, even Rogue.
“Come on now,” he chides. “You want her to wake up, don’t you?”
The thought causes me to spring from the bed, the thuds of Gabe and Dev jumping up a close echo. We all stand in a loose semi-circle as Pa pulls out a long thin needle and wraps a cord around Harper’s slim arm to pop a vein. Rogue shifts uneasily as Pa inserts it, and he ignores the scents filling the room as he hooks a bag up, the fluid running down and into Harper.
She still hasn’t moved at all. With her breath so slow, her skin so pale and those beautiful golden eyes closed to us… my heart clenches. She looks like a corpse. My instincts scratch at my nerves.
Pa gestures at the blankets and I start handing them to him as he layers them over her body, studiously ignoring her nudity. The second she’s covered, my body relaxes slightly, the possessiveness draining out of me.
He fiddles for a few more minutes, checking her temperature and taking another look at her legs. We all sag with relief when he pulls the blankets back and her leg seems less mottled than it did before.
“There,” Pa tucks the covers securely around her, before turning to us. “Now, I think we need to talk.”
We all balk at the idea of leaving the room, but Pa ushers us towards the door. “She’s going to be fine, but she needs fluids andrest. She won’t get that with you all filling the room with alpha hormones. You’re about as peaceful as a pack of charging rhinos. You can come and check on her in a while.”
Slowly, we all filter out of the room. Gabe lingers reluctantly at the door until Dev pulls him away. We’re a subdued bunch as we wander downstairs, turning towards the snug. None of us want to be anywhere near the kitchen right now.
When we’re all settled, Dev and I on either side of Gabe and Rogue taking a seat in the armchair, Pa perches in the other. His gaze sweeps across us.
“Let’s hear it, then. What’s going on?”
Rogue launches into an explanation of the last few weeks, from their visit to the compound and Harper’s arrival to today. As he reaches the moment we found her in the freezer, he trails off with a catch in his throat.
“We were nearly too late,” his voice drops to a low growl. “I was going to make Gabe wait to check on her.”
I can hear the pain in his voice, reflecting the pack bond in my chest. I reach up and rub over my heart to try and dispel some of the ache, but it runs deeper than that.
Pa studies us intently. He hasn’t reacted much throughout Rogue’s retelling, the odd question here and there and a growl when he heard about Harper’s treatment at the compound.
Sighing, he looks around. “I want to tell you boys a story. Any chance of a drink?”
