“You had blood poisoning,” he says shortly. He doesn’t look at me as he pushes a white cotton pillow into the gap between my legs, stopping me from touching it. “We found you in the attic.”
I snort. “Where else was I supposed to be, exactly?”
“In your room,” another voice interjects. I turn stiffly to where Jax is standing in the doorway, looking just as pissed off as Gray. His expression softens as he walks over and sits on the edge of my bed, his hand pushing my hair back. “Which is definitely not the attic.”
My head is spinning. There’s cotton wool in my brain, my mouth is still dry as hell, and three of the four alphas who have been messing me around for the last two weeks are all gathered around me, looking seriously worried.
“Did I bang my head?” I ask. When they all look at me weirdly, I raise a hand with some effort. “Because you’re all acting really strangely.”
“We nearly lost you.” Logan moves to sit opposite Jax, and Gray retreats, leaning his back against the wall. When Logan picks up my hand, it lies limp in his grip. “I’m so sorry, Sienna.”
Something grips my chest, squeezes it. “What for?”
My voice is barely a whisper, and Logan exchanges a loaded glance with Jax before he looks down at me, his brown eyes darker than I’ve ever seen them.
“For everything,” he says in a low voice. “Everything from the Bonding ceremony onwards. But especially for not realizing your leg was as bad as it was. You nearly died because of me.”
It’s an effort, but I manage to roll my eyes, even as hope flickers dangerously to life. “Oh, please. It was just a cut.”
“It was not just a cut.” Gray’s voice cuts through the room like a whip. “You damn well cut the back of your leg open, and then you covered it with turpentine. Did you want to kill yourself?”
Jax and Logan both stiffen, and Jax moves so he’s between me and Gray. Infuriated, I push uselessly at his back until he shifts.
“Would you have cared?” I snap back at Gray. “You’ve all been so concerned for my wellbeing so far, after all.”
He takes a step closer to me, his nostrils flaring. “So this was a cry for attention?”
The back of my throat burns as anger pulses hotly in my veins.
“Of all the stupid, arrogant—,”
“Enough!” Logan raises his voice enough that we both look over at him, Gray looking as unsettled as I feel. “Stop it,” Logan says to Gray in a low voice. “Just… stop, Gray.”
Do they think I did this on purpose?
“I did not do this on purpose.” My voice shakes, and how I fucking hate that it’s wobbling when Gray is looking at me with mistrust in his eyes. “I tripped when I was trying to empty that absolutelyridiculousfucking excuse of a nesting space that you so kindly gave me. And unlike most other omegas in my situation, I don’t have a caring pack to soothe my fucking ouchies, Gray!”
He opens his mouth to interrupt, but I am on a roll.
“So I wrapped it up, and I carried on because I was not about to fail the nesting trial when I am already failing at everything that being an omega should be. I don’t even know why I bothered.”
My voice breaks, and I close my eyes. “Just leave me alone.”
I’m tired, and a little bit broken, and everything hurts, from the stupid stabbing pains in my stomach that have swept back in like the villain turning up in a horror movie sequel to my stupid poisoned leg.
I wait, but there’s no movement, nothing to suggest that the three alphas in the room are even close to doing what I asked.
Big surprise. I mean, Tristan’s not even here.
Groaning, I turn onto my side, tugging the pillow from my legs and hugging it.
“Just go away,” I say tiredly. “Please.”
A hand settles carefully over my shoulder, Jax’s misty scent surrounding me as he leans in.
“We’ve got some making up to do, sweetheart,” he says quietly. “But we will make it up to you.”
“And when we leave here?” I ask tiredly. “Will Alicia be waiting for us?”
