She groans and squeezes my hand. “It was an accident.” She doesn’t let go and it helps fracture my guilt only slightly. “Am I allowed to walk on it?” she asks.
“Not for a few weeks,” Cole replies, holding the straw to her mouth again.
Shiloh takes a sip before squeezing her eyes shut and a few tears leak out.
“Goddamnit, princess, I’m so sorry.”
She sniffles. “I’m not upset with you. I just…I can’t ask my Gran to live with her and for her to take care of me. She already did that.”
I’m confused by her words, but shake my head.
“Stay with us. Let us take care of you. I can’t let you go home like this, knowing it’s my fault. I want, no, I need to take care of you, Shiloh. Please, I’ll beg,” I say pathetically.
She looks over at me with watery eyes.
“He’s right,” Cole agrees, no longer looking at me like he’s pissed off. “I don’t have a job anymore. Mack’s home all the time. Jonah makes his own hours. We have more than enough room at our home, an elevator, your own bedroom. Let us do this for you.”
“I…I can’t ask you to do that.”
“You aren’t asking. I’m begging. Please, Shiloh. Please come stay with us, let us take care of you at least until you’re back on your feet,” I say, even though I’d like to for longer, but I can’t ask that of her, not like this.
“You don’t even know me,” she says softly, looking at me like she’s completely lost.
“No, but I want to. I want to take care of you. Please let me.”
She takes a deep breath and looks down at her ankle in a cast.
“Okay, only because you need to and I can’t impose on my Gran. It’s not because I blame you for what happened. You guys took care of me during my heat. You didn’t have to do that. I still appreciate what you did for me.”
I kiss the back of her hand and the relief I feel is palpable.
“Thank you,” I tell her.
She looks at me like I’m from another planet for a moment and Mack comes in with the doctor.
Shiloh is given a prescription, and we’re given the clear to take her home. Mack has her in the wheelchair as Cole and I collect our things. He breathes obnoxiously loud and then turns to face me.
“I’m sorry for being a dick. I know it wasn’t your fault,” he says.
“Thank you.”
“Now. Let’s figure out a way to fucking seduce her while she’s bedridden,” he jokes as he punches my arm just a little too hard and we leave Heat Haven.
As fun as it was, I hope I never step foot in these doors again.
Chapter 14
Shiloh
I feellike I’m going to pass out as Mack helps me get into a large SUV. Waking up after my heat felt like getting doused in boiling and freezing water at the same time. Pain was radiating up my right leg, but after taking the pain meds, I just feel numb.
That’s a good word for how I feel—numb.
Another heat that wasn’t perfect—wasn’t what I wanted. I’m thankful for what they did for me, and I don’t blame Jonah in the slightest, but I’m still allowed to be upset.
Luckily, I’m too tired to cry or feel much of anything outwardly right now. I lean against Mack’s shoulder, and he seems a lot more at ease than when we first met. I’m sure the more the sedation wears off, the more I’ll remember about my heat. I’m just too out of it to even care. I just want an Alpha’s comfort right now.
He places his arm around my shoulder and I inhale his peppermint scent. It’s comforting.
