“We gave Violet your phone,” West explained. “So she could answer it if anyone called, since you didn’t need the stress of that.”
I bit my lip. Violet—the sister he’d never told me about. I didn’t have any right to be upset by the secret, considering I’d had more secrets myself. But it felt like he didn’t trust me.
“She got Lavinia and I to come here.” Mercer brushed a strand of hair out of my face. “And she brought Conrad with us, of course. He hadn’t woken up yet, last I was updated. They tranquilized him at the hospital.”
My heart ached. How long had it been since the hospital? It seemed like a long time for him to not have woken up.
“I want to see him.”
West swung his legs off the bed, standing up. “Of course. I’ll go find out where he’s staying.”
He snagged a pair of grey sweats and a basic black t-shirt from a pile of folded clothes by the door. Tugging them on over the boxers he’d been wearing to cuddle me through my heat, he left the nesting room.
I deflated, frowning and trying to ignore how much I felt abandoned. Heat emotions were still holding the reins, because I’d never before been this upset by an alpha simply leaving the room.
There was no abandoning. I’d see him in fifteen minutes.
My chest tightened anyway.
“Hey, sweetheart. Do you want to shower? Or just throw on clothes?” Mercer grabbed my chin, gently tilting my head so I was forced to look at him.
I didn’t want to do either.
All I wanted was for all my alphas to be plastered to my side constantly, and then maybe I could forget about how Benjamin was my real alpha. My real bondmate. Chained to me, forever.
A tear dripped down my cheek, and Mercer gave me a sweet kiss. “I’ll choose for you. Let’s go to the bathroom. I’ll brush out your hair and we can both take a quick rinse before we get dressed.”
“You aren’t going to ask why I’m crying?” I sniffled.
“You’ll tell me when you’re ready. I’m not going to push you.”
“What about questioning how I’m bonded to Benjamin?”
“The doctor and West gave me all the details they knew, and that’s all I need to know. He assaulted you, and I would never leave you because of a bond that isn’t your fault.”
I let him help me out of bed, hugging myself as we padded into the bathroom.
“But itismy fault,” I whispered. “I claimed him first. I made it possible for him to complete the bond.”
“You made a mistake. He’s the one who committed a fucking crime.”
Stepping out of my underwear and stripping off the t-shirt, I sat down on the stool in the shower. Mercer found a brush in the drawers and started carefully working through my tangled mess of hair.
The brush tugged painfully every once in a while, but he was careful to be gentle with me. By the time he’d finished, my limbs were noodly and relaxed, stress drained from my body.
“Turning on the shower,” he warned.
I stood up, stealing the warm flow of water from him with a sigh. He grinned, despite being left out on the cold, no-water side of the shower.
“I want to wash my hair, too,” I said.
I managed to do more on my own than I’d expected. I washed my body while he worked shampoo through my hair and carefully rinsed it out. He did his own hair and body while I conditioned and rinsed off.
Feeling clean and refreshed, my sense of abandonment had dwindled.
The gnawing concern over Conrad’s state was still driving me forward, though. I needed to see him, and I wouldn’t be comfortable until I did.
With his bed surrounded by my family’s hired muscle, I’d never seen Conrad look so small. So weak and pale. I froze in the doorway, eyes brimming with tears.
