Chapter 144: Chapter 144

“Is this better?”

The voice was hoarse, a low whisper, but loud enough to jolt her from her slumber. Maya groaned, struggling to pry her eyes open as the room spun around her.

~What the fuck was going on~? She pressed her hands down, lifting her face off the sheet.

~Ugh, was that drool on her face~?

Hold on.

Her eyes snapped open, and she held her breath as she turned her head, locking eyes with a familiar face. ~Julian~. Wait…no. ~What?~

She sat up, crossing her legs as she leaned over the bed. He was sitting on the floor, looking like hell.

Like, blood was still oozing from his wounds.

~What the fuck~?

His face was smeared with blood. He looked like a deranged patient who had broken out of a mental institution. What was his problem?

“What are you doing?” Maya questioned.

“Sitting?”

“SITTING?”

She raised her hand, ready to ~slap~ the living daylights out of him. ~Luckily for him~, she remembered that he looked like he was on death’s door— which he was.

And despite the itch in her palm, she restrained herself and let her hand fall back into her lap.

“When did you wake up?” she inquired.

“A while ago.”

“I—was…”

“Olivia told me you finally fell asleep. But she told me that ages ago. Then you didn’t show up, so I thought, ~either she left me, or~ ~she’s still sleeping~.”

Well, after several days of sleep deprivation… At this point, she couldn’t even tell him how long she’d slept because she had no clue when she’d even dozed off.

Regardless, her mind was too preoccupied with trying to reconcile her memories of him.

He’d been in bed. ~Unconscious. Completely unconscious~.

Now, he was before her—looking like a corpse, but a corpse that was ~alive~. He had taken a beating, and even now she could tell his heart was beating much slower than it should.

Probably because he shouldn’t be up and about.

~But he was~.

Because he was a stubborn jerk.

~Or mate concerns~.

Sure, sure, maybe he was worried about her. ~Big deal~.

“So you didn’t die?” she asked, not mentioning her absence, or the fact she had slept.

Because then she would have to admit she hadn’t slept, and he would have made it about himself. It wasn’t. ~Really~.

Kind of.

“Unless I’m a figment of your imagination,” Julian retorted.

“If I was dreaming, it would be a lot different than this. And you probably wouldn’t be there.”

He didn’t take offense. Instead, he chuckled, the action causing some of his wounds to reopen, letting more blood seep out. But he didn’t flinch or even acknowledge it.

“I survived,” Julian stated.

“But he didn’t.”

“Yeah, Olivia filled me in. Alex tore him apart and buried him himself. I won’t lie, I kinda wish I had been the one to do that. Crafty bastard.”

“Alex is a bit on edge now. It’s a long story. But at least you can rest assured he did it properly,” Maya informed him.

“Yeah.”

“And the…” She motioned to his face.

“Hurts like hell.”

Now she pointed at herself. So far, he seemed to be making sense. ~Most importantly~, he recognized her.

Or if he didn’t, he was a damn good actor, because he didn’t look at her as if she was a stranger. No, there was a yearning in his eyes.

One that pierced her heart.

“More memories? ~Hold on~, please don’t tell me you remember less. Mate or not, I’m not teaching you how to use a fork. You’re on your own. I’m not anyone’s maid, buddy.”

“Shoot, and here I was hoping for some nice service.”

“Dream on,” Maya shot back.

He lowered his head, a smile playing on his lips. “I don’t think my head is any better, but I don’t think it’s any worse than it was.”

“I don’t even know if you would know,” she replied.

“It sort of feels like sometimes, I want to remember something, and I know the memory is there but…”

“You can’t recall.”

He nodded.

“Olivia said it was a good sign,” he added.

“Of course. And does Nurse Livy know you’re here?”

“She might have told me to stay put.”

~And like a good stubborn alpha, he hadn’t obeyed~.

“So you decided to come?”

“My mate is kinda feisty, and she told me to do better.”

~So he’d heard her~. Had he heard everything? Had he been aware of his surroundings…like the fact that she hadn’t been there? Well, she couldn’t change that. And she didn’t regret it. Plus, he really didn’t seem to be mad about it.

~Oh, well.~

If he wasn’t going to dwell on it, she wouldn’t either.

“She sounds amazing,” Maya teased.

“She is.”

~Okay, well, what the hell was she supposed to say to that? He wasn’t supposed to be praising her or agreeing with her~. Then where the hell was the fun in this?

Instead, it had her flustered and she could feel the warmth on her cheeks. ~Damn stubborn alpha~.

“So is this the part where I get kicked out on my ass?” Julian inquired.

“What do you mean? I’m pretty sure you got your ass handed to you a bunch of times by now.”

“I wouldn’t say I got my ass handed to me,” he argued.

“Oh, what would you call it then?”

“You really know how to bruise an Alpha’s ego.”

“I’ve been told I’m quite skilled at it.” ~By Alex.~ Who had bitten his tongue to ~allow~ her to walk away unscathed. Oh, well, too late now for her to learn new tricks. ~This was who she was~.

“I meant, no threat. Two alphas. Don’t I have to…remove myself from the equation, dragging you kicking and screaming?”

“As if you’d stand a chance. You wouldn’t be hard to take down right now.”

“Maybe I’d let you win.”

“I don’t need charity. I can take you down on my own.”

“All right, ~fine~ then,” he said, amused. “Don’t we have to…leave?”

Yes, they did. But what a ~damn~ fool. Even the sort of memories he had regained weren’t helping him. Clearly, he was used to a small pack.

No, this couldn’t be a permanent situation, but she didn’t think Alex would dare to send them out with Julian looking the way he did.

And if the thought even ~crossed~ his mind, she trusted Olivia would put him in his place.

She was secretly wishing he would give it a shot. Because she would absolutely ~relish~ the sight of that.

“We’ll work it out. Just try to stay alive for a few days, then we can discuss your independence. At the moment, I don’t believe you’re Alpha material.”

Oh, she had done it. ~She had poked his pride~. Perfect.

“Not Alpha material?”

“I didn’t extend an invitation. You wouldn’t make it.”

“Understood.”

“Understood…that’s all?”

“Yes.”

~Why was she skeptical of him~?

“Is this the part where you nurse me back to health?” he inquired.

“You’ve mistaken me for someone else.”

“No, I believe I’ve found the ~right~ mate.”

Maya bit her cheek, angling her chin away to avoid his gaze. She couldn’t let him see the blush creeping onto her cheeks.

So ~perhaps~ having him as her mate wasn’t the ~worst~ thing.

At least for now.

She was leaving herself some wiggle room to change her mind later.