Freedom Series: Chasing Butterflies

Chapter 20

Chapter 19

Maddox felt nervous as he stepped off of the elevator on the bottom floor. He asked a nurse walking by for directions to Nigel Akecheta's room and she told him room 114. He stopped just outside of the of the window and saw his heart crack a little at what he saw inside. Nova lay in an uncomfortable looking plastic hospital chair with her head on resting on Nigel's bed just staring at him. Her hair was thrown into a messy high ponytail, her shirt was wrinkled like she was constantly twisting it in her hands, and her eyes were tinged with red.

He felt slightly perturbed when he saw Anderson Grayson sitting next to her holding Neil while he rubbed her back. As if she was his and he was hers. But he knew that wasn't true, as soon as Lily dangled her sparkly pink leash he would come running. And leave Nova to her sorrows alone.

Maddox watched as Grayson finally took notice of him standing at the window and whisper something to Nova before standing and placing Neil in his seat and walking out of the room. He tried to keep himself from glaring to harshly at the Alpha but feared he failed when he saw Grayson's eyes narrow.

"I need your help," Anderson said, holding Maddox's gaze to convey how serious he was.

"And why would I help you?" He growled, eyes flashing a molten silver.

"Because you would be doing this for her," He paused, looking into the room and then turning back "And not for me."

"What do I need to do?"

<8>

Hey," Grace said, tentatively walking into the room her face a mask of sympathy.

"Hey Grace," She rasped, her throat too raw from crying. She was so caught up in her emotions that she didn't even stop to wonder how Grace had found out about the accident and why she was here.

"How is he?" She asked quietly, sitting down next to Nova.

"The doctor said that he's stable, but he's hiding something from me. Both the doctor and Anderson, they keep on having all of these secret conversations behind my back and then they come back in like nothing happened. It's infuriating, but all Andy said is to 'trust him'. And...I do, but it's just hard." She looked at Grace and smiled apologetically. "Sorry I know that was kinda like emotions overload."

"It's fine," Grace dismissed. "What do you know about the accident?" she asked her inquisitively.

"Not much, just that for some reason he lost control of the car and ran off the road and then was attacked by some animal carrying a rare rabid disease." She said, rocking Neil gently.

There was silence for a few moments as they both watched Nigel's chest rise and fall unsteadily.

"How about I go and get you a coffee." She said, suddenly rising and walking to the door without looking back, she had a phone call to make.

<8>

Anderson sat a little miffed as Maddox informed him that the car he had been riding in all day was his. Maddox felt the same way, as he thought of all the ways he could get it cleansed of Anderson's scent once this was all over.

"Stop here," Anderson informed him, as they came towards the remainder of the car wreck. They both exited the car and instantly began observing their surroundings. 

"You need to shift so that you can pick up the scents," Anderson ordered impatiently, as he watched Maddox simply stand there and look around.

"You might need to shift to pick up a scent, but I don't," Maddox mumbled and walked towards the disturbed dirt and broken branches.