Bitter Blood (BBi)

Chapter 55: Change

Chapter Fifty-Five
Change

My eyes flicker open.

The sounds of the world flood in a few moments before; a mechanical beeping, scuffing footsteps, distant voices. The smell of bleach and clean sheets tell me where I am without me even having to ask.

There's a hand in mine. It's connected to the blonde haired girl sitting in the chair beside my hospital bed. I swallow, blink a couple times to clear my sleep blurred eyes, and focus on her. I tighten my hand around her own.

"What does it take to get a glass of water around here?"

Avery's head flies up from the bed where she was resting it. Her blue eyes are wide and bloodshot and immediately begin to fill with tears.

"Oh god, I'm so glad you're awake." she says, her voice catching on the last word.

“So am I.” I croak.

“Here,” she reaches for a cup sitting beside the bed and helps me sit up so I can take a sip. I make her tip it back until I've drained the whole thing. When I lay back down I feel every inch of my skin shift around the wounds that are now bandaged up, sending echoes of fiery pain through me like embers settling on my flesh.

“I can't even begin to tell you how sorry I am, Parker.” Avery says in a tone I recognize as being heavily weighed down by regret. “We should never have left you there. I heard you scream but by the time I got back to the house you were gone and Blue was...”

“Hey,” I reach for her hand and clasp it again. “It's okay. It wasn't your fault.”

She shakes her head, blinks a few times to clear the tears from her eyes.

“We searched everywhere for you but we couldn't pick up your scent.” she goes on. “She must have hid it somehow.”

At the mention of she my mind flashes back to the shed, to Raina pinned beneath me, to my hands around her throat, choking, choking.

My voice is quiet when I ask, “She's dead, isn't she?”

Avery nods slowly.

My gaze moves to the black window on the right side of the room, staring out as if I can see something other than darkness.

I killed someone. And if I hadn't she would have killed me instead.

“You know, Blue is crazy.” Avery tells me. I turn my head to look at her. “I mean, we were all going out of our minds but he was totally insane. He didn't sleep, didn't stop moving, wouldn't let anyone near him. Rhys thinks he tracked your emotions to find you.” She smiles a little. “He led us to you.”

I peek down at the warm bundle resting against my leg and Blue beams a feline smile up at me. I couldn't be any happier to see those big, familiar eyes again.

Avery says, “Merida came too, you know.”

"Merida?" I can't hide my surprise. Why would she come looking for me? "Where is she now?”

"We don't know." Avery replies. "The last we saw she was going head to head with one of the Werewolves who helped Raina. He's dead now – they all are – but Jennifer said they couldn't find her afterwards."

Now it's not only why would Merida come looking for me but why on earth would she put her life at stake for mine? The sarcastic, trouble-making Werewolf had no reason to.

“We didn't want to risk giving you wolf blood in case you had a reaction to it.” Avery says. “We told the doctors you were in a car crash so you'll have to keep the Impala in your garage until we can pretend to get it fixed.”