Ariadne: Almost an Alpha | ✓

Chapter 9 - Orders Are Orders

Chapter 9 - Orders Are Orders

This time, I make sure to be more conscious before I move. "No more needles," I declare. The sound comes out scratchy.

"Ari," I hear Dylan say, soothingly. "How are you feeling?"

I try to open my eyes, but the room is too bright. My eyelids snap shut.

"Turn off that light," I manage to croak out, "please."

Footsteps travel to the other side of the room. I know the light is off when my eyelids get darker, so I open them again, blinking a bit to adjust to the light from the window. Dylan hands me a glass of water, and I sit up a bit, drinking it eagerly.

"Better?"

"Yes, thank you," I acknowledge.

"How's the neck?"

I turn my head around a bit, noting it only hurts with the movement. "Pretty good, actually."

"That one wasn't that bad," he comments. "The teeth didn't pierce anything important. Your body has almost healed it completely. Instead you passed out from the major blood loss of that nasty stomach wound."

"I can't feel that one at all though." When I raise the hospital gown, I gasp at the giant bandage on the left side of my stomach.

"It's numbed. You kept trying to touch it."

"Oh."

"We kept you under for a bit, so it could have time to heal."

"How long?"

"Almost a day. It's afternoon now."

"Really? I need to get up and check on the pack."

"No, you should stay put. Alpha Jackson came with a bunch of warriors. They're doing patrols. Everything is ok."

Shit, Mateus is here. What am I going to say to him?

"What about the people?" I ask. "They get scared when this stuff happens."

"They're fine. They were more worried about you."

"What time is it?"

"6."

"Well, I'm going to go talk to them." I swing my legs to the left side of the bed and stand up. Immediately, dizziness takes over, and Dylan grabs my shoulders, trying to push me back down. "Stop, I just got up too fast."

"Ari, what about your stomach wound?"

"It's numb. I might as well take advantage of this opportunity while it lasts." I step out of Dylan's reach, grab a t-shirt and sweatpants out of the closet, change in the bathroom, and make my way out of the small medical cabin.

Once outside, I'm heading to the pavilion to greet the pack at dinner when a truck pulls up on the dirt road beside me.

"Ari!" Dylan yells out the window. "At least let me give you a ride there."

I get in, noting Sterling and Nathan in the back, and Dylan hands me a hair tie. "You look like the grudge," he comments. "There's no need to scare them like that."

"Haha, you're hilarious," I reply, when really I'm glad he's not being serious anymore.

"Hey guys," I greet the two in the back.

"Nice to see you awake," Nathan says.

As we drive to the pavilion, I wrestle my hair into a messy ponytail. Dylan was right; my curls are a knotted mess.