Rise Above ✓

Chapter Seventeen

The beta sagged with relief, sinking against the wall and catching his breath. It was only now that he knew Spencer was safe, the alpha comfortably in his sight that he thought back to his nightmare. The nurse must’ve moved him to another room when he collapsed and he appreciated the gesture.

But back to that fucking – what the fuck was that? It had felt so uncomfortably real – even now, Brendon was half waiting for Cherie Puttah to appear out of nowhere into the room.

He was filled with a bone-chilling fear that made him extremely anxious and jittery.

He couldn’t let anyone know about the cure to the spray – if he spread the news now, Cherie was definitely going to come after him. And the fact that she’d threatened Spencer right in front of his face was a sign that she was willing and ready to do anything to force Brendon to join her cause.

Finding the antidote to what was obviously her virus was the complete opposite of that.

He had to get Spencer out of here and then he had to find the nurse and beg her not to tell anyone just yet. How was he going to sneak the alpha out of the hospital though? The man was unconscious! It wasn’t like he could just roll Spencer out on a stretcher.

Fuck. Okay, he’d figure that out later. Pleading with the nurse to keep this quiet was the first on his list.

He hesitated, the nightmare still lingering in his subconscious. He was deathly terrified that if he left Spencer, something awful was going to happen. What if the water wasn’t the cure? What if this was just the virus acting up again? What if when he left and came back, Spencer was no longer breathing?

Stop it, Brendon! You’re wasting time!

He bit his lower lip, rushed up to the alpha and grabbed both his hands. “I’m here, Spence and I’m not going to let anything happen to you. I promise. I’ll be right back. Just hold on for me.”

He knew that Spencer was unconscious but he hoped that the alpha could hear him in his subconscious – it wasn’t uncommon for that to happen sometimes. He quickly rushed out of the room to find the nurse that had helped him. He thanked his lucky stars when he found her back at her work station in the reception, nodding off to sleep, a game of solitaire left open on her computer.

Not wanting to startle her, he tapped her on the shoulder gently. Well, not gently enough because she was jumping and nearly flying out of her seat.

Her eyes shot open and her cheeks darkened with a furious blush as she hastily reached up to wipe the drool from the corner of her mouth. “Mr Mckelly, are you alright? How’s Mr Smith?”

“He’s doing okay. Thank you so much for what you did –” he glanced down at her work badge “–Madeline. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

She blushed harder. “Oh, it was nothing, Sir, was just doing –”

“Look, Madeline,” he interrupted, lowering his voice to a whisper, “I’d really appreciate it if you kept what happened in the hospital room on the down low. You’ve heard about the deadly spray that’s been killing alphas on the news, right?”

“Mhm,” she nodded almost furiously, her eyes incredibly wide.

“I – Spencer – Mr Smith was a victim of the spray.”

“Oh my god –”

“Shh,” Spencer hissed, glancing around frantically, “It’s obvious that someone’s making the spray, right?” she nodded. “So you know how crucial it is that we keep Spencer’s recovery quiet.”