"Shay!" I exclaimed, relieved, when I saw him walk through the door.
"Oh my god, Aubrey!" Shay whispered. "I'm so sorry. This is entirely my fault."
"You're shittin' me right? I just get out of a surgery and just wake up to see my boyfriend here to apologize to me? This is in no way your fault, so you can shut up and kiss me already." I rolled my eyes.
"Boyfriend? Does that mean that you have forgiven me?" Shay whispered as a small smile played on his lips.
"Oh, absolutely not. You have shattered whatever trust we had built up between us when you kissed Chelsea. For now though, I can't think about it." I sighed. I still didn't know what I felt. I knew that I had very strong feelings for Shay but it was also pretty obvious to me that he still had some pretty strong feelings for Chelsea. I just wanted, more than anything, to act like everything was back to the abnormal normal that I had grown used to.
Shay stood next to the bed and looked at me funny for a moment. He smiled and let out a light chuckle. I watched him expectantly for a while and raised my eyebrows when he didn't move at all.
"Well?"
He shrugged and I could tell that he was thinking about it. "The nurse told me that I wasn't allowed to get your heart rate up too high." He smirked at me sheepishly.
"What? Fuck the nurse." I exclaimed, and grabbed his shirt. I pulled him down to me and yanked his lips onto mine. He pulled away sharply because he was laughing so hard and I let out an exasperated breath with an eye roll.
He wiped a tear from his eye and sighed back into his seat next to the bed.
"How do you feel?" He asked after he calmed down for a moment.
How do I feel? Well, I would feel much better if he hadn't cheated on me, much better if I hadn't just found out that Bender loves me, and much better if I hadn't just gotten a shot in my stomach.
"I feel fine." I smirked.
"I'm so sorry, Aubrey. This is my fault. If I had just kept you safe in the first place then you wouldn't be in this position right now." Shay whispered and rubbed his face over with his hands.
"Would you shut up?" His head shot up and he looked at me funny. "This isn't your fault! We won the challenge! We should be celebrating right now!" I exclaimed, and winced when pain shot through my stomach. I lifted the sheet cautiously to investigate. I had a bandage over the left side of my stomach and it had a blood stain on it. I rolled my eyes and dropped the sheet so I wouldn't have to look at it anymore.
"We won at a cost, for sure." Shay mumbled and sighed heavily.
I plopped my head back against the pillow with a sigh. We have been so guarded around each other lately and I couldn't take it anymore! I needed to hear him talk, laugh, and just be carefree like we used to be!
"We killed Emile." I whispered and tried to meet his gaze, but he just stared at the floor like it was the most interesting thing in the world.
"Come on Shay! Please talk to me!" I pleaded, pathetically.
I sighed deeply when he just continued to stare deeply at the ground.
"How is Axel doing then?" I asked desperately trying to get him to talk.
When he didn't answer, I noticed a really annoying noise in the back of my head. I looked around to find the source to see that I was hooked up to one of the little heart reader machines. The room was pretty small with only my bed, Shay's chair, and the machines I was hooked up to in it. The room had a cold and hard look with its white walls and tiled floors which wasn't helping my mood. I watched the fan spin around for a while as I waited for Shay to answer any of my many questions.
"Axel isn't doing too well. He doesn't know whether to be happy that Ivy is out of the arena or angry at what she did. She says that Emile was threatening Luna and Emmet was saying that Emile had Bittzy, not Luna, but I haven't had the time to sort it all out yet. I've been too worried about you." Shay mumbled after a moment longer of thick silence.
"Wait. You haven't done anything to Ivy yet? She almost cut my head off and then gets a get out of jail free pass?" I exclaimed.
Shay ran his hand over his face again with a drastic and defeated sounding sigh. His hair was grown out more than normal and his face was scruffy from not shaving. He had huge bags under his eyes and hell, he looked like he should be in the hospital bed next to me.
"I don't know what really happened yet! I don't know what I want to do yet. All I really care about is that you are okay." Shay whispered sternly.
"She held a knife up to my throat." I stated with a demanding voice.
"I know! I was there! I watched as Ivy tried to slice your throat and then you were shot! I watched as Bender ran away with you instead of me! I watched as you were flown away in the helicopter alone because I was too busy saving everyone's lives again. I watched as Bender cried next to your bed before I was even able to process everything that happened. Hell, I even watched as Bender whispered that he loved you over and over again with tears streaming down his face." Shay shouted with tears starting to brim his eyes. His bottom lip quivered slightly as he glared at me.
My eyes widened slightly as I really thought about what he just said.
Bender?
Love?
Me?
"I......I killed him Aubrey." Shay whispered with his voice shaking.
"Bender? You killed Bender?" I exclaimed with my heart rate suddenly racing.
"No! I.........I killed Emile." He whispered so quietly that I had to strain to hear him. His anger from a moment ago was now gone and replace with a mixture of fear and sorrow.
"That's a good thing right?" I whispered to try to get the subject changed completely away from Bender. Shay had his head in his hands now and I could hear him sniffling quietly.
He snorted and laughed with no humor. "Captain is going to kill me." He said and still refused to look at me.
"What? Why?" I asked, suddenly really confused.
"When he finds out that Emile is dead," Shay shook his head, "When they find out that I killed him," he paused as his eyes widened. "What if they find out about me changing you?" Shay asked frantically.
"They won't. We will be fine." I tried to reassure him, but my voice shook slightly at the end, killing all confidence I had faked.
Shay just shook his head and intertwined his fingers with mine. I watched his face, but it was stone cold. Shay is so different then I thought he was when he first changed me. He went from being a carefree and cocky pain in my ass to this delicate yet strong guy. This was all so much for a young adult like him to have to deal with alone. Granted, he had the pack to support him but in the end, he had to make all of the final decisions and I was watching as each one was tearing him apart a little from the inside.
"What now? With Emile dea......gone, who becomes the Alpha? Who becomes my mate?" I whispered suddenly remembering the real reason that we went into the arena.
Shay shook his head slightly. "Well Bender is your mate right now, but because you were the Alpha's mate for some time and he died, you get to pick your new mate. So you can pick me as your mate and then we can be the Alphas, like it should be. Then we would be the Alphas of Axel's pack too. Our packs will combine and Axel will become our Beta with Ivy at his side. Mating will be required of them then too so it will be like having a secondary Alpha behind us." Shay hesitated for a moment. "If you want me still," he whispered the last sentence and I sucked in a breath.
"Of course I want you!" I exclaimed and tightened my hold on his hand before I was even able to think about it. I knew that I wanted him. We just had some things to work out. Plus, with everything that was going on right now, the last thing he needed was to know that I was having second thoughts about us.
Shay smirked and nodded to me.
"We can get you home soon, but you need to rest right now." Shay whispered and leaned his forehead on mine. My eyes fluttered close and his minty breath blew against my face.
Shay grazed his lips across mine in a feathery kiss. I sucked in a breath in anticipation and smiled when his lips finally met mine. He gave me a slow and savory kiss that sped my heart beat tenfold.
"Why did I know that I was going to walk in on you guys like that?" I heard someone grumble from the doorway.
Shay pulled away slightly to see who it was and I heard him growl slightly when his eyes met Bender's. Bender's eyes narrowed slightly at the threat, but he knew better than to say anything against him.
"Can I talk to my mate?" Bender asked with a smirk on his face as Shay growled at him. What the hell is wrong with him? Why would he say that? Oh god. I rolled my eyes. Things are about to get ugly in here.
"Anything you can say to my girlfriend you can say in front of me." Shay growled
"Sorry bro but I think mate beats girlfriend; especially since she doesn't even want to be your girlfriend anymore." Bender smiled and crossed his arms in a protective stance.
"Guys." I mumbled and squeezed the bridge of my nose tightly.
"I don't give a damn what you think. I'm your Alpha and you need to stand down, Omega." Shay shouted as he stood up sharply. Bender flinched at the use of Omega against him. I had never heard them refer to each other as their position in the pack.
"Guys." I said again a little bit louder.
"Right now you're not, that's for Captain to decide." Bender growled back and Shay stiffened.
"GUYS!!!" I screamed and they both looked worried at me.
"What?" They both demanded at the same time.
"I'm kinda tired and want to be left alone to think for a bit." I said sternly and made sure to meet both of their eyes.
"Alright babe, I'll talk to you later." Shay said softly and kissed me lightly on the lips. I saw him smile at Bender as they exchanged growls.
Shay shoved Bender out of the room and I heard them screaming at each other outside the door.
"They are going to be the death of me." I mumbled.