Chapter 122: Alpha’s Bed, Enough Said

Derek’s eyes rolled into the back of his head. It was so fast that Nova didn’t understand what happened. Then his body went limp.

Before she could scream or do anything, her vision went black and the voices around her faded.

"SHIT. NOVA—"

???

She was running.

Fast. Faster than she had ever moved. The ground was soft under her and the air was cold and clean and tasted like pine and snow and something ancient she couldn’t name.

She looked down.

White paws hitting forest floor. Four of them. Moving in a rhythm her body knew without being taught, muscles firing in a sequence that felt like memory instead of motion.

She had never run on four legs. But this body moved like it had been waiting for her to arrive, and the running felt like coming home to a house she didn’t know she owned.

A clearing opened ahead. She slowed. The trees parted and the moon was full and low, hanging so close it looked like it could be touched.

A wolf stood in the center of the clearing, much larger than her. Its fur caught the moonlight and held it, glowing at the edges, and it was watching her with eyes that were molten gold and familiar in a way that made her chest ache.

It ran towards her, shifting back into a silhouette of a man, reaching for her.

???

THUNDERFANG - ALPHA’S QUARTERS (YES, THAT IS CORRECT.)

Nova sat bolt upright panting and completely disoriented.

She glanced around.

New bed. New room.

It looked like Derek’s quarters, yet not. The ceiling was higher than Derek’s. Different lighting. Different things in the room. It looked either dusk or dawn. She couldn’t tell.

A slim oxygen clip was attached to her sports bra, no bigger than a thumb, pulsing soft white with each breath.

Then she remembered.

Derek.

Shit.

His eyes had rolled into the back of his head.

A chair scraped stone.

An older woman rose from a seat beside the bed. Grey hair pinned back. Steady eyes. The kind of face that had seen decades of emergencies and had stopped flinching at any of them long before Nova was born.

"Easy, dear. Easy. Are you alright? You’ve been out for a while."

Nova looked at her. Looked at the room. Looked at the oxygen clip on her sports bra. Looked back at the woman.

"Where am I?"

"Alpha Thunderfang’s quarters."

Nova’s chest tightened. "Apologies, what is your name?"

"Jean. I took care of both the Thunderfang boys since they were pups," she replied with quiet pride. "But you are supposed to be sleeping."

"Where is Derek? Is he—"

"The hospital. That is all I was told." Jean’s mouth closed after that in the way mouths close when there is more information behind them and the person has been instructed not to share it.

Nova looked down at herself. Bra and thong. That was it. Someone had undressed her and put her in Alpha Thunderfang’s bed in her undergarments and the list of questions she had was getting longer by the second.

"Forgive me, Jean. Could I trouble you for a moment alone?"

"I’m afraid I can’t do that, dear. I’m under strict orders to watch you."

Nova’s stomach dropped.

"Have I been placed here as a precaution or a punishment?" she asked carefully.

"No, dear. They were worried." Jean’s voice softened, then dropped lower. "The Alpha has ten guards stationed outside this door. One comes in every thirty minutes to check on you. You’ve been out for some time."

Nova blinked. Ten guards. Thirty-minute checks. For a slave. In the Alpha’s personal quarters. In his bed. What the hell was happening. The math was refusing to add up and she was too tired to force it.

"Jean, would there be anything appropriate for me to put on?"

Jean crossed to a chair where a stack of things had been folded and set waiting. She gestured towards the bathing chamber. "You can use the Alpha’s bathing chambers to freshen up, dear."

Nova stared at the bathing chamber door. That also belonged to the goddamn Alpha. She was being offered the personal facilities of a man who hadn’t called her by her first name until she was getting her shoulder popped back into socket.

She swung her legs off the bed. Then she grabbed a blanket, wrapping herself with it.

"Wait, dear, allow me to help you," Jean said gently.

Her fingers found the bandage Astra had placed around Nova’s shoulder. She inspected the bruising with eyes that had seen worse and said nothing about it. The bruising had spread, deep purple fanning across her shoulder and down towards her collarbone. It could have been much worse. Nova knew that much.

"It’s mending well," Jean said. "Much faster than I expected."

"Thank you."

"Of course, dear. Be careful with it."

???

The shower helped. Hot water was the universal healer. It was huge. She was aggressively not going to think about the fact that the Alpha used it with gods know whom on a daily basis.

On the counter was a Thunderfang one-piece and her boots underneath.

Nova held it up. The fabric was heavier than anything she had worn. Better cut. Better material. The kind of thing that belonged on Celeste. Derek had gifted her a lot of things, but this wasn’t something she recognized.

"Are you sure this is for me?" Nova called through the door.

"Yes, dear. The Emberclaw princess brought it for you earlier."

Nova put it on. It fit loose but would definitely work and she was grateful Maria had thought of her.

As soon as she stepped out of the bathing chamber, Jean rewrapped her shoulder at speed without it hurting. She probably wrapped Derek’s shoulder like this at one point when he was small. The thought hit Nova unexpectedly and she swallowed around it because imagining Jean taking care of a tiny Derek Thunderfang was doing things to her chest that had nothing to do with the bruising.

"You are supposed to stay in bed, dear," Jean repeated gently, but firmly.

Nova gave her a small, genuine smile. "Thank you very much for your time, Jean. I am alright though."

Translation: I am finding Derek.

"The Alpha’s orders were—"

"Jean, with the utmost respect, I will not be staying in this bed while Derek is in a hospital. He’s my mate."

Nova opened the door before Jean could respond. She felt bad because this woman seemed nice. But there was zero chance Nova would be laying in the Alpha’s bed casually while Derek was in the hospital.