Hope Awakened by Charlene Hartnady

Chapter 14

Reece watched as Dr. Bristol bent over to check inside the oven. Her ass was up in the air. The doctor even bounced it around a couple of times while she looked at whatever she was cooking. The female was making it impossible for him not to look. As it was, her butt looked amazing wrapped up inside those blue jeans.

“Are you just going to let that ring?” he asked. The sound of her phone was annoying, to say the least.

“Yes.” She nodded her head.

“You’re not going to answer it?”

“No!” She shook her head, her eyes firmly inside the oven. Her ass was still in the air.

“Turn it off then,” he growled.

“Try asking nicely.” She stood tall, facing him. Eyes narrowed, she folded her arms, plumping up her breasts. Not that he was looking. Reece hated that he noticed them in the first place. This female was trouble. Going behind his back, making his name mud in the eyes of his king. It irritated the feathers off of him.

“I was told that I am too harsh on my males.” He ground his teeth together, but only out of irritation for saying anything in the first place. His plan was to leave it alone. To ignore her for the weekend. Of course, an hour in, and his plan was already upended.

Blast!

“It’s not just them you’re hard on,” she grumbled.

“This isn’t about you.”

“I didn’t say that it was.” She exhaled through her nose, like she was trying to pull herself together. Why would she need to do that? If anyone needed to find calm, it was him. “Maybe you should listen to Leukos and Magnar. Perhaps you are too harsh.”

This female had no idea. None! “There is no such thing as too harsh when it comes to Ekon and the Fallen. Make no mistake, they’re circling like vultures. The queen is in danger. The royal offspring even more so.”

“There is such a thing as too harsh. Locke needed these two measly days.” She showed him two fingers. “He’ll be better for it.”

“And during those two days, the queen is at elevated risk. Two days is a big enough crack, Dr. Bristol. Here I am with you, instead of with her, where I am needed.”

“Someone else can take Locke’s place. You could have sent one of the others to babysit me.”

“Most of our males are too weak to watch over you.”

“Weak? I’ve seen Andy and Zaire, and there’s nothing weak about them. Okay…” She looked him up and down. He liked how her eyes seemed to change. They became more hooded. He shouldn’t like that. “You’re definitely stronger but…that doesn’t mean one of them couldn’t be here, instead.”

“I’m not talking about that kind of weak. Not in the physical sense.”

She frowned. “What do you—?” Her mouth fell open. “Back to that? You still think I want to have sex with everyone here,” she growled. The sound shot straight to his cock. “You think they would be too weak to turn me down? For the last time, I’m not here for sex.”

“Feral males can be persuasive.”

“I don’t care! Stop it! You’re pissing me off. And since I can’t kick you out, I need you to stop with your bullshit. I’m sorry I interfered. I’m glad Locke got his leave. Can we drop it?”

“Locke underestimates his abilities. He is one of the best we have. He still needs to mature some more, but that male has huge potential. He is irreplaceable. You wouldn’t know any of that about him. The kings don’t realize what they have in him yet either. I’ve had to replace him with someone else. A male I don’t fully trust.” Why had he divulged that? It was more information than she needed. “If you think for a second that Ekon won’t hear of Locke leaving, you’re mistaken. There are only so many I trust. One of the few has now left…thanks to you.” He felt his jaw clench. “Just as we have spies, so does the Fallen King. His eyes are everywhere. I am struggling to let this go. This is why.”

“I refuse to give in to panic and fear.”

“You have nothing to worry about. It’s the queen who does. Again, Dr. Bristol, this isn’t about you.”

“Stop saying that! I know! And for the record, I know that Locke is irreplaceable. Just saying.” She narrowed her eyes.

“You don’t know anything,” he growled. Anger rose up in him. Was Dr. Bristol attracted to the male? That had to be it. It had to. She was jealous that he was gone. All the males sought human attention whenever they were on their soil.

“I’ll have you know that—” Her phone started ringing…again!

He looked at the device on the table. “This is becoming a nuisance. You are a nuisance.” His voice came out harsher than he intended.

Dr. Bristol looked at her phone; she made this noise, sounding annoyed. That made two of them. She swiped at her phone. “What?” She paused, listening. “I’m busy. My life doesn’t revolve around you anymore. It hasn’t for a long time, so forgive me for not dropping everything as soon as you called.” He’d never heard her sound so cold and angry.

Dr. Bristol listened to whoever was on the other side, a little longer this time.

“What?” She frowned. “You can’t be serious. How is that possible? How can this be fixed?” Her eyes flashed from left to right as she listened.

Reece forced himself to go to the refrigerator. He found a Coca-Cola in the door. His attention was still on Dr. Bristol and her conversation, even though he was trying hard not to care.

The person on the other end was talking. Reece couldn’t quite make out the words.

Dr. Bristol did something unexpected. She started laughing. It wasn’t a normal kind of laughter. It sounded slightly off. Like she didn’t really mean it. The person on the other end talked louder, which made her laugh harder.

“Wait just a minute,” she said between gasps of air. “Does that mean you’re not married to Elizabeth? Or does it mean that you’re married to both of us?”

Married.

What?

It was his understanding that the doctor was single. Not that it was important. In fact, it would be better if she was mated. He wasn’t sure why she hadn’t divulged that fact. She had plenty of opportunities to do so. It irked him that she hadn’t said anything.

The male on the line said something loudly. It didn’t take long for his voice to normalize again. Dr. Bristol rolled her eyes and sighed. Then she pinched the bridge of her nose for a second.

“Let me get this straight. I only just arrived here, and no, I can’t tell you where I am, only that it took me a long time to get here. I just started my new job a week ago, and yet you want me to drop everything in order to sign the papers again. All because of a technicality.”

There was a pause while the other person spoke.

“No…I can’t.” She shook her head.

There was shouting again on the other end.

“I can’t tell you where I am. I signed a nondisclosure agreement. That means that sending the papers to me won’t work. I suggest—”

The male interrupted, still shouting.

“I understand that she must be upset…” A pause. “I get it, I do, but there’s nothing I can do right now. I’ll let you know as soon as I—” Another pause. “I’m not trying to be difficult, Emmet. I’m not trying to get back at you. I can’t leave right now.” A longer pause while he talked. “Tell Lizzie that meditation works for stress.”

Dr. Bristol held the phone away from her ear. Reece could make out snippets of the shouting. There were cuss words interlaced in the dialogue. When the noise died down some, she put it back to her ear. “I’m hanging up now. I’m sorry this happened. Believe it or not, I don’t want to be married to you either.” She not only put the phone down, but turned the device off.

“You’re mated?” The words came out before he could stop them.

“Apparently so.” Her face crumpled, and she burst into tears. They streamed down her cheeks.

Dr. Bristol put a hand over her face. Her shoulders shook, and she made sobbing noises.

It was the last thing he expected to happen. The very last! He didn’t know what to do. If several Fallen males arrived at that moment, he would know exactly how to handle the situation. He’d know whether to fight or to run. He’d hold his own in battle if staying was the right option. From time to time, a male needed to take a beating to protect those around him. He would know if that was the right choice. These were decisions that came naturally to him. A crying female… No! He had no idea what to do with this.

“Do you want some water, Dr. Bristol?” She was losing fluids. Maybe they needed replenishing.

She ignored him and cried harder. Her sobs sounded like pure agony.

Blast and damn!He walked closer to the miserable female. “What can I do, Doctor?” he asked.

“It’s a disaster. An absolute disaster.” She shook her head, sniffing loudly. “I thought it was over. That…that…” The sobbing started up again.

“Um…Dr. Bristol…perhaps…” He touched the side of her arm for half a second, not knowing what to say to her. Then he tried squeezing her upper arm softly. “I’m sorry…this happened to you,” he finally said, feeling like an idiot.

Dr. Bristol sniffed a few times; she was blinking her eyes rapidly. Did it mean that she was about to cry some more? Maybe harder than before? Perhaps she was trying to stop. He prayed the latter was true. “Whatever it is, there has to be a solution.”

“No solution.” She shook her head. “Well, there is and there isn’t.” She wiped a hand over her face, rubbing her eyes.

“That doesn’t make sense, Dr. Bristol.”

“Call me Hope. It’s not that hard and I insist, after you just witnessed me making a fool of myself.”

“You haven’t made a fool of yourself. People cry…sometimes. It’s a normal thing to do if…if warranted, Hope.” It felt strange to call her that.

Dr. Bristol gave him a watery smile. “See, that wasn’t so hard. If I had known it would just take a good cry to get you to relax a little, I would have done so days ago.” She sniffed again.

“I’m glad you didn’t. I wish you would stop now,” he added when he saw another tear roll down her cheek.

“I’m trying.” She wiped her face. “I really am.” More of those blasted tears followed.

“It can’t be that bad.”

“It’s worse. My life is such a mess,” she moaned. At least she didn’t cry harder. The tears were slowing.

“Maybe talking about it will help. I probably won’t be qualified to offer you any advice but…sometimes…” Blast! He was messing this up. “Sometimes, getting something off your chest is help enough.” He glanced at her chest, feeling instantly bad for noticing how plump it was in that t-shirt. Dr. Bristol…Hope was mated. She had a mate! At least it sounded like she had one.

She nodded. “You’re right. We won’t be friends after this, though.” She put her hand up, looking stern.

“Of course not.”

Dr. Bristol laughed. She wiped her eyes again. “I’m only kidding.” She turned serious. “Are you sure you want to hear all about it?”

He nodded. “Very sure…if it will help you.” He also really wanted to know. Was she mated, or wasn’t she?

“Okay, then. But first…” She turned towards the oven, sticking her ass in the air again as she looked inside. “It’s done,” she declared, standing.

Hope fetched a plate. She opened the oven, carefully sliding some food onto the large plate. “I wasn’t going to offer you any, but I suppose I have no choice now.” She made this cute snorting noise.

“You eat,” he said. “I plan on grilling a steak once you are done in here.”

She cut the…food, into slices.

“What is that?” he asked, looking at the strange meal.

“Pizza.”

He frowned.

“You don’t know what pizza is?” She sounded shocked.

“I guess not.” He shook his head.

“I made this one from scratch. It’s cheesy, tomatoey goodness. I put a couple of pepperoni slices on top. Pepperoni is meat,” she added. He was grateful because he had no idea. If he wanted to find a mate one day, he’d have to get better at this. Perhaps he could learn from Dr. Bristol.

“You eat, Doctor.” It didn’t look all that good. It was flat and mostly light yellow. Something yellow would certainly taste strange.

“Hope…call me Hope.”

“You eat, Hope…please.” He gestured to her plate.

“Okay, then.” She sat down across from him at the small kitchen table.

“Would you like some wine? It’s supposed to help humans relax,” he offered.

“No…thanks.” She shook her head. “When I’m in a bad or sad mood, wine makes me feel worse.”

“I can imagine. It doesn’t taste good at all.”

She laughed, even though he hadn’t meant it as a joke.

“What about a soda?” He held up the can.

“That would be great…thanks.” He handed her the drink, going to the refrigerator to get himself another one.

Then Reece sat across from her. He kept his eyes on her as he opened his can of soda. “Whenever you are ready, Doctor.” He didn’t want to rush her.

She smiled at him. “I can’t believe I was getting ready to kill you not so long ago and here you are being all nice to me.”

He frowned. “There is no way you could kill me, Doctor…um…Hope. I am too strong.”

She laughed. “I wasn’t being literal but thanks for pointing that out, just in case I get the urge again.” She turned serious. “I was mad at you. You keep accusing me of trying to seduce your staff, when that’s the absolute last thing on my mind.”

“If you are already mated, then I get that. I wish I had known; we could’ve avoided some of our conflict.”

Dr. Bristol inhaled deeply. “That’s just it, I’m not…at least I thought I wasn’t mated…married. I guess they are the same thing.” She shrugged. “But it turns out that I am.”

“Hmm…” He rubbed his chin. “I do not think that being mated and married are the same. Shifters mate for life. There is no divorce. We are tethered to one another in a way that is unbreakable. I wouldn’t say that they are the same thing at all.”

Her eyes seemed to cloud, and for a short while he thought she might start crying again. “They’re not the same, then.”

“I’m sorry I interrupted. Please continue. You will need to start at the beginning, please.”

“I thought Emmet and I would be together forever. I really did. I was so clueless and stupid.”

“What happened? Did you no longer want him?” Reece tried hard not to get angry. He could feel his feathers rub. He wasn’t sure why he felt anger. Was it aimed at Dr. Bristol or her mate?

“I wanted him, but as it turned out, he didn’t want me. He wanted someone else.”

“What?” Reece growled. “No,” he shook his head, “that can’t be possible.” He wasn’t buying it. Who wouldn’t want this female?

“Trust me when I tell you that it is.” She took a bite of her flat food. Then she made a noise of enjoyment. Her eyes rolled back. “That’s so good. You need to try a slice.”

He started to decline, but she took a piece and handed it to him, giving him a napkin.

She chewed for a few seconds and then swallowed. “I worked long hours. So did Emmet.”

“Emmet is your mate.”

“My ex-mate. We’re not together anymore.”

He nodded, still struggling to comprehend that concept.

“My hours at work were pretty standard. I would start at roughly the same time and get home at the same time every day. If anything, I would have to work late…or rush off because of an emergency. It’s the nature of what I do.”

He nodded to show her that he was listening. Then he took a bite of the food. It was in his hand, and he wasn’t really thinking. It was crispy and yet soft. It was salty and… He also made a noise of enjoyment, looking down at the flat yellow slice.

“Good, isn’t it?”

He nodded. “Very. It is quite a shock. I didn’t expect that. You are a good cook, Dr. Bristol.”

“Thank you.”

“Go on.” He took another bite.

“Well,” she swallowed thickly, “I had an emergency one afternoon, so I called Emmet to tell him I’d be home really late. I had a woman in labor, and it was taking a while for her to dilate. There was a good chance that she wouldn’t end up dilating and that I would have to operate. I told him not to wait up, that I would be gone half the night.” She took a sip of her drink. “The baby started showing signs of fetal stress soon after I ended the call.”

“I’m not sure what that means.”

“The baby was in trouble. We put machines on the mother to monitor her and the unborn child. Those machines were telling us that there was something wrong with the baby. We rushed her into the operating theater and opened her up.”

“That’s amazing. Go on.”

“It turned out that the umbilical cord had wrapped itself around the baby’s neck twice.” She must have seen his confusion. “With human women, the baby gets its air and food from a pipe called the umbilical cord. This can sometimes wrap around the child’s neck, which causes the pipe to pull away and become ineffective…to put it in layman’s terms. The baby can suffocate inside the mother as a result.”

“That would be terrible.” He frowned.

“Anyway…we rushed her in for surgery and got the baby out before that could happen. It all took place soon after my call to Emmet. He wasn’t expecting me back until hours later. I arrived home expecting to find him cooking or watching the television. I called out but there was no response.” She licked her lips, putting her half-eaten food down.

“Where was he?” Reece asked when he could see her hesitation.

“He…well…he was in the bedroom.” Her eyes were clouded with pain. “He wasn’t alone.”

“Who was with him?” Reece asked.

“My younger sister, Lizzie.”

“What were they doing in your bedroom?” It couldn’t be. Surely not.

“They were fucking.” Her chest was rising and falling rapidly. “Actually, that’s not true. They were making passionate love. They were so lost in each other that they didn’t even notice me standing there. They didn’t hear me gasp. They didn’t…they…”

“I’m so sorry,” Reece said. He put the food down. “That is… It’s… I’m…I’m shocked.”

“I was shocked too. I found out that it had been going on for a long time. For eight months. They were in love. They’d been meaning to tell me. They hadn’t wanted me to find out like that. It felt like my world ended. My parents were upset. They wouldn’t speak to my sister…or Emmet. He moved into her place. I was broken.” A tear ran down her cheek. She wiped it away.

“That’s not right.” Reece shook his head. This poor female. “I can’t imagine… I just… I would have killed the male. Taken his head from his shoulders.”

Dr. Bristol giggled. “Oh, I thought about it.”

“With your sister.” He felt his eyes widen. “What did she have to say for herself?”

“Lizzie told me that she loved him.”

“What about you? Her own flesh and blood? Did she not love you, too?”

“You raise a good point. One I raised myself…several times. My parents supported me for a while at first, and then…” She got this haunted look he didn’t like.

“What happened with your parents?”

She took a sip of her drink. “They started to say things like, ‘your sister didn’t mean it’ and ‘Emmet isn’t such a bad guy’.”

“He deserves death for what he did to you. At the very least, he deserved a hundred lashes and a long time in the cage. I would even go so far as to say that he deserved to have his prick removed. Maybe not with silver…that would be harsher than death. Still…”

“Um…okay…if you say so. Oh!” Her eyes widened. “I forgot that silver is your kryptonite.”

“Krypto…what?” He frowned.

“You guys are allergic to silver.”

“That is correct.” He nodded. “So your parents took their side in the end?”

“They say that there are no sides. They’ve realized that Emmet and Lizzie are together now, and that they need to make the most of it. They had to forgive Emmet. They had no choice.”

“There is always a choice,” he said.

“I haven’t spoken to my parents in about two months.” He could see her eyes welling with tears.

“You’re alone.”

“It feels that way sometimes.” She licked her lips.

“From what I can tell, you are still mated to this male.” He struggled to keep the growl from his voice.

“I thought our divorce was finalized. That means that we ended the mating,” Dr. Bristol explained.

“I got that.” Reece nodded.

“Only it isn’t. The paperwork had a mistake on it. My social security number was written down wrong. They swapped two numbers around. They only picked it up today, apparently. That means that we’re still married, which is a disaster.”

“I understand that now,” Reece said. “I also understand why you wouldn’t want to be with this Emmet bastard.”

“Well, the thing is, Emmet married Lizzie a couple of weeks ago. At least, he thought he married her. Polygamy isn’t legal in our state. That means that they’re not married.” She shook her head. “Lizzie is pregnant with Emmet’s baby.” Her eyes filled with tears again, and she blinked hard. He realized that she was trying not to cry.

“You still love your mate very much.” Reece reached over and touched her arm. “I am so sorry. I’m sorry I ever thought you were trying to seduce one of the males. I know now that it couldn’t possibly be true. I can see that you are devastated. If it’s any consolation, I understand some of what you must be feeling.”

“Why? Did you have something happen to you?”

“Nothing nearly as terrible. I’m so sorry, Dr. Bristol.”

“Call me Hope…please.”

“I’m sorry…Hope.” He nodded once.

“All I want is for that chapter to close. I want our marriage to be over. I don’t want to be married to Emmet anymore. I came here to start a new life. To find myself again. Now I hear that I’m still married to that asshole.” She pointed at her phone, which was lying on the table. “As far as I’m concerned, Emmet and Lizzie can have each other. They deserve one another. I really don’t want to have to go through it all again.”

“A piece of paper doesn’t mean anything.” He shook his head. “It is what is inside a person’s heart that counts. It sounds like the two of you haven’t been mated for a long while now.” For a moment, Reece was worried that hearing him say that would upset her.

He breathed out a sigh of relief when she nodded, contemplating his words. “You’re right.”

“Yes, I am.”

“Emmet and Lizzie are a couple. They have been for a while now. I can’t leave right now to go to sign those papers. That’s something they will need to come to terms with.”

“Yes, you will need to wait until the chicks have hatched and are thriving.”

“I still don’t get that.” She picked up her food. “Babies are going to hatch from the eggs within hours of them being laid.”

He nodded in agreement.

“But you still call them chicks.”

“They will look like small human babies, but that doesn’t mean that they will grow up to be human. They will learn to shift…to be Feral. They are therefore chicks.”

“I find it interesting that, even though you mate humans, the offspring are just as much Feral as if they were born from a Feral couple?”

“That’s right. Our seed is strong.”

Dr. Bristol giggled. “I’d say. That’s some seriously strong DNA.”

“DNA?” He frowned.

“DNA are the building blocks of the body.” She took a big bite of her food. Once she finished, she cocked her head. “So now you understand why I’m not here to find love…or sex…or any of that stuff.”

“Why did you come, then? Did you run away from your problems?”

“No.” She shook her head. “I felt like I was in a rut. Like I needed a different view.” She pointed at the window. It was dark outside. He didn’t think she was being literal. At least, not completely literal. “I felt like Emmet and Lizzie were moving on, and like I was stuck. I had this job offer fall in my lap and it felt like the right thing to do. I was Emmet’s girlfriend. Then I was Emmet’s fiancée. For a lot of years, I was Emmet’s wife. Otherwise I’m a doctor. None of those things are who I am. I don’t think I know who I am anymore. That’s why I’m here.”

“I’m glad you trusted me with your story. I think you made the right decision coming here. I’m sorry I treated you so harshly without even knowing you. I saw a beautiful female and…I…I guess I didn’t know how to behave or what to think. It’s no excuse. Please forgive me, Doct— Hope…please forgive me.”

He watched as a smile slowly took residence on her face. Her eyes were red-rimmed and shimmery, but she still managed to look beautiful. What a fool that male had been to throw a female like this away.

“Of course…there’s nothing to forgive. I think we got our wires crossed.”

“Wires?” He frowned. “What does this have to do with wires? Wait just a moment…it’s a human saying, isn’t it?”

“See!” She laughed. “You’re already getting better at this. It means we got mixed up. That there were mixed signals and miscommunication between us…that’s all.”

“That’s easily rectified. We need to communicate better in the future.”

“I like that plan. If in doubt…we talk it out.”

“Sounds good to me.”

“More pizza?” She held out her plate to him.

Reece didn’t even realize that he had finished his slice. “Thank you.” He took some more.