Chapter 0383

Lucas Adler

Hannah is asleep when I arrive at the hospital.

She’s been drifting in and out for days.

Mostly out.

Theodore insists it’s just her body’s way of healing.

That she needs this.

It still feels wrong.

Waiting this long.

It doesn’t sit right with me.

The others are handling Seraphina and Evelyn.

If they need me, they know where I am.

I take a seat beside Hannah’s head.

Her face is tight.

Like she’s in pain.

Knees pulled to her chest.

Small whimpers escape her lips.

Fingers twitching against the pillow.

But she isn’t in physical pain.

Not now.

Every time she sleeps, she relives it.

All of it.

I’ve gathered pieces.

In the short moments she’s been awake.

Levi took her.

He led her toward the edge of pack territory.

Pinned her down.

She fought.

She wouldn’t have months ago.

He still got the needle in her.

She said her body went heavy.

Control slipped away.

He took her to a building.

Beat her until she was covered in bruises.

They’re still there.

Purple and yellow on her skin.

She doesn’t remember everything.

Says it’s fuzzy.

But he told her it was because he saw her with me.

Said she was broken.

That a Lycan shouldn’t be with a Hunter.

Said he was going to fix her.

That she was being punished.

He chose her.

Not me.

That tells me he’s weaker than he pretends.

He wasn’t wrong about us.

But doing this to her?

It’s disgusting.

I’ve already planned how I’ll skin him alive.

Slowly.

With a very dull blade.

Theodore enters with a new IV bag.

I push the dark thoughts away.

There will be time for that later.

“Still out?” he asks.

He’d never make it as a Hunter.

I gesture toward her.

It’s obvious.

“It’s a good sign,” he says. “Her brain is helping her body heal.”

He switches the fluid bag.

“She just needs time.”

“She’ll never be the same, will she?”

It’s not a question.

“Are you angry with her?”

I shake my head.

I could never be angry with her.

But this never should have happened.

Hannah moans.

She stretches out.

Her hazel eyes open slowly.

Everything comes into focus.

She stares at me.

Sadness and pain fill her gaze.

Her fingers move to her face.

Like they do every time she wakes.

Checking for the stitches.

Making sure it wasn’t a dream.

She winces at the touch.

Eyes grow watery.

“I made it?”

“Yes.”

She asks this every time.

Needing confirmation she’s safe.

It’s her routine now.

She reaches for my hand.

Her fingers curl tightly around mine.

She tugs me toward the bed.

Just like yesterday.

“I’ll leave you to it,” Theodore says.

He takes the empty bag with him.

I settle on the bed beside Hannah.

She buries herself against my chest.

Snuggling as close as she can.

Minutes later, she’s asleep again.

Her chest rises and falls against mine.

A steady rhythm.

Her lips part as her body relaxes.

But her fingers stay locked on me.

Holding me in place.

Keeping me from leaving.

I breathe in her hair.

Hoping for a trace of her jasmine scent.

But there’s nothing.

She smells like any other Human.