Ready to Bear (21 page)

Thea sat next to the hospital bed and looked at the monitors across from her with blurry eyes.

“You need to sleep, hon.” Thea looked behind her and saw Sophie standing in the doorway with two Styrofoam coffee cups in her hands. “You look like death warmed over.”

“I want to be here if he wakes up,” Thea said. It was the same thing she had said every day to every person who came into the room for the last three days. Eric. Tony. Kyle. Even Alex, who had insisted on staying with her for the first day until she and Eric forced him to go home. “He’s going to wake up soon.”

She felt Sophie’s hand on her shoulder and then gratefully took the coffee cup into her hands. The warmth of the cup felt good against her cold palms. There was little in her life that felt good ever since she watched Billy bleed out on the mat in the ring.

Dr. Clarkson had seemed to appear out of nowhere right after Billy went down. She had watched in horror as he stuck a large needle into Joshua’s arm and then shot the blood directly into Billy’s open mouth. He took another sample and drove it directly into Billy’s breastbone. He had ordered that another pint be taken from Joshua’s body during transport to his clinic for immediate transfusion into Billy’s torn up body.

While she watched the conclusion of the fight, every slice of Joshua’s claws had felt as if it had ripped at her flesh as well. She had felt every ounce of Billy’s pain. She had known the moment when he slipped beyond her grasp. Now she had nothing left to cling to but the hope that his body would heal enough to the point where his mind could come back to her.

Somehow, Dr. Clarkson had managed to keep Billy’s body alive. But she wasn’t sure where his spirit had gone.

“I’ll stay here with him if you just want to go home and take a shower,” Sophie said. “I’ll call you if anything happens.”

“No,” Thea said, shaking her head. “I want to be here.”

“You’re not doing him any good if he wakes up and then finds you are exhausted and on the edge of malnutrition. Come on, sweetie. You have to take care of yourself. That’s what he would want you to do.”

Thea was exhausted. She knew that she must look terrible. She had barely eaten a thing in the last three days. Dr. Clarkson told her it was hard to tell how long it would take Billy’s body to heal. The poison had taken a heavy toll before the cure was administered, and it still might have been too late. The only thing they could do was wait.

Doing nothing would have caused her to go out of her mind. So she did the only thing she could think of to keep her mind occupied. She held his hand and talked to him. She had told him everything about her that she could think of in the last three days. She thought that maybe when he came back, he would remember all of it. He was there, somewhere, listening to her. She had to believe that.

“Please, sweetie. At least go splash some water on your face. It’ll make you feel better,” Sophie urged.

Thea reluctantly let her friend pull her up out of her chair and allowed Sophie to push her toward the bathroom door. Her legs felt as if they had been made out of rubber. She felt emotionally and physically barren. She needed to do something else to help him, but she didn’t know what else to do.

As she reached the door, she turned back toward the bed. An idea sparked in her mind. There was one thing she hadn’t done. In all of the things she’d told Billy over the last three days, there had been one thing she’d held back. She had been afraid. Once she said it, even if he didn’t hear it, she knew she wouldn’t be able to take it back. And if Billy didn’t wake up, she would have to live with the knowledge that there was that thing that had been left unresolved between them. She wasn’t quite sure how she was going to deal with that.

“Sophie, can you go get me something to eat? I don’t care what it is. Anything is fine,” she said.

“Of course, sweetie. There’s a little Chinese take-out across the way. I can grab something there,” Sophie said.

Thea nodded her agreement. Anything to get Sophie out of the room. She didn’t want an audience for what she was about to do. Sophie grabbed her purse and squeezed her arm as she passed by her. Thea was grateful for her friend’s support, but now she needed to be alone.

She made her way back to Billy’s bed, but instead of sitting in her chair as she had for the last three days, she perched on the bed beside him. She took his hand in hers. It seemed so big inside her smaller ones. It was one of the first things she remembered about him. She stroked the top of it and brought it up to her cheek. She looked at Billy’s face and put her hand on his chest over his heart. She allowed herself to enjoy the feel of his heartbeat next to her palm. His body was still alive. He had to still be in there somewhere. She just needed to draw him out.

Then she curled up on the bed next to him and rested her cheek against his chest so that she could listen to his heartbeat. It was steady and strong, just like she knew Billy to be. She wasn’t sure where to start with what she wanted to say.

“Billy, I hope you can hear me. It’s me again. You must be pretty sick of my voice by now. You’ve heard everything. Every embarrassing moment in my life. Every stupid dream. The couple of times that I thought someone broke my heart. Turns out, I had no idea what that really felt like until now.” Thea choked on her words as her throat closed up for a moment. The tears that she thought had been cried out days ago were surfacing again. “I was scared before of how you made me feel. The idea that I could meet someone who would change my life in just an instant? Stuff like that doesn’t happen in real life, and it doesn’t happen to me. So when it did happen, there was a part of me that scoffed at it and said it couldn’t be real.”

She paused as she tried to collect her thoughts. Even if he didn’t hear her, it was important that she said the words right. “Turns out, I was the loser in all of that. When I had you in front of me, I didn’t tell you how I felt. I let that moment slip through my fingers. Then you were gone, and now I don’t know if you’re ever going to come back. So I think I owe you the truth. I love you, Sheriff William Miller. I love you, and I’m not afraid of it anymore. If you come back, and you asked me to be your mate, I’d be thrilled. I’d say yes in a heartbeat, because I’m never going to fail to see how precious those kinds of moments are in life. It’s scary because it happened so fast, but that’s okay. I want to grab hold of it all and start right now. Today. I just need you to wake up, okay? Please, Billy? I love you. Please wake up.”

Thea turned her face to look at him, but she could see that nothing had changed. He still appeared to be in a peaceful slumber. She waited a few more seconds, and then the sobs overtook her body. She wept into the front of his gown wishing with all her might that he was there and that he had heard her words.

When she felt the arm twist around her to hold her close, Thea gasped. She looked up again and found Billy’s blue eyes staring back into hers.

“I think there’s a rule against taking advantage of unconscious patients.” His voice was low and gravelly from disuse.

Thea laughed out loud. She moved up the bed and kissed him. She tried to be gentle, but Billy’s fingers wound in her hair, and he ground his lips against hers. She returned his kiss with equal vigor, but then she drew back.

“You need to take it easy,” she said.

“I’ve been taking it easy,” he said. He brushed the hair out of her face. “I’m done with taking it easy.”

“I am not sure your doctor would agree,” she said with a mock frown.

“To hell with doctors,” he growled. His arm gripped around her tighter. “You are the only medicine I need.”

“I’m flattered,” she said as she laughed again. She gave him a quick peck on the nose and unwound his arm from her waist. “I need to get the doctor. He’s going to want to know you’re awake and make sure you’re okay.”

Thea flew to the doorway, but then she heard Billy call her name. She looked back over her shoulder at him.

“There’s something I need to tell you,” he said, motioning for her to come closer.

“I’m sure it can wait,” Thea said, but she moved toward him anyway.

“It shouldn’t have waited this long,” he said as he sat up in the bed and reached for her hand. “Thea, I don’t know how I could have made it through all of this without you. You are the reason I’m here and the reason I came back. I want to spend the rest of my life showing you how grateful I am that you’ve brought me back to life, in more ways than one.”

Thea felt her tears rise again. He reached out and brushed them away. “I hope those are happy tears.”

She nodded. She felt deliriously happy.

“Then hopefully this will make it even better. Thea Philips, I love you too.”

Thea felt as if her heart would burst from joy, and she moved into Billy’s outstretched arms. He was her bear, now and forever.

“When are you coming back to work?” Lukas’s voice boomed through the speakerphone on the desk.

“I have some things to wrap up here yet,” Billy said. He winked at Thea, who sat across the desk from him. They were sitting in the office inside Thea’s apartment, which easily qualified as an executive suite for any company as far as Billy could tell. “We’re still trying to track down the IP address of that video Joshua posted, and we’re hoping that leads us back to whoever set all of this up to begin with.”

“Alpha Dogs. What a fucking menace,” Lukas said. That was the understatement of the year as far as Billy was concerned. After the fight’s broadcast, far too many shifters had fallen sway to Joshua’s new leaderless clan. The fallen wolf had been turned into their symbolic martyr. “This is going to take us years to clean up.”

“Hopefully not that long,” Billy said.

“Well, get your ass back here to Greyelf. I need you here,” Lukas said.

Billy raised his eyebrows at the phone. As the line went dead, he walked around the desk and pulled Thea into his arms. “That was a first. I don’t think I’ve ever heard him say that he needed me anywhere before.”

“The whole world saw the broadcast of your fight with Joshua,” Thea said. “You’re famous now. People are going to listen closely to whatever you say. He ought to be treating you with more respect.”

“Famous or infamous, depending on whose side of the story you believe.” Lukas had finally agreed that they had to release all the details of his brother’s murder, including the details of how Joshua had plotted to take down all the alphas at the Shifter Summit after the fight. But it had come too late for some, who believed that it was nothing more than further proof of his alleged smear campaign against Joshua. As much as Billy would like to believe it wasn’t true, he knew that a war was brewing on multiple fronts. But he didn’t want to focus on that. He wanted to focus on the present.

“Baby steps,” Thea said. She put her arms around his waist and settled in against him. He loved when she did that, and he leaned down so he could smell her hair. He’d never get tired of her scent. He brushed her hair aside and nosed the crook of her neck. He was careful, though, as he didn’t want to cause her any pain. She had told him just that morning that his mating bite was still tender on her skin. He was looking forward to having its match on his collarbone soon. Thea wanted to wait to complete the mating ritual until they were ready to take the official steps of solidifying their relationship in the human world, as well. 

“So have you decided anything about that property I showed you?” Billy hadn’t wanted to bring the subject up again and sound desperate, but he couldn’t help himself. He had found the perfect property outside of Greyelf if Thea would consider moving there with him. The realtor said the soil would be perfect for growing grapes during the few warm months in Minnesota. He had also connected with a grape distributor out of California, who was willing to sell and ship grapes across the country to supplement what couldn’t be grown there. He hoped it was enough incentive to lure Thea to the frozen tundra.

She wrinkled her nose at him in that adorable way that made him want to ravish her. “I’m still not sure I’m built for that kind of cold. People move away from there for a reason, you know.”

“We’ll spend our vacation in warm places during the winter to make it seem shorter. You’ll barely notice it,” he said, rocking her gently.

“What about Alex?” she asked. It was a question she had already asked him twenty times.

“Alex can come live with us if he wants. He’s welcome anytime. Eric, however, has to call ahead and give us at least six months’ notice,” Billy said with a grin.

Thea pulled away from him and moved to look out the window at the city in front of them. She pulled a finger up to the corner of her mouth. “I’m still not sure.” But Billy could see a twinkle in her eye.

“Just say yes,” he said as he began to stalk toward her. “Say yes, and I’ll make sure you never regret it. Not even for a minute.”

“Well, I do know of one way you could convince me,” she said in a sultry voice as she began to back up toward the doorway.

“You tell me what you want, and it’s done,” Billy said.

Thea beckoned him closer. “Tell you what. First one to the bedroom gets to decide.” She turned and took off across the apartment.

Billy chuckled and gave chase. They both knew which of them was faster, but he still enjoyed the thrill of the hunt. Only this time, he didn’t have anything to lose because she already had his heart. He belonged wherever she was, whether that was Greyelf or Copper City. It didn’t matter to him. He’d make it work. There meant there was just one thing left for him to do.

Billy caught her just before the threshold to her room. He gripped her hand to twirl her around, and then he knelt down on the floor in front of her. Her eyes widened as she saw that he had a small box in his hands. “I think I won,” he said as he opened it. “Would you agree?”

Thea’s eyes glistened as she looked down at the diamond solitaire ring. “I’m pretty sure we both won,” she said softly.

“Is that a yes?” he asked.

She took the ring out of the box and slipped it onto her finger. She gave him a little salute. “That’s an affirmative, Sheriff.”

Billy laughed and caught her up into his arms. He kissed her deeply as he crossed the threshold to her room and kicked the door closed behind them. He was ready for their life to begin. As long as he was with Thea, he would always be home.

THE END

In case you missed Lukas and Maren’s love story, discover their second chance romance in
A Bear of a Reputation (Greyelf Grizzlies, #1).

AND

Things are heating up for the Urban Dwellers in Copper City. Find out what happens next when Kyle is confronted by the woman from his past who is tied to painful memories he’s tried to leave behind.

Silence that Sizzles (Urban Dwellers #1)
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