Talons

Chapter 127: The Nurse

Colton's POV

I slept in front of Rhea's bedroom door but truthfully, I was contemplating going inside to sleep with her for most of the night.

Running did not help get over the fact that I wanted to be with my mate, and I had to call Carter for tips.

He was the one who told me to sleep as close to where she was as possible, and since she wouldn't want me inside of her room, I slept outside of it.

Her slight scent creeping around the door comforted Orlin, but the dreams we kept having put us right back on edge.

I don't know why, but I kept forgetting about Rhea, so much so that she was angry with me.

I was in the middle of one of those dreams when it was interrupted by the strong smell of my mate and my eyes fluttered open to see her looking down at me in pity.

"Did you sleep here?" She asks, and I stretch before replying.

"Yes, but not for long. What time is it?" My mate shrugs and I realize that I need to give her back her phone for at least practical reasons.

"I was just going to make breakfast."

I stand and curl myself on the couch, intending to sleep a little more while my mate cooks. 

Carter was right, but also wrong. Smelling Rhea is calming, but the moment I saw her, I wanted to pin her to the floor again.

Rhea's POV

Colton is behaving strangely, and at breakfast he practically swallowed his food without a word.

I'm not complaining, but I genuinely hope that he comes to his senses and rejects me before he slips into depression.

“What if he never does?”

“That would be horrible for him because I don’t plan to stick around,” I reply, and Sylvia nods in approval. 

I think we are both a little afraid that the other may ‘fall’ for Colton, but we typically don’t find the same things attractive. Jack was smooth and pleasant, while Mike was sweet and charismatic. 

“Colton is just…”

“Colton,” I finish, and my wolf chuckles deeply in my mind. There are literally no better words to describe the man. He is who he is.

I get to the work site, and I’m greeted to the sight of some of the men trying to scrub the word b*tch off the side of the school. Because the paint was fresh, whatever the person used has dried into it, and although they are trying their dearest, only a fresh coat of paint can erase what's been done.

“Lu- I mean B, we’re sorry you had to see this.”

“It's just a word, and who knows… the person may not have been talking about me. Maybe one of you broke the heart of the wrong woman?” Some of the men chuckle awkwardly, but others look uneasy.

“Should this be reported to Alpha Colt?”

“No, this is his fault. Let's just cover it up with more paint.” The men tell me that there is no more of the off-white color that we used, and another suggests calling out his son who he said was good at drawing. The plan is to use whatever colors we have left to turn the word into a work of art.

When the man arrives, Sylvia and I can’t help but to watch him work, and after a while the curse has become pink, purple, red, and blue crayons that look like they are being used to color the school. It's really cute, so I stand to get a closer look.

Unfortunately, it was a bad idea for me to walk around an active construction site without shoes on because I stepped on a hidden nail and couldn’t help but to cry out. Everyone panicked, but eventually calmed when they noticed that I wasn’t making a big deal about it.

“Someone needs to pull it out for me,” I say, and while I sound confident, inside I’m a mess. The bottoms of my feet have always been a weak spot of mine, which was why I never got into the habit of playing outside barefoot the way many other pups did.

“B, that isn’t a good idea. It’s a screw not a nail.” I gag at the mental image, and the person who is supporting my back chuckles a little too jovially for me. 

“It’s not that funny,” I say, and his face goes back to being blank while others laugh at him. He may have just saved us with his art skills, but I’m actually hurt. “Someone needs to pull it out; I won’t be able to walk like this.”

“I’ll carry you,” the artist offers, but before I can protest, his father does.

“Son, she is Alpha Colt’s mate. That’s not a good idea.”

“Then I’ll go get him...”

“And leave me with a piece of metal stuck in my foot until you return? Just… Piggyback me.” The man shrugs, and a few others very uncomfortably help me onto his back. “By the way, what's your name? I may need your skills again.”

“Jared,” the man replies as we begin our very awkward journey.

“Sorry I’m not lighter,” I say, noticing that he is struggling to keep me on his back.

“S’ok. I hope this is a one-time occurrence.” As we get closer to the infirmary, I start to notice pack members staring at Jared and I, but before I can tell him to put me down, Colton’s menacing growl scares us both.

Jared literally drops me, and I shout for him to run, but Colton is already starting to chase him.

“Colton, wait. Please, I’m injured.” I can only hope that he’s listening to me, and thankfully, my words reached him just as he grabbed the poor man by the back of the shirt. “Please let him go. I can’t walk.”

“He’s going to pick you up,” Sylvia warns, and after menacingly glaring at and releasing Jared, who won't even make eye contact, Colton comes to my aid.

“Why didn’t you call me? I would have come.”

“I don’t have a phone and omegas can’t mind-link.” Colton makes a face before he scoops me up like a feather. I’m beyond uncomfortable, and Sylvia is grumbling in my mind about the dangers of ‘asking Colton for a hug.'

I didn't ask for anything; I just wanted to save Jared, and I thought Colton would have mind-linked someone from inside of the infirmary to get me a wheelchair or stretcher.

“I can smell blood on you, what happened?” I tell Colton that I stepped on a screw, and after he was done scolding me about not wearing shoes, I kindly remind him that my only boots were soaked through. “I thought you bought shoes at the mall.” I raise a brow at Colton because I know he went through my things. “Sorry," the man continues and I'm quite satisfied by his immediate submission.

He lays me on a bed in the infirmary, and a nurse comes in with a bright smile before it fades. She starts looking at the bottom of my foot before she addresses Colton; not me, the patient.

"I'll need to pull it out," the nurse says, but I draw my foot away from her.

"No thanks," I reply.

"Babe, don't be scared. It'll be over quickly?"

"Over quickly?" I ask incredulously. "Sure Colton.” I don’t know if the man thinks I’m dense, but the nurse looks to be about his age and is definitely his type. I don’t have a doubt in my mind that they’ve slept together, and I refuse to allow one of his exes to treat me.

"What are you talking about?" Colton says, but I ignore him. The woman is tall, slim, and pretty; that's all I needed to know, but the way she looked at us told me everything else.

“You know what? I'll do it myself."

"Miss, if you pull it out yourself, you may do more damage. Let someone else do it for you."

"Fine... Colton, you do it."

“Rhea, I don’t want to. I’m not a medical professional. I can command her not to hurt you.” The nurse and I can only stare at Colton.

“Is he an i***t or what?” Sylvia asks as the nurse carefully explains to Colton why that command would render her useless. She can’t help but to ‘hurt’ me.

“Is there no one else on duty?” I question, starting to feel a dull throb on my sole, which doesn’t seem like a good thing.

“No Miss, there is just me.” Sitting up, I pull my foot toward myself and ask the nurse to bring me things to clean the area so I can pull the screw out, but she tells me that it needs to be cut out, which almost makes me faint. “Pulling out a screw may tear flesh from around it.”

My mind is trying to process what that would mean for recovery time, but Colton and the nurse start bickering back and forth, snapping my attention to them instead.

The woman must have mind-linked him something about me because Colton is berating her as a ‘useless mistake,’ and he very rudely asks her to leave.

I find myself jumping to the woman's defense because at the end of the day, Colton leading women on is the problem.

When he was just my mysterious friend, I told him that he needed to stick to one person because his games would eventually catch up to him.

Back then, I had no idea who he was or that I would be the girl on the receiving end of the glares, and while I don’t care emotionally, I dislike that a physical altercation will eventually take place.

Colton’s POV

I don't know how B knows about Marcy and I but somehow, she does, and while I thought she was overreacting by insinuating that the woman would intentionally hurt her, I now know that she wasn’t.

Right in front of my mate, Marcy starts trying to mind-f**k me. It started with her asking me if my mate was qualified to ‘serve me.’ When she got no response, she started to remind me of all the things she used to do to me when we messed around.

I had to quickly block her out, especially since I could tell my mate knew we were mind-linking. 

“Get the f*ck out of this room and never disrespect your future luna again you dirty-”

“Colton!” Rhea says. “She wasn’t dirty when you were with her. What makes her dirty now?” I have no words for my mate, and she sighs dramatically. “Can you just take the screw out of my foot? If not, please link Mandy.”