Dying For You

Chapter 14

Theo's POV

I lead Laila down the hallway, back to the living room, where her parents are sitting on the couch again. Rebecca looks down, shaking her head, and Ron holds her hands as he nods. I guess she is upset about something. As soon as they hear us coming, they turn to look at us.

"What's wrong?" Ron asks, getting worried.

"We were thinking of going for a walk, so Laila didn't have to sit there and wait to get tired again, get food, or be experimented on!" I say in a fake cheerful voice, forcing a smile, so I don't freak out and scare my skittish chicken mate. I could kill them again for making my mate think that was normal. "I thought maybe we could show her some good things so she can start making happy memories," I explain. "Would you both like to go?"

"Absolutely!" Rebecca nods.

"Let me grab shoes for you, darling," Ron says; standing up, he looks at Laila and then down at her bare feet. "I'll get shoes for her too."

A few moments later, I was tying a sneaker on Laila's feet. It's one of her Mom's shoes and a few sizes too big. It never dawned on me that she needs shoes and doesn't know how to tie her laces. As soon as she is set, I stand and offer my hand to help her. She hesitantly takes it and gets to her feet. The soft sparks are mesmerizing.

We slowly stroll around the packhouse. I showed her all the important places. My place is the alphas office, which will be my office soon, the kitchen, and other essential things like fire exits. Then we take her outside. She gasped when we first walked out the door. She stopped at the top of the steps and took it all in. Her Mom had the whiteboard and was trying to talk to her, but Laila glanced down at it twice without responding.

She finally looks to her dad, pointing out. "What's this?" she asks. Her Mom starts writing.

'This is the great outdoors. You used to love to run around and play in the dirt all day when you were little. Your favorite thing to do was to pick flowers.'

Laila looks at her with her eyebrows knitted together without saying a word. Rebecca beckons Laila towards the stairs, and Laila follows. They walk down the stairs to the ground, and Rebecca pulls Laila over to some nearby flowers planted in front of the house. Ron and I walk down the stairs and watch silently as Laila rediscovers something she used to love.

First, Laila looks nervous and scared as she reaches out to touch the flower. The expression quickly changes to happiness, and I feel relaxed. She's happy. I've not had many good days with her, so getting to see her smile and trust us more it's fantastic. Laila starts moving to feel other flowers that are planted nearby.

We follow her as Laila explores her surroundings, keeping an eye on her.

After a few minutes, she's worked her way around the side of the packhouse, wanting to feel and smell every flower she sees. She's got the biggest smile I've ever seen her have. She's gorgeous.

-HONK HONK HONK-

Laila gasps and turns towards us as her parent turn and look behind us. I follow their line of sight to see a car speeding toward us. I move in front of Laila, putting her behind me, but I keep a hand on her keeping her there. The vehicle stops about 10 feet in front of Laila's parents. Reid hops out of the front seat.

"What's wrong with her? What happened?" He asks, panicking and leaving his car door open.

"Oh, nothing, sweetie. We are just taking her for a walk." Rebecca explains.

"So she's ok?" he sighs in relief. Wait. I turned to Laila to see her peeking around me to see what was happening.

"Laila, you gasped when he honked the horn. Did you hear him honking, or was that just a coincidence?" I ask. Laila looks at me blankly. "Can I have the whiteboard?" I look at her Mom. Rebecca hands me the whiteboard, and I write my question again as her parents and brother talk behind me.

"You know she can't hear because of what the hunters did to her. Don't be self-conscious about it." Reid protests.

'Did you hear the car horn?'

Laila reads it, then nods. "It was loud." she nods.

"Laila, you heard that!?" Ron yells. Laila looks at him and nods.

"When were you able to start hearing things?" I ask. Laila looks at me blankly. We all anxiously await her answer, but she doesn't.

"I think she can only hear loud things," Reid says from behind me. "Let me check something," he says.

I get lost looking into Laila's eyes. She is gorgeous. It's crazy that there is someone that is this pretty. Her big blue eyes and plump lips beg me to kiss them.

-HONK-

Laila flinches, breaking eye contact to look at Reid's car. She heard that. "If I talk loud, can you hear me, Laila?" I ask, raising her voice in hopes she can listen to me.

Laila looks back at me and nods. "I can hear that," she says softly.

Rebecca is now standing at her side with tears in her eyes. "When did you start being able to hear again?" she asks loud enough for Laila to hear.

"I- I flushed the toilet, and it was loud and the first thing I heard in a while. I knew it would come back. They always test how long that feeling would take to return, just like they did with my eyes, arm, and tongue. I have to wait for it to go back to normal." Laila explains.

My precious mate can hear me!