“Victoria.” It was Maverick. “Can you hear me Victoria?”

“Mav,” I groaned. I was shivering. When I opened my eyes I was staring into the concerned eyes of my mate.

I reached out to touch his face feeling delirious but it was too much effort. I didn’t want to move at all.

“Fuck.”

It took everything I possessed to keep my eyes open.

“I need to cool you down.” He began to undress me to my underwear. I moaned. It hurt when he touched me.

I whimpered when he lifted me into his arms and carried me into the bathroom. He stepped into the shower with me and turned it on. The icy cold water was like a shock to system, burning my heat ridden skin and I cried out.

“It’s okay,” Maverick murmured. “I just need to cool you down.”

“Please,” I begged. I wanted him to stop. “No.”

I closed my eyes, riding the wave of pain that stung the surface of my skin right down to the bone.

He held me close as he stood with me beneath the running water.

I lay my head against his shoulder and closed my eyes. I wanted the pain to stop so badly.

“How is she?” I recognized the voice as Sandra.

“She is burning up.” His arms tightened around me.

“Let’s get her on the bed,” Sandra instructed and I groaned as Maverick carried me dripping wet back to the bed. My hair matted to my face.

He lay me down. I was still shivering. I just wanted to be left alone. My skin was too sensitive to be touched.

“I’m going to give her something for the pain,” Sandra said.

I welcomed the relief.

The pin prick from the injection was nothing compared to what I was suffering through.

“Why is this happening to her?” Maverick murmured. He brushed the hair from my forehead. His touch that usually brought a calmness but it didn’t this time. Nothing could ease the pain.

“I don’t know. Let’s get her sedated and I’ll run some tests.” Sandra was in full doctor mode. Her voice was steady.

“Could she be?’ he asked, his voice filled with disbelief.

“Anything is possible.”

The pain medication began to take affect and I sighed just before I drifted off to sleep.

********

I shifted. My throat was sore and I swallowed.

“I’m here.” It was Maverick.

I opened my eyes and looked around the room. I was in medical, in bed with white sheets covering me.

“What?” I asked, trying to piece how I had gotten from the bedroom to the where I was now.

“You’ve been sick.”

Sick. I frowned. “Why?” I touched my hand to my chest, feeling vulnerable and emotional.

“We aren’t sure. We are still running some tests.”

He helped me sit up. I felt so weak, the smallest action taking more energy than I possessed.

“You scared me.” He pressed a kiss to my forehead.

I was still scared. To get sick so quickly just wasn’t possible.

“Water,” I murmured, needing to ease the scratchiness in my throat.

He lifted a glass of cool water to my lips. I took a tentative sip and allowed the cool liquid to ease the dryness.

“Thank you,” I whispered.

He put the glass of water back on the table beside me.

“How are you feeling?” He touched my cheek.

“I’m feel so weak. Is it supposed to be like this?”

He shook his head. “No. I would never have left you if I had even thought for a second your reaction would be so intense.”

Sandra entered the room. “You’re looking much better.”

I nodded. “What’s wrong with me?”

Maverick and Sandra shared a look.

“What is it?” I asked, looking from the one to the other. “What’s wrong with me?”

Maverick held my hand.

“There’s nothing wrong with you. We just had to run some tests to confirm something.”

I nodded. I wished she would just get straight to the point. Clearly she suspected what was wrong with me but had just run some blood test to confirm it.

“You have strong Alpha bloodline.”

I frowned. I had no idea what that meant.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means whoever your parents were they were Alphas,” he explained. “Both of them.”

Honestly I had no idea what that meant or the weight it held in their world.

“I’m an alpha.” I remember that was the reason why he was in charge of the pack. It was something he was born into.

Alpha. Parents. If my parents were in charge of a pack like they believed why on earth would they have given me away the way they had? It didn’t make any sense.

“It’s unusual. Most alphas mate with non alphas. It’s just rare. That’s why we weren’t expecting you to go through such an intense change.”

I swallowed, trying to take in everything I was learning. None of what I was hearing fit in with the life I had been handed.

“It also means you’re going to be strong.”

“Strong.” I echoed the word.

“Your wolf.”

At this point I was just glad that I wasn’t in any more pain. I was too weak to even think about trying to become a wolf or any of it.

“She needs to rest,” Sandra instructed. “I can give you something, if you want.”

I nodded. I wanted her to give me something to knock me out so I wouldn’t go around in circles trying to figure out what I had just learned fit in with my past.

She left to get the medicine.

Maverick sat down beside me and took my hand in his. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t there for you.”

“You had more important things to deal with.”

“Nothing is more important than you,” he said it fiercely. “I should have taken every precaution. I should have stayed with you.”

I studied his tired features. “You couldn’t have known.”

No one would think two alphas would give up a child. It didn’t make any sense. If anything it would have made more sense that my parents would have been simple pack members.

“Why would they give me up Maverick? If they had their own pack, why on earth would they abandon me?” I was mystified.

Nothing I was learning was making sense, in fact it only raised more questions.

“And why would someone pay a bounty for me to be found?” I whispered. My mind racing ahead with more questions. But I knew too little of werewolves to be able to figure anything out.

“I don’t know.” His held my hand in his.

I stared at where our hands were joined. For the first time feeling a calmness settle over since the start the ordeal.

“Lark is feeling pretty guilty that she didn’t pay closer attention to how you were feeling this morning.”

“It was a simple headache this morning. And there was no way for her to know.”

He sighed, running his free hand through his hair.

“I couldn’t get you out of my mind so I had a look around for you but no one had seen you. I found you on the bed, shaking.” He swallowed hard.

I squeezed his hand. “It’s fine Maverick. You found me. I’m here now and Sandra will take good care of me.”

He nodded. But I could see what had happened had shaken him.

“No matter how badly I want you to stay here with me I need you to figure this whole thing out.”

He shook his head. “I don’t want to leave you.”

“I’m fine. Just a little tired. Sandra is going to give me something to sleep. I’ll be fine,” I assured him.

“You are the most important person in my world,” he murmured, his eyes holding mine. “I can’t leave you like this.”

I swallowed, feeling the emotion of his words wash over me.

“Sandra is the most qualified person to keep an eye on me. If anything changes she can notify you. I’m on the mend. You heard her. I just need some rest.” I sighed. “You could be doing more important things than watching me sleep and that’s figuring out who and why someone is after me?”

He seemed hesitant.

“Please Maverick. I need you to figure this out.”

There were too many anomalies to be brushed off as something trivial. We were sitting with too many puzzle pieces unmatched to be able to see the bigger picture and I had a fear that the sooner we knew what was going on the better for all of us.

“Before it’s too late.”