A tapping noise greets Avery as she opens her eyes.

"Shh," she mumbles, rolling over.

As she rolls over, she rests her weight on her face.

A hiss leaves her lips, and she bolts upright, clapping a hand over the bandage covering her cheek.

"Wasn't that stupid," Hayden mutters, looking up from his cellphone.

"Why am I here?" She grumbles, and he sighs, pulling his legs off the arm of the chair he's slumped in.

"You fainted. I had to carry you all the way here, and you're a lot heavier than you look," he grunts, and Avery scowls at him.

"You could have left me there," she snaps, looking down at the hospital gown she's in.

"Who changed me?" She asks sharply, and he rolls his eyes at her.

"One of the nurses, they wouldn't let you wear filthy jeans to lay down on their clean beds," he sighs, settling back into the seat.

"Oh," she mutters, "why did I faint?"

Hayden sighs again, shaking his head at her.

"I'm not a doctor, so I have no idea. I pressed the call button when you started making noises, so one should arrive soon," he mutters, looking up from his phone for a second.

"Thank you," she sighs, sitting up and grasping the bed for her phone.

"Bedside table," he grunts, not even looking up from his phone.

"Oh," she repeats, quickly turning and picking it up.

She has some notifications, and she scowls as she quickly flicks through them.

"How's Lilith?" Avery asks, and Hayden opens his mouth and then closes it.

"What's wrong?" She quickly questions, sitting up on her knees and furrowing her brows.

"She had the baby," he murmurs, and she curses.

"Shit. Poor Lilith," she whispers, rubbing her forehead.

"He's alive," Hayden adds cautiously, raising an eyebrow.

"What?" Avery gapes at him, clapping a hand over her mouth.

"Yeah, the doctors don't know how, but he's hanging on," Hayden nods, equally as shocked.

The two sit in silence, Avery beyond shocked.

Pups born this early didn't survive, ever. She supposes the Alpha blood running through his veins probably helped with that, though, but it didn't make it any less shocking.

"Wow," she mutters, and Hayden nods in agreement, returning to his phone.

He's so focused on it that she feels slightly irritated.

"What are you doing?" She asks, leaning towards him as she sprawls across the bed.

"Texting," he simply responds, and Avery scowls.

She doesn't want to respond to any of her texts or emails, and she's too unfocused to read or do anything useful.

"Who?" She asks, trying not to pout.

"One of the guys who works for me," he sighs, glancing at her.

He's slightly surprised at how bored she looks - she looks half asleep, her palm resting against her cheek.

"Are you okay?" He asks, slightly wary of the way her face is drooping.

"I'm bored," she groans, rolling onto her back and splaying her arms out.

There's a knock on the door, and a doctor pokes his head in, smiling at Avery.

"Hello, Alpha, I'm here to double-check your blood pressure and your face," he nods, and Avery shrugs, beckoning him into the room.

The doctor hesitantly walks in, taking small steps as he walks further in.

His eyes dart between Avery and Hayden, his eyebrows furrowing.

"Alpha, do you want me to excuse this man?" He asks nervously, and Avery shakes her head.

"He can stay if he would like," she sighs, glancing at Hayden.

"I'm on your security detail, so I think I'll have to stay," he states grimly, his dark eyes following the doctor as he moves across the room.

Avery raises her eyebrows and suddenly realises that's why Hayden was there when she woke up.

"Did Byron send you?" She asks as the doctor peers at her cheek, looking over his shoulder to Hayden.

"No, we split up, and I decided to stay near you. I'm the one who carried you here, after all," he drawls, standing up and moving to stand behind the doctor with his arms folded.

"A-Alpha, could you make him take a step back, please?" The doctor whispers, and Avery sighs and gives Hayden a look.

Hayden takes a step back, his arms still folded and his face set like stone.

"What are you doing?" Avery asks as the doctor swabs her cheek carefully.

"I couldn't get any samples earlier; we just wanted to get the bleeding to stop. It's stopped now, so we're taking everything we need," he informs her, and she raises an eyebrow.

"What do you need samples for?" She inquires curiously, and the doctor laughs awkwardly.

"We need to figure out why this hasn't healed properly," he coughs, and her eyes widen.

"What do you mean it hasn't healed properly?" She grits out, pulling up the camera on her phone.

She makes a note of the deep gash decorating her left cheek, and she groans, squinting at it irritably.

"When will it heal?" She snarls, moving her mouth and watching the skin stretch with it.

"Um, we aren't sure," the doctor stutters and Avery scowls.

"When will you know?" She barks, standing up from the bed.

Hayden bolts to her side and makes sure she doesn't fall.

She's thankful he hurried over, because her body felt weak.

"When we get the results back," the doctor hurriedly gets out, "we need to figure out what metal was used."

"Then find out," she snarls, and the doctor practically sprints from the room.

"Calm down, it'll be okay," Hayden soothes, and Avery pushes him away, sitting back onto the bed.

"What's wrong?" He asks, and she grits her teeth.

"I don't want a scar," she hisses, and Sonya agrees.

It would really screw with everything, she mutters.

"You have plenty, one more won't hurt," Hayden sighs, rolling his eyes a little as he returns to his chair.

"Yeah, you'll notice that I don't have any on my face," she snaps, scowling as she peers into her phone camera again.

Hayden sighs, frowning as he looks over at her.

"Stop looking at it, you'll make yourself feel worse," he mutters, getting up and putting a fresh bandage on her cheek.

"I don't feel bad about it, I just hate it," she grunts, brushing her hair back and forcing it back into a ponytail.

The ponytail and the open-backed hospital gown expose her brand, and Hayden can't help but stare at it.

Avery looks at him irritably and knows precisely what he's looking at.

The circles are hypnotising, and almost impossible to hide with other tattoos because of their ink.

"Stop it, you can Google it if you want to see a picture of it," she scowls, snatching her clothes up from the chair next to the attached bathroom and storming into it.

She clambered into her jumper and a skirt her mother must have dropped off.

The Wilcotts were used to their eldest daughter ending up in a hospital bed, so the worry had long dispersed.

Fixing her hair and patting down the bandage, she stomps out of the bathroom and scowls at Hayden again.

"I'm ready to go," she mutters, grabbing her phone and stepping into her shoes.

"Take it slow, you've had a busy day," he sighs, getting up and grabbing his jacket.

"It's raining, so don't be shocked by that," he mutters, opening the door and walking out first to check the hallway.

Once he's satisfied, he lets her out too.

He's treating us like a child, Avery growls.

He's watching out for us, accept the help. You're useless right now, and I'm using my energy for our face. Let him worry about sniffing everyone else out, Sonya warns her.

I'm not letting him do it all day, Avery warns grudgingly.

You'll let him do whatever he says until we're back in proper condition, Sonya grunts.

Avery inhales angrily, blocking her wolf out and following Hayden silently.

He's slightly surprised at her lack of arguing, but he doesn't question it - it's nice to have some silence for once, he's been surrounded by people who like to talk all day.

His wolf is on edge, probably because they're in the hospital. He hates hospitals, because they never bring good news for him - his mate died in one, and his son has been in one for almost two years.

This reminds him of a question he meant to ask this morning.

"Do you know when Tobias will be here?" He asks quietly, looking down the hall and away from her.

Avery twitches, pulling out her phone and checking her emails before she answers.

She clicks into a message from his former pack and lets out a little hum of satisfaction.

"He's being airlifted here tonight, so he should arrive here tomorrow morning. You won't be able to see him until they get him settled and run their tests, so it'll be tomorrow night by the time you can be with your son," Avery announces after two minutes of unnerving silence.

Hayden takes a minute to process this.

He hadn't seen his son in over a year.

His former Alpha had refused to let him onto pack territory once he went on the hunt for his son's attacker.

It was understandable, but he had only been sent text updates and pictures by friends he had left in the pack.

His cousin video called him whenever she was with Toby, so he at least knew his son was relatively safe. His family were there, and they had refused many times to let any medical changes happen without Hayden.

His son had grown up so much in just a year, and he couldn't believe it.

He couldn't wait to hold his son, and he clenched his jaw in an attempt not to let his tears fall.

"Thank you, Alpha Wilcott," he whispers, and Avery simply nods.

"Of course, you get rewarded for helping," she justifies it, and he stops walking.

He pulls her into a hug, and she doesn't know what to do.

Hug him back, Sonya urges, and Avery grimaces.

She awkwardly pats his back, letting him squeeze her.

He pulls back and clears his throat, nodding to her.

"I'm sorry about that," he announces, and she nods in confusion.

There's an awkward silence as he leads her into the hospital lobby, his hand resting on her upper back for security and reassurance.

He leads her towards the exit, but she shakes her head, pulling him towards the elevator.

"We're going to see Zephyr and Lilith," she mumbles, her face set in a firm frown.

"Of course, why didn't I think of that," he mutters sarcastically, jamming on the button for the doors.

As soon as the door opens, Hayden shoos her into the small box, closing the door as soon as they enter it.

He can see somebody walking towards the doors as he's closing them, and he slams on the button again.

Avery eyes him cautiously, making a note of his anxiousness and eagerness to get the doors closed.

"Relax, it's probably just a doctor," she mutters, watching him get more and more agitated as the doors won't close.

They eventually do, and he still isn't calm, much to her confusion.

"What floor?" He asks, and she recalls the plans on the wall.

"Six," she finally, nodding confidently.

It opens on the lab floor, and Avery sighs.

"I was wrong, seven," she mutters, and Hayden rolls his eyes as he presses the correct button.

They finally arrive on the right floor, and Avery can hear Lilith immediately.

It sounds like she's shouting at somebody, and Avery follows the noise to a conference room.

Zephyr is sitting in silence, staring straight ahead of him blankly.

Lilith is about to hit a doctor until Avery gets in between them, grabbing her fists and pulling her to her chest.

"How is he?" She whispers, and Lilith starts sobbing.

"They don't know if he'll survive overnight," she gasps, her body wracking with her cries.

Avery curses softly, squeezing Lilith gently before she lowers her into a chair.

"It's okay, it's alright, he's strong," Avery murmurs into her ear, and she glances over to Zephyr while she strokes Lilith's hair.

He's completely still, staring at the wall blankly.

Avery's heart squeezes for him.

He barely seems to know what's going on.

This is a filler, I really didn't like writing this one.
A reminder that Zephyr has never fit the stereotypical Alpha Male character, so his reaction shouldn't be compared to a more 'macho' Alphas.
Just over a month ago, this book hit 1K reads, and now we're on 15K - this is really cool to me!!
Have a good day!!
- Aoife :) xx