I open my eyes, groggily and rub my hands over my face. I roll my head to the left and I am instantly greeted by a beautiful bouquet of red roses in a white vase that I've ever seen.

Grayson.

I've never been given roses before.

I smile and yawn before sitting up and grabbing a drink of water.

God, I'm thirsty. I proceed to down the whole glass in a matter of seconds before placing the glass neatly back on the table.

Aww man, now I have to pee.

I decide that I should probably try to do this myself rather than having Teresa help me. I fling my legs out of the bed and step down onto the cold floor, wincing slightly at the temperature shock.

Shakily, I take a step, pleasantly surprised at the fact that I have enough strength to walk. I continue to take a few steps but suddenly find myself on the floor.

Okay, so maybe I'm not as strong yet as I thought.

Teresa must've been on her way to check on me as she rushes in and helps me up and into the bathroom. She leaves to let me use the toilet before coming back in and beginning to run a bath for me.

"How are you feeling this morning Acacia?"

"Tired. My ribs are still really sore."

"Understandable. Ribs are horrible bones to try and heal as there isn't much we can do except give you pain medication and hope they heal without complication."

"I see. So I'm supposed to be going home today aren't I?"

"Yes, love. That's the plan."

"Did you ask Grayson if I can live with you instead?"

"I did. He said that if you really didn't want to live with him, you could live with me for a bit and I would love for you to live with me. However, I don't know if it's the safest option for you, Acacia."

"What do you mean?"

"Well for starters, I spend a lot of my time here, looking after patients so I wouldn't be home very often."

"That's okay. I could just spend my time in the library until you finish for the day."

"I know you could. But what happens when I'm not home and something happens? Say someone attacks our pack, you'd be all alone and if we are talking about you in your current state of health, you wouldn't be able to keep yourself safe"

"So what are you trying to say?"

"I'm just trying to say maybe you should try living with Alpha Grayson, Acacia. I know you don't want to and I know it's going to be hard but right now, he's going to be the one that can keep you the safest. Especially while you are still healing."

I look at her for a moment before looking down at my hands.

She's probably right. Not that I want her to be.

"You don't have to decide now, but please consider it" she continues with a small smile.

I nod and she proceeds to help me to have a bath. She shampoos and conditions my hair, brushing the knots out as she goes. Eventually, we finish up and she helps me change into some clean clothes before we head back into the room to find a very handsome-looking Grayson waiting for us, a smile painted on his face.

Ugh, he's so beautiful. Like a sexy walking god. My wolf stirs within me and I smile.

Hopefully, I will get to talk to my wolf soon. Teresa helps me to sit on the bed before walking out of the room, leaving Grayson and I alone together.

"Good morning, Acacia" he signs with a small smile. He goes to sit down but instead stays standing a metre or so away from me.

"Good morning," I sign with a nervous smile. My smile quickly turns to a frown. Why is he still standing? I want him to come closer. Is he scared of me?

"Is everything okay?" he signs with a curious look on his face, raising an eyebrow at me.

"Why haven't you come to sit down?" I ask, the frown still present on my face.

"Because I didn't know whether you would want me to or not" he signs back, the smile disappearing from his beautiful lips.

Man, kissing those lips would be nice. I snap out of it and look back at him.

"You can sit down," I sign nervously. He nods and sits down on the seat next to my bed.

"Thank you for the flowers, Grayson" I sign with a small smile.

"They're really beautiful. I've never been given flowers before."

"You're welcome" he signs smiling. We sit there for a moment, silently watching each other, his grey eyes shining back at me.

"I'm coming to live with you now, right?" I ask nervously.

"Only if you want to. If you don't, you can go live with Teresa" he signs with a sad smile.

Do I want to live with Alpha Grayson? I mean, he's given me the option not to. I could live with Teresa until I'm strong enough and then maybe I could live by myself. Teresa's words burn in the back of my mind. I hate that she might be right, at least about the safety thing.

Suddenly, a sharp pain shoots through my chest and I know it's my wolf. She doesn't like that idea. She wants to live with Grayson.

I notice Grayson winces slightly and I'm guessing he felt it too. Stupid mate bond. I don't want to cause him pain. He doesn't deserve that.

"I'll live with you" I sign nervously. He nods and smiles before his eyes cloud over.

Suddenly Teresa walks back into the room smiling.

"Let's get you ready to go then" she signs, grinning at me. "But first, I need you to take a blood test."

"I thought you did a blood panel when she first got here?" Grayson signs, raising his eyebrow again.

"I did. But I was thinking about why you're not healing as fast as you should be, Acacia, and why you can't talk to your wolf. It's not something we usually test for when we do a blood panel but if my hunch is correct, then I think I know why you're not healing well" she continues as she walks over to the cabinet on the wall and pulls out a box.

She walks back over to me and puts the tourniquet on my arm. She then inserts the needle and draws my blood into a vial before removing the needle and tourniquet, and applying pressure to the wound for a moment. She then carefully places a plaster on my arm and leaves the room.

I lie back in my bed and close my eyes, feeling slightly light-headed. I feel Grayson touch my hand and I open my eyes and turn my head to look at him.

He hands me a glass of water and I take it eagerly. He watches me with a smile on his face as I down the glass.

"Feel better?" he signs, smirking as he takes the glass from me. I nod and smile before looking down at my arm.

A small bruise is already forming and I groan at the sight of it. Teresa walks back in with a confident look on her face.

"I was right" she signs, happily.

"Okay?" I sign, confused.

"How often were you given wolfsbane Acacia?" she asks carefully.

I grimace as memories flash past my mind. I'd completely forgotten about the injections.

"I had a scheduled dose each day" I sign back weakly, sucking in a deep breath as I try not to let the visions take over.

"Where and how much?"

"10ml into my neck" I sign as I turn around and push my hair away from my neck to show her the faint bruise and the million little puncture wounds.

"Okay. Because the reason you aren't healing fast and you can't talk to your wolf is that you've still got wolfsbane running through your bloodstream" she signs, frowning.

"They gave you the wolfsbane on purpose, didn't they? Didn't want you to be able to communicate with anyone?"

"I believe so. From the day they kidnapped me to the day I escaped, they gave me wolfsbane injections. At first, I didn't know what it was but I figured it out pretty quickly as I got older."

"I'm sorry, Acacia. At least they never gave you enough to kill you."

I nod and watch as she walks over to a cabinet and pulls out a small pill bottle before walking back over to me.

"These pills are a wolfsbane antidote. I need you to take one of these every night along with your other medication. It will help to clear the wolfsbane from your blood and hopefully mean you start to heal faster and mean your wolf will start to talk to you."

"Thank you, Teresa" I sign with a small nod, smiling as I take the pill bottle from her hand and put it in the small box containing my other medications.

"Grayson's little sister is going shopping for clothes for you today so you will have something to wear. Hopefully, you will like what she gets you. Please try to stick to the eating plan I set out for you and I will need you to come to see me in the next couple of days for a checkup" she continues, smiling at me before looking over at Grayson.

I watch as she starts talking to Grayson for a couple of minutes before turning back to look at me.

"Looks like you're ready to go hun" she signs, grinning. I nod nervously before looking over at Grayson for a moment who gives me a small smile.

"I'll bring the flowers over to your house later" Teresa signs before giving me a hug goodbye and walking out of the room.

I turn around and watch Grayson carefully. He seems nervous.

"Do you want to try walking to the house?" he signs cautiously. I nod, pick up my medicine kit and start to walk across the room when my legs decide to give out again.

However, before I can hit the ground, I find myself in Grayson's arms. He looks at me with a worried expression before walking over and setting me back down on the bed.

"I take back what I said, I'm not letting you walk yet" he signs, with lips pressed into a thin line.

"So how do we get to your house then?" I ask nervously.

"I can carry you? If that's okay with you. I mean, you can take a wheelchair, I just know they can be uncomfortable and I want you to be comfortable so carrying you would be easier and plus, it would mean we get to the house faster" he signs with a nervous smile.

"I guess you can carry me" I sign, a small smile back and before I know it, I'm back in the warmth of his arms and off to the house that I am now going to be calling home.

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Hey Guys,

I hope you enjoyed this newly edited chapter!! This is technically a new chapter to the book, however, it is actually a continuation of what was originally in the previous chapter.

Thanks, for sticking by me through all this and feel free to leave me a comment below letting me know whether you liked this chapter!!

If you feel so inclined, go follow me on my Instagram account @allamy_duffell for a look into my life outside of writing!

Love,

Allamy xx