Chapter 5: I Will Take Her

Time moves impossibly slowly as we rush through the highway and the sun begins to peek over the horizon. It's probably been only twenty minutes, but it feels like an eternity.

The bleeding in Thomas' arms has stopped, but his wound is still open, and his breathing is almost imperceptible.

I place a hand on his forehead. He's deathly cold. 

In the distance, I can see the city skyline propping up against the vastness of the surrounding forest. We aren't so far out after all. 

"There's a hospital near the entrance to the city. Can't we just go there?" I plead with Alexei, who has been silent until now. 

"We don't go to human doctors." Alexei swerves to catch an exit, leading away from the city and away from any hope he'd listen to me. 

A few minutes later, we're at a port of sorts, and two men open a gate just in time for the car to speed through.

"Where are we going?" I ask, not understanding the situation. 

"We're taking a boat."

Calling the thing we board a boat is a severe understatement. It's more like a big motorized kayak, and Alexei props Thomas down on one of the seats. I hold on to his back as we rush through rough waters.

I am so confused and terrified, though I hate to admit it. I don't like water, and for a second, I'm afraid that Alexei is just taking us out to sea to dump our bodies there so no one will find us. 

But a few moments later, we enter a path through some wetlands. It's a mangrove maze, and I have no idea how he knows where we're going. Soon enough, a dock of sorts comes into view, and Alexei stops the boat. 

Farther behind, there's a guard post, and men rush toward us.

"Take him to Giselle," Alexei says, stepping onto the dock, and making the boat wobble. I hold on to Thomas' inert body while trying not to fall off myself.

The men roughly pick him up and they carry him quickly away from sight behind the trees while I struggle to get out of the boat and run after them. When my bare, sore feet hit the pavement, they almost sizzle. It's burning hot.

"Woah, woah, woah, you aren't going anywhere," Alexei cries out behind me. He's busy tying up the boat to the dock. "I will take you to the clinic. Wait."

I step back onto the wooden pier and stop to take a look at this place. Down the pavement path, there's a tall chain-link fence 

It's like a fortress hidden in the middle of wetlands. 

"Cover your eyes," he says, handing me a dark piece of fabric. "And get on."

He opens the garage door next to the guard post and gets on a motorcycle. The engine rushes to life, and he turns it toward me. 

"Come on!" he yells, and I step up behind him. I don't like the proximity of his bare chest against my shirt, but I grab onto him, anyway. "And put on that damned mask if you don't want me to toss you into the water."

I place it on my head, but I lower it a bit. Alexei glances back and seems satisfied with what I did, so he accelerates. 

I can't believe my eyes once we fully enter what seems to be an enormous compound. There are cozy-looking homes with perfectly tended front yards and paved streets. 

We even pass by a group of children playing basketball on the sidewalk.

What is this place?

We then make it to an enormous clinic and I quickly move the mask up before Alexei is off the motorcycle. I hear someone's footsteps approach us.

"Honey, do you need care, too?" It's a woman's voice, and I assume she's talking to me, though she says nothing about the black thing on my face. 

"I..."

"Yes, she has a few cuts," Alexei says. "Take her to a secure wing."

The woman gently grabs me by the arm and starts guiding me. 

"We should get you a chair. Don't want to step on the dirty clinic's floors like that." 

"Where is Thomas?" I cut in, as the cool air conditioner greets me when some doors close to us open. 

"Beta Tommy is with Healer Giselle. He will recover," the woman says.

Beta Tommy?

As in beta to Alpha Maximilian Thorn? 

"Liz, shut it," Alexei growls from nearby. "What part of secure didn't you get?"

"You don't get to boss me around in the clinic, mister. You shut it," Liz says, and in an instant, I feel her gently pushing me back.

"Sit," she says, as I realize there's a wheelchair behind me. "We'll get you patched up in no time."

She wheels me for a few seconds, greeting other people as we move. Then she comes to an abrupt stop, and even with my eyes covered, I know who's in her way. I don't know if it's his scent or just a change of tension in the air, but I know it's him.

"I will take her," Maximilian's deep voice says. 

"Alpha, sir, Alexei said..." I feel Liz letting go of the chair's handles. "I'm taking her to the secure wing."

"Thank you, Liz." 

I hear Maximilian step closer and roughly start moving the wheelchair behind me. 

He startles me by placing his mouth really close to my ear.

"You shouldn't be here..." he whispers. 

"Thomas is-"

"Tommy is fine," he says, cutting me off. "And I'm very curious as to how you know him." 

So Thomas, or Tommy as he seems to be what they call him here, hadn't told Maximilian anything about me. Or is this just a trick to get me to reveal something? 

We start descending, and I begin to dread what their secure place is.

"You can take the cover off," he says, and I comply. 

There's a long hallway and doors to the side. He wheels me into a windowless room and I freeze. 

The bed has manacles for hands and legs, and curved edges everywhere... just like the mental institution my father confined me to a few years ago. 

My heart begins to race and my breathing becomes labored. 

Maximilian stands over me, a frown on his face. 

"Are you OK?" he asks, but I can't hear him. I realize I'm having a panic attack, even though my rational side tells me this is not the same place. This is just so I don't see other people. Just to keep me safe. Anything but tied up to a bed...

"Helena?!" He kneels and looks into my eyes. But my labored breathing doesn't stop and there's nothing I can do to stop it. 

I begin to choke for air, and Maximilian rushes out of the room, calling people. There's a flurry of people coming in and they move me to the bed, which sends me heaving even more.

Maximilian grabs my face and comes very near.

"You are safe here, Helena. Nothing is going to happen to you. You are safe," he repeats these words, but my body is shaking uncontrollably. 

I barely feel someone pinch me, and my spasms begin to slow down. My vision fades away, and I finally relax, hearing the doctors and nurses murmur around me.

At one point they start moving the bed, and we're going up again. They make a big fuss about closing all the curtains when they haul me into a room above ground. 

I drift in and out of sleep, and every time I wake up, Maximilian is still there, standing at the foot of the bed. 

I try to keep my eyes open. Gone is the concerned man who had been trying to calm me down just moments ago.

It's been a while since I've had a panic attack, and now that I'm sedated, I wish he would just go away. I want to see Thomas, but I can't bring myself to tell him that.

He looks angry or disappointed, or both.

"I don't know what happened to you down there," he says. "But if you don't want to end up in a place like that..."

The door opens and in walks Thomas, his arm in a sling and the other one dragging an IV pole. Maximilian glares at him.

I'm struggling to keep my eyes open.

"Max..." Thomas closes the door. 

"Aren't you supposed to be recovering from nearly dying?" Maximilian eyes us both suspiciously. 

"A nurse said she had a panic attack..." Thomas looks torn between staying close to the door and coming over to my bed.

"I'm OK," I croak. 

Maximilian takes a seat on the bench near the window.

"Well, since the two of you are here, why don't you begin to explain what the fuck is going on?"