Chapter 545

| hate it when Lily walks out of my room. A part of me worries that she wouldn’t come back. | laid all my cards on the table. | have to hope that it’s enough for her to give me a chance to prove that she’s the only woman for me.

Not long after she leaves. Alpha Patrick comes in.

“Clint, | was happy to hear that you awakened earlier today.”

“Good afternoon, Patrick. It was good to wake up and have Lily at my side.”

“She didn’t leave you. She’s the one that carried you from the battlefield to the hospital.”

That’s news to me. | know she’s strong but I’m nearly a foot taller than her. “How did she manage that?”

“Have you looked at your feet?” He asks, raising an eyebrow.

| pull the sheets off and see that, indeed, my feet look like they’ve been drug through the mud. | chuckle before pulling the sheets back over me and shrugging. | don’t care. I'd get shot with wolfsbane every day if that’s what it takes for Lily to stop pushing me away.

“Have you spoken to her yet?” | ask Patrick.

“Not yet she’s been busy watching over you, and I’ve been busy trying to figure out how Alpha Mahli figured out that she’s a Guardian. I’ve been interviewing Aaron but even under Alpha command, he says he didn’t say anything.

I'm shaking my head. “That’s not how it came across to Lily. When she gets back, you need to talk to her.

My food is delivered and it’s not five minutes later that Lily comes back into the room. | hadn’t realized that the tightness in my chest had returned when she left, but it immediately eases when | see her and smell her scent.

Patrick asks Lily to come and talk to him. She looks at me and rather than pulling up a chair, she comes and sits beside me on the bed. | reach out and take her hand, needing her touch.

Lily confirms that Terrance was Alpha Mahli’s Beta then proceeds to tell Patrick about their conversation by the lake. | can see Patrick processing this information and his eyes go unfocused as he mind links someone.

“| might know who it was, but I don’t know how they did it. It’s not someone that would go against an Alpha order or be able to override my command. I'll have to talk to her.”

“I'd like to be there.” Says Lily.

| frown at that. “Why?”

She turns and looks at me. “I’ve always had an uncanny ability to tell if people are lying. I’d like to see if | believe this she—wolf when she explains how it happened.”

Patrick looks from Lily to me and back again. “In light of recent events. I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

I sit up, focusing on Patrick. “Why not?”

He looks at me for a long moment. “Well, if it’s the she—wolf | think it is. Lily,” he looks back at her. “you won't be objective.”

“Who do you think it is?” | ask. There’s only one she-wolf | can think of that he’s referring to.

He holds my gaze. “Anna.”

I start to pull h Ito pull back the blankets. “I’m coming too.”

I can feel Lily tense next to me before standing up. | turn all my focus on her.

“She almost ruined everything between us. | won't have you ina room with her when she could say anything that might impact the tenuous connection we've just re-established. If you're going to be in aroom with her, I’m going to be there, too.”

| turn to Patrick. “Give me 30 minutes and I'll be ready.”

“Clint, you need your rest. You were unconscious less than 12 hours ago.” Lily says to me.

“The doctor hasn't released you yet, Clint.” Patrick says.

“As if that's ever mattered. You and | both know I heal fast.” | say, not even looking at him as | begin to search the room for clothes or something I can put on.

“Don't | have any clothes here?”

“Clint. | don’t think this is a good idea.”

| stop and look at Lily. “If you're going.

I'm going. | only just got you to agree to talk to me again. These last few days have been the worst time of my life, equal to the time | lost my parents. I’m not willing to go through that again, Lily. | told you, you're my mate. You are my future, my everything. Anna is nothing to me and | won't have her coming between us again.”