The Alpha’s Curvy Cinderella - Chapter 99: Chapter 99

Alpha Blaze POV
I was angry with myself as I strode through the hospital. Not at Thomas, not at Jordan. Myself. Why hadn’t I seen that Stefanie was screaming out for help? Why had I ignored her and treated her so coldly? Because she had been nothing but a b***h to my mate, I reminded myself, but that didn’t mean I had to sink to her level and treat her with the same amount of contempt. I was older and should know better. She was younger than me, more immature. She needed guidance, patience, and well, an extraordinarily large amount of understanding. I cursed. I was a horrible older brother. I had been so wrapped up in my relationship with Jordan that I hadn’t seen Stefanie’s spiral into depression. I would have to take more interest in my sister and show her more kindness and caring. Be more understanding of her needs, I mused. It sounded so simple, at least in my mind, but in practice, it was so difficult, especially since she was so damn stubborn and thrived on conflict. I didn’t even know why she disliked Jordan so much, except that I suspected it had to do with the fact that she was curvier than most wolves, which I personally adored, or the fact she was wolfless which had proven to be of no consequence now that it had been proven that Jordan, did in fact, possess one.
As I approached her room I sucked in a breath. She looked so delicate and so vulnerable. She was lying in the hospital bed, clad in a hospital gown, frail-looking, her pallor so white it was almost translucent. Her hair was matted, and splayed across the pillow carelessly, unlike her usual carefully made-up hairdo. She wore no makeup, her face completely natural and she had huge dark circles under her eyes. Her wrists were heavily bandaged, a testament to how deep she had cut herself, for had it been nearer to the surface, her wolf would have healed her by now or before it had become serious enough to have needed the hospital in the first place. She was also thin, incredibly so. I frowned. Had she been starving herself as well on top of everything else? Was I completely oblivious to everything that had been going on?
I walked inside the room quietly. Her head slowly turned to view me, her eyes dull and blank. I swallowed hard. She flattened her lips, looking anything but pleased to see me. It stung, even though it was no less than what I deserved.
“Stefanie,” I said softly, putting the flowers I had grabbed from the gift store on the bedside table beside her “Sweetheart, how are you feeling?” I asked.
She didn’t answer. I took a deep breath. I was trying to contain all my anger. Her eyes slid away. So, she was going to try and give me the silent treatment then. Great. f*****g fantastic. I tried not to seethe, reminding myself she was going through something and that I needed to help her through it, not judge her. I was there to help her, not make it worse.
The doctor walked in, scribbling away on her clipboard. “Stefanie,” she said pleasantly, looking over the top of the clipboard “how are your wounds feeling love?”
Stefanie didn’t answer. The doctor didn’t look fazed. Instead, she strode over, grabbed one of my sister’s wrists, and gently peeled back the bandage. She then peeled it completely off and did the same to the other one. There were large ugly red scars on both of them, which had knitted together and were in the process of healing. The doctor, a friendly-looking woman, looked pleased as she examined them. “The wounds are coming along nicely” she commented “You are very lucky. You could have died you know,” she said grimly, eyeing Stefanie who just stared at her dumbly “As it is are you still having thoughts of suicide? We need to know.”
I grew exasperated with Stefanie’s silence. She wasn’t answering me, fine, I could live with that and her misguided anger, but to not answer the doctor’s question? I wasn’t having it.
“Answer the question” I roared, making Stefanie jump and the doctor flinch “Or I swear I’ll have them put you under 24/7 supervision to be on the safe side. Which would you prefer?” I snarled, my temper fraying completely.
Finally, she spoke “No I’m not having any suicidal thoughts,” she said testily, glaring at me as the doctor nodded “Are you happy now?” she asked me sarcastically.
I blew up. “Am I happy that you tried to commit suicide? No, I’m bloody not” I shouted, beside myself as the doctor subtly backed away into a corner “What on earth were you thinking? You could have died, you imbecile! Nothing is worth killing yourself over. You could have come to me and I would have helped you” I yelled.
“No I couldn’t” she screamed back, bolting upright, her eyes narrowed as she looked at me with rage “You were so busy with your precious mate, that you didn’t even care to know about my existence. You wanted me gone, admit it” she accused, in a voice so full of pain and hurt that it felt like a ton of daggers stabbing me in the heart.
“That’s not true” I denied, although she was right.
I had thought it would be better for everyone if she was gone from the pack house. Especially with the way she had treated Jordan and confronted her. I had wanted to protect my mate from my antagonistic sister and it had backfired, badly. Now I was looking at the consequences of my negligence.
“It is true” Stefanie hissed, her voice dripping with venom, her lower lip trembling “Ever since Jordan came into your life, she’s all you’ve had time for. It’s like nobody else exists. It’s Jordan this, Jordan that. Not to mention the baby she’s carrying. You don’t care about me, you just think I’m a burden” she cried pathetically.
The doctor looked at me sympathetically. I gritted my teeth. My sister was acting extremely emotional but I guessed that was to be expected. Wasn’t it healthy for her to express herself in this way? I was at a loss as to how to respond though. Was this merely jealousy or something more? Didn’t she understand that a mate bond was sacred? That there was no denying it? I could no more push Jordan away than I could live without her. But I had been ignoring Stefanie in the meantime and that was also unforgivable. I needed to find a proper balance between the two.
I quietly sat on the chair beside the bed and gave a long sigh. Stefanie fidgeted with the bedsheets. The doctor looked at her blood pressure and pulse, writing them down on the clipboard.
“I’ll come in and check on you later Stefanie,” she said gently “You’ll have to pass a psychological evaluation before we can discharge you and allow you to go home.”
Stefanie just nodded quietly, looking tired all of a sudden, like all the energy had been sucked out of her completely.
I ran a hand through my hair in frustration, waiting for the doctor to quietly leave the room, glancing around the room and willing my heartbeat to go back to normal.
“Stefanie I know we’ve had our differences but I would have helped you if you came to me. I never in a million years would have wanted you to feel this way. I didn’t want to ignore you, but with the hostility between you and my mate, I guess I felt it was better not to interfere. I apologize” I said cordially “Maybe when you come home, we could all sit down at the table and have a civil discussion on how we could move forward, without being confrontational with each other?” I suggested hopefully.
She pouted. “You let her send my best friend away. Do you know how lonely I’ve been since Chelsea’s been gone” she cried.
“She had every right to do that after you and she made comments about me marrying her,” I said delicately “You must remember that Jordan is going to be Luna and while you are my sister and I love you, you do have to show her the respect she deserves.”
She bit her lip looking angry. “She hasn’t shown me any respect” she snapped petulantly “so why should I show her any.” I closed my eyes. God this was going to be a long day. It felt like a balancing act, one wrong move and she was going to use it against me, I could tell. “Look, I don’t want to argue,” I told her quietly “I think we all need to make some compromises. At the end of the day you are family and that means a lot. I might not have shown it but you do mean everything to me” I told her as she gave me a small smile “I want you and my mate to get along. Not to mention you are going to be the aunt to my child” I added “I want my daughter to have a relationship with her aunt.”
She smiled a little wider. I was encouraged. At least she wasn’t yelling or screaming anymore.
“Thomas is really worried about you, you know,” I said lightly as she scowled “Finding you like that really has messed with his head.”
The poor bastard thought it was his fault that she had done this.
“Oh” she whispered, looking a little ashamed “I didn’t think about that. Is he okay?” she asked.
“He’ll be fine. He’s more worried about you” I said easily and she looked stunned by that admission.
“I thought he would have been glad. Doesn’t he hate me?” she asked weakly.
“Hate you” I repeated raising an eyebrow, completely mystified “Why would he hate you? Sure he’s a little unkind towards you but that’s because you are unkind to others. He considers you as a sister” I explained “and he was devastated to find you last night.”
She bit her lip. I was giving her some things to seriously consider. I leaned back in the chair and put my arms over my head, stretching. My back cracked several times and she giggled slightly.
“You’re getting old” she teased and I swatted at her playfully.
“Hey,” I said protesting “I’m not that old. I’m only twenty five” I added in dismay. Old indeed.
She laughed.
I sighed. I glanced at the time. I raised an eyebrow. While it hadn’t been an extraordinarily long amount of time, I was a little surprised that Jordan hadn’t come past yet. Maybe she was making sure that Stefanie and I had time to discuss everything first. She had said she would catch up later I thought to myself, but it wasn’t like her to take this much time. I shuffled restlessly in my seat. Lucifer was also slightly worried by the lateness of our mate. There was no placating him.
I mind-linked Thomas
Thomas, is Jordan still getting ready at the house? I don’t want to disturb her if she is. I’m just surprised she’s taking this long that’s all. It’s not like her to be so late.
You mean she’s not there at the hospital Thomas asked me concerned she left over an hour ago. She should have made it there ages ago. She was going to let me know how Stefanie was.
I frantically tried to mind-link my mate but I couldn’t reach her. I felt a sense of foreboding. Something was very, very wrong.
She’s not answering and she’s not here. Something must have happened before she got here. Get some warriors and start looking! She couldn’t have gotten far. I’ll join you all in a minute. We need to find out what happened to my mate! Quickly! On it Thomas said and hastily shut the mind-link off, sensing the urgency of the situation.
I began to rise out of the chair, my chest tightening. Stefanie glanced at me “What’s wrong?” she asked, “you were talking to someone, I could see you mind-linking.”
“It’s Jordan” I answered, getting to my feet and kissing her hurriedly on the cheek “She never made it to the hospital, I’m sorry but I need to go. I’ll be back as quickly as I can.”
I turned and ran out the door, never seeing the flash of triumph on Stefanie’s face as I did so, or else I might have realized exactly what had happened to my precious mate. But I only ever saw what I wanted to see and I never would have dreamed that someone so close to me, my own flesh and blood, could have been responsible for something so reprehensible as to cause harm to my mate.