cloud

The first thing I heard when I woke up with the beeping sound of a monitor.

A groan escapes me as I try to sit up. I wince when the throbbing in my head becomes much stronger. The light shines through the windows which let me know that it's no longer nighttime. So how long have I been here?

"You're finally awake."

I turn my head to the side and see Gray's Beta and Gamma sitting in chairs beside the bed. Gaius appears to still be half asleep while Foster is completely awake and just staring at me. A shiver runs through me and I glare at him.

"Can you stop staring like a fucking creep?" I say with a scowl.

Foster's brows furrow in confusion, but I ignore him. Growing up, he would always do that— stare at people as if he could see into them and I always hated being on the receiving end.

"How are you feeling?" He asks instead as he nudges Gaius.

When he says this, I become aware of the bandages that cover my body. Some are worse than others, but the ones on my sides where the wolf's claws dug into my skin and my head seem to have taken the brunt of it.

"Where's Gray?" I ask instead.

"He'll be back soon. He needed to go check on Layne, but I've linked him to let him know you're awake," Gaius says as he stretches his muscles.

As he does so, I manage to catch a glimpse of the mark that sits near his collarbone and frown. I had heard the story of Gaius' mate, but even now it still sounded surreal to me. Not only had one of them gone feral, but they both did and managed to come back without any physical side effects to their wolves.

I had only met Onyx less than a handful of times. It was hard for me to believe that he was one of Dexter and Michael's experiments. Every time I saw him, he was smiling or laughing. It didn't make sense to me how he could just brush off what had happened so easily.

The sound of the door opening pulls me from my thoughts and Gray enters the room. His eyes trace over my body before they meet my own. A frown forms on his face and I see a mixture of emotions flash through his eyes. He turns away from me and looks at Gaius and Foster.

"Can you give us the room?" He asks them.

The three all stare at each other for a minute, seeming to be talking through their link before Gaius and Foster stand up.

"Get well soon, Cloud," Gaius says with a smile.

Once they leave the room Gray's eyes return to me and he moves to take one of the free seats. The room falls silent once he sits down and neither one of us move to say anything.

While we sit there, I take in Gray's form. His black hair is a mess as it sticks up in different directions, he has slight bags underneath his eyes that show just how tired he is, and his shirt is wrinkled which tells me he practically threw it on.

Gray breaks the silence by letting out a sigh. His head drops into the palms of his hands before he looks at me once again.

"What were you thinking, Cloud?" The words are quiet, there's no anger in his tone just confusion and tiredness. "I specifically told you multiple times to not leave at night and you do it anyway."

"It's not like I was planning to find a rogue, especially a feral one at that," I tell him.

"But you knew it could happen. You knew there was a possibility you could get hurt and yet, you willingly put yourself in that situation. You put my daughter, your niece, in danger."

There's a sharpness to his words now.

"You act like I meant to bring her along with me, I didn't know that she was following—"

"You knew she was awake and didn't bother to lock the door. You shouldn't have been out there in the beginning, Cloud!" Gray scolds.

I shoot him a glare and he returns it with one of his own.

"When I had you come stay with us, this wasn't what I had in mind," he shook his head.

"You've done the same damn thing, Gray. Don't act like you're any better."

His eyes narrow. "I never said I was any better. Believe me when I say I've fucked up many times in my life, but there are differences between me leaving and you," he says. "The first is, I was able to shift. I was able to protect myself in some ways. The second is, I never ventured out toward the pack woods. I always stayed within pack lands and away from the border. Lastly, I went out of my way to make sure you weren't following me and to keep you out of harm's way."

I roll my eyes at that. "Layne's perfectly fine."

Gray's jaw clenches. "She's not perfectly fine. She's been screaming for hours because she was worried about you, she's having nightmares about the fucking rogue she saw. Believe it or not, but she actually looks up to you and if you can't get your shit together, then I can't let you stay with us."

"What?" I ask in disbelief.

"This can't happen again, Cloud. You're my brother and Layne? That's my baby, Cloud. So now the choice is up to you. Give therapy a shot and try to get better or you can stay somewhere else."

"I don't need therapy!" I tell him.

Gray raises an eyebrow. "You had a whole episode when you were first brought to the hospital. You've been through a lot—"

"I don't need fucking therapy!" I repeat.

Gray frowns and tries to reach for me, but I slap his hand away. He looks at me and sighs before standing up.

"You'll be discharged in a few days. I'm going to go get you some clothes, think it over when you've calmed down."

With that, Gray leaves the room. My glare follows him and even when he's gone, I still glare at the door. In a way, I should be happy about not having to live with Gray, but it's different now.

In the time that I've been here, Gray's always been on my ass about things. I never thought he'd try to kick me out or give me an ultimatum.

Take therapy or get out.

I don't need therapy. I don't want to sit in a room with a fucking stranger and tell them everything that's wrong with me.

My jaw clenches at the thought.

Closing my eyes, I take a deep breath and shake my head. Gray won't kick me out. He's just bluffing.