An Unwavering Promise--Completed

Chapter Eighteen

Alexander’s POV

My mind blanked out for a second as I stared at Brit with my mouth hanging wide open. That couldn’t be right. There was no way that my mate was dead. I’d feel it. Wouldn’t I? I’d know. Our bond would be severed, so therefore, I wouldn’t feel as close of a connection to her. There was still so much I needed to say to her. I needed her to know that I messed up. I needed her to understand why I thought I was doing the right thing. I needed her to hear me out and listen to all of the secrets I’d kept from her. She had to hear the real story about me and Brit and not the fake one we created all those years ago in case this ever happened.

I sighed deeply and shook my head. “She’s not dead,” I stated defiantly.

Brit rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. “Basically, she is. You’ve been out for two days. They only found a handful more survivors. Everyone else, well, everyone else has been classified as dead.”

“Shut the f**k up, b***h,” Hailey seethed as she entered my hospital room. “If he says she isn’t dead, then she isn’t dead. I told you not to enter his room and disturb him. Why are you here?”

I looked between the two women, each glaring at the other. Something had obviously happened between them, but I didn’t really want to get in the middle of it.

“I can see him if I want. He’s my ex, so–”

Hailey cut her off. “You’d better get out of my sight before I ruin that pretty, little face of yours. I don’t care what you were because it doesn’t matter. Alex is with Ella now, and there’s no room for you to be in the picture. Take your fake hair and boob job off to get your nails done and let the adults handle the situation.”

Brit visibly looked frazzled by Hailey’s command, and she stood there with her mouth open for a few moments. I’d never seen Brit speechless before. It was quite comical.

“I’m only trying to help my Alexi,” Brit mumbled, shifting from one foot to another.

“Well, he’s not yours, and he looks fine. Besides, there’s nothing you could offer him that Eleanor hasn’t already fulfilled tenfold. Now, be gone,” Hailey replied, using her hands to make a shoo-ing motion out the door.

Brit gritted her teeth and stomped towards the door. “I’m leaving only for him, but I will be back to see him. You can’t keep me from seeing him.”

“I can do whatever I want,” Hailey retorted, closing the door with a slam behind the other woman.

She then turned towards me and glared. I help up my hands in mock surrender.

“Hey now, I just woke up,” I said defensively.

“You shouldn’t even let that woman be near you.”

“What did she do to you?” I asked, chuckling.

Hailey tossed her hair back and sat down on my bed. “It doesn’t matter. I don’t like her. Where’s Eleanor?”

Her question took me by surprise. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, where is she? Can’t you sense her? Hurry up and get better so that we can go back and find her. I know she’s strong and all, but I don’t know if she can survive a building collapsing.”

“I can’t feel her,” I said, a twinge of guilt panging my heart.

“I don’t understand. How can you not feel her? I’m not even a werewolf, but I can tell you that Xavier’s in this building with me. I can sense him even though I’m not with him. It’s part of the bond.”

“Hailey, I can’t sense her like that. I have no idea where she could be.”

She gaped at me before shaking her head and recovering herself. “That’s…interesting.”

Silence settled over the room. I watched Hailey rub her swollen, pregnant belly and was overcome with emotion. I so badly wanted this for me and Eleanor. I wanted to have pups with her. I wanted to coddle her when pregnant and get into petty fights. I wanted to hold her close and make passionate love until we were too tired to continue. I needed her more than the air I breathed. I would be nothing without her.

Ripping the needles and medical IV’s from my arm, I jumped from the bed. Although I wasn’t technically at 100% healthwise, I felt much better. My leg was healed to the point where I could walk without limping. Doing this brought a smile to Hailey’s lips even as emergency staff ran into the room. My lack of vital signs had sent a panic throughout the hallway.

“I’m leaving,” I stated, walking past the fussing nurses. “I’m discharging myself. Thank you so much.”

The nurses attempted to stop me, of course, but I wasn’t having it and easily evaded their tactics. I didn’t care that I wasn’t dressed properly, and I did notice a few of the ladies blushing, but I continued on. Once Hailey and I made it down to the ground level, Xavier greeted us, holding a set of clothes. I changed in the corner. Decency could be damned for all I cared. Nothing mattered more than finding Eleanor.

The three of us took a cab to a coffee shop near the fallen hotel. There were still crews working and people around the site, so we’d have to be careful. It was while we were pretending to be bystanders that Hailey told me that Berty and Candy were alright. Berty had wanted to avoid the hospital, so he had taken Candy to the house we’d rented and had nursed her to full health. Vampires also healed quite quickly, especially when they had blood. Hailey was also quick to inform me about Dominic. Candy had given her the paired down version of events, which she had, in turn, shared with me. I hated Dominic more than I ever thought possible. I had wondered who the man sitting next to my mate had been when I was stuck in that cage. Eleanor had looked so uncomfortable. But now knowing that he had been constantly hitting on her and telling her that she was his, my blood was boiling. Hailey had warned me that Dominic may have tried to find Eleanor himself and taken her. I prayed to the Moon Goddess that it wouldn’t be true. I needed to find her. I had to know that she was safe, and I wanted to hold her in my arms so badly.

Hailey pulled me out of my deep, dark thoughts when she tugged on my sleeve. Xavier pointed discreetly at an opening, and we snuck into the building. The three of us had chosen to split. Well, me and then Hailey and Xavier. He hadn’t wanted to leave Hailey’s side, which totally made sense. Though Hailey had tried to justify going off by herself, ultimately, she lost to Xavier’s protectiveness. Staying on the bottom floor, I began looking for places that may be covering a body. Sifting through the piles, I noticed dried blood on a piece of plaster. There had been quite a bit of blood in the building because of all the lives lost, but I decided to follow the trail anyway. It wasn’t like it could hurt. I saw a few drips down a broken hallway and went over to it. I then saw part of a handprint in the plaster dust.

Searching the entire hallway, I found the trail once more and continued to follow it. I was determined to find whoever was at the end of this blood trail. I made it another couple hundred feet, careful to duck low hanging pipes and wires and avoid stepping in piles of rubble and debris. I was honestly surprised the building was as intact as it was. The damage from where I had woken up made me believe that the explosion had taken out the entire place.

Reaching the end of the hallway, I stopped in front of a giant, collapsed wall. This is where the blood had led me, so I began digging and moving things out of the way. It put a lot of strain on my leg, but the excitement of finding my mate was more than I could handle. Moving some of the dirt away, I finally found a partially covered leg. This filled me with renewed hope, so I doubled down and went as fast as I could, scooping pieces of building, dirt, plaster, and everything else out of the way. Gently pulling the person out, I found that it was a guest at the party. She was still wearing her dress, which was torn, and she was covered in blood. I did find a pulse, so I laid her down behind where I was working. I quickly mind-linked Xavier to come to where I was because as I was getting the woman out, I saw another person buried deep down inside the pile.

While waiting for Xavier, I felt the tiniest pull on my shirt. Turning, I looked down at her as she tried to speak. I leaned down to her level, and she whispered into my ear, “She tried to save us. She’s still down there.”

“Who?” I asked. “Who’s down there?”

However, the woman’s eyes had closed. I wouldn’t be getting any more information from her. I began ripping through the debris as Xavier showed up.

“What’s happening?” he asked, dropping to the floor to check on the woman.

“I think Eleanor is buried in this pile. That woman said someone tried to save them. I have to find her,” I said.

Xavier immediately started helping me, and we dug down, clearing out of the pile as quickly as we could. We found two others, though one was already deceased. It wasn’t until we had cleared out most of the pile that we found one last person. Her brown hair was matted with blood and her dress was barely hanging onto her frame. There was so much blood. But nothing could wipe the smile off my face as I stared down at her. My mate.