Rejected by my Given Alpha

Bruises

I jumped off the couch and sprinted towards Brooke's room at a speed I wasn't sure a werewolf could achieve. I barged into Brooke's room and saw her withering around in pain.

"Hayley!" she cried as she saw me.

"I'm here, Brooke," I said, sitting next to her and holding her in my arms. "What's wrong?"

"It hurts," Brooke cried.

"What hurts?" Liam asked, kneeling down next to her.

"Make it stop!" Brooke screamed suddenly, twisting around. "Make it stop!"

"Make what stop?" Liam asked.

"Get it off! It burns!" Brooke screamed. "GET IT OFF!"

I glanced down and saw something on her legs. "Liam, help me get her pants off."

"What?!" Liam asked, bewildered.

"Just do it!" I commanded before starting to tear her pajama pants off. "Now!"

Liam hesitated before helping me get off her pants. I sucked in my breath sharply and shared a worried look with Liam. Brooke's legs were covered in dark bruises that kept forming all over her legs. It didn't help Brooke was thrashing around and was sobbing uncontrollably, making it hard for us to get a good look at the bruises.

"Oh my god," I said.

"It hurts," Brooke whimpered.

"It'll be okay, Bree," Liam said, sadly.

Brooke screamed again in pain. "Fire! It burns!"

"Liam, go get some ice," I ordered.

Liam nodded and took off with inhuman speed towards the kitchen.

"Shh, it'll be okay, Bree," I said. "It'll all be over soon. Just try and ignore it."

"What's happening to me?" Brooke asked.

"I don't know, Brooke. I don't know," I whispered.

Brooke cried out again and I yelled, "Liam!"

"I'm here," Liam said, and put the ice on Brooke's legs.

She flinched, but relaxed slightly. "It's slightly better."

"Can you manage?" Liam asked, worry laced in his voice.

"I don't know," Brooke admitted.

"Go call the pack doctor," I told Liam. "I'll stay with her."

"You sure?" he asked.

I nodded. "Trust me, I'm more of the person to take care of this situation. You're a guy, and Brooke and I are both girls. Now go."

Liam nodded and went to go call the pack doctor. He shut the door behind him, and I got comfortable. I made sure the ice was still on Brooke's legs, and I wrapped my arms around her, holding her as she cried.

Five minutes later, the pack doctor came rushing in. He gave me a curt nod in acknowledgement before turning his attention to Brooke. "What happened?"

"We don't know," I said. "We just woke up to her screaming and ran in to check on her. She kept yelling that it burned and when we looked at her legs, they were covered in bruises."

The doctor nodded and examined Brooke's legs. "I need you out. I can't examine her fully with you being here. I'll call you with an update when I can."

I hesitated but nodded, obeying his orders. As much as I wanted to stay with Brooke, I knew it was best to let the doctor do his job. He'd know more about what to do than I would.

After a few minutes, the doctor came out. "I'm afraid this is outside my area of expertise. I'm going to make a few calls in the morning, but I recommend you two take care of her until I can figure out what is going on. I gave her a sedative to help her sleep, but you should keep an eye on her."

I nodded and thanked him for coming. I crawled into bed next to Brooke and held her, hoping my familiar scent would be enough to calm her down a little.

- - -

I stayed up all night with Brooke, holding her as she cried and making sure she stayed cool. I got maybe 2 hours of sleep before Liam came in and woke me up.

"Hey, it's time to get ready for school," he said, shaking me awake.

I sat up and looked at Brooke, who was fast asleep. I glanced at her legs and saw the dark bruises covering them. I gently felt her forehead, and I felt like it burned my hand. Even for a werewolf, her temperature was hot.

"She's still sick," I said.

"I know; I'll stay with her for today," he said. "You go to school, you were taking care of her all last night. It's my turn now. Besides, they'll call your dad if you don't show up, and you don't want that."

I sighed. "No, I don't. I'll be back at lunch to check up. If she's worse, I don't think they'll mind if I skip a period or two."

Liam nodded and helped me up, careful not to wake Brooke. I showered quickly and threw my hair up in a messy bun. Deciding not to care how I looked, I pulled on a pair of yoga pants and a t-shirt. The basic lazy outfit.

"Call me if anything happens," I told Liam as I walked out the door. "Promise me you will."

"You know I will, but if it offers you any consolation, I promise to call you if anything happens," he said.

"Good." I sighed. "Why did this happen to her? She's the nicest girl I know, she doesn't deserve this. If anything, I should be in her place."

"Don't say that," Liam said. "You didn't do anything. Whatever's going on with Brooke has a solution, we just need to find it. She'll be fine."

"I hope you're right," I muttered. "Gotta go, I'll call you later."

He nodded, and I walked out the door. I drove off on my motorcycle and quickly arrived at school. I parked my motorcycle and walked into school. I stopped by the office to tell the super-attendant Brooke was sick and Liam was taking care of her to excuse their absences, and then I walked to class.

I didn't feel like being particularly social today, so I just ignored everyone. I sat at my desk and tapped my fingers anxiously on my desk.

"Hey, babe," Tyler said, grinning down at me.

"I'm not in the mood, Tyler, so just leave me alone before I castrate you," I growled.

"What's got you in a bad mood today?" he asked.

"What's it to you?" I snapped.

"Well, I want to know why you're upset. Is that a crime?"

I growled, annoyed. "Look, if you really must know, I was up all night taking care of my sick best friend, so I'm a little crabby right now. So if you don't mind, I'd really appreciate it if you could shut the hell up and leave me alone."

Surprising me slightly, Tyler did as I said. It did make me happy, but I also wondered what he was up to. He normally doesn't shut up without a fight. What was going on?

I shook my head as the bell rang and tried to focus on the lesson we were studying. It was no use, since my thoughts kept drifting to Brooke. What was going on with her?

I rubbed my temples and went through my next five classes. I fell asleep in history (in my defense, we were watching a movie with the lights off, and I was running on five minutes of sleep total), and Tyler shook me awake.

"So you won't get in trouble," he whispered, just as the teacher walked by.

I nodded in thanks and tried to stay awake for the rest of class. Once lunch arrived, I called Liam.

"Hey," he said.

"How is she?" I asked.

"Hello to you too," he said mockingly.

"Liam," I growled.

"I'm kidding! She's fine, but her legs still hurt. Those bruises are pretty nasty."

I groaned. "I'm coming home."

"Don't, Hayley, I got it covered."

"You seem to be awfully fine taking care of someone covered in bruises alone, Liam. Is there something you're not telling me?"

"Nope, everything's fine."

I rolled my eyes. "Liam, I know when you're lying. Tell me what's wrong now.

He sighed. "It's nothing, Brooke's just getting cramps."

"Then everything's not fine," I said. "I'm on my way."

"Hayley, it's fine. I'm taking care of her. Just finish today, and then you can take care of Brooke all you want. Just do this for me, OK? I don't want your dad getting mad at you."

"I can handle Tristan."

"I'm not saying you can't, I'm just saying it's not a good idea to anger an Alpha. Just do this one thing for me, please."

I sighed. "Fine, whatever."

"You're the best, Hales."

"I expect a coffee when I get home for this," I said and snapped my phone shut.

He so owes me for this.

---

School finally ended, and I ran out of school and was on my bike driving home at speeds that would make any werewolf proud. I ignored all the speed limits and arrived home in two minutes. So what if I get a ticket? I'd easily get out of it anyway by saying I was hurrying to drive a friend to the hospital. One look at Brooke and I might even get a police escort to the hospital.

I ran into the house, threw my backpack on the couch, and ran into Brooke's room. She was sitting up, but her face was pale and twisted in pain.

"Hey Bree," I said softly. "How ya feeling?"

She smiled weakly. "Peachy. Never been better."

I smiled sadly. "Where's Liam?"

"Getting me some water," she said. "He should be back in a sec. Surprised you didn't see him downstairs."

I shrugged, knowing I ran so fast through the house I didn't see Liam, and sat next to Brooke. I turned on the TV, and we watched some episodes of South Park while we waited. Liam brought Brooke her water and left to go make dinner. I told Brooke about my day and how Tyler was acting strangely.

"Maybe he feels bad for rejecting you," Brooke suggested.

I laughed once without humor. "I highly doubt that. He probably just wants to get into my pants."

Brooke chuckled weakly. "He wouldn't be the first."

We talked for a little while longer before we both fell asleep. I shut my eyes for two seconds and managed to get an hour of sleep. I woke up to a loud high pitched sound, and I briefly wondered what it was. I then realized what woke me up.

I woke up to Brooke screaming.

- - -

I immediately jumped out of bed and was by Brooke's side in less than a second. She was withering around in pain and screaming into her pillow.

"Liam!" I yelled, panicking slightly. You try not to panic when your best friend is screaming like Brooke is.

She was sweating like crazy, and her side of the bed was soaked. Her face was twisted in pain, and it killed me slightly seeing her like this.

"Liam!" I yelled again.

"I'm here, what's going on?" Liam appeared in the doorway, his hair messy and he was just in pajama bottoms.

I couldn't help but look at him. He certainly was hot, and man, did he have a six pack of washboard abs. I shook my head to clear my thoughts. Now was not the time to check out Liam.

"Get some ice," I said, and Liam disappeared in a flash.

"I'm gonna pull back the covers to check for the bruises," I told her.

"It hurts," Brooke whimpered.

"I know," I said sadly, and carefully pulled back the covers to reveal her legs.

I stifled a gasp. The bruises were even worse than last time. They were a darker shade of navy blue and a horrible shade of purple. Tears welled in my eyes, but I wiped them away so Brooke couldn't see. No sense in letting her see my tears.

"How bad is it?" Brooke asked.

"Bad," I said, seeing no point in lying to her since I've never lied to her. "But you're gonna be okay, Bree. I promise."

Brooke laughed and that turned into a groan of pain. "If I die, I want you to kill Liam for me."

"You're not gonna die," I told her sternly, then frowned. "And why kill Liam?"

"Because he's an ass," she said. "And I know you'll be oh so devastated about my death, you'll want to kill someone. Might as well be Liam."

I smiled slightly and felt her forehead. Her skin was more than feverish; it was burning. I hissed slightly in pain and drew my hand away, looking at the burn on my hand.

Not good, I thought. So not good.

"Liam, hurry with the ice!" I yelled.

"I'm here," Liam said, appearing with a bucket full of ice. "How is she?"

"Bad," was all I said.

I poured the ice over Brooke, relaxing slightly when I saw steam come off her and felt her skin cool slightly. At least the ice was working.

"What happened to your hand?" Liam asked, noticing the ugly burn on my hand.

"Nothing," I said, wrapping a cloth around my hand. "It'll be gone in the morning."

"It looks pretty bad," Liam said.

"It's only a second degree burn."

"That's really bad."

"Werewolf healing, Liam. I'll be fine in a couple of hours."

"I don't think that'll heal in a couple of hours."

"Just shut up and help me take care of Brooke or I will kill you."

"What?"

I ignored him and settled with sitting next to Brooke on her bed as I called the pack doctor for an update. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to give me an update yet, as none of his contacts had gotten back to him yet. His only advice was to keep her cool and try to medicate her as best we could. The problem with that was with how hot her fever was, any medicine we'd give her would just get burned right out of her system.

Liam sat on the couch, and I kept dabbing her forehead with a cold washcloth and giving her pain killers. Anything to reduce the pain even slightly, even if it would get burned right out of her system shortly.

"God, why is this happening to me?" Brooke groaned.

"I don't know, but whoever caused this, I'm going to kill them," I said, angrily.

"You can't kill them, you have to kill Liam," Brooke mused, then groaned in pain.

"Okay, why does Hayley have to kill me?" Liam asked.

"Cause I asked her to as my dying wish, now shut up," Brooke said.

"Really? I thought your dying wish would be to go to Disney World," Liam said.

"Shut up, James, or I'll fulfill her dying wish early," I threatened in a joking manner.

"Violent aren't we, Evans?" Liam gave me a small smile.

"If you two are done flirting now, I'd like to get some water," Brooke said.

"Right, be right back," Liam said and hurried off.

"It'll be okay, Brooke," I said, smoothing out her hair. "I promise."

---

"You're going to school, Liam."

"No, I'm staying here with Brooke."

"No, I am. You're not the best company for a sick girl, who just so happens wants her dying wish to be me killing you."

"But why do I have to go to school?"

I rolled my eyes. We've been arguing about who's going to school and who's taking care of Brooke for the past five minutes.

"I had to go to school yesterday while you took care of Brooke, so now it's your turn to go to school while I take care of Brooke. It's a cycle," I said.

"Why don't we both stay with Brooke?" Liam suggested.

"And have Tristan come and ask why we haven't been to school? No thanks, I'll settle for taking turns going to school."

"But why-"

"Just go to school, Liam, before I do something I normally wouldn't do. I've only gotten an hour of sleep in the past two days, so I wouldn't be arguing with me right now!"

"Okay, I'll go. Just calm down, okay?"

I sighed. "I'm sorry, I'm just really worried about Brooke. I don't know what's causing this or how to stop it, and it's killing me."

"It'll be okay," Liam said, hugging me. "She'll get better, you'll see."

"I hope so," I said quietly, and hugged him back.

Liam got ready and went to school while I stayed with Brooke.

"You feeling okay?" I asked her.

"Well, my legs don't hurt as much and I'm no longer burning you, so there's that," Brooke said weakly. "But everything hurts like a b***h. I need some ice cream and chick flick movies to watch. Settle this like a real break up."

I laughed slightly. Even on the brink of death, she's still a sassy little thing. I've taught her well. I can only imagine how sassy I'd be.

"Alright, I'll go get the ice cream. How's the Notebook for the movie?"

"Nah, Mean Girls."

"That's hardly a chick flick."

"Who cares? It has girls being bitchy to other girls and hot guys with a gay guy. It's a chick flick."

I laughed. "Whatever you say."

I got the ice cream and movie, and we ate it straight out of the tub. We critiqued the movie, and we ended up eating ice cream and watching movies all day. How we didn't gain a pound, I do not know. I'm just gonna go with werewolf metabolism.

Both of us were up all night. Brooke was still in pain, and I was still keeping up with taking care of her, so we didn't sleep even for a second. The only person in the house who's actually gotten more than two hours of sleep in this house is Liam, and he's only running on a good four hours.

My phone rang, and I answered it after checking the caller ID. "Hey."

"Hey, how's Bree?" Liam asked.

"Good, a little pale, a little dead, but all's well," I said.

"Hayley," Liam growled.

I rolled my eyes. "Relax, kill joy, she's fine. She's just still in a little pain."

Liam sighed. "This sucks balls."

"You said it, man," I agreed. "Though, you're the only one out of the three who would do the sucking of the balls."

"Who's balls is Liam sucking?" Brooke asked.

I grinned. "Brooke wants to know whose balls you are sucking."

"No one!" Liam yelled.

"Well, I hope No One doesn't have an STD. Otherwise, my friend, you're in trouble, and I'm not taking care of another sick friend. One is enough."

"I could kill you. I'm seriously thinking about it."

"Calm down, I'm only joking," I said.

"I wasn't," Brooke said. "I really hope Liam is enjoying sucking on No One's balls."

I laughed, and Liam let out a stream of curses. "Careful, you're in school. That used to be a church, so you're swearing on holy ground. Shame."

"This is what I get for going to school," Liam growled. "Tyler demanding where you are, and my best friends collaborating into seeing me as sucking balls. Just great. Today's definitely my day."

"Relax, you're only there for another two hours," I said.

"Yeah, two hours of hell. I could die down here," Liam complained.

"Tell me, is Hell hot or cold? I've heard it both ways."

"Goodbye!" Liam said.

"Tell No One I said hi," I said. "And did he pay you for your services?"

I was answered by the ending tone. I laughed and went back to watching the movie.

"So," Brooke said. "When did Liam start sucking balls, and how did we not see this coming?"