"Emma, it's me—Kyle. Yes, I am safe…no, I am truly safe. But there was an accident on the way back. Where am I currently? At a hospital…no, I am not hurt—! You don't need to—! Alright, fine. I will give you the address to come and pick me up."
I tried to make Emma back down, but she was too worried to listen to me properly and insisted that she needed to come and pick me up.
I handed the phone back to the doctor when I was done, and he looked relieved to have his phone back.
'Tsk, people these days truly are too possessive of their phones. Kara was the same.'
I complained before the doctor coughed and broke my thought process.
"I've checked your…partner's stats, and he can be discharged tomorrow. Just take care for a while, because he might feel dizzy and nauseous since he lost a lot of blood. Otherwise, you should see no complications."
The doctor assured me before he left, and the alpha clinging to me clung even harder.
At this point, even I did not feel like wasting my strength, and I just sat at the corner of his bed to give the alpha a more comfortable space.
"So, do you at least remember your name? Otherwise, I won't know what to call you."
I asked, trying to break the uncomfortable silence that had fallen over the room once the doctor left.
The alpha beside me tilted his head in an almost questioning manner before he closed his eyes, as if to recall something.
When he did open his eyes, I felt a little taken aback at how dark they were at that moment.
"I'm Theo…just call me Theo."
The alpha told me before he buried his face in my neck and inhaled deeply.
All of his behavior felt a little creepy and obsessed, and I knew I should be pushing him away. But every time I tried to do that, I felt his puppy-like eyes looking at me, and I felt like I could not do that.
Even I did not know what was wrong with me, but I did know one thing—I needed to get my head back in place so that I could return to my normal life.
________
It took some time for the sun to rise, and before I knew it, sleep had swept me away.
I only woke up when I heard loud noises in the room, laughing and growling. My consciousness slowly returned, but once I was alert enough, I swiftly sat up on the bed.
My head collided with something soft, and I felt pain in my scalp because of the collision.
I immediately looked up to see what I had hit, only to see the alpha from last night—Theo—also rubbing his chin.
And just like that, the mystery of the soft object I hit had been solved.
I heard a pair of laughter coming my way from the other side of the room, and I immediately noticed Emma and Ben there. They had not entered the hospital room yet, and the second Ben took a step forward, I understood why.
The more steps Ben took, the more the alpha behind me tensed before he let out an almost unconscious growl.
I knew I needed to do something before the tension caused any problems. My instincts were telling me I could not afford to delay this anymore.
"Theo, calm down. It's fine. Ben and Emma are not our enemies. They are friends, and they won't hurt us."
I assured, hoping that it would make the alpha holding me feel better. But it did not help the alpha feel better.
If anything, Theo tensed up even more, and his growls became audible.
Sharp and angry pheromones filled the room, and I felt suffocated. The omega inside me wanted to run away and hide from the anger.
But I was not so weak as to be controlled by these pheromones, and I hit Theo where the pheromone gland for alphas was.
It stunned him, and he looked at me with an almost betrayed look on his face. But I faced him calmly and grabbed his face in between my hands.
"I asked you to calm down, so calm down now. Take a deep breath. Good. Now, listen to me. Emma and Ben are neither strangers, nor are they dangerous to us, so you need to calm down."
I had no idea what I was doing, and I knew for a fact that I would be beyond embarrassed to recall this incident in the future.
But I really wanted to calm the enraged alpha down, because the pheromones were beginning to be too much for me.
The alpha I was holding on to finally calmed down and looked at me. Theo almost gave me a whine that I ignored and patted his head instead.
"It's alright. I know your instincts want to attack, but it'll be fine."
The more I held the alpha, the calmer he got until his pheromones finally faded and I also felt the tension in my body melt away.
"Woah—! Those are some intense pheromones, kid. Don't worry, we are not here to harm you or take Kyle away from you. Instead, we are here to help you out."
Ben spoke first, and he raised his hand to show that he was harmless.
Sharp eyes observed him before the alpha holding on to me decided that Ben and Emma were fine to be around, and he allowed them close.
Both Ben and Emma took ten tentative steps inside the room until they reached the bedside. Only then did they pull out the chair to sit down.
There was silence around the room, and I wondered who would speak first. But when no one did, I spoke up first.
"Emma, Ben, I have something to tell you regarding all this—"
"We know. The staff at the front desk gave us a brief about what happened and how the young alpha imprinted on you when he lost his memory. So I want to ask you—what do you want to do now?"
Emma was truly kind in this regard. She did not make any decisions for me and asked me what I wanted.
"I-I don't know what to do. I don't want to impose on you, but I also feel a little responsible for Theo because he saved me and I—"
I had never felt this helpless.
As an S-class hunter, money had never been an issue for me once I was taken in by the Hunter Association. But I had seen and heard stories about people doing anything for money.
At that time, I had not understood why money was so important to some people.
But the more I lived among civilians, the more I understood how important money was and how much it could affect someone's life.
It truly was a troublesome and dangerous thing.
Emma and Ben exchanged a look, but I did not know what to make of it. And when Emma turned to look at me, I braced myself for the worst news possible.
"Kyle, we have decided. We will take Theo in as well…at least, as long as he does not have his memory. We have the room for him, and I also feel sorry enough for him right now. Would it be alright with you?"
Emma asked, and I could only nod in a stunned manner.