Chapter 5 Episode 5

Skylar's Pov

I groan as I shift my weight on the stiff hospital bed, the thin sheets tangling around my legs in a knot that's cutting off circulation.

The mattress is lumpy and uncomfortable, nothing like the memory foam I have at home, and the antiseptic smell is making my stomach turn in ways I don't appreciate.

A sharp hiss escapes my lips when a fresh bolt of pain lances through my skull, a constant, throbbing reminder of the accident that put me here in the first place. My head feels like someone's taken a hammer to it, like there's a tiny construction crew working away inside my brain. I can't move, my head is spinning, the room tilting at odd angles every time I try to focus on something, but I knew for sure that I had to get out of here. I have to get out before my dad finds out, before this whole thing blows up in my face.

I tried to stand up, my legs swinging over the edge of the bed, but I'm immediately restrained by a clang of metal against my skin. Hand cuffs?? The cold steel bites into my wrists, the sound echoing through the sterile room. I look up to see a group of officers in front of the hospital, their uniforms crisp and their faces stern, and my throat tightens as I start to think of all the one million ways that I've been screwed. My mind races through every possible outcome, and none of them are good.

My dad is going to kill me. He's going to actually murder me with his bare hands and then bring me back just to do it again. I've done nasty things in life but I've never gotten arrested for them and now somehow, that crappy dimwit had me locked up in a freaking hospital, chained to a bed like some kind of criminal. The audacity of him, the sheer nerve to call the cops on me when I'm the one who should be pressing charges for him putting his hands on me.

"Shit, shit, shit." I curse, angrily slamming against the bar that's holding me in place, the metal rattling loudly in the quiet room. But it causes the officers head to turn, glancing at me immediately with narrowed eyes that tell me they're watching my every move. Great, now I'm dead. They're going to add resisting arrest to my list of charges, and my dad's going to have a stroke right there in the precinct.

The door knob turns, the metal clicking softly, but it's just the nurse walking in followed by the bastard. He's got that same infuriating calm expression on his face, that same bored look like I'm nothing more than an inconvenience to him.

I hold myself from spitting in his face, my anger burning down my wolf's excitement as his foul stench fills the room. Astrid is going crazy inside me, pacing and whining and practically clawing at my insides to get closer to him, and it's taking every ounce of my willpower to keep her contained.

I try to calm myself down, take a deep breath through my nose, probably manipulate my way out of the situation since clearly, intimidation didn't work on this guy. I need to be smarter about this, use my words instead of my fists, even if every fiber of my being wants to punch that smug look off his face.

Wait until I get my hands on those foolish officers that placed cuffs on me. Wait until I find out who authorized this, who thought it was okay to chain the Alpha's daughter to a hospital bed like a common criminal.

"Nurse, please proceed with the final examination." The bastard says, his voice smooth and detached, like he's discussing the weather.

"Look...there might be a misunderstanding, Sir." I start, the word heavy on my tongue, bitter and foreign. "This whole thing is a mistake, a mix up. I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

He doesn't answer me, keeps his eyes on the nurse who is dutifully checking my IV drip, her fingers gentle against the tubing. He's ignoring me, completely dismissing my existence like I'm not even in the room.

"Are you even listening? We got the wrong person, there was a mix up." I say louder, my voice rising with frustration.

"You can explain that at the station, Miss." He finally responds, his eyes flicking to me for just a second. "Should probably stop you from terrorising locals no matter their identity."

"Can you just chill and give it a rest?" I snap, my patience completely gone. "How old are you? Calling the cops on a bunch of teenagers since you can't fight yourself, p-ssy."

"Someone needs an extra charge for harassment." He says, and there's the barest hint of amusement in his voice that makes me want to scream.

"Like chaining me to a hospital bed isn't enough, freak!" I shout, my voice bouncing off the walls. "Wait til I get my father on this, it'll be over for you, this shitty hospital and this—"

"Is that so, Skylar?" The voice sends a shiver through my spine, cold and sharp like ice water down my back. My father walks into the building with his eyes red and face scrunched in fury, his whole body radiating pure rage.

I am so dead. So incredibly, horrifyingly dead.

"Dad, I....I can explain." I try to speak but the words are so heavy on my tongue, like they're coated in lead and I can't quite push them out fast enough.

It annoys me how much power he has over me in this moment, how one look from him can reduce me to a stuttering mess. And just when I thought I had taken my power back by returning to the suites, by making my own decisions and carving out my own space away from him. I'm still stuck here. Still under his thumb, still at his mercy.

I heave, looking down on the bed as the nurse finishes her examination, her hands gentle and professional as she checks my vitals one last time. She heads out to get the doctor but I know it's more to give my father privacy, to let him lay into me without an audience. The door clicks shut behind her and the room feels ten times smaller than it did before.

What irks me is the audacity this human has, standing there with his arms crossed like he owns the place, he hasn't acknowledged my dad's presence as Alpha. Hasn't bowed his head, hasn't shown any of the respect that's due to someone of his rank. He just stands there like he's above all of this, like our world means nothing to him.

"I'm truly disappointed in you, Skylar. Really disappointed." My dad says, his voice heavy with that weight that makes my stomach drop. "I understand that you're hurt but attacking Micah, seriously?"

"Excuse me, who?" I ask, my brows furrowing in confusion.

"He's Edna's son for goodness sake." He says, throwing his hands up in exasperation.