*Note: 

Just to be perfectly clear about Eric's condition, he is paralyzed from the waist-down. Meaning he can move his arms. Just in case any of you guys were confused about that. ^_^

***

CHAPTER TWO

~Tamara Rose

"Don't believe a word that comes out of his mouth!"

I stared at Dylan, bewilderment coursing through me as he slid into the room, panting and skidding to a stop, only to growl the single command at me. I swallowed, feeling somewhat unsettled at the clear anger on his face but somehow knowing it wasn't directed at me. Still, his statement confused me.

"Don't believe who? About...what, exactly?" I asked.

He blinked at me. Straightening up, his shoulders stiffened as he narrowed his eyes, searching the room and seeing it was empty. "Where's Mark?"

I shrugged, still fuzzy on who Mark was, exactly. "Um, the only person whose been in here for the past few hours  has been Eric. And one of the guys just pulled him out." I purposely refrained from saying his name--mostly because I knew I would get it wrong. (To be honest, even remembering Eric was a miracle.)

At this remark, Dylan's anger resurfaced. He paced closer to my bed. I shrank back slightly, noticing his eyes darkened at the action.

"Do you know where he took Eric?" he demanded.

I shook my head silently. What was going on? I wanted to ask, but bit my tongue for fear he would blow up once more. Dylan stared at me for a minute, and then he sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Look, I didn't mean to scare you--"

"It's fine, Alpha."

He winced. "Please. Please, don't call me that."

I rubbed my forehead. I couldn't deal with his whiplash emotions--anger, then what seemed like sadness. "Why not? Will you please explain it to me? Don't tell me anything ever again, don't even explain how I ended up in this damned hospital room! But please just explain to me why all of a sudden, after years of drilling it into my head, you no longer want me to refer to you by your proper title!"

His eyes softened, to my surprise. I'd assumed my rant would invoke anger. 

Instead, to my sheer shock, he sat down on the edge of my bed.

Tingling raced up my spine, small goosebumps raising on my skin at his close proximity. I tried scooting closer to the other edge of the bed...farther away from him. Suddenly, he reached out and grabbed me by the chin.

I stared at him. astonishment hitting me like a truck. Adrenaline raced through my veins, setting my blood on fire. The feel of his skin on mine was gentle despite his rough palms. I feltt my eyelids flutter against my will.

His deep chuckle vibrated the bed, causing my eyes to shoot open.

"What is wrong with you?" I hissed, snapping my neck away and causing his hand to drop from its caressing hold on my chin. "How dare you touch me like that! I don't know if you're aware, Alpha," I hissed, purposely using the title to spite him, "But I'm not the type of girl to fool around with other men! Fate has assigned me one person and one person only, my mate. So don't you try and mess around with me, or you'll have him to deal with!"

A smug smirk curled his lips as I glared at him. "Humor me, Tamara Rose. Exactly who is your mate?"

I felt my confidence drop just a smigden. Struggling to keep my glare steely, I narrowed my eyes and snapped, "That...that's none of your business!"

He raised an eyebrow, his smirk morphing into a full grin. "Aw, now that's just mean. I want to know. Don't I get to meet the lucky guy?"

I was glowering now. He was teasing me, that much was obvious. Dropping the act angrily, I huffed and said, "You know what, fine, I haven't found my freaking mate yet. But that still doesn't give you the right to go around touching me! I'm still saving myself for him, Dylan!"

To my surprise, his name fell past my lips easily. I looked at him for a moment, blinking. It was as if I'd been calling him by his name my entire life...exacept that I knew I hadn't. I hadn't...right?

He was smiling gently at me now, no more hints of teasing in his expression "There. That wasn't so hard, was it?"

I sighed. "Why do you want to call you Dylan, Dylan?"

He laughed at the way I'd phrased my question. "You know, I get the feeling you're going to be really pissed off when I tell you."

I furrowed my eyebrows, not liking the sound of that.

Meanwhile, his smile had dropped, but his expression was still soft as he brought his hand back up to caress my face. This time, I let him. He gazed into my eyes, his own dark irises flickering with a hidden desire as his lips curved with the smallest of all smiles.

"Tamara Rose...your mate, that guy you're so anxiously 'saving yourself'' for?" He winked then, an ear to ear grin that quite literally shattered my world with the next sentence that left it. "That guy is me."

***

~Mark

Once the guys had explained everything to Eric and Lizzie--including his stupid, manipulative plan to avoid telling her about his rejection--the two of them were just as fuming as we had been. In fact, Lizzie was so mad she needed to take a drive to clear her head so she didn't Shift right then and there in the middle of the hospital parking lot.

"So, what do we do, guys?" Jordan finally asked.

Eric's eyes were nearly completely black in his anger. He'd been pacing--a.k.a. rolling back and forth in his wheelchair--ever since he'd been told. With his shoulders sqauared, he glared up at me and said, "I vote we kill him."

"I second it," Josh immediately said, shrugging as if we were talking about the weather.

"Third it. And we're sold!" Jordan snapped his fingers as if we were at an auction and not discussing someone's death.

I glared at my pack members. "We're not killing him. Don't be idiots. I'm being serious, here, guys."

"So are we," Eric snapped. "Mark, he wants to hide an entire part of her life from her. That small lie is going to change everything, you realize that, right? How are we going to explain how she met us if she was never rejected? What are we gonna tell her? 'Oh, you were going for a run and you ran into us and we kidnapped you for a few years, that's all!' That's not what happened, Mark! She was banished, and Dylan can't just not tell her that!"

I sighed, rubbing my forehead and pausing to pinch the bridge of my nose. "Eric, I know. Don't you think I know that?"

I looked back down at my friend, who'd gotten so worked up that his face has grown flushed. Josh had kneeled onto the ground now and was peering at Eric with worry written across his expression. I knelt down beside him, too, bending closer to my friend. His breathing had grown shallow and sounded breathy and slow. Alarm rippled through me.

"Hey, hey, hey," I whispered. "Slow down there, buddy, all right? You just came back from the dead. We really don't need you ending right back there again, ok? Take it easy."

"Yeah, man. We get that you're worried about Rose, but she'd hate to see you hurt yourself like this. So calm down, alright?" Josh muttered, accepting the icepack Jordan had immediately raced into the hospital to grab. He placed it on Eric's forehead, which was beaded with sweat. As he pressed it to his skin, Eric groaned softly and closed his eyes as his red face slowly grew back to normal.

After a few panicked moments of silence, everyone grew a little calmer. Jordan stood behind Eric's wheelchair now, gripping the handlebars. "Why don't we take him home, Mark? We can get him changed, showered, all that shit. Hell, we should all clean up a bit. Then we can all sit down and talk about Rose."

I hesitated, and then nodded. It was probabaly for the best if all of us got a little rest and cleared our heads. 

Whatever Dylan had planned would have to wait.

***

Yeah, except Dylan's already started his plan! Arggh!

Is it weird that I'm kind of commenting on my own story? Sorry, I just feel like I'm reading it, too! Haha, I'm weird, sorry guys. ^_^

Anyways, please vote and expecially comment~! I love hearing what you guys have to say!

I adore you all the way Jordan loves his Fudgsicles! :) (That's some intense love right there!) $_$ ^_^ :)

Until next time. :)