Hidden Fox

Twenty-Three

Xavier was barely able to hold onto me as I surged across the room to the bed. The little girl was asleep, with a tube like mine in her arm, and chords attached to her chest and finger to monitor her breathing and heart rate. But she was safe. She was here!

Xavier helped me sit on the edge of her bed where I grasped her tiny hand in mine. Her sunset-red waves were spilled across the white pillow in tangles, and she was dressed in a hospital gown that appeared three sizes too big for her frame. But she was breathing, she was alive, she was here!

With my vision swimming, I turned to my mate. "How? Where. . ." I couldn't get the words out, my throat was too choked up.

He squeezed my free hand in his. "She found me. She was frantic, saying her friend had collapsed and wouldn't wake up." I knew she had meant me. "I was hunting the woods for any signs of you, like we had been for months. And she tumbled out of bushes and asked if we knew Alpha Black."

I beamed through my tears, happy she remembered her instructions to find Xavier. My eyes fell back on Kallie again, and Xavier kept talking, his voice soft and incredibly soothing.

"She wanted to lead us to you, but she was in shock, and she was cold and tired and hungry. She couldn't remember the way. We turned in circles until finally deciding it was better to just take her home where she could be treated." I clenched his hand harder as his voice jerked an octave. I couldn't imagine how scared and frustrated he was to have been so close to me, but hadn't been able to reach me, while I lay unconscious in the dirt.

"I wanted to keep searching, broaden the area until I found you, but she wouldn't go with Andrew or Everlee, she wanted to stay with me. She said that you told her to find me." He sighed, but when I peeked at him, his lips were tilted in my favorite smirk. "So of course I took her here. I figured bringing her to people even more familiar with you would help her. We often gathered here before searching anyway, seeing as the majority of your loved ones were staying with the Andersons."

My head jerked up so fast, he had to stabilize me before I fell over from the weight of the action. "You mean. . . My parents. . .?"

His smirk widened into a grin, "are here, yes. As well as your siblings."

I let go of Kallie's limp hand and tried to jump to my feet, fully intending to search the entire house for my family.

Xavier chuckled, pulling me back to the bed. "They're out looking for you right now. But they've been called back and will see you tomorrow."

"How long have they been here?" I asked, "wait, so you've met my parents already?"

"Since pretty soon after you were taken." His eyes gleamed in response to the second question, "yes. They're very lovely."

I buried my face in my hands, "oh no."

He tugged them back down, keeping them in his, "relax, it wasn't even a big thing; everyone was solely focused on finding you. Your siblings didn't fly out right away, but after we started finding random, malnourished girls in the woods, all of which were asking for Alpha Black. . . We knew you were close and your parents flew them out."

My face scrunched again, but this time with relief and joy. My parents were here! May and August were here!

Then it hit me, "wait, you found others besides Kallie?"

"Several, yes. Kallie and some girl named Isadora are the only two that haven't been returned to their homes."

"Isadora?" Who in the world was Isadora?

He mistook my question, "you can reunite tomorrow; you can barely keep your head straight up right now!"

As confused about Isadora as I was, I also was aware of how right he was. My exhaustion had ten-folded after the energy from the food and seeing Kallie had dropped. But I couldn't bear to relax. I glanced down at my torn, grime covered clothes and remembered I hadn't cleaned myself up either.