Lost Inside - 39. Chapter 39

Yuri couldn’t breathe. His stomach hurt, and his head throbbed. He dropped to his knees, blindly reaching for the floor. He gagged, stomach heaving. He didn’t… He couldn’t… Images flickered.

Peten ducking under his bed when his door slammed open.

His mother bowing to his father.

Hiding those magazines in the back of his closet—snorting at the irony, even at fifteen.

Seeing his mate for the first time in the midst of a boring merging meeting with the new Clan.

Joy. Pleasure. Pain.

Yuri’s stomach turned itself inside out, and he vomited. He yowled, his ears pinned to his head, as they moved faster and faster. He was young; he was older. His father towered over him, and Yuri cringed away, huddled on the floor.

Knowing he was going to die.

Unable to save his mate.

“Benny!” he screamed.

***

Beeping again. Yuri groaned. He knew that sound. Quick on the heels of sound came scent. Yuck. Antiseptic and sick.

He was in a human hospital.

He blinked slowly, pushing his eyelids up. It was dim in the room, the shades were shut. Benny dozed in a chair beside his bed, a frown wrinkling his forehead.

For long minutes, Yuri just looked at his mate. His head hurt, and he knew the memories were there, waiting to crowd down in on him again.

Yuri didn’t want them. So much of them hurt to remember. He liked being with his mate now. He rubbed his face with both hands, grimacing at the pads and wires pasted all over him. Moving his head made him dizzy. He groaned, then gripped the rails on the bed, trying to hold on as the room spun.

“Hey.” Ellis showed up in the doorway. Dav stood behind him. Benny snorted, then sat up with a quick gasp. He stared at the annoying beeping next to Yuri’s bed.

“Hey,” Benny said. His voice was rough. “He’s still sleeping.”

“No, he’s not,” Yuri snapped. His head was beating like a drum, and his stomach was swirling. He was tired of being in the hospital. It smelled, and he always felt like a fish in a bowl. Everyone was always looking at him. He didn’t like it. “I want to go home.”

“You’re awake!” Benny stood up, bending over the bed.

“I said that.” Yuri crossed his arms over his chest. “I want to go home.” He ignored the fact moving his head made him want to hurl.

“How about we talk about what happened, first? Do you remember?” Benny’s voice was hesitant.

“I don’t want to talk about it.” He didn’t know why Peten had been at Benny’s apartment. Damn it. Just thinking about him sent a cascade of memories associated with his ex-best friend. Yuri groaned and scrunched his eyes shut.

“Ellis, can you get the doctor?”

Yuri answered the doctors’ questions with short replies, yes or no when he could. He was sick of their poking and prodding. He’d hit his head, again, but they thought the shock of seeing Peten, and the resulting flood of memories, were at least partially the cause of his headache. The other part was the lump on the side.

Since they were so willing to talk over him, Yuri ignored everyone. He rubbed his arms, then folded and unfolded the sheet over his lap. He was back in one of those blue gowns, and he was cold.

“Can you all just shut up? I want to. go. home.”

The beeping was loud when everyone stopped speaking at once. Benny was looking at him with his eyebrows raised, but Dav and Ellis were grinning. The doctors had their usual blank doc faces on.

“I’m sick of the smell. I don’t feel good, and I don’t wanna do any tests. I want to go sleep in my bed, with my mate, and I don’t care what any of you think.” He looked at Benny. “Well, except you.” He cared what his mate thought. “Please take me home.”

Benny came around the side of his bed and sat on the edge. He cupped his hand around Yuri’s cheek and stroked under his eye with his thumb. “You scared me. We’ve been through so much. You were out for a long time. Your memory is coming back, and I’m so glad for that, but we aren’t sure exactly why. They need to do tests now that you’re awake.”

“I just want to be with you. Mates stay together, and I know you can’t stay here.” Ellis had told Yuri all about what happened. “I know you killed Sheshtun. I know the clan is here.” His memory was working fine. He didn’t need tests. “Can’t we just go? You can take care of them while I’m resting in a place that doesn’t reek of sick people.”

“Okay, Yuri.” Benny leaned forward and pressed their lips together gently. “Let me see what we have to do.”

His mate was very much an Alpha. He stood firm when the human doctor objected. Finally they gave up, and left to get paperwork or something else. Yuri sighed and closed his eyes. He could use a nap while they waited.

***

Peten wasn’t in their apartment. Yuri was relieved. Who knew what else seeing him would do? Yuri was sick of the constant ups and downs. In the time since his mate came back to him, they’d had a never ending series of drama.

“Will you lay down with me?” Yuri’s head was crazier than the tilt-a-whirl. He couldn’t keep his ears up. Benny helped him ease into the bed.

Yuri snuggled into him, pressing against Benny’s neck. He inhaled the spicy scent of his mate, then tried to pull him closer.

“Ow!” Benny grunted.

“What? Did I hurt you?” He hadn’t squeezed him that hard. He pulled up Benny’s shirt. “You have bandages! Did the doctors look at you while I was out?”

“I’m okay. I’ll be healed in just a few days.” Benny flicked his ears. “And yes, Dr. Pannar checked the scratches. That’s all they are, so don’t worry.”

Yuri sighed. Scratches didn’t need bandages. “I know you’re fibbing. That’s not nice, you know.”

Benny looked sheepish. “Sorry. I’ll still be okay.”