Page 51 of Ours Later

“I’m going to prescribe a nap and then we’ll move to a different therapy,” the doctor says. “I think it’s time to change things up.”

“N…no,” I gasp. Dr. Brunes still has the taser against the small opening in my shirt where there’s bare skin.

Over time, I’ve lost layers of clothing, and the oversized shirt is the only thing covering me. It barely touches the middle of my thighs, leaving me feeling exposed.

“Yes,” he hisses. Pocketing the taser, he takes the syringe from the orderly. “I am in charge of your body, your life, and your mind. Whatever I deem necessary, is what will happen.”

The sting of the syringe in my neck is the last thing I’m aware of before my lids slide shut.

I’m never getting out of here, and now I don’t think I deserve to.

Fourteen

Cooper

Riley sits across from Ethan and I with a serious look on his face, gazing pensively at us. He came straight to our house after his rotation tonight at the institute, insisting on coming through the back door and checking for cameras and audio listening devices.

His overlapping rotations have ended, or I’d have been worried he was losing it due to exhaustion. It would be laughable if he didn’t find two of them in the living room. They’re now sitting in a glass of water in the kitchen, ruined and broken.

I have no idea when anyone would have gotten into the house to place those so strategically, but it’s clear I need to get a security system for the house. Less for our safety, and more so to keep the hospital from getting information on Ethan and I.

It’s been eight months since Nina went into Weeping Willow, and the school year is over. I didn’t sign up to teach any summer classes, which means I have too much time on my hands. I have to take medication to sleep, but even then I wake up exhausted.

“Things aren’t going to get any better,” Riley says sadly. “Not for you and not for her. They want to obliterateyou two from her memories. She’s lost weight she didn’t have to lose, they regularly shave her head to keep her off balance, and the sensory deprivation is escalating. Nina isn’t going to be able to survive much longer, guys. As her scent match as well, it’s killing me to watch this happen.”

Ethan flinches at his words. Way to bury the lead, Riley. This is the first time we’ve heard this. It means the alpha is invested in her safety, but he’s also torturing himself each time he steps into that hospital.

“Why didn’t you say something before?” I sigh, scrubbing my face.

“It didn’t matter,” Riley insists. “She’s our priority, and I have some hard truths to discuss. Nina is forgetting things about you. She’s holding on as tightly as she can, but they’re punishing her for it. They’re taking pieces of her.”

My heart clenches so hard, I wince.

“Ethan,” I rasp, forcing myself to breathe. “We had so little time with her…”

“Maybe twenty-four hours, if that,” he agrees. “We need to let Nina go, don’t we?”

“I think so,” I murmur. “Riley, can you help her do that?”

“Me?” Riley asks, blinking at me. “Help how?”

“She needs to forget Ethan and I,” I say.

Breathe, Cooper.

“She has…” Fuck, this hurts so much. “Nina needs to think I’m just a random professor who took over her class, and that Ethan is just a guy she ran into on campus. She can’t remember us as her scent matches.”

Ethan drops his head in his hands as he hunches over but nods in agreement.

“Yeah,” Riley replies, swallowing hard. “I can use hypnosis to make her forget. Remove the memories as we talk through them while she’s under. You want me to take all of it?”

“Yes,” I gasp. “She doesn’t know you’re her scent match, right?”

“No, they have me use a descenting soap and spray when I come into the hospital each time,” he explains. “She doesn’t know.”

“If we found her once, we can find her again, right?” Ethan asks, his voice cracking. His shoulders are shaking and I know this is destroying him too.

“Yes,” I say. “It’s better than having them do something that could fuck with her sense of smell permanently.”

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