Betrothed To An Alpha? I Don't Think So!-Chapter 113: Four Days

Amber’s face fell.

"This is all my fault," she mumbled under her breath.

Brandon glanced at her. "I’m not going to try to sweet-talk you. It’s a bit your fault. After all, if you hadn’t pushed her further when she said no, this might never have happened. But on the other hand, Valerio isn’t the type of man who would give up if he didn’t get her on the first try. So you need to stop blaming yourself. If Evelyn is in her right mind, the last thing she would ever want to do is blame yourself. So lift your head and let’s find a way to help her. That is all we can offer her right now."

Amber swallowed down the sob that was choking her. And rapidly nodded. "I understand. I do."

———

Zayne heavily blinked his eyes open. He stared at the ceiling of the room he was in, before breathing out.

Where was he?

The last thing he recalled was losing consciousness, but he’d seen Dario. Or was that just his imagination?

Forcing himself up on the bed, he groaned painfully, grunting as he lowered his gaze to his body. He was shirtless, but his stomach was wrapped up in a bandage. So someone helped him and treated him well.

Turning his gaze, he paused.

Dario was right there. He was seated on the chair, head lowered on the table. He was fast asleep, and that made him realize he hadn’t hallucinated. How had Dario found him though?

If his recollection wasn’t wrong, Dario had said Evelyn was fine. They made it out and Valerio was probably dead. He had to be.

Zayne settled his feet on the floor. He stood up and walked over to Dario, reaching out his fingers to caress his hair. He was real. This wasn’t a dream.

"Dario?"

The man wouldn’t wake up.

He shook him. "Dario?"

This time he moved, sitting up slowly. He blinked his eyes a few times before he looked up to find Zayne staring down at him. It took a few moments for it to register in his head and then he was up on his feet, yanking him into a hug.

"I thought you were never going to wake up!" Dario yelled into his ears, hugging him tighter.

Zayne blinked rapidly.

Dario and he had never always been as close as he was with Alessio. It was a little surprising to see him this happy merely because he was awake. Then again, they were brothers and nothing was going to change that.

He grunted a little bit at the ache on his shot wound. Dario quickly stepped back, lowering his gaze to the injury. "You alright?"

"Yeah." Zayne nodded, waving a hand of dismissal.

"You need to be careful so it doesn’t open up again."

Zayne frowned. "Why am I not healing? Also, how long have I been out?"

"Oh, it’s been four days now," Dario responded.

"FOUR!" Zayne snapped his gaze up at him. "What do you mean by four? How could I be out for four days?"

Dario sighed. "Zayne, while we are not humans, we are not immortals. You were in such bad shape that if I had been even minutes late, you might have died. I was afraid, because it took day two for you to even start breathing stably."

Zayne flickered his eyes, clutching at his wound. "I should have healed completely by now. Why is the wound still very much new?"

"You lost too much blood," Dario said. "You feel very weak, don’t you?"

Zayne nodded.

"Exactly." Dario walked over to the table to pour himself a glass of water. "You gave blood to me, only to end up shot. I didn’t find you on time and you’d lost a lot of blood. I don’t have much blood recovered yet since my accident, but I gave you as much as I could. But even still, it’s not enough. That’s why you’re not healing. Had you been human, you would be dead by now. So you need time, at least a week or two before you’re maybe back to full strength. For now, you need rest.

Zayne pinched between his brows.

He sat back down on the bed, a pained expression on his face. He asked. "How is Evelyn?"

"She’s okay," Dario responded. "I’m sure she is."

"What do you mean you’re sure she is?"

"The thing is that I haven’t been able to reach Alessio and that’s because I lost my phone."

"Huh?" Zayne’s face fell.

"When I was trying to get you help and dragging you all the way over, I think it slipped out of my pocket. I tried looking for it, but I couldn’t find it," Dario explained as best as he could.

Zayne asked, "Why didn’t you use a payphone?"

"I couldn’t leave you here." Dario let out a soft breath. "Not when you’re in a critical condition. And like I said, Evelyn is fine. I’m a hundred percent sure about that. Alessio took her away along with her brother. And that bastard was shot by me. There is no way he isn’t dead. You need to relax."

"I’m trying."

Zayne lowered his gaze.

"But I’m just so worried."

"I understand." Dario half smiled at him. "If my mate were in this mess too, I’d be so worried as well. I get it. But I just want to assure you that she’s okay, because I saw Alessio drive off with her before I came looking for you."

Zayne slowly nodded his head. He relaxed back, throwing his head against the wall. They settled in silence, up until he suddenly muttered. "Thank you."

Dario glanced at him. "For?"

"For coming for me. For saving me. Thank you," Zayne said.

But that only made Dario frown. "There is nothing to thank me for. You’re my brother. Who else would save you if not me?"

"I know, but..."

"But what?"

"I didn’t expect it."

"And why didn’t you?" Dario fully focused on him now, steepling his fingers with a bit of offense on his face. "Do you think that I don’t care for you?"

Zayne shook his head. "That’s not it, Dario."

"Then what is?" Dario questioned. "Tell me, I want to know."