Chapter 16 Chapter 16 Riley felt terrible. Her head was pounding, her whole body ached and she felt like she was going to throw up. Even Rose was oddly quiet, especially after spending the better part of the last evening berating Riley for upsetting their mate. Riley had opted to skip breakfast and by a stroke of luck made it out of the packhouse without seeing Kent. She had made her way to the training academy where she found Patrick. He had set her up in the same conference room as yesterday to continue looking at reports, but she had all but given up by mid-morning. Riley looked up at the sound of the door opening. Patrick paused a step into the room, his forehead creasing as he stared at her. "No offense, but you look like shit." "Yeah, I feel like s**t too," she muttered. "How about you take a break?" Patrick crossed the room and shut the laptop in front of her. "The reports won't go anywhere." She nodded, grimacing as a sharp pain cut through her head. "Yeah, that's a good idea. I'm just so rundown." Patrick grabbed the laptop and stored it in the cabinet it had come from. Riley went to stand up and the world suddenly tilted sideways. She would have fallen had Patrick not caught her elbow. "Maybe you should see a doctor," he said as she regained her balance. "I'd rather not." She gripped the table tightly as she waited for the dizziness to pass. "The council will pull me if they think I can't handle the stress." "Are you even sure this is stress?" He stepped back, slowly letting go of her arm. "What else could it be?" Riley slowly started moving towards the door. "Um... an illness. You are a normal wolf. Everyone gets sick sometimes." "I don't get sick." That wasn't exactly true. She didn't get sick often. "Right, sure." The sarcasm was obvious in his voice. She shot him a dirty look as she reached the door. "It's just stress." He rolled his eyes and followed after her. "I could ask my mate to stop by and see you when she gets back from work." "Your mate?" He nodded. "Lana. She's a doctor at the pack hospital. She wouldn't mind seeing you this evening." She shook her head. "I don't want Kent to see her. Then he'll think I'm sick." Patrick turned to face her as they reached the elevator. "Well, you are sick, first of all. Second, Kent will figure out you're sick if he hasn't already. Mates can sense that kind of thing. Third, why would it matter if he knows you're sick? It's not abnormal for people to get sick." She stared at the closed elevator doors for a moment. "I just don't want him to know. He doesn't need any more reason to doubt my ability." 1/3 < Chapter 16 Patrick frowned as the doors opened. "What do you mean? He doesn't doubt your ability." "He sure did yesterday," she muttered. He sighed. "That was just Kent being an ass. He gets like that sometimes. He doesn't like people insinuating that they're stronger than him. His dad put a lot of shitty ideas in his head when he was a kid. You shouldn't take it personally." Riley leaned against the back wall of the elevator, closing her eyes. She had no interest in explaining to the gamma why Kent's actions bothered her so much. They walked slowly across the grounds, Riley doing her best to look like she wasn't about to pass out. Patrick walked a little too close, clearly ready to catch her if she did actually fall. She felt a sense of relief as they entered the packhouse. "Will you see Lana tomorrow if you don't feel better?" Patrick said as they walked across the lobby. Riley sighed. "Sure, but I think I just need to get some rest and I'll be fine." She punched the call button for the elevator before turning back to Patrick. "I should be fine from here." "Maybe," he said with a shrug, "but I'll feel better taking you the whole way up." She wanted to argue but the elevator doors opened at the same time Kent walked through the front doors of the packhouse. Patrick followed her into the elevator, clearly not seeing his alpha as the doors slid close. She was grateful for that as she leaned against the wall of the elevator. Patrick probably would have insisted on waiting on Kent and he was the last person she wanted to see. "Let me know if you need anything," Patrick said once they reached her room. "I could ask Lana to come up this evening if you'd prefer." "I'll be fine." She waved off his concern. "I'm just going to lay down for an hour or so before lunch. I'm sure this will pass soon." He sighed, a flash of annoyance crossing his face. "Ok, fine. If you're sure, I'll leave you be." She heard the elevator ding and bid a quick goodbye to Patrick before Kent came into view. She quickly shut the door and leaned against it, listening to the muffled conversation as Kent found Patrick in the hallway. She couldn't make out what was being said, but after a moment the voices disappeared and she released the breath she didn't even know she was holding. I don't know why you're avoiding him, Rose complained. He's our mate. We're supposed to want to be with him. ** Kent couldn't explain the annoyance that flashed through him when he saw Patrick get in the elevator with Riley. By the time he finally got to the fifth floor, Pax was raging in his mind about men around their mate. He headed quickly towards Riley's room only to find Patrick walking away from it. "What are you doing?" Kent snapped. Patrick raised an eyebrow. "I was making sure Riley made it to her room." "Why?" Kent knew his tone was too sharp but he couldn't seem to change it. "Because she said she's feeling run down and she seemed really off. I wanted to make sure she was ok." Kent felt the rage fade out of him. Of course Patrick wasn't doing anything wrong. 2/3 Chapter 16 "Is she alright?" Kent felt the worry spike through him. +15 Points > Patrick grabbed his elbow and turned him away from Riley's room. "I'm not sure, but she insists she is. She says she just needs to get some sleep." "I should go check on her." Kent went to turn back towards the door but Patrick tightened his grip. "You shouldn't." Kent stared at his gamma for a moment. "What?" Patrick frowned and tugged his arm, motioning towards the office. Kent threw one last look towards Riley's door before following him. "What?" Kent asked again, once the door was shut. "She said she doesn't want you to have any more reasons to doubt her ability." Kent's eyebrows shot up. "What? Why would she say that?" Patrick sighed, rubbing his forehead. "I told you that you were an ass yesterday. You insulted her sparring abilities yesterday and it seems that she took that rather personally." "I..." Kent didn't know what he was going to say. He found himself just staring at Patrick, at a loss for words. "You need to apologize," Patrick said after a moment. "Let her know that wasn't what you meant yesterday." Kent nodded. "Of course." He looked towards the office door. "Not now," Patrick said, as though reading his thoughts. "Let her rest now. You can talk to her once she's up." Kent nodded and Patrick turned towards the door. He stopped before opening the door and looked back at Kent. "You know, very few wolves get a second chance like this," he said quietly. "I know you loved my sister. I know these last few years have been hard on you. But don't screw this up, Kent. Don't ruin this because you're afraid to move on."