Nicholass Hope Ch 02

Hello everyone, and thanks for taking the time to read the second chapter of Nicholas's Hope. This chapter has been edited by my wonderfully helpful friend, Tcole. A HUGE thanks goes out to him.

There is no sex in the chapter, and it is a little short, but hopefully a nice teaser of what is to come.

Apologies for it taking so long, I completed a move, and fought with getting internet in my new place so this was a little slow in getting out to everyone.

I hope you enjoy. Again, comments (the good or bad) are always appreciated. And don't forget to vote!!!

This story is of my own creation and all persons therein are fictional. All persons are over 18 if not stated.

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Acrid smells brushed her nose and she warily brushed them away. Blinking in surprise, she sat up, looking at her surroundings. A steady beep came from a machine next to her, a green line peaking on the screen in time with a soft beep. The walls of the room were a bland gray, matching the tiles on the floor. "How did I end up here?" She wondered silently, her eyes continuing to travel around the room. A pale peach couch sat underneath a bland watercolor of blossoms. Turning her head a splash of a bright, and out of place color, caught her eye. A vase of brightly colored blossoms, white, light pink, orange, and yellow roses, inter-spaced with greenery and small white flowers, sat on the table next to her bed.

The sight of the arrangement, in the otherwise dreary room, brought a smile to her face. She wondered about who might have sent them, blinking in surprise as she couldn't even begin to guess. Tears came unbidden to her eyes as she tried to reach further into the recesses of her mind trying to discern her identity. Each time she tried, it was as if she was hitting a brick wall in her mind.

Folding her hands in front of her face, she gently pressed them against her eyes, sobbing into her hands.

Footsteps echoed down the hallway, stopping briefly in front of her door before it opened slowly. As soon as the sounds of her sobbing reached the ears of whomever was checking on her, they came quickly into the room.

"There now dear, don't cry." A young woman said soothingly as she walked up next to her bed.

She stopped her tears, rubbing her eyes to remove the remaining traces of the tears, though her eyes remained red as proof of her crying. Choking slightly on her sobs, she replied, "I...can't. Can't remember w-who I am!" She tried keeping the tears at bay, but was unable to as they leaked silently down her face.

"Oh honey!" the nurse exclaimed, bending forward to wrap her arms around her patient, "It will be alright. We will help you figure it out."

The empathetic nurse whispered soothingly, her hand rubbing up and down the young woman's back in an attempt to comfort her.

A throat cleared at the doorway, and although the young woman in her arms was too distraught to hear it, Samantha did. Looking up she realized it was Dr. Nicholas.

Smiling, and brushing her hand across the hair of the woman in her arms, she said softly, "Your doctor is here to see you."

The young woman slowed her crying, peeking up at her doctor after she removed her head from burying it in the hollow of the nurse's shoulder. The heart monitor registered an abnormal beat as soon as her eyes gazed upon her doctor. He happened to be by far, the most attractive man she had ever met, which didn't matter because he was the only man she happened to remember at the moment. God he even SMELLED good. In turn Nicholas tried to stop staring at her. He had thought her eyes were gorgeous while she was unconscious. They were nothing compared to now, with her eyes sparkling with...was that arousal?

Clearing his throat again he moved more fully into the room, a reassuring smile on his face. "And how are you today, Miss....?"

He left the question open, hoping to gain her name, though the look that passed across her face was not promising. In fact, she erupted into a new gale of sobs and tears, pressing her face back into the hollow of her shoulder. Shocked, he looked over at Samantha who shook her head slightly, mouthing "Amnesia".

Sighing in understanding, Nicholas moved forward, pulling the young woman into his arms and away from Samantha who only smiled and stepped back.

It was widely known that Nicholas had developed an attraction to the young woman now in his embrace. Samantha grinned wryly to herself, the nurses had all been talking in the cafeteria about it. It was a romantic story so far, handsome young eligible doctor finds unconscious beauty in the woods. And now the beauty awakes with no recollection of her dark and mysterious past!

Samantha pulled the young woman's chart from the hook at the foot of the bed. She quickly wrote down a few notes about recent developments and copied down the patient's vital stats from the machines next to her bed.

Her crying had calmed considerably now and she clung to Nicholas hiccuping.

Nicholas smiled into her hair, laying a tender kiss on top of her head. "Well now, since you can't remember your name, we can either give you a temporary name or we can call you the generic Jane Doe. Which would you like?"

Rubbing her eyes again to clear them of tears, she replied, "I'd much prefer to have a name that wasn't Jane. Do I just pick one?

"Hope!" was blurted from across the room from Samantha.

Two sets of eyes turned quickly to look at her as she explained, "Well, Hope that her memory returns and honestly she just looks like a Hope."

Nicholas turned to look at the young woman again, saying, "Well, what do you think?"

Biting her lip, and seeming to mull it over, she nodded her head before replying, "I think I like it. Hope it is, for as long as it takes me to remember my own name."

Smiling, Nicholas stood up, "It's time for us to go and let you rest now. I'll be back later to check up on you."

Out in the hallway, Samantha eyed Nicholas, "So when are you going to tell her how you feel?"

Nicholas blinked, taking his eyes away from Hope's chart to stare dumbfounded at Samantha, "What are you talking about?"

Snorting, Samantha replied, "I'm talking about you being madly in love with the woman you found in the woods, the woman that is now your patient. Ring a bell?"

Nicholas's face colored darkly, his voice low, "Now is hardly the time for me to start hitting on her, and I don't think it is appropriate for me as her attending physician to put the moves on her. Let her try to get her memory back."

Samantha rolled her eyes, starting to walk off as she tossed over her shoulder, "Yeah, sure, you know, she might be a serial killer. After all, you did find her naked in the woods."

Nicholas groaned, saying, "She isn't Sam. Just leave it alone OK?"

"Fine, you're only hurting yourself, besides, she is just as interested in you as you are in her." She retorted, grabbing the chart for her next patient and starting down the hallway.

Nicholas stood there for a few more moments, pondering what Samantha had said last. She thought Hope was interested in him. The thought brought a smile to his face and he rubbed his shoulder blade unconsciously, settling the ache that had started there. Perhaps when Hope was out of the hospital he could start seeing her. That had him grinning to himself as he grabbed a chart out of his box and made his own way down the hallway. Mr. Bunn had apparently been cheating on his cardiologist with fast food again.

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Miles away, a lamp shattered against the wall, nearly knocking down a portrait of the man who had once occupied this study. "I don't care what your excuses are! I want her here. YESTERDAY!"

Tom bowed his head in submission, his voice steady as he explained, "She was injured my Alpha, and before we could track her scent she had been found by a human."

"Human." His Alpha stopped dead in his tracks, his nostrils flaring as he turned to glare at his second, "What human? You said nothing to me of any human."

Tom kept his head lowered as his Alpha stalked towards him, his posture threatening. Everyone knew the story of his Alpha's pursuit of a neighboring pack's Beta. There was talk that she had gone rogue after he had cornered her and tried to force her to mate him.

"Yes my Alpha. The human that had found her had tended to her injuries; apparently a tree had fallen on her. I'm not sure why she didn't dodge it, but rest assured Alpha, we will find her. There are only so many hospitals around that would have been acceptable due to her injuries."

"Her injuries?!" came back a questioning roar.

Tom tried to ignore the menacing growl that came from his Alpha, taking a breath and speaking as calmly as he could, "She was completely unconscious. From what I was able to gather from the human as he explained her injuries to the paramedics, she was completely pierced with branches from the tree in multiple places. He... he said one had nearly pierced her heart. I believe her accelerated healing is what kept her alive, but she was not healed completely when I picked them up out of the woods, I could still smell her blood, but her heart was beating steady."

Tom looked up at his Alpha slightly, still keeping his posture submissive as he tried to gauge his reaction. His Alpha's eyes were completely golden, and his silence only proved that his Alpha's beast was completely in control.

"My Alpha?" Tom hesitated.

Shaking his head to the side, and his eyes once more turning to a brown so dark it seemed black, Eric growled his reply, "What?"

"Sir, what is it you would have us do?"

Eric sighed, walking around his desk to sit in the large chair behind it. His father had often sat here when he was Alpha, but even though Eric was in charge he hadn't changed anything in the office. He often remember coming into the room and watching his father deal with issues within the pack. The room was powerful and Eric wouldn't have changed it for the world. He wanted to preserve and nurture the sense of awe and fear that the members of his pack should offer to him when they stepped through what was now HIS doorway.

He turned the chair, staring out the window at the large city of Seattle spread below him. He tapped his fingers thoughtfully against the arm of his chair, his silence still giving no hint to Tom on the actions he wanted taken.

"Bring her to me Tom. My plans can't go forward till I have a mate, and she will become my mate if I have to force her to mark me, she holds my mark already. Find this human that helped her and give him a reward. But Tom..."

Tom looked up as his Alpha as he spun his chair back around to look at him, "Bring me your mate tonight. She will warm my bed in the absence of my mate until you find her and bring her to me."

Tom's own eyes went golden; his beast fighting for control to protect what was his.

Eric smirked, he knew what he demanded was unforgivable and tested the limits of his second's loyalty, but he frankly didn't care. "Is there a problem Tom?"

Still fighting for control, Tom growled out, "No Alpha, there is no problem. She will be here tonight. I will find your mate for you and deliver her here as swiftly as possible."

"Good, you can go." Eric turned his chair back around, listening as the door opened and then swiftly closed gently. He had to applaud his second that it wasn't slammed. Something needed to be done about Tom. In their last match together Eric had nearly been beaten by him. If the rest of his pack knew that Tom had almost bested their Alpha...well the thought was unbearable.

He turned his gaze back to his window, looking out over Seattle below. His fingers ran over his chin thoughtfully. His mate lay in the hospital, hopefully enjoying the thoughtful bouquet he had one of his betas place an order for.

He grinned evilly to himself, imagining the terror on her face as she read the card. He had signed it simply, "I'm coming for you. Be together soon. -E" Leaning back in his chair he contemplated on the different ways to punish his lovely mate without marring her beauty. Perhaps Tom would have some suggestions.

The thought of Tom quickly brought a scowl to his face. He would enjoy Tom's mate tonight in every way he possibly could; it would only be fitting for Tom to hear her screams through their mating bond. He couldn't even begin to imagine the thoughts that would race through his beast's mind as it knew it's mate was being taken by another. It would test the loyalty that Tom had shown, and it would help to show Tom his place. He was quickly growing in his own strengths and could easily best Eric soon. Yes, something needed to be done, but not until Tom proved himself with bringing his true mate back to him, but until then he would make good use of the replacement.

The thought of Tom quickly brought a scowl to his face. He would physically enjoy Tom's mate tonight in every way possible. It will be satisfying to hear her screams when I violate her mating bond. He leaned back in his chair as he imagined for a few minutes the thoughts that would race through Tom's beastly mind as he knew his mate was being abused. It would test the loyalty that Tom had shown so far and it would help keep him in his place. Eric thought ahead to himself; Tom was growing in his strength and might be able to best his Alpha soon. Yes, something needed to be done, but not until Tom proved himself by bringing his true mate back to him. Until then he would make fitting use of the replacement. Their pains would be his pleasure.