53 - The psychiatrist
THALIA ZAHARA.
“We finally meet, Luna Thalia,” the psychiatrist eagerly greeted me as I gently entered the room designated for our session.
“Doctor. It has been a tussle since you’ve come, hasn’t it?”
“Not at all. I am just glad we get to meet before I leave. I have been very curious about your case.”
“Why?” I sat down. “Do I seem like a soul trying to hide her pain behind smiles? Do you think I have not been processing my pain quite well?”
My self-evaluation did not move the man.
He said, “I just spoke to Beta Emmag. He told me you didn’t try to take your life.”
“Oh.” I crossed one leg over the other. “He did not say more, did he?”
“Is there more to be said?”
His question sounded like a trap, so I put on a shield in case I babbled about things I didn’t intend to share.
“I doubt it,” I casually replied. “I thought I tried to kill myself but it turned out I didn’t. That’s about it.”
“Hmm.” He surprisingly wasn’t holding a notepad and pen, I thought he would have started noting certain details that would reveal how terrible my life is. “I was a friend of your father.”
Okay… I did not expect that.
“Doctor…” I chuckled. “Are you trying to trap me with that statement? I know most of my Dad’s friends if not all. You are certainly not one of them.”
“You must have been close to your father.”
“If you have to ask that question, then you don’t know my father.” I scoffed with disbelief. “Do you use lies to lure answers out of your patients?”
“Luna Thalia, you might be misreading me.”
“Then don’t give me a chance to misread you. If you are going to help me, don’t start by feeding me lies. I have had enough of those in the past few weeks.”
“Hmm. You have definitely become feistier.”
I narrowed my eyes. “What do you know about me?”
“Hmm…”
Is this how a session is meant to be? And why does this moment feel like a trap of some sort?
“Are you really a doctor?” I won’t be surprised if the weirdness of the moment can be linked to one of the Goblin’s never-ending tactics to end my life. “What are you? What is your deal?”
“You still talk a lot, you fucking bitch.”
The response was not enough to startle me but when the view of the man made a sizzling sound, he changed into a person I never thought I would see again, especially not in The Rebel Pack.
“Paterica Stark.” I have many questions for this ex-best friend of mine who gladly picked up the trash that dumped me, but I’ll ask the most important one. “Are you the one that sent the Goblin? You are the one that’s been trying to kill me?”
She laughed, the evil I never got to see in her eyes staring back at me in its full glory.
“Staying in this dump of a pack must have messed with your mind more than I hoped,” she smirked. “What is this Goblin shit you are talking about?”
I glanced at my wolf who stood by my side in silence.
“Paterica, why did you pretend to be a Doctor? How did you even do it? As far as I know, your wolf abilities are not so great.”
“You should stop looking down on me now, Thalia. I am your Queen.” Her nose scrunched with pretense. “You should tone down the disrespect.”
A smirk grew on my lips. “Does your precious King know you are poking into my life? Are you two that obsessed with me?”
“What?” It seemed she wasn’t aware Lycan Octavius had been trying to make my life hell. “What are you talking about?”
“Never mind. You still haven’t replied to my question. Why are you here? And why did you pretend to be a doctor? Have you been living under the guise of the psychiatrist all this while?”
Her emerald eyes which I used to admire because they held so much love for me stared right into mine and dared me to fight.
“You are right,” she said. “I am obsessed with getting rid of you. I honestly wanted you to die. But then, I heard you were sold off to this wretched pack, so I guessed you had become a slave. That was good enough for me until I heard you became the Luna Queen barely days after your disgrace, so I came to check myself. I can't believe it is true. The Alpha King of this pack must be super blind to have chosen a reject like you as his Luna. But then..." She eyed the room as if it was some sort of butcher house for things that had no value. "... this pack itself is a reject. The people are only fortunate that they are still a part of our kingdom. Thalia, no matter how much you act like a Luna Queen, you'll always be a slave because all rebels are lowly slaves."
Most of the things she said sounded gibberish to me.
“So, have you found the answer you are looking for?” I swear I don’t have the time for this. “I am sure you have gotten more than enough answers. Leave as soon as you are done spying.” I got up. “The next time I see you, I will grace your face with a slap I’ll be very delighted to deliver.”
Since it is nearly certain that she and Lycan Octavius will attend the party Alpha Ezra mentioned, I should prepare my hand to do a little arts and crafts on Paterica’s face. I already carved part of my pain into her husband’s thighs, I should do something for her as well. Sure, doing that might not alleviate my pain, but it is something I have to do.
“Don’t walk out on-”
I slammed the door and took a few seconds to wonder why my life kept successfully attracting terrible things.
Then, when I figured I wasn’t ready to find a response to that, I walked out of that scene and headed for the room to pick up the package I had been waiting for. Once that heavy box was firmly seated in my hands, I swiftly moved my feet toward the surveillance room where I hoped Alpha Ezra would be. I had questions concerning Luna Queen's duties and also, while I was bathing, I realized there was something I was yet to do and I wanted to act on it before it was too late.