Chapter 29 Chapter 29
ALPHA XANDER'S POV
The doctor advised us to go home and rest, but Daciana insisted on staying. She wanted to be by Adriana's side, no matter what happened. I tried to force her to leave, telling her that there was nothing more that we could do, but she refused to go.
After some time, Daciana reluctantly agreed to leave, but only on the condition that she could see Adriana one last time before we left the hospital. We walked down the hallway, hand in hand, towards Adriana's room. Daciana walked over to Adriana's bedside and took her hand, tears streaming down her face.
I put my arm around her and we stood there, in silence for a few moments. We didn't have much to say, communicating our pain through silence.
"We should go, you need to rest." I patted Daciana on the back, speaking in a low voice as though to not wake Adriana up. The doctor said she was hearing us, I damn well hoped she was because I was very close to getting on my knees and begging her to come back to me.
"Okay." Daciana breathed the word out. Her voice sounded small and so unlike her.
Daciana followed me out of the door, she'd stayed and muttered words of encouragement to Adriana, she told her she missed her and then she apologized for not reaching her early. The guilt I was feeling multiplied the more she spoke.
I felt distracted as we walked out of the room and through the walls. Something in me stirred, warning me that something was wrong. I couldn't pinpoint my finger in it but I was sure something wasn't right.
"Everything's alright?" Daciana asked, I realized I had stopped walking. We were almost by the exit when I caught sight of a black leather jacket. My body went rigid when I caught sight of Donovan walking into the hospital.
Almost at the same time, he looked up and saw me, and a sly grin appeared on his face. The smug grin on his face was mocking, I turned ready to stalk towards and force whatever he knew out of him. A soft tug on my arm pulled me from my murderous thoughts. I stared down at Daciana who was looking at me expectantly.
"What is he doing here?" She asked, sounding as annoyed as I felt. I grumbled incoherently, she got what I said as no and nodded. She studied me with scrutiny, probably trying to understand what I was thinking. I didn't look away from Donovan, knowing me missing him would be a mistake on my part.
"Xander," Daciana's voice made me turn to her. Her brows were furrowed in thought. "Does Donovan have anything to do with Adriana's sickness?" I shrugged, shaking my head in the process.
"I don't know." My voice sounded raspy, even to my own ears. What I didn't tell Daciana was, I suspected he did but since I couldn't be sure, saying it would do more harm than good. What he said about knowing what was wrong played on my mind. I wanted to believe him, he'd been to tell me she didn't have a wolf, it could be a lie but he would gain nothing from lying about something like that. Donovan noticed the clenching of my jaw and the rage that I was sure he could see in my eyes, he shrugged and walked past, not saying a word. I wanted to confront him, to demand that he tell me what he knew, but I knew that it wouldn't do any good.
Dacian pulled my hand and I resumed walking. Donovan's words kept replaying in my head. I've learnt to trust my instincts and he'd even come out and say it, even if he didn't have a hand in it, I believed he knew what was going on or how to fix it. He has a lot of shady friends that did things like that. I made up my mind to get to the bottom of it. If I had to beat him in his own game, then so be it.
I couldn't rest until I knew what had happened to Adriana, and I wouldn't stop until I had the answers I needed to save her. I was already having sleepless nights knowing she was in the hospital. I didn't want to think of how it would be in a week, or a month, and Goddess forbid, forever. I couldn't lose her.
"Xander," Daciana said when we got to the car. I was about to open the door for her, she placed a hand on my arm stopping me. "I don't feel okay with Donovan being in there. Let's just go back, maybe we'll find a clue as to what he is doing there and if he has anything to do with it." I nodded, was a good idea. How hadn't I thought of it first?
He had no business being in the hospital, I doubted I've ever even seen him there. When we got back, he was nowhere to be seen though it wasn't that surprising.
I sniffed around a bit, catching his musky earth smell in the air. It was mild which meant he'd been gone for a while, it was easy to follow the trail though. Daciana was also on the same page and we headed towards the east side of the hospital.
We followed the scent, and it led us out of a part of the hospital that wasn't completed and into the free streets from there. It was all part of the hospital building but no buildings were there. Daciana and I shared a look, communicating without having to speak. I have a single nod meaning we should keep going. I was glad that he wasn't in the hospital, which meant he wasn't close to my mate, but it didn't exactly make me feel at ease. Whatever he was up to, it couldn't be good.
We walked for what felt like hours, but eventually, we found ourselves back outside a run-down building annexed to the hospital, on a more abandoned part. I recognized the building, as it was the first hospital building before it was ruined during a war, hence the new
and modernized building.
Donovan's scent led inside the building, something in me said to stop when we were close but I kept going. I felt like I was reaching a means to an end, I could find out one thing, even if it had nothing to do with Adriana's sickness, I knew it would be something
important.
"Are you sure we should go in there?" Daciana asked, eyeing the building that spoke of the tragedy that happened there. It was over four centuries ago, but I knew the war had been terrible.
"We've already come this far." I said, like that was enough. Seemed like it was enough for her though because she followed. Daciana didn't look too keen on it, she wanted Adriana to be okay. That was the only reason she didn't ask me to just turn back and forget about
it.
We entered the building and followed Donovan's scent, until we found ourselves in a small room where Donovan was sitting, with a smirk on his face. We could see the side view of this face from here, but I could still make out that maddening smirk that I hated so much. He took a last puff before the butt end of the cigarette fell. He crushed it under his boots before he began talking again. From here, we couldn't see who the other person was.
As we entered the room, we saw another person on the side. Donovan's smirk grew if that was even possible. He must have perceived our scent but he knew there was nothing we could find.
"Ah, we have company." Donovan said, his eyes landed on me and he lifted a brow before turning back to the doctor that was standing against the wall, the fear prominent in her eyes. She turned to me and Daciana, and without s even asking, her mouth started running.
"Alpha, I had no idea." The doctor pleaded, her shaking hands were visible even from here. I tilted my head to the side, meaning for her to go on. Donovan relaxed in the iron chair he was sitting in, the satisfied smile on his face was unsettling. I wanted bash his face but
I needed to hear what the doctor had to say more. I chose peace for now.
"I-I'd thought he was a relative of hers alpha. He told me he was and I felt bad, he has if he hasn't been seeing her and only heard about
her accident from one of the maids. I didn't want to let him see her without your authorization but he threatened to kill my family. I swear alpha on my life, I didn't know anything."
"Leave." I commanded the doctor who quickly walked away, almost flying out of the room with how fast she ran out. I glanced back at him angrily. I wondered what he might have said to her or if he had threatened her.
"What do you want with her?" I turned to him and asked him, he didn't need me to specify. He knew perfectly well who I was talking about. "So much that you had to go behind my back and ask-threaten to see her without my permission." I needed to understand. Though I doubted he would tell me, it was worth a try.
"Come on Xander, I don't need your fucking permission to see whoever I want." He scoffed, trying to make it seem like it wasn't a big
deal.
"Adriana is different." Daciana chipped in, her voice growly.
"And what's different about her?" He took out another cigarette and lighted it. He looked at me with a sly grin and mumbled, the cigarette in his mouth. "I was only trying to help, you know that." He pulled the now out cigarette out of his mouth and held it between his index and middle finger. I longed to break both.
Daciana, who was behind me, asked me not to trust him, but Donovan just scoffed.
"You can choose not to trust me, but let's face it. I know more about this than you two combined." He lifted both of his shoulders in a careless shrug. "I can help her," he stressed. I wasn't sure about it, trusting Donovan was almost like putting my life at the hands of my enemy and expecting them to keep me safe. Another part of me reminded that he was the only one that had talked about a possible
solution.
"Look," he said, sounding impatient. "I have information that could save her life,"
"If you do, then out with it. Why are you blabbing?" Daciana snapped.
"And right now, I'm the only person that can help you."
Tired of hearing him repeat the same thing, I stood up straighter and crossed my arms over my chest. Donovan smirked, seeing that I
was about to talk. "What do you want?" He snapped his hand, then turned to Daciana and gave her a mocking bow.
"See, that's why I like you. Your brain works really fast." He relaxed back in the damn chair and took a drag of his cigarette again. I
hoped he choked on it. "You just have to agree to a few terms of mine and your little mate will be up and running before you know it."
"You've got to be fucking kidding me. Why should we believe you didn't just give her some damn potion and you'll only pull the medicine now?" Daciana asked, eyeing him suspiciously. Donovan made a face, puckering his lips in a pout.
"Well, you'll never know if you don't agree now will you?"
"I'll give you whatever the fuck you want. What do you know about Adriana's situation?"
Donovan sat up straight, now a full blown smile on his face. I would regret agreeing to his terms later, I didn't care for it now. As long
as Adriana will be fine.
"You just sold your soul to the devil."