Chapter 35 Chapter 35
ADRIANA'S POV
"Good morning, Adriana." The feminine voice sounds from behind. "How are you feeling today?" I straighten up, half-turning to catch a better view of the smiling doctor.
"I feel a lot better, thank you." I replied, turning towards Daciana who gave me a tired smile. Her eyes had bags under them from lack of sleep but it didn't seem to affect her in any way. As much as I'd tried to convince her I was fine and she could go home, she refused, saying she wouldn't leave me alone in the hospital. I had a feeling she wasn't telling me everything but I didn't push it and gave up. She kept me busy telling me stories of her growing up, she was careful to not mention her brother in any of those stories. I was grateful for it, he was the last person I wanted to see. He hadn't even bothered to show up at the hospital since last night, not that I wanted to see him, but he could at least pretend to feel sorry for what he had done.
The doctor interrupted my angry thoughts by responding to my earlier statement. "I'm glad to hear that. I've reviewed your test results and everything looks good. Your vital signs are stable, so much better than we expected." She finished with a smile. My lips tipped up at that, a sense of calm washing over me at the prospect of finally leaving this cramped hospital.
The room was by no means small, but it wasn't as comfortable as a home would be. Then the issue of me going back to Xander's arose, it was the only home I had for now. How foolish I had been to believe he would be better than my father. This really was the definition of the devil you know, if better than the angel you don't know. Not that Xander came as an angel to me, I was just foolish to believe he could be good, or that he at least held a little good in him.
All the stories I've heard about him had nothing positive to say about him, but I still went ahead and believed he had something good in
him.
"That's great news. I can go home today?" I asked her, my eyes hopeful. She had said I was good to go yesterday, I hope that still stands
now.
"Of course. But first, you should know it's important that you get plenty of rest and avoid any strenuous activity for the next few days. I'll also prescribe some medication for you to take as directed." I heaved a sigh of relief.
Daciana chipped in, squeezing my palms as she looked up at the doctor. "Okay, I understand. When will the follow-up appointment be?" "I'll message the alpha as said with all the instructions, but you don't need to come down to the hospital." I nodded, liking how that sounded. I wouldn't want to be here unless I absolutely had to. "Is that all, or do you need me to explain any more things?"
"No, that's all. Thank you, doctor." I smiled before turning back towards her, gently lowering my feet down from the bed. I stretched myself, feeling like I had been asleep for centuries. My weak muscles all seemed to come back to life.
"You're welcome. I wish you a speedy recovery. The nurse will be in shortly to give you your discharge instructions and any medication that you need. you have any problems or concerns, don't hesitate to call us." She left after that, the thud of her feet resounding all
over the room.
"So what now, what are we going to do?" I asked Daciana.
"We should get going, first of all." She said, yawning. "Xander must be very worried about you." She muttered something I didn't catch under her breath. I shook my head, looking away. I had nothing nice to say to her when it came to him and I didn't want to be rude. "I know how you feel, but he had been here all day yesterday, watching over you while you were unconscious. And after you woke up and started growling at us." She chuckled, telling me she found it funny rather than being offended. "The doctor asked us to leave." she started but i was hooked on the first things she said.
"No way" I replied and she nodded, smiling before she began to laugh, full on this time. A nurse enters the room, cutting Daciana off in whatever she might have had to say.
"Hi, how are you feeling now?" the nurse asked, a smile on her face while she went about unplugging the intravenous drip.
"I'm much better now, thank you for asking." She nodded, the smile still on her face. When she was done bandaging where the drip had been, she gave me the pills I was supposed to leave with and the directions of their use. "I hope you get better soon, luna." She nodded respectfully at Daiciana like she had when she entered and then went to leave after that.
"Thank you." I croaked out before she was out of the door. She shot me a smile then closed the door after her. I looked over at Daciana who seemed to be in a very deep thought. The bright look on her face was gone, her face crestfallen, she looked like she'd just escaped a dark situation or something of the sort.
"Is everything ok?" I asked her. She quickly said yes, her attention returning to me.
"Are you sure?" something pushed me to ask. She was so nice to me, I couldn't bring myself to just let it go. I put myself in her shoes, when I was in the pack and no one ever paid attention to me, even when I was a child and I had nightmares, there was no one to tell me the monsters weren't real and they were just in my head.
How could they? They were part of the monsters I was scared of.
I almost didn't hear her over the thoughts plaguing my mind, but when I did, it felt like something had slapped me across the face.
"It's just that I haven't heard from Xander since last night. No one has heard from him."
XANDER'S POV
"Welcome back," a sweet saccharine voice said, it sounded too loud, almost sending shock waves through my head. Speaking of which,
my head was pounding, reminding me of my younger days when we mixed the strongest alcoholic drinks we could find to knock ourselves out. The morning after was always a horror, though we found it worthy in our youth.
I hated that feeling right now. I moved my hand to massage my temples, hoping it would relieve some of the pain but I couldn't lift them, a few tugs told me they were bound. That made my eyes split open, and the annoying voice I heard registered. I'd disregarded it thinking it was Daciana, she always found joy when that happened and she did her best to make my morning more miserable. Except,
this didn't sound like her.
"Oh, wake up. I've been waiting for hours." I tried to turn toward the direction of the voice, but my neck didn't move either. I was bound to a platform from the looks of it, upright of all things. The restraints held me back as much as they were keeping me immobile. I growled at the person that was at the other end of the room, a woman I could tell from her voice. I tried to rack through my brain to see if her voice sounded familiar.
It kind of was, but I couldn't put a name or face to it for the life of me.
"Untie me." I commanded with a growl. I heard footsteps, light on the ground. She wasn't wearing any shoes from the looks of it so I couldn't tell if we were in an actual place or not.
Whoever it was, she had to be smart. I tried sniffing around to get at least an idea of where I was, it smelt of old musty dust and nothing more. There was no smell of dense trees or water close by, actually, the only thing I could smell was that of the aged earth. The person must have their scent masked, so I couldn't tell if it was a werewolf, a lycan or a vampire, or heck, even a witch. There were still a few of them, though they kept to themselves mostly.
"You think you can make demands?" she released an unkind laugh. I felt cold fingers on my skin, the long cold fingers caressing my cheeks. They moved lower and gripped my chin, before she pulled, forcing my head to jerk until I was looking down. Black obsidian eyes stared back at me, something in me burned from the sight of her and I couldn't help the grunt that escaped me.
The burning grew intense, going from just a sharp pain in my head to heat in every pore of my body. I groaned loudly, fighting against the ropes binding me, they were unmoveable. It felt like she did that for hours, it wasn't more than a few minutes at most, sending shockwaves through my whole body. Sweat was dripping from my head, I could feel it on my back and trailing down my legs. "Fuck." The word came out as a painful howl. Her nails dug deeper into the side of my face before she released me all of a sudden, leaving my head hanging awkwardly. I heaved a sigh of relief, the burning feeling inside me receding until it was nothing. The bitch made my blood boil, literally.
That at least answered my question of who she might be and the realization made me growl in warning, she moved back and scoffed.
"The mighty lycan king." Now, with my bearings back and whatever she had done to me earlier clearing from my sight, I was able to see the room. We were probably in a cottage, nowhere near my pack. The place was small and the walls were bare, save for a few markings carved into the stonewall. I didn't bother trying to read it knowing it wouldn't make much sense to me, it was written in the
old language. Armakian.
"How beautiful, I have you at my mercy now," my head snapped to the woman that was now sitting on air basically, with her legs crossed. Her long talons-what she called nails were painted in black, the color darker than her eyes and soul, without a doubt. "It has been so long, Alexander. Did you miss me?" her accented voice came moments later.
I looked up, making sure my eyes were at the same level with hers, she looked away, refusing to meet my gaze. The damn bitch, she manipulated everyone but hated the favor returned. That didn't make me back down though, and feeling a bit like myself since temperature in my body was back to normal, although still unable to move, I made a mocking sound at the back of my throat. "Why don't you release me and I can show how fucking much I missed you?" I growled the question out.
What had happened was just coming back to me now, the hospital, Donovan's message, the pack preparing for a rogue invasion. I'd left after Donovan mind linked me and headed for the border where it was happening. I remembered the damned arrows, poisoned with wolfsbane, it wouldn't have made me as weak as it had, which meant it was not only that. Though with this woman, I wouldn't be surprised. I would fucking kill Donovan if he had any hand in this.
I tried to mind link Daciana to ask how Adriana is doing, and if they were alright. With this bitch in sight, I wanted her nowhere near
Adriana. "We'll get to that in time." she waved a long ugly hand in the air. Her jet black hair covered most of her face, sitting down, it was almost sweeping the floor. "Now, I heard some rumors. I wanted to figure out the authenticity of them."
"I'm not interested in gossip." I muttered bored, she lifted her head, her black painted lips curving in a smile.
"This might interest you. I heard you've taken a bride." I tried to control my reaction, not wanting to give her anything. She must have noticed because her smile broadened. "I've come to take what's rightfully mine." she said, an underlying threat in her voice. That seemed to set me off, knowing what the fuck she was talking about and how I wasn't going to give her that.
Before I could think to stop myself, my bones snapped, reforming, my body growing larger, and breaking out of her restraints. I saw her move back, fear flashing in her obsidian eyes as I stood to my full height, in my real form.
I cracked my neck from side to side and gave her a feral smile, flashing my canines at her.
"I believe it would be best if the grounds were equal." The words came out with a snarl, my voice deeper than the usual one.
"Then let's go for it, your highness." She spread her hand, the black cloak she was wearing pooling around her feet.