Chapter 23 The Well Ghost

Chapter 23 The Well Ghost
Delcy, her eyes wide with uncontrollable rage, clutched the IV tube connected to the back of Seara’s hand.

“You think you can take everything from me just by putting on that cheap fainting act?!” Delcy screamed. Her hand yanked the plastic tube roughly.

Seara winced as she felt a sharp tug on her vein. The pain triggered an adrenaline rush that burned away the weakness in her body. The stubborn streak she’d inherited from her father suddenly surged to the surface.

Ignoring the throbbing in her head, Seara shot up from her lying position.

Instead of pulling her hand away, Seara swung her left hand and grabbed a clump of Delcy’s neatly styled blonde hair.

“Let go of the IV, or you’ll leave here with a bald head!” Seara hissed with emphasis.

“How dare you!” Delcy screamed in pain, but she didn’t give in. Instead, she pulled the tube even harder, causing the metal support pole next to the stretcher to shake violently and emit a deafening clanging sound.

Winona, who was usually calm and authoritative, now looked utterly panicked. However, instead of breaking up the two women who were wrestling, she was busy holding onto a tray containing expensive glass vials of potions and her medical instruments so they wouldn’t get knocked over.

“Oh my God, my equipment. Seara, Delcy, stop right now! You’re disrupting the energy flow in this room,” Winona shouted in frustration.

Seara didn’t hear her. Her focus was singular, making the woman in front of her regret ever stepping into her room. On the nightstand sat an open bottle of wound cleansing solution with a pungent odor one of Winona’s concoctions she hadn’t had time to seal. With her remaining strength, Seara grabbed the bottle and sprayed it directly into Delcy’s face.

The liquid hit Delcy’s eyes and cheeks.

“My eyes! Argh!” Delcy yanked out the IV line and covered her face.

“Feel that.”

The next moment, a horrifying sight unfolded. The thick black mascara that Delcy claimed was the most expensive waterproof product from the neighboring city began to smudge. Thick black liquid trickled down her pale cheeks, caked in heavy powder, creating eerie black streaks.

Delcy no longer looked like a high-society socialite, she looked like a well dwelling ghost who had just been crying for seven days and seven nights.

“Look at your face!” Seara taunted, panting, still clutching the remnants of the IV tube. “Even the monsters in the forest would run away if they saw you now.”

Seara laughed briefly.

“I’ll kill you, Seara Louisette!” Delcy roared, ready to charge again despite her blurred vision.

The clinic door burst open with a loud bang, nearly popping off its hinges. Austin rushed in, his head down, staring at the floor as he fumbled through the pockets of his jeans.

“Winona, my phone. Did you see…”

Austin’s words trailed off abruptly. He froze in the doorway. His gaze shifted from the tilted IV pole to Seara, who was sitting on the edge of the stretcher with her hair in disarray, and finally settled on Delcy, whose face had turned into an abstract canvas of black and pale skin.

“What’s going on here?” Austin asked in a low voice that trembled between confusion and anger.

“She attacked me, Austin.” Delcy immediately rushed toward Austin, trying to embrace him in a dramatic gesture. “Look what this wild woman did to my face. She tried to poison me.”

However, before Delcy could touch him, Austin moved quickly. He reached out, not to embrace her, but to grab the back of Delcy’s expensive dress.

With one strong hand, Austin hauled Delcy away from him as if holding a kitten that had just played in the mud.

“Get out!” Austin ordered curtly. His voice was cold, slipping into an Alpha mode that brooked no argument.

“But, Austin…”

“I said get out, Delcy. You touched my future Luna within the healing zone. That’s a serious violation,” Austin hissed. His eyes flashed sharply, instantly making Delcy’s courage shrink.

The atmosphere became extremely tense. Winona held her breath, while Seara could only stare at Austin’s broad back with mixed feelings. However, just as Austin was about to drag Delcy out to hand her over to the guards, a sound broke the silence.

A silly ringtone that sounded like a dancing duck came from Austin’s phone, which had apparently been left on Seara’s nightstand. The ringtone was so cheerful and completely out of sync with the tense atmosphere in the room.

Austin froze. His Alpha’s authority seemed to evaporate along with the sound of the duck.

Seara would have burst out laughing again if her chest hadn’t felt tight with jealousy. Delcy, still being held, could only blink her dark eyes.

Austin awkwardly released Delcy and snatched his phone. He glanced at the screen for a moment, his face hardening, then he pressed the decline button without answering.

“Guards! Take her out and make sure she doesn’t come near this clinic until the coronation is over,” Austin shouted at the two guards who had just arrived at the door.

After Delcy was dragged out while continuing to rant about the price of her dress, the room fell silent again. Winona immediately approached Seara to check the IV needle that had been pulled out.

“You said you’d protect me,” Seara snapped, breaking the silence. “But you let that vixen in and let her try to take my life through the IV line.”

Austin let out a long sigh and sat down on the plastic chair next to the stretcher. “I didn’t know she’d snuck in through the pavilion’s back door. At least I got back in time, before you tore her expensive dress into rags.”

“She deserved it,” Seara muttered, looking away.

"Enough, enough. Stop fighting," Winona interrupted as she reapplied the bandage to Seara’s hand. "Seara, your emotions are throwing your energy channels into disarray again. You need to stay calm if you want this Vis Sanatrix to stabilize."

Seara fell silent. However, something was weighing on her heart. Something more painful than the pull of the IV needle.

“So, what was that just now?” Seara asked suddenly, her voice trying to sound indifferent though it failed completely.

Austin raised an eyebrow. “What? Delcy?”

“What else? That mascara wearing ghost’s antics.”

Austin leaned back, gazing at Seara with a playful twinkle beginning to reappear in his eyes. “Yeah. Our fathers were good friends. She’s always been around the pack since we were kids.”

“Oh. It must be so nice to have a childhood friend who’s so… enthusiastic,” Seara quipped. She pulled the blanket up to her chest, feeling utterly ridiculous for being jealous of a woman like Delcy.

“Seara,” Austin called softly. He leaned forward, taking Seara’s hand that wasn’t hooked up to an IV. “Are you jealous?”

“No. Why would I be jealous of a woman whose mascara is smudged? My eyes are still better, not smudged black.”

“You’re jealous,” Austin teased. He brought his face close to Seara’s, allowing her to catch the scent of Austin’s masculinity, which always calmed her. “Your face is flushed, and you keep clutching your blanket. You look so cute when you’re trying to lie.”

“Stop teasing me, Austin. You’re annoying,” Seara grumbled, trying to push his shoulder away.

But Austin didn’t budge. Instead, he smiled smugly. Seeing Seara’s jealousy gave him a strange certainty in his heart that she truly cared about him. Without warning, Austin tilted his head and silenced Seara’s mouth which was still about to protest with a brief yet deep kiss.

Seara was stunned. Her heart was pounding, drowning out the pain in her head. The kiss felt like a claim, a promise that no other woman could take the spot beside the Alpha.

As Austin pulled away, he whispered something in Seara’s ear. “Never doubt your place. You’re the only one my wolf wants.”

Seara fell silent, her face now completely flushed. Yet, amidst the warmth spreading through her body, she remembered one thing. Austin’s phone rang earlier. Who had called him that made Austin have to reject the call with such a serious expression amidst all the commotion?

Seara wanted to ask, but Austin had already stood up, returning to his busy leader mode. There was a secret behind that silly duck ringtone, and Seara knew the turmoil in the Lycanisius Pack had only just begun.

“Rest,” Austin said, ruffling Seara’s hair before stepping out. “I’ll make sure Delcy, that busybody, doesn’t bother my future Luna.”

Seara stared at the closed door, feeling the emerald bracelet on her wrist pulsing softly. She was certain of one thing, Austin had already stolen her heart, even though it felt a bit strange because she didn’t want Austin to know she’d fallen for him.

'Am I really jealous?' Seara wondered to herself, confused.