196- The Alpha’s Vigil
POV Aldren Valmorin:
I released her wrist and leaned over her on the mattress, lifting her chin with one hand and blowing air from my mouth onto her face.
“What did you eat and what did you feel, Elowen? How long after?” I asked, trying not to show what I felt, though fury bubbled in my bloodstream.
“I drank the tea and… felt something strange, in, in—”
“It’s all right, you don’t need to talk now.” I looked aside to speak to Nerin, standing beside the bed, anxious and hugging herself.
“Bring me a damp towel and a dry one!”
“Yes, sir,” she replied, already running toward my bathroom.
I was surprised by one of Elowen’s trembling hands touching my face. That simple touch sent a contraction through every small muscle in my body.
What the fuck was that?
I looked at her, searching for answers.
Still pale, she swallowed and parted her lips to say something, but only a hiss came out. Her eyes, moist with tears threatening to fall, closed beneath heavy lids she struggled to keep open.
“Don’t say anything, Elowen. The injection will make you sleep. You need to sleep for it to be fully effective.” I took her hand from my face and placed it beside her body.
“Tha… nk… you,” she forced out.
“Sleep, spy. That’s an order.”
A tiny smile appeared at the corner of her lips, and she closed her eyes. Nerin returned with the towels; I took the damp one first and wiped Elowen’s face and neck. Then I gently pressed the dry towel to absorb the moisture from her skin.
“Where is the food and the tea?” Nerin pointed to the nightstand, where the small tray rested. “Don’t throw anything away. I need a sample.”
“Yes, sir. I don’t know what could have happened…” She brought her hands to her face, in complete despair.
“Calm down, Nerin. Did you use anything different when preparing the tea today? Did any stranger enter the kitchen?”
“Only the usual ones, sir. Nala and Konrad drank the tea. I drank the tea and I’m fi—”
I raised my palm for her to stop speaking. My mind was in turmoil, and nothing she could say at that moment would cure my paranoia.
There was an enemy infiltrated among us, and none of this could be coincidence. The chance of Elowen being allergic to some component of the tea was minimal, because she would have tried to tell me.
“Until further notice, no one enters and no one leaves. Bring a few bottles of water—she will need to hydrate when she wakes.”
“Should I stay with her, sir?”
“Go back to work and enforce my order. I’ll stay with the prisoner.”
Nerin withdrew to do as instructed, and I stood to close one of the curtains so the sun would no longer hit her face directly—a face that was now serene, its color slowly returning.
I took a blanket from one of my storage chests and covered her up to the waist. I brushed a few strands of hair away from her face and watched her for a moment.
She didn’t look like a spy in the slightest—and that was the problem. No one even minimally wise would hire a suspicious-looking figure to commit a crime.
As if I were a machine, my body seemed to be suffering a short circuit. I no longer knew what actions were mine, or to what extent my beast was influencing my behavior.
What were her true intentions? Did she truly care for Kehin? What would she be capable of doing to escape? Who would want her dead besides me? Why did she panic upon waking and seeing me with Nala? Why did she thank me when she should fear me?
And me?
Why was I there when I could have ordered someone else to stay? Why did the idea of witnessing her death disturb me? Why did my beast feel empathy for her? Why did I… desire that damned bitch?
Admitting that I desired her the night before was pure anguish—almost like dousing my own skin with alcohol and setting it on fire. It wasn’t my lovers of more than fifty years that my beast and I wanted.
There I was, checking every minute to see if she was still breathing; measuring her temperature; monitoring her heartbeat; being affected by something I rarely felt: fear.
Fear that my own creation might not work, even though it had worked so many times before—over a century ago, since I created it.
I was only reassured when she nestled into my mattress, as if seeking a comfortable position to sleep.
The prisoner was not in danger of death—at least not by late morning.
I moved away from her and sat in my armchair.
Her scent stirred all five of my senses at once. Instead of intoxicating only my sense of smell, my eyes wanted her as their focus; my ears seemed to register only the soft sound of her breathing; my mouth watered more than usual; and my hands tingled, as if merely touching her would bring relief.
I picked up my cellphone, determined to ask for something I had always considered unnecessary.
Valmorin was safe, with alarms at strategic points and guards—why would I install cameras to intimidate my people, as Viktor did?
I didn’t want that.
But for my house and my laboratory, it seemed like the only way out.