Kill The Luna

63

I gripped my aching waist tightly with my bandaged fingers, a sharp wave of exhaustion washing over my face as I looked up at her. "I don't think I can actually go and see him right now, Veronica," I murmured, my voice dropping into a weak, breathy whisper. "I am just far too weak, you know? My entire body feels completely hollow, and I am so incredibly tired I can barely keep my eyes open."

Instead of answering me right away, Veronica completely froze. Her eyes went entirely blank, staring down at the floorboards as if her mind had suddenly drifted a million miles away into some dark, worrisome place. She looked completely lost in a deep web of her own private thoughts.

Watching her tense posture, my brow furrowed in confusion. "Veronica?" I called out softly, shifting my shoulders slightly against the pillows.

She violently blinked her eyes twice, shaking her head as she instantly snapped back to normal reality. A sudden, polite smile quickly forced its way onto her lips to cover up her brief slip.

I leaned forward a fraction, my eyes narrowing as I closely watched her nervous movements. "Is there some kind of serious problem going on around the pack?"

Veronica let out a quick, airy laugh, waving her hand in the air as if to dismiss my worries entirely. "No, no! Everything is completely fine, I promise you," she reassured me, though her voice sounded a bit too high to be natural. She stood up from the stool, smoothing down the front of her medical apron, but she hesitated near the edge of the mattress. She tapped her chin nervously before leaning back in. "But... do you actually know the full details of what happened out there on the road? Like, was there absolutely anyone else present with Elda when she first attacked and kidnapped you? Any other rogue wolves or strange people?"

I shook my head slowly against the propped-up pillows, the memory of that terrifying evening making a cold shiver run down my spine. "No, it was just her out there in the dark when she dragged me away," I stated flatly, my eyes searching her tense face for clues. "Why exactly are you asking me about that? Do you know something I don't?"

Veronica’s fake smile stretched even wider across her face, completely masking whatever true emotion she was hiding beneath the surface. "No, it's really nothing at all, don't worry about it," she answered smoothly, though she wouldn't look me directly in the eyes. She let out a small, quiet laugh that sounded incredibly forced, hollow, and fake to my ears. "You know how much I completely care about you, Fedora. I was just so deeply worried about your safety while you were missing, so my brain is probably just overthinking a bunch of wild scenarios right now. But I am just really, really glad that you are sitting here alive in this room right now."

Moving with practiced, quick motions, she reached deep into the side pocket of her trousers. She pulled out a sleek, clear medical syringe, followed by a small glass bottle filled with a strange, thick substance. I watched with a mounting sense of unease as she plunged the sharp metal needle through the rubber top of the vial, pulling back the plastic plunger with a steady hand. The syringe slowly sucked up the mysterious liquid, filling the clear chamber.

My eyes locked onto the medicine, a sudden wave of suspicion hitting my mind. The fluid inside the tube wasn't clear or translucent like normal medicine; it was a thick, milky white color that looked incredibly heavy and strange. Veronica stepped closer to the edge of the bed, gently peeling back the heavy white sheets to expose my bare leg, right below the fresh bandage around my thigh. Without a second of warning, she precisely drove the sharp needle straight into my skin, pushing the thick white liquid deep into my muscles.

I gave a sharp, painful flinch, my teeth gritting together until my jaw completely ached from the stinging sensation. "What exactly is this injection for anyway?" I demanded, my voice cracking with pure annoyance as I glared down at the empty syringe. "You are always giving me this exact same treatment every single time I wake up in this clinic. I used to get sick quite a lot in my past before I ever came to this pack house, but I have absolutely never come across a medical injection where the color of the liquid inside is completely white. What is it?"

Veronica calmly pulled the sharp needle out of my flesh in one smooth, sweeping motion. She immediately took a small, clean white cloth from her tray and pressed it firmly against the tiny prick on my skin, holding it down with her thumb so that a single drop of fresh red blood wouldn't leak out onto the clean sheets.

She looked up at me, her features completely relaxed as she gave a soft, knowing nod. "That makes total sense that you've never seen it before," she countered, her voice dropping into a smooth, comforting murmur. "It is because this specific medicine is very rare to find out in the human world. In fact, it is actually not legalized or approved by regular human doctors at all. But for our kind, it is easily one of the absolute best treatments available. It acts as a powerful, instant painkiller, and it forces your body to undergo extremely fast healing. It works literal miracles on deep cuts, and it is the best stuff we have in stock. But I am strictly forbidden from telling you the actual chemical name of the drug, mostly because I don't want a young girl like you getting completely addicted to its effects."

I let out a loud, mocking scoff, rolling my eyes toward the ceiling as I leaned my heavy head back against the pillows. "Please, I already absolutely hate needles and injections with a burning passion," I muttered, rubbing my aching thigh as the medicine began to spread a strange, freezing numbness through my veins. "I don't think it is even humanly possible for me to become addicted to something that causes this much pure, stinging pain every time it enters my skin. Are there actually real people out there who get addicted to a painful shot like this?"

Veronica lifted her tray, a dark, mysterious glint flashing through her eyes for a brief second. "You would be incredibly surprised by what people can get addicted to when they are desperate to stop the pain, Fedora," she stated quietly.

She stood up straight, turning on her heel to walk toward the wooden exit door. But just as her fingers gripped the brass handle, she suddenly stopped her movements. She stood perfectly still in the doorway for a long moment before turning her head back over her shoulder, her expression softening into a look of deep, heavy seriousness.

"Fedora," she whispered, her voice holding a strange, heavy weight that made my chest tighten. "You know in your heart that I truly, deeply care about you and your life. So please... I am begging you, just try your absolute best to don't get horribly wounded like this ever again."

Without waiting for me to answer, she stepped through the opening and closed the wooden door softly behind her, her quiet footsteps quickly fading away down the long, empty clinic hallway.

Once she was gone, a heavy, suffocating silence fell over the small bedroom. I was left entirely alone with the flickering light of the afternoon sun, sitting quietly on the edge of the mattress as I clutched my bandaged hands together. I stared blankly at the wall, my mind spinning in a hundred different directions as I started thinking deeply about the absolute mess my life had become since the moment I arrived here. I was trapped, broken, and surrounded by secrets I couldn't even begin to unravel.

Suddenly, a soft clicking sound cut through the quiet room. My head snapped around toward the entrance as the brass handle slowly turned. The wooden door swung open with a gentle creak, and my heart instantly leaped into my throat as a familiar figure stepped into the light.

It was Ella.