THE ALPHA’S HUMAN MATE

CHAPTER 2: DAYS AFTER

ELENA’S POV:

The morning after the contact, I had to resume work.

I was exhausted, running on really few hours of sleep but I still resumed anyway.

I prepared my coffee the way I like it from home so it helped me get through the morning.

While making the coffee, I caught myself staring into the air.

That wasn’t like me, being distracted.

I randomly stretched my hand the one that touched his blood yesterday. I didn’t mean to do it, I just found myself doing it.

I drove to work, smooth ride, my soft playlist to get me going too. I settled in and prepared myself for the day ahead

Just as I settled, the bursar asked to speak to me.

“Elena.” She called.

I turned back.

“Yes.” I answered wondering what she wanted to speak to me about.

“Is there a problem?”

“Not really.” She said.

I wasn’t convinced.

“What’s wrong?”

“Remember the patient from yesterday you attended to.”

“Yes, what about him?”

“Someone cleared his bill.”

“Someone?”

“Yes, a different name but the description matched him.”

My chest tightened.

“What name?”

She looked at the slip. “It’s not James Carter.”

I reread it too.

“How was it paid?”

“Cash. Same night. Whoever it was came in after visiting hours and settled it.”

“No name on the payment slip too?”

“No name.”

She handed the slip to me.

I was curious, I didn’t know why.

None of it was adding up. The payment. The name. The wound. The man himself.

It didn’t make sense.

“Thanks, let me know if anything else comes up.”

I folded the slip in my scrub pocket and walked towards the wards.

My mind was on that paper. On the name that wasn’t his name, on the wound that closed unusually.

I found Yasmine in the break room when I was about to have my lunch. She was halfway through a sandwich.

“You look like you’ve just seen a ghost.” She said.

“Maybe, maybe not.”

I sat across her.

“Remember the guy from yesterday?”

She nodded.

“Someone came in to clear his bill.”

“Okay? What’s bad about that?”

“The person paid in cash and the name doesn’t match.”

“You know rich people, they can be weird.”

“Maybe he didn’t want it on insurance. I’ve seen people do that or he probably didn’t want his name disclosed.” She added.

“That doesn’t explain the wound though.”

She stopped chewing.

“What about the wound?”

“It should’ve bled through the wool I used in that moment. It didn’t.”

“And when I checked, the wound didn’t look fresh.”

“Or maybe you misjudged? You know you were exhausted yesterday.”

“I’ve done this job for so many years. I can tell what a wound looks like after different periods of treatment.”

She’s quiet for a second.

“So what do you think is wrong?”

“I honestly don’t know what I think or what to think.”

“I just know none of this adds up and it’s more than the wound or the payment.”

“What else then?”

“Okay this might sound crazy but hear me out.” “When I touched his blood to check the wound, something happened. I don’t know how to explain what I felt. I think he felt it too because he pulled back when it happened”

Yasmine set her sandwich down. She seems intrigued.

“Felt it how?”

“This is the issue, I don’t have the word for it.”

“It was like a connection. It was really quick.”

“That’s not normal Elena.” She said.

She sounds scared. Scared for me I guess.

“I know.”

“None of it is normal infact. The wound, the name and payment, the way he was dropped off, and now you’re explaining it like it’s from one of those books you read in nursery.”

“Like wolves and stuff?”

“Yes!”

I almost laughed.

“Wolves? No damn way!”

“Sure.”

She didn’t sound convinced. Neither was I.

We ended the conversation there. I had my lunch and the rest of my shift went by.

At home that night, I sat on my kitchen counter with the payment slip in my hand, munching on some grapes.

I picked up my phone and typed the name I was sure was fake. Maybe I thought I could find something but nothing useful came up.

It was such a common name he gave. Thousands of men bear that name.

I gave up on the search.

My mind drifted to the spot where his blood touched.

It didn’t make sense that I could still feel it.

Three days go by without a word.

I convinced myself it was just a strange day and it was over.

Then on the Tuesday of the following week, around noon, the front desk placed a call on my own office phone.

“Miss Elena.”

“Yes.”

“A patient is requesting to see you specifically.”

“Alright, coming.”

None of my patients mentioned coming in today so it was confusing but I went anyway.

I didn’t think much of it till I got close.

It was him. He stood there, steady, like he hadn’t collapsed days before. He looked perfectly fine.

“Elena.” He called as he sighted me.

How did he know my name?

“Hello, Mr James?”

He bent his head and gave a light smile.

“It’s not James. I’m sure you figured that already.”

I didn’t answer instantly.

“You gave a fake name and vanished before we could ask anything,” I said.

“So forgive me if I’m not exactly interested in another conversation.”

“That’s fair, I’ll take it.”

“What brings you here today sir? Is it to apologize? If that’s why, it’s in the past now.”

“No.” He looked behind me like he was checking for who might be listening.

“ I’m here because I don’t think either of us is going to stop thinking about what happened until we talk about it properly.”

My pulse rate picked up. It wasn’t fear exactly, it was something closer to the feeling I’d been trying to explain to Yasmine during lunch that day.

“Is there somewhere we can talk?” he asked. “Maybe somewhere quieter.”