The Alpha's Luna Is Mine

Tasha's Web

Aethelwulf POV

I took off my clothes immediately and walked into the bathroom, I turned on the head shower and let the water cascade down my head to my entire body, the cold impact hitting my skin like a forced reset, sharp and grounding, as I tried to force my thoughts into order, I need to think straight, what do they mean by two days interval, they've already predicted that he will be in that position for the next two days, like some predetermined fate written without my consent? That's crazy, a calculated certainty delivered like it was nothing, like life was something they could schedule, I called them for a f*****g solution and all they can do is predict ridiculous things, useless forecasts dressed up as intelligence, as if prediction alone can fix damage already in motion, as if I needed prophecy instead of action.

After taking a cold shower, I walked out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around my waist, the fabric clinging slightly to my skin as the last droplets of water traced down my chest and back, I put on a black well fitted long sleeved top, black underwear and black baggy pants, my thing with black is a whole mystery, not just preference but something deeper, like control, like silence made visible, like everything unnecessary stripped away until only function remains.

I walked out of my room and the doctors and nurses were nowhere to be found, just Tasha giving her the herb, standing too comfortably near her bed as if she belonged there, as if authority had been handed over without my approval, "What the f**k?" I couldn't help saying that out loud, the words leaving my mouth before I could restrain them, sharp with disbelief and rising anger, I walked to her and dragged the bottle off her hand, the motion abrupt enough that the liquid inside shifted violently.

"She just got a blood transfusion, who asked you to give this to her?" I asked and she stood up staring at me with disdain in her eyes, the kind of look that suggested she believed she was right, that she had justification, that rules existed only when convenient.

"The doctors..." I can't hear it, I gestured for her to leave the room before she could finish, my patience thinning dangerously.

"Leave the room." I ordered in a low yet authoritative voice, controlled but edged with something that did not invite refusal, she took a step towards the door but then turned to stare back at me, hesitation lingering in her expression like she wanted to challenge it but understood she couldn't.

"I will be back in a few minutes, somehow it feels like a responsibility for me to make sure she gets back on her feet, I can't help it, I feel so indebted to her, I mean she helped me recuperate..." I am so done hearing that bullshit, it is late in the day, I am not in the mood for emotional reasoning or misplaced loyalty, everything in me rejecting sentiment that interfered with urgency.

"Close the door behind you." I said and she smiled faintly, a smile that irritated me more than it should have, and she walked out.

I wiped off the remnants of the herb off Kiera's mouth and sat beside her, watching her still form, the stillness unsettling in a way I could not ignore.

Just then blood began to ooze out of her mouth and her nostrils, slow at first, then worsening as if something inside her had given up containment. "f**k!" I let out as I walked into the bathroom, took a bowl filled it with water and walked back into the room, using a hand towel I washed off the blood and raised her face up slightly, then ironed her mouth so air could still pass in while I pressed her nostrils together, stopping the inflow of air that was destabilizing her breathing pattern, controlling what little I could in a situation already slipping.

After a few minutes I removed my hand from her nostrils, the blood stopped coming off her nose, but then she began to breathe heavily, uneven and strained, like her lungs were struggling to remember their function, I immediately took the leaves in the basket and squeezed them in my hand and forced it into her mouth, my actions driven more by instinct than certainty, I kept squeezing and forcing it into her mouth until her breath normalised, each second stretching longer than it should have.

I slowly let her lay on the bed, adjusting her position carefully, then took the bottle of herbal and walked out of the room and locked the door behind me, as if containment could prevent whatever was already happening inside her body from spreading outward.

I walked out of the main door and made my way to the farm house, then the poultry house, needing answers through action, through something tangible, something I could see fail or succeed.

"Greetings Alpha Aethelwulf." The farm keeper greeted the minute he saw me, his voice immediately straightening his posture, fear and respect blending in the way it always did.

"How are you doing?" I asked him and he nodded with a smile.

"I'm good my Alpha, my wife put to bed the other day, two healthy pups." He added, pride softening his expression.

"Congratulations." I said and he voiced out a 'Thank you' as we kept walking down into the poultry farm, the smell of feed, straw, and animal heat filling the air, the chicks seemed to be sleeping, still and clustered together for warmth.

"Where are the sick chicks?" I asked and he pointed to a particular side of the poultry farm and I walked towards it.

"I need one, then get their water trough." I requested and he opened it, held one in its wing, it didn't even wiggle unlike healthy chicks, its weakness already visible in the limpness of its body.

He brought down a water trough and kept the chicken down, I think it's a hen even, its breathing shallow and irregular, fragile in a way that made it a perfect subject.

I poured the herb into the water trough and the farmer looked up at me in confusion, hesitation flashing briefly across his face.

"A little bit of experiment." I said to him, my tone flat, removing any space for objection, he nodded, not like his opinion is needed, not even his permission is needed in matters like this.

He forced the hen to drink the herb, which it did reluctantly, then even went ahead to use a syringe like tool to extract the liquid and inject it into its mouth, accelerating exposure, removing uncertainty through force. After a few drops, we watched it for ten minutes and its neck moved to a side, unnatural and slow, then it began to breathe heavily, blood began to ooze out from its mouth and its stool, confirming toxicity in a way that was no longer theoretical.

"This is very poisonous..." Before he could finish his statement, the hen took its last breath, collapsing into stillness that was absolute.

"My Alpha..." I didn't want to hear whatever he was saying, I began to walk back into the house, my mind no longer occupied with doubt but with clarity sharpened into something colder, I can't believe I didn't suspect this herb all along, how can she do this right under my nose and I didn't even suspect her, there is more to this than it looks, something deliberately concealed beneath trust.

It was suspicious to always see her in Kiera's room feeding her herbs but then I never suspected that she poisoned the herbs, the realization cutting deeper the more I replayed it, each memory re-aligning itself into evidence I had ignored. I feel so foolish for being this blind.

Reaching Kiera's room I opened the door and rushed to her bed, I tried squeezing the leaves again but then I noticed she was breathing heavily again, worse this time, like her body had begun rejecting even the idea of survival.

"Nooo!" I didn't even know what to do, she began to bleed from her nostrils, mouth and ears, this time worse than the first time, uncontrolled, overwhelming, as if everything inside her had ruptured at once.

I stared at her, I could see her life leaving her body, she's fighting for her life and only a thin line is still keeping her on earth, fragile and fading. I bent to her neck and bit her, sucked in her bitter blood and then swallowed it, forcing myself past hesitation, letting instinct override restraint. I let my fangs out and tear a part of my skin, then I sucked on my blood and went for her lips pushing my blood into her throat, sealing the transfer with urgency and force that bordered on desperation.

I felt her eyelids flutter open.