7: QUESTIONS.
1264 Words
LUNA VIOLET JAMES.
When I woke again, I had no idea how long had passed. There was no one else in the hospital room with me, and the only sound that I could hear was the beeping of machinery. I tried to remember anything about my life, but it was blurry, as though someone had drawn a veil over my memories. I sighed, frustrated. Hopefully, the doctor was right, and this is just temporary. My mouth was dry, and I reached for the cup of water next to the bed. The metal of the handcuffs twanged against the bed rail. I had forgotten about that. I reached with the other hand instead and winced as pain rippled through the wound on my abdomen. I sipped the cool water, letting it soothe my sore throat.
I thought about the big guy who had been standing guard in here earlier; he didn’t look like how I would expect a police officer to look. Yet surely to have handcuffed me and be sticking around to keep an eye on me, he had to be. I wondered if he might be able to give me some details about where I had been found and who by. I wanted to know who had done this to me and why. I groaned loudly, irritated by my own lack of ability to remember. There was a knock at the door, and it opened slowly. The nurse from earlier popped her head inside. “Oh, good, you're awake. Is it okay for me to come and check your vitals?” she asked. I nodded, and she said that she would be right back.
I pushed my body up into a sitting position. Moments later, the nurse entered with the big guy. He returned to his earlier position and watched as she took my blood pressure and pulse rate. He realized that I was staring at him and met my eyes. “Is there something that you wanted?” he asked. His voice was calm, not unfriendly but not gentle either. I cleared my throat nervously. “Are you a police officer?” I asked, my voice sounding as nervous as I felt, questioning him. He shook his head. “Then what gives you the right to handcuff me like this?” I asked, my voice steadier now as anger rippled through me. I had accepted it when I thought he was working for the police, and it had been officially decided. He looked a little surprised by my question. “Ma'am, I am simply following orders,” he replied. “Whose orders?” I demanded. “The King’s,” he said, shutting me down.
He left again with the nurse before I could ask anything else. Had he really just said The King had ordered that I be handcuffed like a common criminal? Why would a King have any interest in me? Now I really wanted to know what I had forgotten. I looked back at the handcuffs, which now felt like shackles around my wrist. Was I going to be thrown into a dungeon when I was well enough if they couldn’t figure out who I was? Surely someone had to know me. I wanted to get out of this hospital and look for answers. I suddenly didn’t feel that safe anymore.
LYCAN PRINCE LEO GOULD.
I had every intention of just going for a run, blowing off some steam. I didn’t plan to go to the place where I’d found her, yet somehow that’s where I ended up. I sat at the edge of her almost grave and let my mind go back to the moment that I’d first smelled the blood, her blood. I thought about the metallicness of that smell. I remembered following the scent and stopping when I’d heard voices. Had that been the ones who had hurt her? Surely it had to be; it was far too much of a coincidence otherwise. I tried to remember which direction they had left in and realized that it was the same direction that my father had figured that she came from. Making it even more likely that someone from her own pack had done this.
Werewolves were generally honourable beings, at least the ones that lived in the palace pack. Obviously, there were ruthless, bloodthirsty ones, who let the wolf inside them and the abilities that came with it excuse their behaviour. They were the ones who gave in to their animalistic urges without remorse and felt entitled to everything just because they could take it. But even the worst werewolves usually treated their deceased loved ones with respect. They didn’t dump them in shallow, unmarked graves in the forest. She had been discarded like she was nothing, which likely meant that she was an orphaned omega. Not that her status or lack thereof excused her treatment. I could still smell her here, her blood still soaked the ground. It reminded me that we still weren’t sure what exactly she was. Perhaps her not being a full werewolf had something to do with her being buried out here. Even so, she hadn’t just been buried unlovingly in the forest; she had been stabbed. Someone had deliberately hurt her, tried to kill her. They had left thinking that they had succeeded. I needed to know more. Why had this happened? Had she done something to bring this horrible fate upon herself?
I heard a voice in the distance and got to my feet. I didn’t want to be caught here. It could be whoever had hurt her coming back to revisit their handiwork, and I didn’t want to give them any clues as to where she was once they found her grave empty. Something deep inside me needed to keep her safe. I disappeared into the forest. I wanted to stay close and see who it was and what they did, but I couldn’t risk giving myself away. Honestly, if someone showed up gloating about killing her, I wasn’t sure that I could control myself enough not to attack them. I wasn’t exactly known for my restraint. Being a Lycan rather than a normal werewolf had its own challenges. A bad temper being one of them. I generally did my best to control the red-hot fury that came over me, but sometimes I lost that battle. I had a feeling that if I encountered the coward who had stabbed and dumped that young woman, I would lose it once again. I moved quickly, wanting to be as far away from that place when they arrived as possible.
I had calmed down by the time that I saw the palace ahead of me. I wondered if she had woken yet. Uncle Jack had promised to let me know when she did, but I had left my phone behind in my jeans pocket. I located them quickly, stuffed into a storage box outside of Donald’s guard hut. I pulled them on and retrieved my phone. Donald wasn’t there, so I entered through his hut. The door was locked, of course, but I knew where he kept the spare hidden for emergencies. I let myself in and relocked the door behind me. I looked around for Donald; it wasn’t like him to leave the gate unguarded. I figured that I should find out why, but a text came through distracting me. She was awake. I shoved the spare hut key into my pocket. I would return it to Donald later. All I could think of right now was getting to the hospital.
- Writer
