RHEA’S POV I wanted to refuse again but seeing the stubborn look in the woman’s eyes made me pause.
I saw where Garrett got his stubbornness from.
Her eyes drifted to the young healers who looked down at their shoes.
“Well, we don’t have all day…” she said, voice cold..
The young healers murmured nervously among themselves, casting hesitant, timid glances at one another before stepping forward together.
They bowed their heads in genuine remorse, offering a soft, collective apology for their earlier harsh words and hostile attitude.
Lady Vanya offered an approving nod toward them.
She then turned to me, placing a warm, gentle hand on my weary shoulder.
“Once again, Dr.
Clara, please accept our deepest apologies.
You have done more than enough for our Alpha tonight, Dr.
Clara.
It is time for you to rest.” I gave a tired nod, ready to turn toward the heavy double doors.
But before I could take even a single step out into the hallway, a hesitant, trembling voice spoke up from among the group of young women.
“Wait,” the young female healer who had yelled at me earlier murmured, stepping forward with her eyes fixed nervously on there floor.
“I…
I have something I need to tell you.” She looked up, meeting my eyes with a strange, panicked urgency in her gaze.
“Can I talk to you in private, Doctor?
Please?
It’s important.” The entire hall fell into a tense, heavy silence.
The surrounding guards and healers watched the unexpected exchange with deep breath, their brows furrowing in confusion.
Lady Vanya stepped gracefully between us, her calm voice ringing out with unyielding authority.
“Whatever it is you need to say, child, it can wait until Dr.
Clara has had proper sleep.
She has been working endlessly for hours on end after running through a freezing blizzard.
Leave her be.” The other healers quickly murmured in agreement, gently nudging the reluctant young woman back into the group.
Relieved that I wouldn’t have to stay through another intense conversation in my utterly exhausted state, I decided to head straight to the guest room.
Garrett had thoughtfully arranged for me to stay in a room that was just down the quiet corridor, right beside Kael’s room.
It gave me a deep sense of peace knowing that if Kael’s condition suddenly deteriorated, or if his pulse spiked during the dark hours of the night, I would be able to enter his room and reach his bedside within seconds.
I walked into the dimly lit, warm room, closed the door behind me, and collapsed on the plush, warm mattress without even taking off my shoes.
Then, realizing how dirty and cold I was, I forced myself to stand, cleaned myself up in the bathroom with hot water and then changed into my clothes that I had packed in case of an emergency.
After that, I lay on the bed utterly exhausted.
For nearly an hour, I tossed and turned under the thick wool blankets, my hyperactive brain utterly incapable of falling asleep.
My mind kept replaying the crazy incidents of the day in a relentless, terrifying motion, the Elder’s vicious attack in the snow, the cold floor of the tower dungeons, the sudden, terrifying disappearance of my healing ability and the lingering threat of Darius’s relentless men hunting for my family.
It was certainly a lot for a single day.
Through the spiral mess of my thoughts, one particular need echoed louder than the rest in my mind.
I needed to buy or acquire a new phone as soon as humanly possible.
I couldn’t keep asking to borrow Garrett’s personal device every time I needed to check on Maya and my sweet Elias.
If I kept asking him for his phone, he or his guards would eventually grow suspicious of my secret calls, and I simply couldn’t afford to draw any more unwanted attention to myself in a foreign territory already filled with people that wanted to tear me apart and would probably do so if given the chance.
In the middle of the night, a sudden, overwhelming thirst seized my throat.
I sat up in the dark, needing a simple glass of cold water to wash away the dry thirst in my throat.
Fully aware that the pack house was filled with werewolf warriors who already saw my presence as unwanted and were also filled with anger and bitter suspicion, I decided to wait it out in bed, trying to ignore the rising discomfort to avoid causing a scene in the hallways.
Only, the feeling didn’t fade.
It grew faster, the need to drink water became bigger.
A suffocating feeling began to rise deep inside my veins, spreading outward from my chest until a burning, hot sensation sparked across my bare skin.
My breath came in shallow, hot gasps.
I didn’t just need a glass of water anymore, I felt an agonizing, primal urge to submerge my entire body into a pool of deep ice just to stop myself from burning up from the inside out.
Desperate for immediate relief, I threw off the heavy wool blankets and staggered toward the grand, double-arched glass balcony doors.
Looking through the frosted planes, I saw thick, heavy and fresh snow falling gently from the pitch-black sky.
I pushed the handles open, stepping barefoot out onto the balcony, eager to let the biting night air hit my flushed skin, even if it was only for a single minute.
The full mooon was high above the mountains, shining brightly over the snow covered fortress and the quiet pine tress below in a brilliant, silvery glow.
I leaned heavily against the freezing stone railing, lifting my pale, hot hands toward the glowing sky.
“Why?” I whispered into the silent night, staring up at the giant moon that cast its shadows over me.
“Why isn’t it working anymore?
What did you do to me?” I shook my head, letting out a dry, breathy laugh at my own craziness as I rubbed my hot face with my numb fingers.
“Great, now I’m talking to the moon like a lunatic.
I’m about to go completely crazy…” I turned around, wrapping my arms around my chest to head back inside the warm room, but the exact moment my foot crossed the wooden threshold, a deep, ancient voice echoed clearly inside my skull.
It sounded extremely powerful, like it was something ancient inside me.
“Be patient, my child.”