Filed to story: The Alpha’s Pen Pal Book
I gave him a tight smile. “Thank you.”
“Would you like Wesley to stay or step out?”
“He can stay,” I muttered, and Wes relaxed a little, leaning against the wall by the door.
I was still mad at him, but I didn’t want to be alone with the doctor, either. I didn’t know him, and Wesley’s presence was still calming me a little. Not as much as it did when he was next to me and touching or holding me, but just knowing he was there helped me feel safe.
“I’m going to check your wound and see if we need to replace the bandage or anything. And I’m going to go over the results of your blood tests with you,” Dr. Russo said as he sat on the bed with me.
“What blood tests?” I asked.
“We wanted to check for any infection. And we wanted to check if you were pregnant. It’s a standard procedure for emergency situations.”
My eyes widened, and my heart skipped a beat. Wesley’s face paled, and that sensation of emotions that didn’t belong to me hit me again, stronger than before.
I avoided Wesley’s eyes, though. It embarrassed me that we didn’t even talk about condoms or birth control or anything before we slept together. Not that it mattered since I was protected, but still. It should have been a conversation we had.
“It was negative,” the doctor added.
“I know. I’m on birth control,” I muttered. “The implant,” I clarified.
Relief flashed in Wesley’s eyes, and he relaxed, leaning against the wall and closing his eyes. And even though I wasn’t ready for kids, seeing his relief that I wasn’t pregnant cut deep. Was the thought of being tied to me by sharing a kid really that awful?
I glared at him, and his eyes widened and his face paled even more. “No, I-I’m thinking about your career, about how you said your ex wanted to just turn you into a baby maker, and how you didn’t want that. But I want to have kids with you at some point. I mean, if you want to have kids. If you don’t want to have kids, that’s fine too. I mean—“
Dr. Russo cleared his throat and raised a brow at Wesley, who blushed and looked down at his feet.
I turned away from Wes and looked towards the window of his sitting area, wishing the blinds were open so I could see out to the lake, the forest, and the mountains. I kept my gaze on that side of the room as the doctor moved the neck of my shirt and peeled the bandages off. My mouth twitched with the hint of laughter at Wesley’s rambling, but I didn’t want him to know he amused me.
“Interesting,” Dr. Russo said as he examined the wound.
“What?” Wes asked with a strained voice.
“The wound is healing faster than I expected,” he replied. “I knew your presence would speed up the process since she’s your mate, but I wasn’t expecting it to heal this quickly.”
I turned my head to look down at the wound as best I could. Sure enough, the stitches had already dissolved, and all that was left were raised pink lines across my left collarbone and chest.
I lifted my right hand and grazed my fingertips over each line, feeling how they rose and fell as they passed over every spot where Lennox’s lycan had bitten into me.
“The scars will stay, though?” Wesley asked.
I looked up at him, and his face was pained as he watched me examine my wounds. A tiny wave of guilt that wasn’t mine flashed through me. His guilt, I realized. I was feeling his emotions.
I lowered my eyes back to the scars, a bit smug that he felt guilty. He should feel guilty for ignoring me and for what happened to me because of that.
“The mate bond sped her healing, but it’s not a magic eraser,” Dr. Russo said. “She still will heal like a human, not a shifter,” he added.
There was that word again. Mate. Wesley said it the night before when he came into the hospital room and saw my wound. And the doctor had said it twice since he’d been in Wesley’s room. And Nolan had mentioned mating that day when Wesley showed me his lycan.
I pursed my lips a little and furrowed my brow, trying to make sense of it all, trying to figure out what it meant. I looked between Wesley and Dr. Russo, watching as Wes shuffled his feet and avoided my gaze.
I narrowed my eyes at him. “What’s a mate?”
Wes winced and rubbed the back of his neck, still avoiding looking at me. I fixed my stare on him, boring it into the side of his face, daring him to look at me.
The tension in the room ratcheted up at least ten notches, and Dr. Russo swiveled his head between the two of us a few times before he stood to leave.
“Well, everything looks to be in good shape, Lu… Haven,” he said as he walked to the door. “Your soreness should go away by the end of the day, and you should have a full range of motion in your shoulder by then. You can resume all your normal activities. Just have Wesley contact me if you have any questions or concerns.”
He walked out of the bedroom, and a few seconds later, I heard the front door open and close behind him. Then, silence as I continued to glare at Wesley.
If he thought I would let him keep something else a secret, let him lie to me, or ignore me, he was gravely mistaken. I would not fall into that trap of his again. I would not let his warm eyes, his devilish smirk, and the heat from his touch lull me into a false sense of security.
No. I wanted answers. I was tired and empty before, but embers of fury had filled that vacuum, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to rest until I had what I wanted. The truth. All of it.
And then I would give him hell.
He moved his gaze to mine, his jaw set, and I said, “Start talking. Now.”
HAVEN
“I’ll tell you whatever you want to know,” Wesley said. “I won’t lie to you, Haven. I won’t ever lie to you again.”
“You better not,” I muttered, leaning back against the pillows and crossing my arms.
A flicker of amusement hit me, but his face stayed stoic and blank as he kept leaning against the wall, not showing his reaction on the outside. Probably because he didn’t want to piss me off. A little late for that.
“I won’t,” he said again. “Which is why, before we talk about anything else, I want to be upfront with you about something. And I want you to hear it from me and not from someone else.”
I swallowed but nodded. I knew whatever he was about to say would just piss me off even more, based on how he looked and acted.
“This alpha from another pack—that’s what we call ourselves, all of us werewolves who live together in one group—well, my dad has been trying to get access to his business accounts because he felt that not everything was on the up and up with his funds. He’s been making different offers to him over the last year or so to form an alliance so we’d have access to his accounts as we merged some of our businesses. But Alpha Timothy turned him down every time.”
New Book: Veiled Desires of the Alpha King Novel
Dayson was the alpha of the largest pack in North America. Powerful figures from other packs sought to offer gorgeous girls as potential mates for Dayson. He steadfastly rejected these advances, he was not a pawn to be manipulated. But eventually there came a mysterious girl he could hardly say No. Who was she?