Derek's POV
I rushed over to Tabitha at once and prevented her from falling down.
But I couldn't stop the blood from pouring out of her mouth.
Leo howled frantically in my mind.
He seemed to sense Tabitha's weakness.
Everyone in the banquet hall was in a panic, rushing around anxiously. "Doctor! Why hasn't the doctor arrived yet?"
I held Tabitha's slender body and reached out to wipe the blood from the corner of her mouth, but the bright red blood wouldn't stop at all. It stained my hand and her pure-white dress.
I realized something was wrong. "Tabitha, what's the matter with you?"
Orson, who was aside, was stunned when he heard my question.
He blurted out, "I've been away for two years. To this day, you still don't know what kind of illness she's been suffering from?"
Upon hearing his question, I looked at him at once. "Illness? What illness?"
He didn't answer me. Instead, he looked at Tabitha, and there was both helplessness and distress in his eyes. "You said you wouldn't regret choosing this path. This is the man you love with everything you have."
I didn't know what had happened between Tabitha and me, but one thing was clear. I knew nothing of the truth.
Did I fall prey to the lies of the doctors at the Werewolf Hospital?
It seemed Orson knew about Tabitha's past.
Tabitha struggled to speak, but she seemed too distressed.
Her face as well as her lips began to turn pale.
Sweat beads formed on her forehead.
She opened her mouth but couldn't utter a single word. Then she knelt on the floor and vomited violently.
There was so much blood that even Daphne was too scared to speak, and Elliott and Andrea didn't know what had happened.
I dared not touch Tabitha for the moment. My sanity, which I was always proud of, crumbled as I grabbed Orson by his collar and asked, "What the hell is wrong with Tabitha?"
He looked at me and said, "I thought you really loved Tabitha, but looking at her now, it turns out that everything is just my speculation."
He smiled mockingly, "Alpha Derek, you could have found out about her illness with just a flick of your finger, yet you let her be ill for two years."
Two years.
Some fragments of memories flashed through my mind. Orson had no contact with Tabitha for more than a year. In other words, it was the time when she and I rejected each other.
I remembered now. Tabitha was extremely thin for a period and wore a thick down jacket every day.
"No. I'm not lying to you. I'm just a bit unwell and weak..."
"Derek, you hate me a lot, don't you?"
"Then... Would you be happy if I died?"
"Nothing. I had a cold and was hospitalized for a few days."
"Derek, just kill me."
"Hypothetically, if I had a terminal illness, would you leave me alone?"
A terminal illness.
The withered flowers on the table.
Her pale and gaunt cheeks as well as that night when she almost died from the high fever were still vivid in my mind.
I realized something, and my body trembled uncontrollably, but I still held onto hope. Please, let me be wrong.
My deep voice was actually trembling, too. "What... What exactly is wrong with her?"
Orson looked at me. It seemed he was sizing me up and trying to see through me.
He leaned towards Tabitha and said apologetically, "I'm sorry, Tabitha. I can't hide it anymore."
The uneasiness enveloped me, and I tightened my fingers slowly. "What on earth ... is wrong with Tabitha?"
Orson word by word, "She was injured at the Silver Moon Pack when fending off rogues and was poisoned by wolfsbane. Then someone smeared wolfsbane without an antidote on her wound. Now it seems that the wolfsbane has spread through her system."