Valene:
One night turned into three days, and still, I was waiting there with the Alpha. Master Wade had come by as well as Master Holt. Only once was I allowed to leave and that was only to take a shower, change clothes and return. I had expected that they’d soon relieve me but they only succeeded in relaying to me that the problem was more serious than they originally thought.
Fortunately, Master Wade had brought me a surplus of my favorite sweet treats and nourishment. Harlyn, though Master Wade communicated to me that she was supposed to come by the hospital, never bothered to show up.
With her birthday coming up soon, I could only imagine that she had much to do in terms of preparing for it. She had spoken to Master Wade about her new plans a day after the Lycan King was placed into care at the hospital. He was as apprehensive about the idea of it as I was. It seemed that he caught wind of Harlyn’s small infatuation with the Lycan Alpha.
Still, even if Harlyn didn’t necessarily consider the fact that it was actually quite beneficial for her to have a lycan so close by for protection, Master Wade had. So, it was particularly hard not to agree with it. One could even argue that it would have been counterintuitive to his desire to see that she had a safe celebration had he declined her request.
I imagine since getting the go-ahead to start planning she would no doubt go into birthday planning mode. And no doubt, while everyone else was running around like headless chickens, worried about whatever the packs were fighting outside the near the borders of Shadow Veil.
Taking my phone out, I thought about texting Master Wade to see what was going on. Then I realized that even if there was something to discuss, there was nothing that I could do about it. Or at least, there was nothing that he’d charge me to do about it.
Slamming my phone on the window sill, I began pacing the floor for a minute. I had hoped that maybe the constant movement would alleviate some of my anxious energy. It didn’t work.
I knew that the only thing that would work was a quick strenuous workout and a punching bag…that I didn’t have. Pausing in the middle of the floor, I turned my attention to the unconscious Alpha. Whatever poison had run through his sentence took far more out of him than he realized.
Glad news, as this meant that there was very little for me to do because of it. This gave me a moment to focus on releasing and settling my anxious energy. I dropped to the floor and with one hand behind my back, started doing push-ups. By the fiftieth push-up, I had begun to feel the effects of release from the exertion. After hitting two hundred even, I stopped, starting on a few minutes of crunches, and continued to feel that release. It was therapeutic to use my body to unclog my mind.
I paused, having, at this point broken a little sweat, and took a sip of water. And to be honest, I craved a little sweet treat. I grabbed my knife from my side and picked two out of my bag and ate a powdered donut, then started on one-handstand push-ups whilst the other donut was in my mouth. Just as I started, the door to the room opened and I had to stop. It was that nurse.
Quickly, I stopped, knowing that she was going to find something wrong with what I was doing. This one seemed to have it out for me, so nothing I did was good enough not to be called out by her.
“Good evening, Mistress,” I said to the nurse with a mouth full of donut.
“I’m sure workout sessions are not why you are supposed to be here.” She leered.
“No. Of course not, Mistress. I apologize for offending you.” There was no need for excuses because none would be good enough for this one where I was concerned.
She glared at me and proceeded to venture further into the room to check in on Master Barbosa. “Bad enough that you are here unsupervised,” she scoffed. “Now here you are acting as if you have complete freedom over this area. The Alpha is certainly letting things slip around here. There’ll be uproars about this next. If this is how he runs his household-”
“No!” I expressed quickly. “No, Mistress, I assure you that-”
“Insubordinate!” She growled at me. “Speaking out of turn! You will be punished for this!” She snarled and immediately came towards me, completely forgetting that Master Barbosa was the reason for her visit.
I didn’t move because I realized only all too late that I had already stepped out of line in the first place by trying to defend my Keeper. I had done what I was mostly trying to avoid in the first place.
“You-” She started, I felt the swift wind that followed her hand lifting to strike me down when suddenly, a large snap echoed through the room.
Immediately, I jumped back as she crumbled to the floor. It was then that I saw that this Nurse-Betty, I believe her name was, now sported a broken neck. When I saw large feet standing in the place of where nurse Betty once stood, I looked up to see Master Barbosa standing there staring at me. Quickly, I looked away from his direct stare.
“Master, Barbosa, I-”
“Bichinho barulhento!” Noisy little beast, he sneered under his breath as he limped to the window sill and passed me.
“Master Barbosa, you-”
“I am fine, little human.” said the Alpha as he stared distantly outside. “Foot is asleep.”
“Ah,” I didn’t really know what to say. It was hard not to glance back at the nurse lying behind me.
The Lycan King walking back to his bed forced me to bring my attention back to him. I watched as the large shirtless Lycan sat back down on the side of his bed dropping his head to the floor.
“Are you alright, Master Barbo-”
He lifted his hand to silence me and then cursed under his breath. “How long have I been out?” he asked. I wasn’t sure if he was talking to me so I didn’t respond right away. He growled and cursed under his breath shortly after. “I am coming to you. I need a face-to-face briefing.” he continued to say, and then I knew that he was talking to something via his pack link. “Tell your Keeper that he should probably get here as soon as possible as well.”
The switch in his attention caught me off guard so I didn’t put together that he was talking about me at first. Then he looked at me and then glanced at the nurse whose neck he snapped. I took reached for my phone and immediately called Master Wade.
“Master Wade, there’s been an incident and-” before I could finish my sentence he jumped to conclusions. “No, no, I’m fine, Master Wade and so is Master Barbosa but…well there’s been an incident with the nurse that’s-”
He already knew to whom I was referring and reassured me that he’d arrive shortly. I placed my phone in my pocket and went into the bathroom to wash my hands from touching the hospital floor during my semi-strenuous workout.
When I came back out, Master Barbosa was standing up and pressing his hand to the wall in silence.
“Are you alright?” I asked. “Do you need me to call for someone?” He didn’t answer. “Master Barbosa? D-”
“You talk…a lot…for a human.” he interrupted me and then pulled away from the door, glancing haphazardly at me before returning to the side of his bed to grab his blood-soaked shirt.
“Master Holt brought you another shirt, sir.”
I took the one on the chair on the opposite side of his bed and handed it to him. He grabbed it and my hand along with it and didn’t let go.
“You saved my life…little human,” I only nodded, saying nothing. “That is…the only reason that I listened to you that night.”
“Of course, Master Barbosa.” There was no need for him to explain himself but since he felt the need to, I wouldn’t stop him.
“Is that all that you have to say?”
“Should I have something else to say, your grace?” I asked, wondering where he was going with this conversation.
“You certainly had a lot to say, the night that you brought me here, did you not?”
When I saw the smug amusement on his face I immediately remembered what he was talking about. I had tossed quite a few insults at him on the way here.
“I apologize, your grace, I…am not so…well mannered in high-stress situations,” I murmured.
“I can see that.” he finally released my hand and when he did I immediately retreated back to my corner of the room. “You displayed how true that sentiment is when you slaughtered over a dozen inhumans at a bar where you…technically were not needed.”
“With all due respect, Master Barbosa, my actions were justified. My Keeper as well as his comrade’s safety were at risk and I took the appropriate actions to safeguard them.”
He seemed to find my logic…amusing as the Alpha went into the bathroom with the door open and proceeded to urinate while I was standing there. He obviously didn’t care whether he slipped up and displayed himself or not as my standing point was right by the bathroom.
“In all of my years…I have never known a vassal to be…that useful, pequeno humano. Because in truth,” he said, as I heard the sink water turn on. At least he had enough decency to wash his hands. “No human is meant to be so useful to an Inhuman.” he came out of the bathroom wiping his face down with a towel.
“Well by that logic there is no need to have humans around at all, Master Barbosa,” I replied.
“Exactly, which is why I do not bother with them.”
“And yet a human is the one who saved your life four days ago,” I quipped. “Or have you so soon forgotten that?” As soon as I said this, I dropped my eyes to the floor. For some reason, this lycan provoked me in ways that I had never before experienced.
Silence filled the room, and maybe he was giving me space to apologize for being so…disagreeable, but to be honest I wasn’t going to apologize for that one. Instead, I decided to accept whatever response he had for me whether physical or intellectual.
I looked up not directly at him because I wanted to see what was coming, if anything, and be prepared for it. He turned his back to me for a moment, putting on his shirt before turning around. “How does the wound look?” he began to approach me until he was barely an inch away.
His question surprised me, to say the least, but I obliged nevertheless. Master Barbosa’s shirt was still partially lifted, giving me space to check him out. At first, I wondered why he didn’t just call a nurse, but then the nurse that was still lying there in the middle of the floor forced me to remember.
“The wound is closed and looks far better than before,” I said, touching the skin around the healing wound. “Does not seem to be tender or discolored. It’s healing well.”
“Good,” he said and as soon as I backed up to stand against the wall again, his hand was around my throat.
Gasping in surprise, I found myself staring into his closed eyes. Should I defend myself? He was the Alpha and not just any Alpha but the only living pure blood-line Alpha in this world. Surely, he was more important than I. Right? Sure, I was a rare blood as well but…but not as rare as the last living pure blood lycan Alpha. Right?
When I felt his hand tighten only slightly around my neck, it brought me back to currents. I tried to pull away and felt as if I were doing nothing against his strength.
“You did…save my life, that is true,” he said to me, his head tilting to the side as he seemed to just observe me, his eyes moving from my feet to my face and then down at my lips. “That mouth of yours…will get you into trouble, one day, pequenina.”
As he said this I felt his thumb caress the side of my neck and immediately his eyes began to darken. His incisors elongated and fear of his strength frightened me. He brought his face down to my neck and a tremble vibrated throughout my body at the nearness of him. I didn’t even know how to articulate what I was feeling outside of how my body reacted in response to my fear of what would happen next.
“Ple-please! Let me-”
“I have no doubts that you’d be capable of injuring me little human,” he said to me. “But when it comes to brute strength among other things…you cannot move against me. So watch…how you speak to me.” he chuckled and then inhaled my neck, a soft growl hovering against my skin. “Do not worry, pequenina,” he whispered. “I gave my word that I would not harm you and I am an Alpha of my word but I do demand respect…even from the little human who saved my life.” Master Barbosa released my neck but he did not move.
I stood there beneath the towering Lycan King. “May I be excused, Master Barbosa?” I swiftly tried to find a means to get away from him and out of this…compromising position.
A dark laugh left him. “No, you may not, little human,” he said and then backed away from me. He pulled his shirt down and pulled his medium-length hair up into a bun. “I need you to stay here until your Master arrives. I need you to tell him what happened. I have business to attend to,” he turned his back on me and stepped over the nurse. “Your Keeper will be here soon. I’ll brief him in detail about it later,” he said and looked at me for a prolonged moment then turned his attention to the nurse lying on the floor. “Your Keeper and I…I think we need to have a talk.”
Without another word, the Lycan Alpha left the room. And suddenly, I was concerned about what it was that needed to be discussed between him and Master Wade. Ares Barbosa’s words really forced me to take a good look at what transpired not only between him and me tonight but myself and nurse Betty as well. There was no doubt that things would soon have to change. Whether it was for the best or the worse, I knew that it’d come to light soon.