The Immortal Howl

nineteen.

I sat as still as possible when Ris returned, without Jasper, pretending as if I didn't hear their entire conversation out in the hallway.

But it didn't make sense. Lili was Pack House staff. Strong wolves mate with strong wolves. That's how it went. The Moon knew everything: past, present, future. If the She knew Jasper was born to be a Beta, why have his mate be a housemaid?

Suddenly, the pack doctor returned, but when she was about to discharge me, along with a prescription of some ointment and pain killers, I knew I couldn't give up the opportunity.

I turned to Ris and whispered, "Can you wait outside?"

"Why?" he said shortly.

"I wanna ask the pack doctor something."

He crossed his arms and took that all-too familiar stance.

"Define something."

"Patient-doctor confidentiality."

He just laughed. "Yeah, no."

"What's your problem?"

"You were attacked is my problem."

"What happened to 'Chrissy gave permission?'"

"What happened to transparency? Since you wanted me to tell you everything so bad."

I hated it when he was right.

"Fine." I sighed. "I want to see the blood panel that you so graciously had done without my consent."

"And we're back to this."

"You owe me this. I can't shift. I wanna know why."

Begrudgingly, he still refused to leave, but he at least agreed to stand off in the corner as I followed the pack doctor into the hallway.

"Miss Violet, how can I help you?"

"I wanted to see the full results from my blood panel, if that's okay."

She glanced toward Ris, and I rolled my eyes. This was my blood. I shouldn't be needing someone else's permission. He nodded, and she slipped out, returning after a couple minutes with a struggling, thick stack of paper trapped under a clipboard.

I wasn't exactly sure what I was looking for, pretty much anything that didn't look right. I wasn't a professional in the slightest, but I could recognize certain things. At the Pack House, she talked about my shifting gene. That was the overall target for today, but anything that seemed off or foreign I could ask about.

There was one section that filled that category. It didn't look right. Trace Chemicals.

"This right here. What is that? Aconite." I wasn't forced to take a biology class at Emberglade, so I'd never heard of it. Regardless, any chemical in my blood didn't seem like a good thing.

She made a sound somewhere between a sigh and a gasp, looking closer at the top sheet. Whatever it was, it was definitely there.

"That was something we completely overlooked... But that's impossible." She ushered for me to follow as she typed something up on a nearby computer.

"Okay, but what is it? I'm still alive, so it can't be that bad, right?"

Ris stepped forward, away from the wall he had been leaning against. His biceps flexed, jaw clenched. "You said she wasn't in any danger."

"That was before I saw this... It's a rare alkaloid. Highly toxic even in the trace amounts you have. How did we miss this?"

She made it seem like I had seconds to live. At this point, I didn't even know if it was still present in my body, yet she seemed to be swallowed whole by anxiety.