Chapter 29
I said nothing more to the officers and employees at the bank. I followed Joseph out of the building and to the waiting car. It was the same car as earlier that Aiden showed up in.
“Do we have to go in there with him?” Alice whined; she sounded nervous, and I felt bad! that I was putting her through this.
“It’s just until we get to the research center,” I assured her, trying to remain as calm as possible as I slid into the car beside Joseph.
“His scent is just intoxicating. It makes it hard to reject him,” she said softly.
She was right; I wasn’t sure why I didn’t notice it before. His scent was so sweet, and it filled the entire car. It was an intoxicating aroma, and it made my cheeks heat up.
I tried to brush it out of my head though; I couldn’t let him distract me from what was important. I could sense his eyes on me for a long while and I tried to hide my face from his viewing.
“I’ve been wanting to talk to you about something,” he said, keeping his voice low so his driver wasn’t listening.
I frowned and stole a glance from him; his face was serious.
“What?” I asked, trying to keep my tone from quavering.
“About my relationship with Tina,” he said slowly; he was so forward with it.
I shot him another look and tried not to look surprised; I didn’t want to talk about Tina, and I certainly didn’t want to talk to him about Tina.
Was he deliberately trying to hurt me? As if Alice wasn’t in enough pain. As if I wasn’t in enough pain. At that moment, I wanted to burst into tears. I hated him for making me feel like this. I hated him for bringing up a painful memory.
Why couldn’t he just let me live my life?
“There’s nothing to talk about,” I told him firmly, trying to keep my voice low.
“I want to explain,” he said in return.
“Whatever you have to say, I don’t want to hear it. Besides, we are almost there,” I told him, turning away from him.
“Oh, come on, Anna…” he breathed but I shot my hand up quickly and with force; it surprised him.
“Enough, Joseph. I don’t want to hear it.”
I was relieved once the car stopped in front of the research center doors. Without saying anything more to Joseph, I got out of the car and walked through the doors.
“We need to round up the kingdom at the hospitals,” one of the researchers said as soon as I entered. Joseph wasn’t far behind me; we walked in silently. “We need to test for the virus; we were discussing getting blood drawn.”
I cringed at the thought of drawing blood, but they were right. We needed to figure out who had the virus so we can take precautionary measures.
“Alright,” I told them. “I’ll alert the hospitals and I’ll let Prince Peter know as well.”
I could feel Joseph eyeing me from the side, but I ignored him, despite how annoyed Alice was.
By the time I got to the hospital, it was already packed with wolves trying to get their blood drawn. They were all staying a distance apart with masks covering their faces. Joseph and I walked through them along with some of the other researchers and we entered the hospital.
We sat in the research room of the hospital while the nurses and doctors took charge of drawing the blood. I told them I didn’t want to be anywhere near the blood or the hospital rooms in general. I was sick of hospitals, and I didn’t want to have any run–ins with Tina.
This was the hospital she was staying at.
As results started rolling in, researchers started analyzing them right away. I felt kind of helpless for a little while as I watched everyone working so carefully. I admired them all for their work and took a mental note to say something later.
Staring around at all the papers on the desk a name caught my eye. It was Tina’s. They must have drawn her blood. I scanned the paper for a moment before
1/2
picking it up to get a closer read of the print.
I couldn’t believe what I was reading.
The documents stated that Tina was initially brought into the hospital with a disorder but was cured weeks later after the first dosage of my blood.
She didn’t need constant blood transfusions throughout those 3 years; she just needed the one and she was fine. So, what has she been doing with my blood this entire time?
I continued scanning the documents until I reached the end.
“The other documents, that she showed Joseph containing her illness, must have been falsified,” Alice hissed, fury running through.er
The air got caught in my throat and I thought I was going to pass out. I could still feel Joseph looking at me, trying to figure out what was going through my
mind.
I clenched my fists.
All I was seeing was red. Alice wanted to break out of my body and run loose. She was furious and I couldn’t blame her for that.
I was furious.
