I gave Dr. Jakkobs a soft, trying smile. “Well, I’m here.”
If I had the option, I would already be at the Lycans. But, unfortunately, I was stuck in this prison that reeked of blood and bleach.
Just a couple days, that’s what I had repeated to myself on the way here this morning. A couple days. A couple fucking days of torture. Then I could leaveAlphaRoman behind.
My wolf whimpered, but I shook her out of my thoughts. She wanted his attention, but so did I. We wanted—needed—it, but we couldn’t anymore. Maybe there would be someone else in the Lycans who caught our eye. Maybe he wouldn’t be such an asshole. Maybe he would actually respect me.
I followed Dr. Jakkobs through the empty hospital halls to his office. Mom and Dad were in a room examining Mr. Beck who had fallen over Derek’s fence the other day after congratulating him for becoming a warrior.
Jakkobs handed me a white doctor’s coat.
“Alpha Roman assigned me as a nurse,” I said.
“He did.” He helped me put the coat on anyway. “But I’m re-assigning you. You’ll work under me until you can take the exam to become a doctor. Let’s just keep this secret ours though. No need to get Roman on my ass for it.”
I grinned and pulled the coat tighter. “Dr. Jakkobs is a rebel.” I shook my head. I never would’ve guessed.
After catching me up on everything going on inside and outside the hospital, the practices, and the emergency procedures, he introduced me to a young woman named Rachel. She smiled at me from across a desk in the back, twirling a black pen around her chocolate brown hair. She was a warrior-turned-nurse after realizing that fighting wasn’t for her.
When we finished work, she asked me to get coffee at the Night Raider’s Café, but I declined. It wasn’t useful to start making friends when I was going to leave in a few days. And besides I had one night until I visited the Lycans.
I wanted to spend it some way special and give Alpha Roman a big fuck-you for not respecting me. That would be fun. Really fucking fun.
After tucking my coat into my backpack and promising Rachel that I’d go to coffee with her some other time, I walked back to the house. The dark forest was almost quieter than the hospital; shadows of trees loomed over me.
Hopefully, Roman would run his nightly route through these woods tonight. I hadn’t seen him since my run-in with Ryker yesterday, and thehoepart of me was actually upset.Idefinitely was not upset and—my wolf—she wasn’t upset either. Not. At. All.
We didn’t care that we couldn’t smell his minty scent drifting through our windows last night. We didn’t care that we didn’t see those golden eyes in the darkness. We didn’t care about him.
Mom and Dad were waiting at the front door to our house for me with huge smiles on their faces. “How’d you like your first day?” Dad asked.
“It was good.”
Mom lowered her voice and clapped her hands together. “We heard that you got a promotion,” she said. I opened my bag to show them the white doctor’s coat. She squealed. “A doctor just like her mama!”
Dad ruffled my hair like he used to when I was five. “What suddenly changed your mind about the hospital?”
I gulped and played with my fingers. “Nothing… I just thought that… I should pull my weight in this pack.”
Lie. Obvious lie. And I felt terrible for it.
My gaze shifted from him to the dark windows, my heart racing for some odd reason. Two golden eyes pierced through the darkness and stared right at me. I pressed my lips together, staring back at him.
“I’m going to head upstairs,” I said, politely declining the wet-dog-smelling meatloaf that Dad cooked for dinner. “I’ve had a long day.”
I hurried up the stairs toward my bedroom, shut my door, and gazed at the curtains that I had pulled open this morning. The Moonflowers glowed brightly on my windowsill, but his eyes glowed even brighter in the forest.
I wasn’t doing this because I wanted him to watch me. I was doing this because I wanted to show him I didn’t need him. Not to achieve my goals. Not to have a leg-shaking orgasm.
But when I turned toward the bed, my brows furrowed. Unlike this morning, my bed was made, and a piece of paper that had been ripped out of a journal sat on the center of my black blankets. I picked it up and unfolded it, my eyes widening.
It was a sketch of me, standing amongst the other warriors in this pack. With my hair braided back, I stood at the head of the pack with the moonlight reflecting off of my eyes and a mark on my neck.
The picture was a breathtakingly beautiful. I wanted to sit and stare at it all day long, but something inside of me snapped when I noticed that Roman was in the picture—staring at me with so much love.
It was as if someone was making fun of me for not becoming a warrior and for having a thing with Roman. I crumpled the paper in my fist. Damn him. I bet it was the bitch Vanessa; she was set on fucking with my fucking life.
I tossed the ball of paper onto my desk and peeled off my shirt. Fucking Roman. He probably told her to do that. Hurt Isabella more. Hurt her so badly, so he could relish in my pain, so I would need him to help me feel better.
