I sighed as my eyes fluttered around the room.
Without being told, I knew I was back in the hospital again, and whatever medical setup they’d arranged this time, it was thrice worse and more restrictive than the one back in my house at Ravenshore.
"These people," I rolled my eyes, "Why are they always so dramatic?"
But then I noticed something had changed.
For the first time since I started having one crisis or another due to my bad heart, I felt stronger. Usually, every crisis would leave me more drained and depleted than the last.
I felt more energetic.
For the first time in years, I felt alive.
I glanced around the room, and strangely, no one was here. I managed to sit up, running my hands along the side of the bed, trying not to push too much so none of the attachments on my body would slip out of place.
Where the hell was the call button? Just as I contemplated whether to try yelling for help, I heard footsteps outside my door.
Immediately, I dropped back onto the bed and closed my eyes, pretending to be still asleep.
The door opened, and I heard two sets of footsteps shuffling into the room. As soon as the door closed behind them, my father’s voice reached my ears.
"What was so urgent, Maxwell, that you couldn’t wait?" My father asked.
There was a slight edge of annoyance in his tone.
"Alpha Terry," Dr Maxwell sounded breathless with excitement. "I bet this is the best news you’ve heard all year." He paused again and rushed on, the excitement still in his voice. "We can save Rhett permanently."
"And how is that?" My father, with a note of disbelief in his tone.
"Eamon," Dr Maxwell whispered like he was sharing a secret. "I asked the lab to run a complete tissue typing analysis. Not only did his blood match with Rhett’s, but he’s a perfect match, Alpha. Eamon could be Rhett’s heart donor. Isn’t it incredible?"
There was a long pause after that. I cracked my eyes a little and saw my father staring at Maxwell with a confused expression on his face.
"Why exactly are you telling me this, Maxwell?"
"Well..." The tension in the room heightened. "I just thought..." Maxwell stuttered.
"You just thought what? That if you tell me that there’s a donor for Rhett, I would go delirious with excitement? That boy looked healthy and didn’t seem like he was going to die anytime soon. Are you suggesting I should demand the heart of a healthy person because my son needs it?"
"Well," Maxwell stuttered again, he wasn’t expecting my father to react this way." "He’s not that important, Alpha. He’s just the bastard son of—"
"And so, what?" My father snapped, staring at Maxwell with pure disgust. "Are you listening to yourself? Are you asking me to kill him because of his father’s supposed sins? So bastard sons should be used as sacrificial lambs?"
"Alpha, I just meant—"
"That boy risked his life to save Rhett yesterday," my father cut him off. "The best thing I can do is to be grateful and continue to hope that a real donor turns up soon. That’s all I can do, Maxwell. I will not plot another person’s murder to keep my son alive."
My chest tightened with emotion at my father’s words.
"Now, you see what you’ve just told me, I want you to promise that you will tell no one else. Can I get your word on that?"
There was a slight pause before Maxwell nodded reluctantly. "I was only trying to help, Alpha," he murmured. "But I promise."
"Also, destroy and delete those test results. I mean it, Maxwell. If anything happens to Eamon—anything at all—I’ll hold you accountable."
"I-I promise, Alpha," Maxwell mumbled. "I’ll do as you’ve said immediately."
"Good," my father sighed. "Now leave before I start drawing conclusions about your character and your true nature."
Maxwell bowed politely and slipped out of the room. My father leaned against the door for a few minutes, running a hand through his hair. When he recovered, he pulled his phone out of his pocket.
"Fred!" Fred was his most trusted man. "Find someone to keep an eye on Dr. Maxwell, report everything he does and who he meets with. Also, please instruct Barry to find a way to delete the additional test results conducted on Eamon Riggs that weren’t part of his blood type test. We would need that for future reference."
He issued additional orders before ending the call and approached me. When he came to my bed, he adjusted the sheets around me, settling them properly on my body. Finally, I opened my eyes and it met my father’s concerned gaze.
"Hey," my father said quietly.
"Hi, Dad," I murmured with a smile.
"How do you feel? Should I get the doctor first?" he asked.
I didn’t know what to say. The conversation I’d just overheard and my father’s response had touched something deep in my chest, despite how cold and distant my father always appeared or seemed.
Despite all the rumours that he was heartless and couldn’t care less about anyone, I’ve always known my father was the kindest, morally transparent Alpha you’d ever meet.
"I’m fine, Dad. I didn’t die."
My father let out a breathy laugh as the corners of his eyes crinkled with a smile. "Of course, you didn’t. Thanks to Eamon."
I blinked, acting like I didn’t know that. "What do you mean?"
"Your friend Eamon has golden blood," he said. "You recovered in less than four hours from a major operation that should have taken weeks of rehabilitation. Look, you’re not even in the sterile room again. You left there a few hours ago."
"Really?" I tried to sit up, and my father immediately helped me, adjusting the bed to a more comfortable position. He also removed the oxygen mask from my face.
"Then why do I have all these monitoring devices attached to my body?" I asked, gesturing at the various wires and sensors.
"We’re trying to avoid what happened last time."
I recognised the familiar glint in my father’s eyes that only appeared when he was deep in thought about something that seemed to puzzle him.
"I think your friend is special, Rhett," he finally said, folding his arms. "All your friends are. They stayed with you throughout the entire surgery until this morning, when it ended. I tried to talk them into going back to the academy, but they refused."
"Even Kael?" I asked, surprised.
"Especially Kael," my father nodded. "I was so terrified of him yesterday when we sat across from each other. He’s scary. He scolded the entire hospital staff when he came back this morning to check on Eamon and found out he hadn’t eaten." My father smiled at the memory.
"The nurses were one step away from being sued. Then, when he came to see you, he complained about you being kept in a room without natural light, saying you hate dark spaces, so they had to move you here. I didn’t even know that about you."
My eyes misted with tears as I spoke. "And yet Kael goes around telling everyone that he’s not friends with me or Slater. But he’s always acting like our mom."
"Maybe he’s embarrassed to call you guys his friends," my father suggested, and we both laughed at the insinuation.
The truth was, Kael was a stranger to open affection. He never understood why we fuss about caring for someone when it was a simple life’s duty."
While we were still talking, a knock came on the door. The door opened, and my stepmother, Luna Clara, walked in carrying a ridiculous bouquet of roses and a fruit basket larger than my pillow.
"My darling," she gushed as she walked in. "You gave us such a scare," she said, going to set the flowers and the fruits on the table in the room before she started towards me. "How are you feeling now?"
"I’m fine, Luna Clara," I replied with a polite but distant smile. For the sake of my dad, I always tried to maintain a level of politeness with Clara whenever he was around. "And you?"
She clucked her tongue, waving dismissively. "I’m better now that you’re awake, even though your baby brother was up the entire night moving about my stomach," she laughed, rubbing her small baby bump.
I gave a noncommittal hum and turned to my father, who was staring at her with a fond smile. "I thought you would not come again. You’re two hours behind schedule," my father said quietly.
"I’m sorry, baby," Clara pouted and went to my dad, kissing him. "I had to stop to get Rhett’s present. I know we said we would wait, but what better time to have them bond than now?"
"What are you talking about?" I arched my brow. "What present?"
As if on cue, there was another knock on the door. This time, a nurse poked her head inside the room and said quietly. "Luna Clara, your guest has arrived."
"Please send her in, immediately," Clara’s eyes flashed with joy.
The door swung open again, and in walked a girl who looked like she could pass for my daughter.
"Alpha Terry, Luna Clara," she bowed politely to my parents.
"There now, dear," Clara rushed to the girl, beaming with smiles. "You don’t have to be formal with us. Now, Rhett," she turned towards me. "This is Lydia, your bride-to-be."