Page 41 of The Alpha’s Heir

How many times had I asked the same question over the years?

Sally gave me a tight smile. “No measurable brain wave changes in the past few weeks. The doctors are working on some new tests to see what they can improve, but the best thing is always to keep talking to him. We have AI companions that make the rounds daily, but it’s not the same.”

I let the guilt of what she said punch me straight in the chest, knowing I deserved it. I never was much of a talker. Not like him.

My damp sneakers echoing down the quiet halls and the beeps of the other machines were the only sounds of life on the ward.

I paused outside Room 224, having been here so many times over the years that I didn’t need help in finding it, and took a steadying breath.

For a moment, I let myself remember him as he once was. His big-chested laughter. The stories he told back when I thought he was larger than even Superman. Before the stroke, the day his massive heart and curious brain had given out after pushing himself so hard at work.

I pressed open the door without knocking. He wouldn’t hear me anyway.

Tubes and cords and machines.

Science kept him alive as the doctors meticulously rebuilt his brain. It was a treatment I couldn’t afford in a thousand lifetimes. One I put on this uniform and did my duty for, trying to pay her back every day.

My smile was strained as I sat in the chair and gathered his leathered, shrunken hand in mine. “Hey, Dad. How about a story?”

14

Meg

It hadn’t stopped raining in three days and I was losing it. My wolf paced within, stir-crazy in a way I’d never seen her before.

You try staying trapped inside your mind.

I’d been told to stay indoors where it was safer. Although Justus and Helen didn’t seem to be staying here, or if they were, I hardly saw them. Everyone acted as if they’d melt by getting wet. I guess I didn’t actually know what it was like to have your rain scheduled and then watch the system break.

To make matters worse, I was pretty sure Roman was avoiding me. I’d caught a whiff of his scent yesterday, but it was gone before I could sniff him out.

I can track him if you let me.

The problem was that I couldn’t shift in the city. Not that I didn’t stretch my wolf’s muscles here in the room. But if I thought my sensitivities to the noise and light were bad, my wolf had it ten times worse. I could only imagine her running down the congested streets, disorientated and confused.

We can try it?

I’m sure that’ll go over well with the humans. I rolled my eyes.

By “safer,” I assumed they meant keeping me locked somewhere out of public view while they figured out how to get the humans to accept a wolf shifter in their midst.

Alice—the internet holographic guide—and I were forming a relationship of sorts. Not that she had much personality, but I’d figured out how to turn her on and ask questions.

There’d been no mention in the headlines of the attack at lunch the other day, but the trending topics did revolve around mine and Justus’s upcoming wedding. There were speculations on what designer dress I was going to wear. Polls to see what should be on the menu at the reception. But what worried me most were the opinion pieces on our union.

Mostly, I was learning that human purist ideologies ran deeper than anyone outside these walls thought.

Not that they were alone in their biases. Plenty of shifters and witches hated purist humans too. I thought of Alec, and her disgust with anything human. Another bout of homesickness squeezed my heart.

I really hoped she was doing okay. And that Mom wasn’t too worried. Dad would take care of her, but she was so sensitive and still dealing with Trish leaving to be with her mate.

It’d only been a week since I left. I wondered if Trish had found anything in Amarock Pack when she went to visit the witches. Something to get me out of this mess. Because from where I was sitting, I’d never be leaving this house again.

Panic rushed through me, and I hurried to the library. My one solace in this cold and lifeless place.

*

“Sorry, Miss Meg. I didn’t realize you were in here.” Katrina stood in the open doorway of the library with her cleaning supplies in a cart.