#Chapter 22 Bloody Mishaps

Olivia’s POV

I practically sprint all the way to the hospital, rushing upstairs to his floor where I round the corner, pressing to the glass of his room only to see it empty now. My stomach knots so tight that I feel ill at the empty bed in his room, the entire place sparkling clean and folded nicely as if waiting for another patient.

I grab a passing nurse; her eyes widen at my exterior identity. “The guy in this room, where did he go? Where is Reese?”

She peers over my shoulder, into the baren room. “He was moved to another floor. His status went critical and he needed a higher level of care then what we provide on this floor.”

“What floor is he on—what happened to him?”

“Hey,” Eugene calls out, catching up to me at last. I let the nurse scurry away while Eugene buttons down his white physician coat. “It’s okay, Olivia, he’s been moved to an operation room so we can monitor his blood levels.”

I feel my hands shaking at my sides without any intent to stop. “He’s—he will be okay—right? He’s going to survive—right?”

Eugene offers me a sympathetic look but doesn’t answer my question. Instead we take the elevator to the highest floor, the floor I dread visiting the most because it’s where they take their most sick, depleted cases. Most wolves don’t check out of this floor unless it’s under a white sheet with the intent to go to the morgue.

He walks me down the hall and we stop at the glass pane of the last room in the corner. The machinery hanging out of Reese’s body is disgusting and horrible to watch. His body has thinned down and sunken in around his joins and midsection. I double over, feeling like my heart may stop as the plastic tubing runs between his lips and forces him to breathe.

I happen to glance sideways through my inconsolable weeping, seeing Gabriel stalk forward in a simple outfit as though he threw it on as fast as possible to get to the hospital. I force myself to stand, to act as a Queen Luna would, but composure isn’t my strong suit right now.

Gabriel, Eugene and I all stand still, watching Reese rely on a machine to stay alive.

“What can I do?” I breathe. “What does he need right now?”

Eugene pulls the file from the nurses station nearby, fluttering through the endless paperwork I have copies of at home. Of course, when I left here yesterday, I thought he was fine. I feel bad for leaving his side at all. I should have been here, then maybe he would have kept fighting to live.

“Well, he lost a lot of blood in the surgical procedure so his numbers are all very low. He has the rarest blood type, though, so we might not have it all in stock here at the hospital,” Eugene says quick. "I will have to put the word out to get some donations as soon as possible."

The words are practically ripped from my throat. “We have the same blood type; I can give him mine!”

I’m so frazzled in panic that I almost miss the passing glare between the King Alpha and the physician. I want to yell at them, force them to have some kind of urgency in this situation so we can save Reese right now but as Eugene chews on his lower lip, I realize I may have just made a very detrimental mistake.

“You have the most common type of blood, my dear,” Gabriel says.

My heart strikes fear through every vein at once and I flinch, feeling static on my fingertips and sweat on my temples. “Oh—I just—I forgot and I was so focused on helping Reese—I just…”

Eugene swoops in, thankfully, “You probably just misheard me, Queen Luna, my apologies for not enunciating correctly.”

I nod, trying to agree but feeling too caught up in all of this chaos that I don’t feel like I’m even making sense in my head. If insane was palpable, I feel it in my head, throbbing constantly around my system without intentions to halt.

Glancing sideways, I see Gabriel with his arms crossed and his brows knit. He may have bought Eugene’s cover to my mistake but he hardly looks convinced of it on the outside. I settle my nerves, trying to appear relaxed, but a fluttering noise from behind jolts my attention to the hallway, seeing a man peering around the corner while holding a large, professional camera.

I charge in his direction, Eugene grabbing my arm to stop me while Gabriel marches forward to the photographer.

“He can’t post photos of Reese like this,” I say, turning toward my ex-mate’s brother. “Alicia will see the photos and see that he is still alive. She could come back to kill him—”

“Don’t worry about that, Olivia,” Eugene mutters under his breath. We watch Gabriel chew out the photographer for snapping photos in a hospital, demanding they be deleted, but these paparazzi are relentless. I don’t doubt that I will see those pictures in the paper later. “Alicia has no gain to kill Reese now. She’s been banished from my brother’s pack.”

“She’s spiteful,” I bite. “Nothing will stop that snake except for death.”

He raises a concerned brow. “You’re worrying me, Olivia,” he sighs. Gabriel turns, ready to return to our side, but I can’t handle both of them trying to tell me to calm down. “Maybe you should just let Alicia go. She’s not with Herold anymore, she’s not gunning for your Luna position now, I think she’s better left in the past life.”

I grit my teeth and shiver with fear. “You and Gabriel are the same, dammit. She doesn’t deserve to be alive after what she’s done to my brother. I mean, look at him, Eugene! He’s dying and I can’t save him! I can’t help him anymore than I have already and it’s not enough! All because that witch wanted him dead!”

Gabriel approaches my side, only catching the last half of my furious rant. I push his hands off of me, trying to calm me down and coo at me like a petulant child but I won’t take it now. I can’t calm down and I refuse to even entertain the idea.

“Both of you can leave me alone,” I gripe. I reach for the door handle into Reese’s room, hearing the buzz of the machines as I push myself inside. “Update me only about his care and not about my personal vendetta with the woman who is responsible for his sickness.”

They both look at me perplexed, wanting to console me, but I shut the door, mindful not to startle my brother, knocked out with medication and his depleting state. I collapse on the side of his bed, reaching for his hand.

My eyes catch the newspaper nearby, folded up on the tray table as if a doctor had perused it while overlooking my brother’s care. I recognize my new face on the cover of the first article, and that of my old face, included with Alpha Herold’s picture splayed in the middle.

I dare to skim through the news, reading the story endlessly about how Alpha Herold is accused of having an affair with the Queen Luna while his ailing wife was in jail. My body rattles as I read these impossible and slanderous lies, but seeing the negative affect it puts on Alpha Herold, I can’t help but feel little remorse over it.

Reese is the innocent here, not that traitorous Alpha I once loved.