#Chapter 33 Familiar Aches

Gabriel threw me in the car this morning, wordlessly. I want him to explain himself, but I know he won’t. We don’t talk much anymore, which is understandable given my behavior, and besides me being cold to my own husband, I have been thinking of Eugene far too much to admit. I’m not saying I enjoyed that kiss, but it has certainly taken up space in my head.
I curl up in the backseat of his compact, luxury car, feeling like the Alpha Kind chose this for a reason. There is little space between us, and even less when he pulls for my legs, resting them comfortably over his lap, to let them stretch. I settle in at the position, relaxed for the first time in so long.
“Should we talk?” he asks, his voice stoic and abrupt in this otherwise silent car ride. “My dear, you’re so detached from me. Did I do something?”
“No,” I say in heavy gust. “To both questions.”
He nods, seemingly leaving this topic aside for now. I realize shortly that we have entered a familiar pack, one that makes my stomach churn. I clutch my side, feeling a heavy pain grow in my chest. The car slows to the pack hospital, the same one I was told I’d not live through the birth of my own child.
“Why are we at Alpha Herold’s pack hospital?”
Gabriel lets himself out of the door, opening mine seconds When I don’t move, he leans forward, a handsome smile spreading over his peach, pink lips. “I found something out from Eugene and I want you to see it.”
I freeze at the mention of Eugene. I know he didn’t tell Gabriel, he couldn’t have, but if he did, then why would we be here at this particular hospital. I feel too afraid to leave the car now, wondering if Eugene has told Gabriel about my real identity and maybe he is here to ransack my old medical files.
My mind turns to dark places when I think of Gabriel finding out who I really am.
“It involves Reese, too,” he says.
With that, I leave the backseat, shuttering all over as I enter the cold breeze outside the hospital. Gabriel takes my palm possessively, his fingers curled over my own and not showing any mercy of release. He pulls me inside the building, Eugene Opal and his brother on the second floor when we arrive, both of them sullen and quiet.
“What’s going on?” I ask Gabriel.
He stops us both before the room the Opal brothers look into, a woman laid out in a hospital bed, hooked up to so many machines and a breathing tube; I almost mistake it as my own brother until I realize her long, beautiful hair and subtle, pretty features.
“What’s wrong with her?” I say, my voice a pathetic whimper. “She looks like—like—”
“Reese,” Herold says, an unlikely respondent and yet, he speaks. “This is Mara Ailes. She comes from Alpha Connor’s pack but his hospital wasn’t really prepared or equipped with the research and machines necessary to help her.”
“Since my brother’s pack is the closest with the ventilator, she was brought here,” Eugene says, oddly calm and reserved from the last time I saw him. He was so passionate, and also so conflicted. “She’s got the same symptoms as Reese.”
I step toward the glass, Gabriel’s crushing hold on my palm not letting me go far. I can still witness her from here, in an unconsciousness like Reese, looking woozy and sickly. “Do we know if she has been poisoned like Reese?”
“Not yet,” Gabriel cuts in. “You’re running her blood sample now; right, Eugene?”
“Yeah, it shouldn’t be long before we find the results. If they come back positive then we’re going to have address the fact that this wasn’t a single, spiteful action,” the doctor says, his eyes burning into my back.
“Someone is making poison and trying to kill off the wolf in their victims,” Herold says.
“We all know who that is,” I growl, my teeth clenched.
“Now, now, my dear…” Gabriel pulls my hand backwards, yanking me into his side. He holds me there as though to mark his territory in front of the other male wolves beside us. A jealous, possessive King Alpha. “…it’s wrong to speculate like that.”
“Speculate about what?” Herold says, interested now in my accusations.
“Nothing,” Eugene says, elbowing his brother in the side. “Never mind who has the poison. If we find out how to fight it with an antidote, it wouldn’t be a threat anymore.”
“Of course,” I bite. “Just shove the truth aside, fix it, and let the bitch walk free.”
Herold and Eugene go stiff but Gabriel pulls me to the side, his hand so heavy and hot over mine. I dare to break it off but he refuses to release my hand, leveling it pull me up to his chest. I stare up at him, furious, and only seeing red in my vision.
“You know what is going on and you just can’t accept it, Gabriel. I know this has to—”
“Stop it,” he says, rather sharp in tone. “There is a dying woman in that room and a very disgruntled and miserable Alpha down the hall in the waiting room. I don’t care about your allegations right now against your friend Olivia’s old rival. We have another life to save here.”
I rattle, something about his description of Alpha Connor surprising. “Why is Connor Jenkins so upset? It’s not like it was his family, right?”
“No, but it was his girlfriend.”
My heart pounds at his words. It makes too much sense now. Gabriel must see the wheels turning, speaking quick to Eugene and Herold before dragging me out of the hospital without an opportunity to fight him. He throws me back into his awaiting car and we make it down the road a little before I finally release my pent-up frustration.
“Dammit, Gabriel! It’s her! It has to be! Do you not see the coincidence?”
“Stop this now,” he snaps, his volume just as raised. “I brought you here to offer solutions, given how much you spend your time around Reese. Stupid me, I thought maybe you could use your charity and your connections to help that poor she-wolf but here you are, barking about that damn mistress of Herold Opal!”
I’m shocked by his anger, so similar to Eugene’s. Something tells me they have met the end of their ropes on this frustrating triangle of one-sided affection. Am I making them angry by just being sovereign? They are all unraveling, that much is clear.
“Maybe those damn tabloids are right,” he says under heavy exhale.
“What are you saying?”
“You’ve obviously found love elsewhere. Anytime I try to reach out, partake in your work and your interests, I get yelled at and pushed away. I shouldn’t have brought you here. We’re going home.”
My heart drops at that threat. I have to stay; I have to know if this was Alicia. I scoot closer to my husband, feeling his heat and watching his dark, savage eyes.
“I don’t love anyone else,” I say, sure of that claim, “you’re right. I should focus on this wolf. If she were family, I would want her better first before worrying about who did this.”
His features relax. I settle in deeper beside him, leaning my head over his racing heart.
“Driver, take us to a restaurant nearby,” Gabriel huffs. “We will come back to the hospital later when we have both calmed down.”
The driver abides and I release a strained, clenching breath.
“Thank you. Gabriel.”
“Of course, my dear. Anything for you.”