#Chapter 47 Unusual Taste

Olivia’s POV

I feel no guilt for my choices. If anything, I walk around a little taller, a little more proud, with my head held high at the look of embarrassment and shock that crossed her features when I called her a name that she absolutely earned. I lean back in my chair sitting beside Reese who flitters aimlessly through the TV channels on the far wall.

Gabriel wasn’t ecstatic with my behavior, or my crude nickname for Alicia, and his silence is heavy as he paces the floor nearby in the hallway. Herold is more than happy as he sits on the couch beside Reese, joking about the movies on the docket. Eugene is somewhere, changing into his physician clothes and running through Reese’s paperwork.

I look sideways, Gabriel strained in thought as his pacing persists.

“What is that all about?” Reese asks, his eyes mimicking mine as they train on the King Alpha in the hallway. “Did I make him upset?”

“No, not at all,” I reaffirm, tapping my hand over one of his, minding the tubes placed there. “I may have had a short confrontation with an old witch for your past.”

He nods knowingly. “Did you run into Alicia?”

Herold harrumphs a laugh. “She kicked her out of the hospital.”

Reese lights up, the sight of his wide grin so warming to my soul. “Did you really?”

“And she called her a whore,” Herold snickers.

“She deserved it,” I growl.

“Agreed,” Reese and Herold say in perfect unison.

The nurse brings in a tray for Reese full of hospital food I know he will turn his nose up at. He does but thanks the woman anyways, picking at his plate while I rest my head on the back of the chair. Another nurse returns seconds later, to check his machines most likely, but she sets a cup of coffee down beside my chair and grins.

“You look like you could use this, Queen Luna,” she grins.

I thank her, perking up at the sight of coffee. I may have slept a few hours at Herold’s house last night but it wasn’t nearly enough and I don’t plan on sleeping with Alicia still looming around, as I’m sure she is. She wouldn’t let Connor leave her for a second, just like she did to Herold, and that’s how she gets her filthy paws into power.

I sip on the coffee, something metallic about the taste. It only takes two gulps before I realize the scent looming over this cup is familiar. It’s the same as the vial I found, the vial Herold said he has somewhere at his mess of a home, and I realize instantly what has been done to my coffee.

I rush into the bathroom and throw the door closed to lock it, melting to my knees as I throw up every last bit of coffee into the toilet. The taste is enough o trigger my gag reflex and I shudder, feeling dizzy at the realization that Alicia is still around and she does not like my attitude toward her at all.

There’s a knock on the bathroom door, the sound startling me with a jump. “Queen Luna, are you okay?” Herold asks, his voice creeping through the crease between the door and the frame. “What’s wrong? Are you sick? Should I get a nurse?”

“No, it’s fine,” I say, a blatant lie.

I can’t trust a nurse though. What if Alicia has gotten to them already like she did to my coffee? I’ll be sabotaged for sure. I wipe my mouth and take a wobbly stance while flushing the toilet. There is already a sheen of sweat on my forehead and I wipe it off with the paper towels, trembling in the meantime.

I push the door open, Gabriel and Herold both at the helm.

“Are you okay, my dear? Did you throw up?”

“I’m fine, Gabriel,” I groan. “It’s just the stress of everything. I know it. I think I’m going to go take a walk, though. I need fresh air.”

Gabriel grimaces slightly. “I have to return to the pack, my dear. A few of my warriors say they have spotted rogues in the middle ground. I don’t know how safe I feel with you walking around here alone with rogues on the prowl.”

“I’ll take her for a short walk and I can have a few of my warriors follow you through the neural fields,” Herold suggests. “She will be well protected here, King Alpha.”

Gabriel nods, pleased with that offer. He hands me his keys and nods toward Herold. “Come back to the royal pack when you want, my dear. Be safe here, please.”

He kisses my forehead and leave sat once, the feeling of his lips making my blood warm with bliss while it seems to plant a scowling frown on Herold’s features. I ignore it, tossing my keys on my chair while I leave Reese to finish his lunch. I throw away my coffee, wondering if I should have mentioned it to Gabriel, or even Herold and Eugene, but I think otherwise of it.

They already think I’ve been obsessing over that woman. I shouldn’t feed into it now while Reese is finally awake and healing.

We stroll outside in the warm, humid air. I inhale each breath deeply, my heart stalling at last back to a normal, pleasing speed. Herold presses his hands into his pockets, his eyes flickering from the cloudy skies before returning back to me.

“Can I ask you something?” he hums.

I furrow my brow. “That’s a question in itself,” I mutter. “But, go ahead. Ask another.”

“Do you think I’m evil for what happened with Olivia, or do you think I’m just a bad person for being so easily manipulated by that bitch?”

My steps stall at his words.

He continues, his eyes defeated and sagging. “It was made clear after the funeral that she had her hands working against my mate for so long, that I became obnoxiously oblivious to what she was trying to do. She wanted to be Luna, and I believed that Olivia wanted nothing more than to use me for the title—I was so, very wrong.”

“You were wrong,” I groan, my wolf snapping in my head viciously. “It got Olivia killed, and it put Reese in the hospital for most of his life. Now that you see her doing it to Alpha Connor and hurting that girl Mara to get into his good graces, you don’t get a free pass to forgiveness.”

His head falls in shame. “I know you stand against forgiving me.”

“You’re right about that.”

“If someday, somehow, you can see how I was so powerfully manipulated, then do you think we can have this talk again and see where you stand?”