The Mad Alpha's Chapter 128 - 5

Chapter 128: 5

Each building in the healing center is divided into several rooms where healers treat shifters with a combination of both healing magic and human dication and equipnt. Edith takes

down the corridor to the last room and closes the door behind her before asking grimly, "What happened?"

I shrug, and she gives

a stern look. "That’s not an answer, Alice."

"What are you going to do if I tell you?" I sit on the edge of the examination table, my voice dry. "Can you make sure it doesn’t happen again? Because I guarantee it will."

She studies

for a few long monts, and I see the heaviness in her gaze. "Did you piss off Willow?"

It doesn’t surprise

that she has co to that conclusion. Edith is well aware of Willow’s hatred of . While I have been knocked around by other shifters, these sorts of injuries only co to pass when Willow’s father decides to step in. The last ti Thomas brought

into line, I was unconscious for a week. He was actually quite gentle this ti, I must say.

I give the healer a humorless smile. "All I have to do is breathe, and it pisses off Willow. Along with half the pack. Do you have any dication for that?"

Edith picks up a tray of cotton swabs and disinfectants and cos to stand in front of . In an uncharacteristic move, she smooths her hand over my head. "I wish I could tell you that it will get better, but it won’t."

I lower my gaze, my throat feeling thick with despair that I try my best to keep at bay. "I know." I try to shrug nonchalantly, but my body doesn’t comply.

"Here." She reaches into her pocket and hands

a small box. "I know it’s your birthday tomorrow. I got you this."

My birthday?

I give her a puzzled look before realizing she’s right. I never keep track of my birthdays. I don’t celebrate them. There’s nothing to celebrate about my existence.

As Edith snaps on her gloves, she glances at . "Well? Aren’t you going to open it?"

I look at her cautiously. "You’ve never given

a gift before."

"It’s not every day a wolf cos of age." Edith offers

a small smile. "It’s not much, though, so don’t have any high expectations. My mother gave it to

when I ca of age. Tomorrow, you turn twenty-two. This is the most aningful gift I could give you. I don’t have children of my own, so I thought you might appreciate it."

I open the box, touched by the fact that she is giving

sothing that a mother would pass on to her daughter. It’s a silver ring. A plain-looking band. There’s nothing remarkable about it, but as of right now, it is the most precious thing I own. When a female wolf cos of age, she is gifted a piece of jewelry by her mother or so other female elder of the family to signify her entering adulthood.

I don’t have a habit of crying, but I lower my eyes, feeling overwheld. "It’s perfect. Thank you."

Edith unwraps the binding on my hand, and her lips press together into a thin line when she sees the infection. "Thomas did this?"

I nod. "He stabbed a letter opener into my palm. I don’t know why it got infected—"

"I’ll fix it." Edith’s voice is strained.

I expect her to apply so ointnt, but to my surprise, she uses her healing ability. I close my eyes as the warm, comfortable wave of healing energy passes through .

So of the pain begins to diminish. As Edith uses her ability to reverse the damage, I wonder if I should celebrate my coming-of-age birthday. When a female wolf cos of age, she is no longer bound to the wolf pack she is associated with. She’s old enough to leave if she wants, and she’s also old enough to take a mate. I have never had anything to celebrate before, but now...?

I could leave the Moonlight Pack. I could go live in a human territory.

It’s not like I can shift, after all. I could start a different job, a new life. No wolf will ever accept

as their mate, and after the tumultuous life I have experienced, the idea of sobody loving

and wanting

is nothing short of a fantasy. I’ve been told my whole life how unwanted and undesirable I am. Why would that ever change? It won’t.

Shifters usually have fated mates, but I’ve always been told that fated mates are connected through their wolf spirit. I don’t have a wolf spirit, which ans I don’t have a fated mate.

As a little girl, I used to dream about having my own mate. The child I was desperately wanted soone to love her and protect her, her very own prince charming. But as I grew older, I began to realize that nobody would ever protect

and that a fated mate was not in the cards for . So, that was just another dream I tucked away in a corner of my mind to gather dust.

But what I can do is get away from here and all these people. I want to go soplace where nobody knows , where nobody will look at

and judge . Where nobody will care whether I have a wolf spirit or not.

"Why are you smiling?" Edith asks, and I realize that I can no longer feel her healing warmth. I look down at my hand and see a scar in the middle of my palm.

I frown. "Why is there a scar?"

Edith is silent, an uncomfortable expression crossing her face. "Edith?"

She is spared the task of answering

when the door of the examination room is pulled open, and another wolf shifter rushes in. Unlike

with my red hair and blue eyes that make

stand out from other shifters, Mary has short, dark hair that playfully touches the edge of her shoulders and beautiful brown eyes. Willow may be a blonde beauty, but Mary is just as pretty, her features exquisite.

"Alice!" The young healer throws herself at , and Edith grabs her by the back of her coat.

"Stop right there."

Mary gives her a sheepish smile. "Sorry, I got carried away. I just checked my phone, Alice. I was in the middle of a session. Are you hurt? Wait, of course you are! You look terrible! I an, not terrible like that, but—"

Edith clears her throat. "Take a breath, Mary. I’ve done most of the healing. You can take over now. And think before you speak. You’re not making sense again."

Mary flushes. "Thanks for healing her, Edith."

The older woman gives her a stern look. "Don’t thank

for doing my job."

She walks out of the room without so much as a goodbye, but it doesn’t bother . The senior healer is a little abrupt, but she’s kind to , which is what matters.

Once the door closes behind her, Mary hugs . "What happened? Who did this?"

"Thomas," I tell her before diving into what happened at Benny’s yesterday and the resulting eting in the beta’s office.

Mary doesn’t look shocked, but there is pain in her eyes. "I’m sorry, Alice."

"It’s okay." I watch her pick up a cotton swab and dowse it in saline before cleaning the blood from my face. "It is what it is."

My friend leans back and says regretfully, "I wish you didn’t sound so matter of fact about it."

I just give her a tight smile, saying nothing further.

Mary and I beca friends when she moved into my apartnt building a couple of years ago. She would often co ho late from her training sessions at the healing center, and one night, I offered to share my dinner with her. I had been eating a burrito on the staircase by myself, and I had an extra one in the plastic bag next to . I had fully expected her to turn

down and insult . But instead, she dropped her backpack, sat down next to , and held out her hand.

From then on, we would have dinner together most nights. I’d found a friend.

I show Mary my palm. "Edith healed , but there’s a scar left."

I expected her to look surprised, but her eyes turn dark. She drops the cotton swab, grabbing my hand to take a closer look. "What did he do here?"

I tell her about the letter opener, and when Mary looks up at , her eyes are filled with horror. "There is only one thing that leaves scars on the body of a wolf shifter. That letter opener must have been coated with wolfsbane, Alice. I don’t know how you survived all the way here. From your hand, the wolfsbane would have reached your heart within half an hour."

My whole body goes cold. Thomas tried to kill ? The beta of my pack actually wanted to murder ?

My head is spinning again, and I clutch Mary’s arm. "You must be wrong. I an, I know he was angry with , but trying to kill —"

Mary’s face is as white as a sheet. "There’s no mistaking it. Even I can’t heal wolfsbane completely. It’s very toxic to our kind. You’re lucky Edith was around. Any other senior healer wouldn’t have healed you. They would have refused."

Not simply because it’s dangerous but because they wouldn’t have cared enough. I can read between the lines of what Mary is saying.