Alpha Alden ✔️

Chapter Fourteen

Word Count: 1549

~Kezziah

The sound of dull buzzing and faint clicking greets me into consciousness.

It takes a bit of scrambling for me to realise what has happened. I feel marvellous, as if untouched by any harm. As my eyes crack open, I'm reminded of the harsh white ceilings, and the crisp sheets that cover my body. Sitting up is difficult, the amount of tubes wrapped around me near ridiculous.

Everyone in the room turns, noticing my movement. Cian is gone, a distant memory in the back of my mind. Now, instead, I'm looking at a nurse, a doctor and Alpha Alden.

"What's going on?" I question. They all stare at me, beguiled.

"You've awoken, finally," the doctor said, while the nurse scuttles over to check my vitals. Alden simply watches me, as if he can't believe I'm sitting here right now, alive. I can barely believe it either, Cian's words ringing in my mind. I survived a heart attack, and only because of that little blue pill he fed to me.

Despite that, I won't thank him. The only reason he wants me alive is so he can use me for his own gain. I'm curious about how much money my life earns him, although I doubt he would tell me.

"You suffered a very severe heart attack," the doctor explains, waiting for a shocked reaction. When it doesn't come, he continues. "We are surprised your survived. In fact, you have made such a miraculous recovery we don't see there being any issues in your future."

That's a relief.

I have a lot of questions, but not for the doctors. Actually, I have a lot of accusations. Alden stands against the wall, watching as the doctors untangle me from the tubes and explain that I'll need to come back tomorrow if I feel any different. Right now, I feel fine, as if I just woke from a twelve hour slumber.

When the doctor and nurse leave the room, Alden comes closer to me. He doesn't sit next to me, simply standing a few feet away.

"What happened?" He asks.

I look up at him in disbelief, unable to comprehend that he had just asked me that question. Despite looking genuinely concerned - and perhaps a little suspicious - I could swear he was joking.

"You tell me," I say, my tone harsher than I wanted it to be. I may be infuriated at him for his sick practice of forcefully removing brands from our skin, but he's still an Alpha. And I would be foolish to speak disrespectfully to an Alpha. "You're the one who ensured this medicine was created. Am I the only one who has nearly died from this?"

Alden swallows uncomfortably. "We have had two victims to reacted badly out of the many that have taken it. Both didn't make it."

"Well that makes me feel better," I mutter sarcastically.

Had it not been for Cian, there is no way I would have survived. Part of me thinks I should questions him more about those wonderful pills, although I'm sure he wouldn't inform me. They are something immortal, surely. Something like that would be impossibly to obtain otherwise.

"Naturally, I'm curious as to how you're sitting here in front of me, alive...No, thriving, as if nothing ever happened to you," Alden says. His tone is accusatory, assuming I know something he doesn't. That's exactly the case.

I tuck a piece of hair behind my ear, thinking of a diversion. "So you don't care that I'm alive right now?"

As I say that, I feel foolish. Of course he wants me alive. The mark of my back suggest Time wanted me for something different the rest of the travellers. And he wants to know what that is. That's absolutely the only reason why my life means anything to him.