Her Younger Mate (Old Version)

Chapter 48: Selfish

Anna

Day 1, Monday

I woke up with tears in my eyes. I jumped and sat on the bed as my eyes scanned the strange room. The sharp pain in my sides and chest reminded me of the situation I was in. I winced as I touched the tender area. Some ribs seem to be broken. I let some more tears fall as reality sank in. This was not a nightmare. 

"Are you awake now?" I heard someone said on the other side of the door. 

I stayed quiet, hoping he would go away.

"I know you are awake. I am coming in." The doorknob turned and the door opened. Alexander walked in with a broad grin plastered on his face. He was carrying some clothes in his hands. "I will have someone bring you more clothes today. Wear this for now." He placed the clothes at end of the bed and sat next to me. "Did you sleep well, princess? I missed you so much."

I looked at him with a blank expression. I do not what his game is now, but I am not giving him anything. 

"Are you still grumpy, love? Sorry. I will have to make you even grumpier now," he said with a soft tone. 

"What do you-" 

Before I could finish talking he injected me something on my arm. I winced at the intense pain. It was wolfsbane again. My eyes filled with tears and my teeth clenched. I does not matter how many times he does it, it still is excruciating. The pain in my belly came back and mixed with the already torturous sensation. I closed my eyes, wishing for everything to fade away.

A warm wet sensation on my arm made my eyes shot open. "Wh- What are you..." I could not even talk properly. He was licking my arm.

"You are hurting and I have no idea of what to do!" He sounded desperate. "Shit. I am sorry!" Alexander stood up and began pacing across the room mumbling unintelligible things.

Someone burst through the open door, but I could not see who it was. My eyes had fluttered shut again as I felt my body growing heavier. 

"Excuse me, Alpha. Let me help ease her the pain." The female voice sounded distant. 

The next thing I felt was someone putting herbs inside of my mouth and forcing me to swallow them down with water. The agony slowly subsided. I opened my eyes to find Abigail sitting next to me with a worried expression and Alexander standing up by the bed.

Abigail huffed. "Sorry for not coming earlier."

"What happened?" I asked.

"As the wolfsbane left your system, your body began slowly heal itself and numb the pain from.." She cleared her throat. "After you were injected with wolfsbane again, the numbing effect disappeared. I will get you more analgesics and you should be fine as long as you eat and get enough rest."

Alexander, who had been standing in silence, talked. "Tell your mate that he should not be telling you personal things about my mate and I." Both Abigail and I flinched at the coldness and sharpness of his tone. Oh, right. Abigail should not be aware of what happened last night. He does not know that she helped me. 

Alexander's expression softened. "But since you aided my princess, I will not punish either of you. You can leave now."

"Thank you Alpha." Abigail bowed before leaving the room.

"She is nice," I said.

"I am glad you find her company enjoyable." He kissed my forehead. "You are the most important person to me." He hugged me softly. "And I hope to be the only person for you..." he whispered. 

He pulled away with a wide smile on his face. "I will be waiting for you outside to have late breakfast together."

I took the clothes with me to the bathroom, just in case he decided to come back to the room. As expected he had given me a turtle neck top.

***

After breakfast Alexander asked me what I wanted to do, and I obviously said that I wanted to see my pup. The bastard did not seem to like the idea but agreed to do it anyway. He gave me only five minutes. We walked to where they were keeping Aiden. 

The room Alexander brought me to was nearly empty and completely white. It had a rectangular metal table in the middle of the room and four chairs around it, two at each side. Alexander sat down on one of the chairs but I stood there looking at the door. 

When the door opened, two guards walked in, followed by Aiden and two other guards. Aiden glanced up at me and lowered his head again. The guards led him to a chair. 

I went sit across him and beside Alexander.

"Aiden..." I whispered. "Everything will be okay."

Aiden looked up. "Why?" he asked in a flat tone.

I bit the inside of my lower lip. I understand what he means. He did not want me to come here. "I am sorry. I had to..."

He shook his head and smiled sadly. "No. Mom. Thank you, but please be selfish." He turned his gaze downcast again and I knew he would not say more. 

"I love you, son," I said standing up.

"I love you, mom. Goodbye," he whispered as the guards escorted him out.

Be selfish is a pretty obvious code phrase for 'run away and leave me for death.' My son gave up. I sucked in a deep breath of air as I blinked furiously to prevent myself from crying. I cannot spend the whole time here crying. I cannot do it. It does not fix anything, I repeated to myself over and over. 

I felt as if I was going to collapse right there but an arm wrapped around my waist and supported my weight. 

"Let's go, love." Alexander pulled me against him and walked me to some other room, a library. "I had this made for you, love. I know how much you love books."

I lost the count of how many times I have mentally rolled my eyes at him. I grabbed a random book and sat on a couch pretending to read while I thought about all the ways I could torture the idiot in front of me.

Alexander spent the rest of the afternoon staring at me. I imagined several escape scenarios but none of them seemed remotely plausible, not without my wolf. My eyes felt heavy, probably a side-effect of the analgesic Abigail gave me.

***

The stinging feeling of another of those damned wolfsbane shots woke me up. I was lying on Alexander's bed again. He licked the place where he administered the shot and kissed my forehead. 

"Hello there, sleepyhead," he said.

He offered me a food tray with chicken soup and orange juice. "It is a little late now. I made you something light for dinner, so you do not get a stomachache."

"The only pain in my stomach is from your punches yesterday." I took a sip of the soup. It tasted good. I despise him even more.

He lowered his gaze. "I am sorry," he said.

I continued eating in silence. Once I finished the food, Alexander took the tray from me and walked to the door. 

"There are some clothes and pajamas for you in the closet. I will be back shortly."

"Are we pretending you are not keeping me here against my will now?" I asked.

"Get ready for bed, love." He left the room.