Alpha Wilson’s POV
The sterile air of the hospital pressed heavily on me as I navigated through its bustling corridors. Each step I took echoed with uncertainty, blending with the beeps and murmurs that filled the place with a pervasive sense of urgency.
Caleb had just given me a lead on Kiara’s whereabouts, along with a curt reminder not to dawdle. The absence of any mention of Kiara felt like a slap in the face.
Questions stormed through my mind. How could Kiara have known about Ashley’s collapse at the mall and not reached out to me?
What made her so indifferent to the woman who was not just my sister but someone I loved deeply? My frustration flared, propelling me toward the nearest exit.
But then, my attention was snagged by the red-and-white sign of the blood bank, a quieter, more secluded part of the hospital.
I veered toward it, hoping that a brief diversion might help clear my mind and maybe, just maybe, I’d run into Kiara. The door was ajar, and as I approached, I overheard snippets of a conversation between two nurses.
They were discussing a man named Eric, someone who frequently turned up here, always battered and bruised from the fights he got into over debts.
The name Eric stirred something in my memory. I recalled seeing him at the hospital when Kiara had just given birth. They had talked about him in the context of his frequent run-ins with people he owed money to and even Rolan had condemned the young man as not honorable.
If the blood they were collecting was for him, then this explained a lot and he suited the profile of the person that the nurses were discussing.
My heart was pounding in my chest and I hoped that what had happened to him had nothing to do with Kiara. The nurses carried long faces and they didn’t look like they wanted to attend to Eric.
“You know, I heard the doctors talking about just poisoning him. He never pays his debts and he owes the clinic a whole lot of money. If not that the head doctor knows him as someone who had some sort of relationship with the Alpha, no one would even attend to him again.” One of the nurses said and the other one shook her head sadly.
Driven by instinct, I followed the nurses down the corridor, my anger and confusion guiding me forward despite the lack of a concrete plan. The closer I got to Eric’s room, the heavier my footsteps felt. It had to be him, the description was too close to the one I knew.
When I finally reached the door, I hesitated before peeking inside. What I saw made my heart sink. Kiara was sitting beside the unconscious man, tears streaming down her face.
Her shoulders trembled with each sob, and the sight of her pain was etched deeply into my mind. Eric, bruised and battered, lay motionless on the bed.
The scene was jarring. The harsh fluorescent lights of the hospital cast a stark, unflattering glow on everything, making the rawness of the moment even more intense.
Kiara’s presence in this intimate and painful setting was a cruel twist of fate. I had come here seeking answers, but instead, I found a betrayal that felt intensely personal.
It wasn’t just that Kiara was here. It was the depth of her emotion for Eric, a man who seemed to represent the suffering she had been so detached from when it came to Ashley and me.
The contrast was shocking. I had always trusted our friendship, but now it felt like that trust had been shattered.
I stood there for what felt like an eternity, struggling to reconcile what I was seeing with my understanding of Kiara. My anger, which had been directed at her for her silence about Ashley, now turned inward.
Why did I even expect her to be any different? My thoughts spun around my disillusionment, twisting my perception of our relationship into something unrecognizable.
I had clearly been a fool and thought that being mates was enough to rely on. Turns out I was just being stupid, just like how I had always thought living another woman would be.
Without thinking, I turned and walked away. The pain in my chest was sharp, and I felt as if I were suffocating under the weight of this revelation.
The hospital corridors seemed to stretch endlessly as I made my way back to the main entrance, each step a silent testament to my shattered trust and broken expectations.
The cool night air was a relief as I exited the hospital, a stark contrast to the stifling atmosphere inside. I leaned against the wall outside, trying to steady my breathing and clear my mind.
Kiara’s tears, Eric’s suffering, it was all too overwhelming. I needed to process this, to come to terms with why my world had been turned upside down.
Standing alone with my thoughts, I couldn’t shake the feeling of betrayal. Kiara’s actions forced me to confront a painful reality. I thought I knew her, but now I realized how deeply I had misunderstood.
This wasn’t just about Ashley or Eric; it was about the depth of deception and the painful truths lurking beneath the surface.
I didn’t know what to do next, but one thing was clear, I couldn’t stay wrapped in this disillusionment. I needed to leave, to find some semblance of clarity away from the noise of the hospital and the chaos of my emotions. The night was dark, but I hoped that distance would bring me some peace.
My mind went to one person, Rolan. Even though I would not say we were friends, I knew he was a formidable man who respected me. I would go and talk to him, maybe tell him how I truly feel.
As I walked away, the city streets seemed to stretch endlessly before me, each step weighed down by the heavy burden of an eye-opener that left me feeling more lost than ever.