Four

ASPEN VESPER

“So, you just happened to find that entrance?” Kailin asked, his eyes alternating between a masked Aspen and Lance who were kneeling in the throne room, a couple of swords pointed towards them.

Aspen deepened her voice and replied, “I am a shy and disturbed person. I find pleasure in taking dark, abandoned paths.”

“How do you think that sounds?” Kaailin got up from his throne. “It’s already bad enough that you are lowly rebels trying to act like you have a place in our society. How could you think of sneaking in? If you are really a respected doctor, act like it.”

Aspen drew a breath. His words angered her but she kept her emotions in check and asked, “Do you wish for us to go back? I can always refuse to check on the health of your Luna.”

“I called you here as the Lycan King.” His eyes hardened. “If you refuse my order, I will ask for your head.”

“Ask for my head and you will make the news in no time. Do you think we are still in the barbaric period?” Aspen retorted.

“My love,” Lance butted in, “how about you focus on taking care of your patient for now? That’s your priority, isn’t it?”

“Oh,” her forehead creased. “You are right.” Aspen wished Lance could see the look embedded in her eyes. She had many questions for him following the way he introduced himself to Kailin. “Lycan Kailin, as my… as he said, I am here for the patient. I would like to examine her now.”

Kailin paused his little pacing. “Can you assure me that she’ll be healed once you are done?”

“I will have to examine her first, Lycan Kailin,” Aspen responded softly. “That’s all I can say for now. So how about your guards untie me and Lance?”

“Why? Can you not work without your mate?” Kailin’s voice was filled with a hint of bitterness.

“I can. I’m just not comfortable that he’s tied up in a very unsexy way. So, untie us.”

“I don’t like you, Doctor Sabrina,” Lycan Kailin said. “You are rude.” He waved to the guards and they withdrew their weapons. “If your expertise is not as great as I have heard, your rudeness will be added to your charges and I will take pleasure in making sure you are punished accordingly. I mean that with all my soul.”

“Well, with all my soul, Lycan Kailin, I promise that I will take care of your wife and I will walk out of this wretched palace of yours before you can blink your eyes twice.”

“Whatever.” He faced the guard who was standing firmly by his side. “Send word to the Luna's help. They should prepare the ward for the rude doctor to use. And ask some men to keep an eye on the room. Nothing must go wrong.”

Aspen scoffed at that statement that was definitely directed at her. By the time she’s done dealing with him, he would know what it means for something to go wrong.

The guards untied their ropes and with a stern guiding, they led them out of the room.

Then, as they walked, Aspen shifted closer to Lance. With a little frown and tilt of her head, she quietly asked, “Alpha King? You are the Alpha King? And what the fuck is up with the name, Sabrina?”

“Would you rather I gave your real name? Also, I am sorry I didn’t tell you, but yes, I am the Alpha King of The Rebel Pack and we-”

“Wait inside this room for the patient,” one of the guards ordered as their fast steps suddenly came to a halt. “Do not act funny, we have our eyes on you.”

Aspen could have eyed the guard if her face wasn’t masked.

While Lance waited outside, Aspen walked into the huge room where hospital equipment was being set up and sat down while she raced many scenarios in her head. As she did that, she recalled how Kailin Blackwood looked while he queried her earlier. He looked good and she hated that. So, as she imagined the many ways she would bring down those who neglected and brutally abandoned her three years ago, she vowed to make Kailin Blackwood of all people pay for the fuel he added to the hell she faced back then.

“What’s with the mask? Are you a doctor or a show clown?” That was without a doubt, Raven, her sister.

Growing up, Aspen was certain she and her sister bonded in a way other siblings were jealous of. But ever since the outcome of what was meant to be Aspen’s mating ceremony, Aspen thought otherwise. And that begged the question of what exactly her sister was made of. It truly was worrying that her sister accepted and chose to get mated with a man that wasn’t hers, so it was safe to wonder if Raven Vesper was a person she never knew.

Aspen got to her feet. “I am Doctor Sabrina.” The name Sabrina wasn’t so bad, so she decided to go with it. “I am no clown. I have a hideous scar that might upset the Luna Queen if I left my face bare.”

“Hmm,” Raven climbed into the bed and the three women taking care of the set-up walked out, “it’s a good thing you covered your scar. If there is one thing the world is good at, it is poking fun at your insecurities.”

“That’s true,” Aspen deepened her voice in case Raven would be able to hear past the new tone her voice took after she healed from the poisoning. “I will take a look at your vitals and from there, further steps will be taken. Is that okay with you, my Queen?”

Her sister pushed her hair back and focused her sight on Aspen’s mask. Perhaps the thinly curved lines that decorated the object pulled her attention. “You are the doctor,” she replied. “Do your job.” Then, she turned to place the framed picture in her hand on the table on her right.

When Aspen saw the picture, her heart frowned. It was a picture of them during one of the annual family visits to the water pack. Aspen wondered if her family continued going for those visits even after she disappeared from their lives.

“That’s a lovely picture,” Aspen commented as she reached for the stethoscope waiting for her grasp.

“Ugh, if you are trying to butter me up, stop. I don’t carry around the picture because I love it.”

That caused another frown on Aspen’s end. “Then, why do you have it?”

“The other lady in the picture is my sister. She walked out years ago without a word. If she’s dead, her body has refused to show up. I find that really selfish of her. So, I carry the picture with me to remind myself of the terrible thing she did to us. She is terrible and evil and I must never forget that.”

Aspen was strong enough to not break character. She decided to push back the anger those sentences roused and merely smiled while she asked, “Your sister does sound terrible. Was she family to the Lycan King as well?”

Raven scoffed. “She wished. My King didn’t even know she existed. She was a nobody. A nobody that thinks she is important.”

Aspen bit into her lip and decided to focus on the reason she was there- checking on the health of her sister who had just dissed her in a way that hurt more than she could have imagined.

~~~

Hours later, after Aspen had done all she could do at that moment, she took a step back from a now asleep Raven, to go over the data she got. And as her eyes studied the charts which had so far indicated that her sister was fine, Aspen could not help but derail towards the shitty statement Raven made about her.

If Aspen wasn’t dead ass certain about what happened to her, she would have wondered if she indeed ran away from her family. The ill tongue of her sister concerning her felt real and a little scary because it could only mean that her family indeed had something to do with the crazy shit that happened to her.

Coming to this realisation was a little more than she could handle. So, Aspen dropped what she was doing, glanced at the hospital bed to make sure everything was still working fine, then she walked out until she could no longer perceive her sister’s scent.

She had barely leaned against one of the railings when Lance walked up to her.

“Are you done?”

Aspen sighed. “No. I am not. Also, I can’t breathe well.”

“The mask is bothering you, yeah?”

“It’s not the mask.” Aspen’s right boot gently hit the tiled floor. “It’s…” She bit into her lower lip while she raked her itching hand through her whitish hair. “Back there, my sister said some nasty things and uhm… I have to take a minute to breathe before I lose my shit.”

Lance inched closer and whispered wickedly, “There is an easy approach to your quest for revenge.”

One of her brows arched. “Which is?”

“The Luna Queen is your patient. Her life is in your hands.”

Aspen scoffed. “That’s not easy, that’s stupid. Kai… Kailin Blackwood would have my head the moment something happens to the Queen and her baby. Besides, until Kailin pays back the pain he had caused me, I have to remain calm.”

“In that case,” Lance placed his hand across her shoulder, “let’s make our little act believable. We are supposed to be mates, so we might have to act a little lovey-dovey.”

“I am so glad I am wearing a mask right now.”

Lance pouted in a rather cute way. “Why?”

“That way, I can be sure that you would never kiss me.”

“Ouch.”

Aspen let out another sigh and changed the direction of her view. “Are you really the Alpha King of the Rebel Pack?” He nodded, his face now turned very serious. “I can’t believe you deceived me all these years.”

“I have no excuse.”

“Doctor Sabrina, Alpha Lance?” One of the guards that was in the guard room walked up to the conversing duo.

“Is there a problem?” Lance questioned.

The guard merely grunted in reaction. Then, he said to the men that came with him, “Cuff them.”

“For what reason?” Aspen demanded while her hands had no choice but to surrender for the cuffing. One of the rules in their country was to not resist arrest unless one wanted to be tried for disrespecting the Lycan King’s orders. And that is one of the worst things that could happen to a wolf in their country.

“Why are you asking as if you don’t know what you did?”

A bad feeling settled in Aspen’s soul. “And what the heck did I do?”

“You are both under arrest for the attempted murder of the Luna Queen.” The man turned to show his furry wolf tail. “Take them away. The King will attend to their matter very soon, so make sure they do not escape.”

“Yes, sir!” The men chorused.

And while Aspen was pushed to walk, she frowned and glanced at Lance who reacted in a way that told her that he had nothing to do with what was happening.