Chapter 109

Hannah

I thought I would be prepared for what I might see, but I wasn’t. As I reached the infirmary, Sebastian was still asleep. I gasped as I saw the blood staining his clothing and around his mouth. Dr. Conway left his mask on, but I could only imagine how much more blood was on his features. There were blood stains on his fingers and bare feet as well.

Arnold was talking to Dr. Conway about something, and I covered my mouth with my hands to keep from sobbing too loudly. Raya was by my side and wrapping her arm through mine, holding me close to her.

Arnold finally noticed me standing near the door and he strolled over to me as Dr. Conway went to examine Sebastian.

“What happened to him?” I whispered, not taking my eyes off Sebastian’s blood-stained body.

“Hannah, you might want to sit down,” Arnold said; his tone was mournful, and it gave me an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. I shook my head and pulled my tear-filled eyes away from Sebastian to look up at Arnold.

“Answer me, Arnold,” I said, pressing my lips in a firm line so he knew I was serious. “What happened to my husband?”

“I found him outside like this. Around the same time, there was a commotion outside the palace grounds. Someone turned up dead last night,” Arnold said, keeping his eyes locked on mine.

“And they think it was Sebastian?” I asked; I could hardly get the question out, but he knew what I was asking. He didn’t need to answer me for me to know what he was thinking. “Do you think it was him?”

“I’m not sure what to think,” he said in return. “The full moon is only a few days away. Usually leading up to it, his madness starts coming through. He’s not himself and…”

“You think he’s capable of killing someone?” I asked, squinting my eyes as I focused on him.

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “I’ve always been there to stop him before it came to that. Before, when Magnolia framed him for the murders of those maids, that was always a secret that was locked in the palace. She just wanted to show him who was really in charge. But if the kingdom found out about it, it would make the entire palace and the royal party look bad. But now this is out in the open and it’s not going to be kept secret for long. You should prepare yourself for the worst. Once the media finds out…”

“Everybody will know…” I finished for him, looking over at Sebastian.

Arnold nodded in response.

Before I could say anything more, Sebastian stirred in his sleep and his eyes shot open, causing me to flinch. I shouldn’t be afraid of him; I wasn’t afraid of him.

“Do you want us to give you some privacy?” Arnold asked.

“Is that a good idea?” Raya chimed in, looking between the two of us worried. “I mean if he really did kill that person, should we leave Hannah alone with him?”

Arnold was about to answer until I spoke first.

“I’m not afraid of my husband. I want to talk to him alone, please,” I said, shoving past them and toward Sebastian.

Raya and Arnold watched me for a moment longer before leaving. Dr. Conway was about to go back to his desk when he paused.

“I’m not really sure what’s wrong. There are no actual symptoms of anything….”

I thanked him and continued my way to Sebastian. He looked relieved to see me as I approached. I couldn’t bring myself to smile at him or have any sign of relief crossing my face. I was so upset that something like this could have happened. How could he let his wolf have full control before it was even the full moon? It wasn’t making any sense to me, and I needed answers.

“Hannah…” he whispered.

“What happened to you?” I asked him firmly, folding my arms across my chest. “Where did you go.”

He went to think about it for a moment, but then his eyes met mine.

“I don’t know,” he answered. “Everything is foggy and…

“That’s not an answer,” I scolded. I could feel myself growing furious with him. He knew exactly what the media was going to say once word got out about this.

Just as he was about to say something else in his defense, my phone went off in my pocket. I already knew it was already a notification for breaking news. I felt everything collapsing around me as I opened the news app and saw the headline.

Vicious Wolf King Strikes Again!!

I closed the app before reading the rest of the article; I already knew what it was going to say and I didn’t need that right now. I pressed my hand to my stomach; I didn’t need this added stress.

“I thought you changed…” I whispered to him, allowing stray tears to fall from my eyes. “I thought you weren’t the vicious wolf king anymore…”

He grabbed my arm and forced me to look at him.

He wanted to defend himself, but no words came to his mind; he just stared at me like I was a piece of meat. It was making my stomach feel sick. I pulled my arm away from him; I just wanted to get out of there. I could hardly look at him right now. I turned away from him, but his voice caused me to pause.

“Treat me like a patient,” he said quickly. I turned back to him and rose my brows; questioning what he was talking about. “We stopped researching ways to treat the wolf’s madness. But now we need to figure it out more than anything. So, treat me like a patient. I won’t leave bed until we have everything figured out. Together.”

…

Sebastian

Once Sebastian was completely clean of the blood that stained his body and clothes, he slipped into his bed upstairs. He promised Hannah he wouldn’t leave the bed until they figured everything out.

Hannah went to the hospital, escorted by a couple of his guards, to grab some supplies. When she returned, she had a bag of stuff, including an IV bag. She wasn’t playing around. She stuck the IV into his wrist.

“It will keep you hydrated,” she explained.

She spent the next few days researching everything that she could and getting supplies that mix a concoction that could help or cure his madness. When they didn’t work, Arnold had to lock him in the dungeon and chain him before he lost control of his wolf. It was the night of the full moon, and he was used to having to be locked away during that. Hannah insisted that he would be okay in bed, but both Sebastian and Arnold knew that not even Hannah’s scent could help him at that moment.

It was incredibly painful having control of his wolf. It felt like every bone in his body was breaking as he was forced into his wolf form. Everything in his mind went dark and he just remembered needing to escape from the chains that bound his wrist. He remembered feeling nothing but hatred and resentment. He wanted blood and he wanted to kill.

By the time he woke the next morning, he was relieved to see that he was still in his cell and Hannah was watching him from the outside.

Has she been there the entire time?

She said nothing to him as she unchained him and brought him back to their room.

That pattern repeated for the next couple of months. Accept the pain, from the madness, occurred every day. It would be the same fiery feeling on his scars that burned into him. The splitting headache made him vomit. He could hardly eat because of how sick he was feeling. Hannah mentioned that he was thinning out and growing paler with each passing week. His bones would feel weak and then he would have jabs of pain where it felt like they were breaking. He also could hardly sleep. The pain medication that Hannah would give him didn’t work. It was like something was keeping him in this agony. This didn’t feel like his normal madness.

He didn’t think he was going to be able to deal with it anymore until she finally went to his bedside and said, “I don’t think it’s madness that’s causing this pain…”