Chapter 18

Hannah’s POV

“You didn’t have to get me the hot cocoa,” I said softly as I continued reading through the books.

Dr. Davis eyed me carefully, as I took some notes on some natural ways to calm a wolf’s madness.

“I know,” he said, narrowing his eyes at me. “But it’s cold out and your nose was getting red. As cute as it was, I didn’t want you getting frost bit.”

He spoke softly and he touched my arm as he said those words. I almost felt a bit uncomfortable at the gesture, but I gave him a pleasant smile and we continued our studies. My focus was to find out ways to calm Sebastian, especially during the full moon. If I was going to be married to him, I didn’t want to live my life in fear. I wanted to know he was going to be okay, even when he loses control.

A few things caught my eyes as I scanned the books.

It was saying that during wolf madness, even if it wasn’t the full moon, he could still lose control if he was too tired.

“I think I found something,” Dr. Davis said, pointing at the book in front of him. “It says here that there’s a perfume that can calm the nerves of a wolf during their madness.”

I looked at the image of the perfume; it came in a small red bottle, and it looked elegant.

“They sell them in stores around here,” Dr. Davis added. “But the ingredients come from the East, so it’s extremely expensive.”

“It’s okay!” I said, still staring at the image. “I’ll try anything.”

…

I went straight to the perfume store after I left the library. I parted ways with Dr. Davis because it was getting late, and I knew he had to be up early for work the next morning. He helped me out enough for the evening and I didn’t want to take up too much of his time. Even though he kept insisting he came with me.

“It’s getting dark. You shouldn’t be traveling alone at night,” he said.

Nora wanted to laugh at him; we’ve spent our lives alone. We loved the night, but I didn’t say that to him. I shook his hand and thanked him again for helping me before heading toward the center of the kingdom.

The perfume store was close to the palace, and I was grateful that they were still open. However, they were closing shortly.

I showed them the image of the perfume and explained what it was for; they went into the back to retrieve it.

As I waited for them to return, I looked around at all the different perfume bottles. They were all so elegant and beautiful. I’ve never even been in a perfume store before; growing up, we could never afford such luxury items. I felt out of place standing in the store.

I took a bottle off the shelf; it was a light pink bottle with a rose quartz cap. I twisted the cap off and sprayed it on my arm. I was instantly filled with a beautiful rosy scent that practically calmed me right away.

As the store worker returned, I put the rosy perfume back on the shelf and completed my purchase for Sebastian’s perfume. I’ve never even purchased perfume for myself before. I felt silly buying perfume for a man and not for myself.

But this was for Sebastian’s greater good; this was said to calm the nerves of a wolf during their maddening stages. I just hoped that he wouldn’t suddenly go mad once I present the perfume to him. I’ve been trying to avoid him for some time because I was worried he would lose control.

I just wanted him to feel better.

Once I finished at the perfume store, I walked back to the palace. I hurried quickly because I knew Sebastian would be wondering where I was.

As I entered the palace, I instantly smelled the scent of smoke which made me cough and gag. My eyes started watering as I followed the scent into the living quarters.

Sebastian sat on the couch with his legs crossed and was smoking a cigar. His eyes narrowed in on me and I felt my body tensing. There was something wrong; I could see it on his face, and I grew more nervous with each breath I took.

“Come,” he ordered.

His voice sounded cold and threatening. Despite how nervous I was, I knew it was in my best interest to not disobey him, so I walked toward him.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, thankful my voice wasn’t quivering.

I knew he was in a bad mood; I could feel it in the aura around him. The way he was looking at me was also not natural and I felt worried.

He exhaled a puff of light blue smoke before grabbing onto my arm with force, tightening his grip. I winced as he tugged me onto his lap and wrapped his firm arms around me, holding me in place. His lips were on mine instantly and I felt his tongue invading my mouth, hungrily and possessively.

I accidentally let go of the perfume and I heard it shattering to the ground.

He pulled away from me and his eyes landed on the perfume; he scoffed, his eyes staring back at me, darkening with what looked like disgust and hatred.

“Expecting gifts from another man behind my back?” He asked, his tone dark and it sent a chill down my spine. “I warned you, do your duties as my luna, or I’ll kill you and your adulterer,” he hissed; his lip curling up as he spoke.

I felt my body tremble under his tightened grip.

“You’re crazy,” I heard myself crying back to him. “I didn’t---” I paused before continuing; I looked at the wild look in his eyes. He must have sent someone to follow me; he must have known I was late because I was at the library with Dr. Davis. This was just a horrible misunderstanding. “Listen, Dr. Davis is just my teacher. I bought this perfume for…”

“Still want to argue I see,” he hissed, stopping my words.

Sebastian shot to his feet, nearly flinging me to the ground but his arms were wrapped around my waist, preventing me from going anywhere. He shoved me and stumbled towards the bar that sat against the wall. He rushed towards me quickly, pressing his body against mine and making it impossible for me to move beyond the bar. He lifted me so I sat against the wooden paneling. I wanted to scream out in fear, but his hands were around my throat, cutting off my air supply.

I felt my heart-shattering in my chest as I looked at the terrifying look in his eyes. I coughed out, trying to get him to release me, but his hold only tightened the more I struggled.

I should have never bought him that perfume.

I closed my eyes; I could feel myself growing lightheaded.

“It’s not what you think…” I said between gasps of air and coughing.

“Does that man’s cocoa taste good?!” He seethed.

“No!” I coughed; tears began welling up in my eyes.

If he kept this up, he was going to kill me for sure. He mentioned that my saliva calms him which is why he wanted me to kiss him frequently and be around him often.

I looked into his eyes as they started growing sapphire; it was the same shade I saw the first night when he tried to have his way with me. Before he stopped himself. I tried to gain as much courage as I had left and pressed my lips against his.

I hungrily kissed him as he had previously kissed me. I shoved my tongue into his mouth and gave him as much of my saliva as I could. I wrapped my shaking arms around him and pulled my body close to him.

He released my neck and wrapped his arms around me, kissing me back.

He sucked my mouth viciously as I kissed him with nothing but vengeance. Tears sprang from my eyes as relief flooded through me; I knew at that moment that my life was saved. But I couldn’t help but wonder until when.

I could feel his body calming down around the same time as the fluorescent aroma of the perfume invaded my nose. I wondered if he was calming down because of my saliva, or because of the perfume that was filling the air.

The kiss lasted more than 10 minutes and Sebastian’s body was almost completely relaxed. Without thinking about it, I dug my teeth into his bottom lip, startling him. He winced in pain as he jumped away from me, releasing me from the bar.

I jumped down and hurriedly left the room.

…

Nancy’s POV

“Attention!” Dr. Davis called the hospital staff; everyone collectively united around the area. Dr. Davis stood beside Hannah who looked pleased. A faint smile spread across Dr. Davis’ lips as he looked at Hannah, but then it fell once he addressed the rest of the staff. “I wanted to recognize the hard work of the newest member of our staff. She’s been working hard, and her achievements show for that. You should all look up to Hannah going forward.”

This made Nancy’s blood boil as she stared between the two of them. It wasn’t fair. She worked twice as hard and twice as long. Then Hannah shows up and out of the blue takes everything from her.

Amy had mentioned that they were scheming to get rid of Hannah once and for all, but that day couldn’t come soon enough. Nancy was done with dealing with Hannah’s bullshit.

Over her dead body would she ever look up to that bitch.

She turned away as the others rounded Hannah and congratulated her on her achievements. She stormed towards the room where they drew up prescriptions for each patient. It was a room of small cubicles, with their assigned desks, where they did paperwork.

Nancy went to Hannah’s desk and grabbed her folder of prescriptions for her patients.

She scoffed as she scanned each document. She took a pencil and erased some of the prescriptions, changing them to something completely different.

A small smile spread across her lips as she finished changing each of the prescriptions.

“Let’s see them praise her once her patients get prescribed the wrong medication,” Nancy sneered.