Chapter 54

Hannah’s POV

“What the hell, Hannah!?” Raya said as we got to the lunchroom. “You didn’t tell me you knew Professor Lynol.”

“I don’t really know him,” I told her.

We grabbed a couple of sandwiches from the lunch line and were searching for a place to sit. We found an empty table on the far side of the lunchroom, and we sat down.

“He knows your name!” She cooed excitedly.

I had to stifle a smile as I looked over at her.

“He yelled at me,” I reminded her, wanting to forget the entire ordeal. “We met once; he went to my old pack for a medical banquet. He didn’t really say much to me though.”

“Well, you must have made quite the impression for him to remember you,” she said, taking a bite of her sandwich.

I shook my head but chuckled.

“Are you excited for the first day of work today? I can’t wait to get my hands dirty,” she said.

It was obvious she’s never worked in a hospital before because of how excited she was about it. Though, I was excited to get back to work after having the last couple of weeks off.

Before I could answer her question, Sebastian’s scent filled the lunchroom. It hit me suddenly and I felt frozen in my seat; Nora tensed, and I could feel her unease as my eyes scanned the area.

There was no sign of him.

Why was I sensing someone that wasn’t even there? Was it because of the mark?

I had to keep myself from touching the mark on the back of my neck. I couldn’t let Raya know that I was marked by someone, especially not by the wolf king. She would never look at me the same.

“Are you okay?” Raya asked, eyeing me carefully.

I nodded.

“Yes,” I told her as I finished my sandwich. “But we should get to the hospital.”

…

The hospital was next to the school campus, so we were able to walk. Our days going forward would consist of morning classes and then an afternoon, into the evening, at the hospital. I still wasn’t sure when we were going to be able to get homework done, but Raya didn’t seem to be too worried about it.

The interns were gathering around the halls, waiting for their resident doctors. By the time we got there, we were considered “late”.

“Nice of you ladies to join us,” said one of the doctors. “You’ll be with Dr. Smith.”

He pointed to a tall and beautiful female doctor across the hall. She was staring at me with her icy blue gaze and long lashes. Her sleek blonde hair was pulled back into a low ponytail and she had her arms folded across her chest as she stared into me.

I found her intimidating before even speaking to her.

Raya tensed from beside me, but she kept by my side as we approached Dr. Smith.

“You must be Hannah. I’ve heard about you…” she muttered; keeping her eyes locked on me.

I felt my face redden and my body tense; had she heard that I was the luna queen?

“Dr. Davis tells me that you are one of his best interns,” she said with a scoff. I wasn’t sure what to say in response. “But now you’re in my hospital. While you are at my hospital, you are nothing. You are worst than nothing. You are scum. When I move, you move. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, doctor,” I said, trying not to sound frightened by this woman.

She turned away from me and began walking down the hall with a couple of interns following behind her. Raya and I gave one another a worried look before following her as well.

For the rest of the day, we took notes as she made her rounds; she wouldn’t let us touch a patient or speak out of context. If we spoke without her asking us a direct question, she would yell at us. It was definitely different than when I was at the king’s hospital.

By the time we got back to our dorm, we were utterly exhausted. We couldn’t even focus on our homework. Raya was asleep quickly and I laid awake, staring at my ceiling. I worried that if I fell asleep, I would have another dream about Sebastian. Every time I closed my eyes, I could see his angry face from the night he marked me.

I shuddered again just thinking about it.

I grabbed my cell phone and decided to give my brother a call. Not that he would answer me; he hasn’t answered me since I left a couple of weeks ago. The phone went straight to voice mail and my heart tugged painfully. I couldn’t call the hospital because I was worried Nancy would answer. She wouldn’t let me talk to my brother if I asked her and I wasn’t in the mood to argue with her.

I threw my phone on my bedside table and lay back on my bed. I sighed, allowing sleep to overcome me.

“You will never get rid of me.”

His voice rang in my head, again and again. As it does every night. Those fatal words invaded my thoughts. Tears soaked my pillow by the time I woke up the next morning. I wiped my eyes, afraid that Raya would catch me crying but thankfully she was in the shower when I woke up.

I cleaned my face off the best I could, but more tears kept falling from my eyes. Nora was in mourning over the loss of our relationship and my body was too exhausted to move from my bed. But I knew I had to get up and get going with the day.

I tried to keep a low profile for most of the morning; Raya didn’t question why I was quiet. She just assumed I was still exhausted from the day before. She looked tired too and less excited than she was yesterday. I hated that this place was already destroying her bright spirit.

In the lunchroom, we met up with a couple of other students whom we became friendly with over the days. As Raya was grabbing her lunch, I sat with one of our friends, Conner.

“So, I hear the school is having a carnival on campus this weekend,” Conner said, taking a bite of his salad and keeping his eyes on me.

I met his eyes with a frown; unsure of where he was going with that.

“I was thinking maybe you could go with me?” He asked; I could tell he was nervous.

I rose my eyebrows.

“You mean all of us? Like a group?” I asked.

He opened his mouth to say something but closed it quickly. I then realized that he didn’t mean it as a group. He wanted to go with me alone. He wanted it to be a date. I felt my face redden at the thought; if Sebastian found out I was going on a date with another guy, he would have my head. He’d probably kill the guy too.

I thought about Emily and how Sebastian supposedly got her pregnant and my heart tugged painfully again in my chest.

“Okay,” I said, after a long pause. “Yeah, we can go to the carnival together.”