Chapter 56

Hannah’s POV

“I can’t believe he just left you at the carnival by yourself,” Raya said with an eye roll.

“I wasn’t by myself,” I told her. “I was with you.”

“Still,” she muttered. “It’s not right. You went there together. He should have stayed till the end and made sure you got back to your dorm all right.”

“I didn’t take offense to it,” I told her.

We were walking to the hospital for our afternoon shift; it’s been a few days since the carnival, and I just wanted to brush the memory out of my head. But there was still a part of me that worried about why Conner disappeared so suddenly.

“Have you spoken to him since?” She asked, eyeing me from the side.

I shook my head with a small frown on my lips.

“No,” I told her. “It’s almost like he’s avoiding me.”

“Weird,” she breathed.

We entered the hospital, and I instantly felt a strange feeling. It wasn’t like the other feelings I had when I could sense the ghost of Sebastian nearby. This was different. Before I could bring anything up to Raya, Dr. Smith was stomping toward us. Her aura was so dark that it made me tremble. I took a step away from her, but she reached me with a quick speed.

“Care to tell me why the diagnosis on my patient’s chart is fucked up?” She barked at me, narrowing her darkened gaze.

I furrowed my eyebrows together; unsure of what she meant. She showed me the chart that she assigned me the day before and I stared at it with dismay.

I don’t usually make mistakes like that; I had no idea how to respond to this.

“There’s no room in my hospital for fuck ups like this,” she hissed. “If you aren’t going to take this work seriously, get the hell out.”

“I.. I… don’t know what happened…” I stammered, still staring at the chart.

“You messed up!” She growled. “THAT’S what happened. Get out. I don’t need you here today.”

She turned away and started stomping away.

“What?” I breathed. “But…”

“I said get out!” She hissed again. “If you are going to be distracted and make stupid mistakes like this, I don’t need you.”

Raya and I watched as she disappeared down the hall; the hospital fell silent, and heat rose into my cheeks.

“At least now you can get some homework done,” Raya said under her breath, trying to lighten the mood.

I let out the breath I was holding as I turned to her.

“Are you going to be okay here without me for today?” I asked, eyeing her carefully.

She looked nervous, but she nodded once and gave me a confident smile.

“Yes,” she answered. She gave me a brief hug before pulling away. “I’ll see you tonight.”

I nodded as I turned and left the hospital. My entire body was trembling. I had never been yelled at like that before and I felt humiliated. Thankfully, there weren’t many people in the hospital. But where did she get off speaking to her interns like that? What kind of teacher and doctor was she?

I tried to brush the thought out of my head as I made my way back to the college campus. Once I reached the campus grounds, I could smell Sebastian’s scent all around me. I paused for a moment and allowed his scent to calm my nerves. Nora felt bliss until we remembered how he forcibly marked us. Not to mention his betrayal with Emily.

I held my breath and closed my eyes, trying to keep the tears from spilling down my features. It was getting to be too much; everything happening all at once. I was beginning to lose control of myself, and I wasn’t sure what to do.

It hurt to keep going. Everything just hurt.

I bowed my head slightly as I waited for his scent and presence to pass. The only thing I could think of was that it was the mark he left on me. He wouldn’t have followed me to this school knowing how I felt. Would he?

He would have made himself known to me by now.

“His presence has been evident since the first day we arrived,” Nora breathed.

She was right; I had felt him nearby a lot when we first arrived at the school. I thought it was only my imagination, but over time, the feeling only grew stronger.

I wished I knew for certain if I was losing my mind or not.

A few times, I thought I had seen him. But as soon as I blinked, he was gone. I knew it had to be my imagination.

I returned to my dorm; it felt bigger and emptier with Raya not there. We usually went everywhere together and were rarely at the dorm alone, so I wasn’t used to the solitude. I ignored the empty feeling of the room and went to my desk to get some homework done.

Sebastian’s scent filled me once again and I dropped my pencil onto my desk. I buried my face into the palms of my hands and let out an exaggerated sigh. I just wanted the feeling to stop. I touched my fingers to the mark on the back of my neck and it felt warm; much warmer than it had been before.

What did that even mean?

The scent was gone again, and I was finally able to concentrate on the rest of my homework.

Raya came back to the dorm a few hours later and we grabbed some dinner. By the time we got back to the dorm together, we were completely exhausted and ready for the day to end. But as usual, I was too afraid to sleep. I knew as soon as I closed my eyes, I would see his angry scarlet gaze pouring into me and his blood-soaked features, knowing that the blood belonged to me. I would hear his cruel words in my ears, and I would be scared awake.

But as I did every night, I got through it without Raya being suspicious.

…

Sitting in the lecture hall of the school, I thought I was going to pass out. After a sleepless night, I was so exhausted I was having trouble keeping my eyes open. Raya kept nudging me whenever I started drifting off and I gave her a sheepish grin, whispering that I was fine, but she didn’t look so certain.

As we were assigned our work, Raya was hard at work and didn’t notice that I had drifted off again. As soon as sleep started overtaking me, I could see Sebastian’s eyes in my mind. I nearly felt his grip on my shoulders as he pulled his teeth toward the back of my neck and claimed me as his.

I heard a loud slamming sound, and I was startled awake, not knowing that Dr. Lynol was standing before me. He dropped a book onto my desk to wake me.

My breathing got caught in my throat as he stood over me; his lip curling and his eyes narrowing.

“What do we have here…?” He said, his tone low and threatening. “Sleeping in my classroom?”

“No, professor,” I said, trying to come up with something else to say.

“You are never going to make it in this profession. I am ashamed to have someone like you in my class. Dr. Davis promised me potential, but all I see is a failure,” he hissed.

I flinched at his words. The classroom was dead silent, and I could see all eyes were facing me, including Raya who was shuddering from beside me.

“I don’t want to see you in my class again,” he roared. “Get out!”

“What kind of professor are you, to speak to a student with such disrespect?!” A familiar voice sounded from the back of the class.

Sebastian’s scent filled the room and my entire body tensed. I heard students all around the lecture hall gasping and Dr. Lynol lifted his gaze to look up at Sebastian.

I could see the fury on Sebastian’s face as he made his way closer to us.

“You really thought you could speak to my luna like that, and I wouldn’t find out?” Sebastian asked, his voice was calm, but Dr. Lynol visibly shivered.

Dr. Lynol backed away from me and bowed his head instantly.

“Alpha King…”