Chapter 4

From Arina's POV

I opened my eyes to find myself in a white room. I glanced around and realized I was in the hospital.

I had no memory of how or when I got here. I remembered only one thing: Rick yelled at my mother.

I felt a sharp pain when I tried to turn on my side. My insides felt like they had been stabbed. Suddenly, I heard the monitor beep louder, signaling the nurse to come in.

"Princess, please don't move; you'll tear the stitches," the nurse said as she walked toward the monitor and turned off the alarm.

"PRINCESS". I mumbled as I glanced at her.

No one has said those words to me in a long time. The only person that called me was the nurse assigned to my father. I looked up at her and was surprised that the nurse who had attended to my father that very night was now attending to me. Tears filled my eyes as the memory returned.

"Are you alright? Does something hurt?" she asked with profound concern.

"No, I'm fine, thank you," I told her, wiping my eyes.

"Then why are you crying?" she asked me.

With tears streaming down my cheeks, I replied, "Because you were there the night my father died, you comforted me."

"Your father was an exceptional man. It was an honor to serve him in his final days. I wish I had done more for him," she replied softly.

I was about to ask her something when the room door opened, and my mother walked in.

"Luna Eleni," the nurse bowed her head in respect. "How may I help?" she asked.

My mother scowled at her, then looked at me with pure hate.

"When will she be able to leave? The packed house is a mess, and the laundry doesn't put itself away," my mother asked, with no remorse.

The nurse looked at her in shock at what she had just heard her say. She reached over to the table and grabbed the clipboard, pretending to review the notes. She cleared her throat before replying.

"The Princess has three broken ribs, a concussion, two broken fingers on her right hand, the back of her skull is fractured and could reopen at any moment, and her blood levels are still abnormal. We had to do a blood transfusion to make up for her lost blood; she also suffered malnourishment and is severely underweight. Her iron levels are deficient, and her lower back is completely bruised and swollen from being hit many times," the nurse replied.

My mother glared at her with daggers in her eyes.

"PRINCESS? Princess, you say? I see no princesses here. I see an omega who got into trouble and is now late to report to her duties! How soon will she be released?" my mother yelled.

"I mean no disrespect to you, Luna Eleni, but this is Arina De Luca? Daughter of Alpha Zeno, right?" the nurse asked.

My mother stared at her, not blinking or moving.

"What is your name, nurse?" she asked.

"Maribelle Calloway," she replied softly.

"Ms. Calloway, regardless of her name or who you think she is, I only care about the time she spends away from the packhouse. I will only ask once more. How long until she is released?" she asked coldly.

Nurse Calloway looked  down at the clipboard and glanced at me, then looked up at my mother and responded.

"I am sorry, Luna, but based on the test results and her current condition, she will be here for at least three more weeks." Mother didn't say a word as she turned and left, leaving Nurse Calloway and me alone.

"I am sorry, Princess; I fear you might be in danger. I will try to delay your time here as long as possible. However, for the sake of not seeing you die, you may have to leave the pack", she said as she headed to the door. Then she turned to me with tears in her eyes and said,

"I thought you were dead all these years. I thought you had died. Had I known what they did to you, I would've helped you sooner. Forgive me, Princess, for I failed you," she said.

"Failed me how? You couldn't have known. No one knew," I said softly, refusing to look at her.

"I promise I will get you out of here," she said before leaving.

A few hours later, I woke up to whispers. From the voices, I could tell it was Rick and Mother.

I kept my eyes closed and listened to their conversation.

"He was only eighteen, and she was pregnant with a baby. I had been with him since high school and was not about to lose him to his destined mate. So I did what I had to do." I heard my mother whisper to Rick.

"Well, tell me how she ended up here, and who knows all about this?" Rick asked.

"A lady came by one day and advised us to raise the child ourselves. The mother had been killed in an attack. She told Zeno that a note instructed the child to come here. According to the note, the child was twice blessed," mother explained, then paused for a moment before continuing.

"Although we never found out what it meant, I noticed similarities between Zeno and her, so I ordered blood tests. Once the results showed they were related, I destroyed them. No one knows the real relationship, and they don't need to. We will lose everything if the truth gets out," she said.

"So what are you saying? Is she related to you in any way?" Rick asked her, confused. I heard Mother sign before she said

"No, Zeno was not my mate." My mother's words were met with silence.

I heard Rick walk around when he asked, "How long do you think it will take for word to get out that she is here? If anyone sees her in this room and recognizes her, we won't be able to keep this quiet."

"If anyone finds out she is here, they will know a rogue attacked her; she ran away a few days after Zeno's funeral and returned home. That's all they need to know. When she comes home, we will wait a few days, and she will suffer the same fate as Zeno. With all of her injuries, it will be easy to convince everyone of her death," she said in a menacing tone.

Rick stayed silent. After a few moments, he finally spoke.

"If what you say is true, we need to be prepared. We need to research who the birth mother is. This ensures we know what to do if word gets out that she is back and Alpha Zeno is dead." he told her.

Mother gasped at the realization that with my need for a blood transfusion, the doctors would have had to call around to the nearby packs for extra blood, not realizing that in doing so, he would have requested it as "ALPHA" for them to send it right away. The King would find out if word got out that an Alpha asked a significant amount. He would surely want answers that they could not give out.