Bastien
Dr Kane looks as if he’s been expecting us.
After a thoroughly frustrating visit to the security offices, where we discovered nothing more than twelve hours of blacked out camera footage the night the paternity test was run, my betas and I navigated up to the chief physician’s office on the tenth floor.
We now stand in the doorway of his corner suite, carefully watching the doctor’s reaction to our sudden appearance and finding nothing but a blank slate.
He’s seated behind his desk, his shiny loafers propped up on the sleek wooden surface and a takeout container splayed in his lap. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen the man, and though he’s only a few years older than myself, I can’t help but think he’s aged. His dark hair boasts a few streaks of gray, and the lines around his eyes and mouth are more pronounced than I remember.
“Alpha, to what do I owe the pleasure?” Dr Kane greets me, barely looking up from his lunch.
As far as Alpha’s go, I’ve also considered myself on the more relaxed end of the spectrum. I don’t expect my people to stand on constant ceremony, but it does strike me that most shifters still show a degree of deference out of respect. Dr Kane clearly does not. I can’t decide whether or not it bothers me.
“Dr Kane.” I reply curtly, “I have a few questions for you.”
The doctor gestures to the chair opposite him, “Please have a seat.” He encourages me with a warm smile, “It’s been a while, I owe you much congratulations.”
“Oh?” I prompt, sitting stiffly across from the familiar man.
“It’s not every day a man becomes a father, or finds his long lost mate.” Kane elaborates, as if this should have been obvious to me.
“No it isn’t.” I agree, feeling a sudden spike of anger. “especially when you told me with total confidence that my mate was dead.”
Dr. Kane purses his lips, lowering his feet from his desk and setting his lunch aside. “You have my sincerest apologies Alpha, I’ve already launched an investigation into the matter.”
“What investigation?” I demand, “aren’t you the one who examined the body?”
His expression clouds, “Bastien, I delivered the report to you out of respect for your position and as a courtesy given our longstanding relationship. I reviewed every last detail of the case, but the medical examiner conducted the autopsy and ran all the tests, not me.”
Anger simmers in my veins, this was absolutely not made clear at the time. “Where is the medical examiner now?”
“He left last year, took a job in a different territory.” Dr Kane explains, “but I have always had the utmost respect for him. I can’t imagine him making such a grave error.”
“Oh I don’t think it was an error.” I growl.
The physician’s eyes widen. “You mean, you think he changed the results on purpose?”
“I think someone wanted me to believe my mate was dead.” I force the words out through clenched teeth, “Just as someone wanted me to believe her pup belonged to another wolf, and falsified yet another set of DNA results.”
Kane leans forward now, confusion and concern lacing his movements, “What are you talking about.”
Relating our discoveries from the pathology lab as quickly as I’m able, I pin the doctor with my fiercest gaze, “The way I see it, one of three things is happening here. Either you have some very incompetant staff here or more likely, we’re dealing with some form of corruption. Whether it’s coming from within the system, or someone has been paying your people off to falsify information, remains to be seen.”
Dr Kane’s features harden, “We take oaths in this hospital, Alpha – sacred oaths to do no harm. To suggest that anyone here would intentionally damage this pack’s wellbeing is a very grave accusation.”
“I’m aware of that.” I rumble, “though it’s curious that you should talk about the pack’s wellbeing, rather than my own.”
“You are an extension of the pack, are you not?” Dr Kane argues, “to harm you is to harm us all.”
“Be that as it may, someone has been working against me.” I assert coolly, “and they’ve used this hospital’s resources to further those aims. Oaths can be broken, and it is your duty to discover who might have forsaken theirs.”
Dr Kane nods in acknowledgement. “There’s something else, Bastien.”
“Go ahead.” I allow.
“I think in your concern for your mate’s misidentified body, you’ve overlooked a rather key detail.” He announces confidently.
Arching my brow, I state, “I presume you’re referring to the question that, if the body in the fire wasn’t Selene’s, who did it belong to?”
Dr Kane nods, looking almost impressed that I caught the detail.
“Strange thing that,” I acknowledge, unfurling to my full height. “No one else was reported missing before or after the fire.” Moving towards the door, I gesture for my betas to follow, stopping just before we exit, “but I know one place someone could have easily found a corpse to use.”
“And where’s that?” Dr Kane asks, the very picture of curiosity.
I watch the man very closely when I reply, searching for any signs of emotion in his blank expression, and finding none. “The hospital morgue.”
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Selene
“Selene, I don’t know about this.” Odette frets, wringing her hands.
“Look, you’re a strong swimmer, right?” I ask, stripping out of my clothes to reveal the simple black swimsuit I donned for my “hairbrained scheme” – as my mother-in-law so fondly put it.
“Yes but–” She begins, only to be cut off by my determined tongue.
“And you agree that I need to find a way to tap into my survival instincts, without endangering some poor guard’s life – assuming I could even convince one to attack me?” I press. Neither of us is worried my powers might be strong enough to harm an experienced fighter, the problem is Bastien. Fake or not, there’s a good chance he’d rip out the throat of any wolf daring enough to pretend attack me.
“Yes but–” Odette tries again.
“And you agree it can’t wait and Bastien will only overreact to the idea?” I continue. We discussed it for more than an hour, going round and round in circles before finally landing here. While I don’t think Bastien would oppose the idea completely, I doubt he would agree to let me try this unless he was with me – and then I’d feel too safe.
“Selene, all of this is true.” She sighs in exhaustion.
“Then what’s the problem?” I inquire impatiently, throwing up my hands.
The older wolf cuts her eyes to me, “I swear, you’re every bit as stubborn as my son is sometimes.”
Offering her a smile, I tease. “Did you like me better when I was a timid little wallflower?”
Odette laughs, “oh just go drown yourself you impossible girl!”
“Yes ma’am!” I salute her, turning towards the water. Of course, no sooner have I set the pool in my sights, that I freeze in place.
Now that it’s staring me in the face, fear skitters down my spine. The crystalline surface looks so cool and welcoming – so serene – but I remember what it was like to be submerged in those depths, my lungs burning like fire. I can still feel the pressure bearing down on me, the way my limbs flailed desperately through the eerie blue abyss in slow motion. It’s as if the darkness is already closing in again, and I’m trapped in those moments I was certain would be my last.
“You don’t have to do this, sweetheart.” Odette assures me, our earlier jokes a distant memory now..
Frowning, I return my gaze to the elegant she-wolf. “Do you know how many “last moments” I’ve had?” I ask solemnly, “How many times I’ve been so certain I was about to die; that I’ve seen my life flash before my eyes and said my final prayers?”
“I know my darling.” Odette’s eyes are full of sympathy, but no pity. “Even one time would be too many.”
“And every time, I’ve only been proven wrong through someone else’s benevolence.” I recall, “Bastien, Drake, Goddess knows who pulled me from the fire.” Shaking my head I proclaim, “I’ve spent my entire life being a victim. Every problem I’ve ever had has been solved for me by a man – and I can’t do it anymore.”
I implore my mother-in-law to understand, staring into her vibrant irises with a pleading gaze. After a moment Odette nods in solidarity, her lovely countenance so forlorn that I wonder if she hasn’t been in these same shoes at some point in her life.
“I’m done waiting for other people to rescue me.” I conclude, sighing heavily. “It’s time I learned to save myself.”
Before I can think about it for another moment, I leap, curling my body up into a little ball as I plummet towards the rippling water. Gulping in one final breath of precious air, I crash into the water with a tremendous splash, disappearing into the watery world that tried to kill me once before, and praying I will have the strength to survive again.
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