Chapter 2 The Results Are In
1388 Words
Chapter 2
The Results Are In
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Louise
Once Alpha-to-be Joseph had left the room, I remained where he had left me, staring after him, watching the door swing. Why had he spoken to me like that? Yes, Alphas ruled us Omegas, but with kindness. Why had he treated me like I was nothing more than fodder? Was it because he could smell my sickness?
“Louise!” Mum hissed as she spun me around until we were face to face. Jewel glared at me through her eyes. “How can you speak to the soon-to-be Alpha of the Mist Clan like that?” She lowered her voice, but that anger was still intense. “He could have us banish... or worse!”
“Didn’t you hear what he said?” I scoffed, hot tears threatening my eyes. That hold on my stomach had released, and the nausea returned. “He could smell it... He knows!”
“It’s still no excuse,” she hissed between clenched teeth. “He’s our future Alpha…!”
“But it is!” A small whimper escaped my lips. “It means…” I tailed off, too upset to speak. If the Alpha to be could smell my cancer, it meant that it was real, and it was getting harder to hide.
“Oh, Louise…” Relaxing her shoulders, Mum willed Jewel away. The irritation in her voice settled. Cupping my chin in her hand, she turned my face to hers. “Joseph is going to be Alpha in a few years... You will need to learn to get along with him.”
“If I live that long.” I reminded her, reaching her mind through our family mind-link.
Before she could argue, Doc Anderson stuck his peppered-haired, chiselled face through his doorway. The usual mask of exhaustion darkened the skin beneath his eyes.
“Louise Carpenter...” he called. Our eyes met, and his voice wavered. “You’re next...”
Dropping my shoulders, I strolled towards the door when I noticed the room was still silent. The other patients were staring at me like I was a strange anomaly in the room.
“What?” I asked the room with a shrug.
Their gazes dropped.
“Louise, seriously!” Mum’s voice reached my mind, laced with annoyance. “That’s enough…”
“Fine…”
Once in Doc Anderson’s room, I sat in the chair closest to his desk and folded my hands in my lap. It was a typical doctor’s office, with white walls decorated with scenery paintings from worlds away. There was an examination bed and a cabinet with all the medical stuff a doctor would ever need. But what made his room unique was his desk. It was an organised mess—multiple piles of paperwork, two dirty coffee mugs, and files spread out around the computer. How can he work like this?
“I see you’re as outspoken as ever, Louise.” He half smiled at me.
“Some things never change,” Mum sighed as she slipped into the chair beside me. “She’s been getting moodier with each passing day… I think it’s the medication.”
He chuckled softly, clicking the pen in his hand. “Yes, some of Louise’s medications can cause mood swings, but we are wolves, and our hormones can get the better of us.”
“What are my results?” I interrupted, hoping to move away from the current conversation. I slumped forward against my legs and noticed tiny droplets of blood had soaked through the blazer sleeve on the shoulder Mum had held. What’s he going to say? I could already sense that what I was about to hear would change my life. “Let’s not prolong the inevitable… Please...?”
Doc Anderson looked up from the end of the pen he had nervously been chewing on. His silver-blue eyes clouded with tears, and he refused to hide them. “Louise,” he cleared his throat. “The test–”
“How long do I have?” I interrupted as a pang of fear gripped my heart. The heaviness of it all sunk like stones in my stomach.
“Well,” propping his elbow on his desk, Doc Anderson continued, “at the rate the disease is spreading… And without further treatment… Maybe a year, maybe two.”
“A year!” I glanced from him to Mum, then back to him again. I couldn’t think. I couldn’t speak.
“However,” he clicked his pen again. “With a complete hysterectomy, we can remove the infected area… It won’t be instant, and you must continue the treatment… But it could save your life.”
“Surgery?” I gaped at him. “You mean – you’ll remove my insides?”
He nodded. “You have stage three ovarian cancer that has already spread through your ovaries to your fallopian tubes… If we don’t remove them, it will progress and spread further…”
“But don’t wolves have the supernatural ability to heal ourselves?” Mum asked with a shaky breath. “When she gets her wolf, that should fix everything…Right?”
He shook his head. “That would usually be the case, but sadly, it will be too late by the time Louise’s wolf appears.”
“So, I might die before I’m eighteen… before I meet my wolf?” I asked as the nausea bubbled up my throat and threatened to escape. The tiny hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. “That’s not fair...”
“If you have the surgery and continue the treatment... you will have an eighty per cent chance to live until a ripe old age.” He added as he began to fiddle with his pen again. “If you don’t... you won’t reach eighteen.”
Eighty per cent chance to live! I wanted to cry. Either I faced death or loneliness… So, help me, Moon Goddess!
The Moon Goddess united wolves as lifelong mates, creating an unbreakable bond when they came of age. It was extremely rare for destined mates to reject each other. However, no sensible wolf would willingly accept a mate without the ability to produce you… and deemed useless. The fear of rejection was as potent as the fear of death itself, but at this moment, death was staring me hungrily in the eyes.
My entire body tensed as I turned to Doc Anderson. “I will have the surgery if it means I get a chance to live.”
He nodded knowingly back. “I was hoping you would. We have you booked in for surgery two weeks from today. Stay strong, Louise. We’ll get you through this… And you will meet your wolf.”
But not my mate! Maybe that’s why Alpha Joseph said I smelt wrong. He could sense I was an abomination of wolf kind! Without another word, I hurried out of the office, hot tears streaming down my face. I needed emotional support from Lorraine and Joanne, my closest friends. I needed their comfort. They were the only ones besides Mum, Doc Anderson, and a few family friends who knew. If the rest of the pack found out, I’d be banished… or even killed!
I reached Mum’s car and looked at my tear-soaked reflection. The scrawny girl peering back was sickly and pale, her face gaunt and sallow. I hadn’t realised until that moment how much the disease and the treatments had affected my appearance. It won’t take long for the pack to find out!
It wasn’t long before Mum’s saddened face was soon a reflection behind mine.
“I can see you...” I sniffled, wiping my eyes.
“I’m sorry, baby girl,” she said, hooking an arm around me. “This is a challenging time in your life, but we will get you through it. There is a light at the end of the tunnel… And I will hold your hand through it…”
I leaned against her, my cheeks burning red, and exhaled a skipped breath. “But look at me, Mum… Will I even know what finding a mate is like?”
“Of course you will,” she kissed my forehead. “I can feel it in my bones…”
- Writer
