Chapter 8


    upstairs to your room and check the cab in the bathroom.”


    Aaron hasn’t tried to constrain me since the altercation where


    I fainted and Adam argued with him. I have the run of the


    mansion and grounds again. I’ve been instructed to stay in Aaron’s room at night.


    “Are you going?” Adam prompts.


    I automatically stand and start moving through the mansion.


    There aren’t many wolves around this time of day. They’re


    all out at their various jobs either here on the pds or


    outside in the human world.


    I take the stairs carefully. I’m still a little weak, but what’s


    worse, it’s hard to breathe. I’m winded by the time I reach the


    top floor which is rming. I’ve been running up and down


    these stairs for a decade.


    I head into my room and close the door.


    should be thankful that Aaron bothered to have it repaired, I suppose. I didn’t relish the thought of


    having no privacy.


    Not that he’s allowed me back into this room. He’s insisted I


    sleep in his bed each night ever since I fainted.


    I can remember a time when I would’ve been thrilled that he


    wanted me beside him.


    Each night, he slings his big arm around my waist and holds


    me close.


    wards off the chills, but it leaves me feeling bad each


    morning.


    I can’t seem to get past the years of pain and longing.


    I’m probably just channeling all my resentment about my prognosis toward him. But so many years


    have been wasted, and now…


    I sigh.


    In the bathroom bottom drawer, I find several neatlybeled


    containers.


    “How did you get these in here?” I ask.


    “There’s a batch in this room. And that other room where they held youst time. I brought them when I


    first came, after Dr. Henley shared your prognosis.”


    I stare at the pill bottles.


    “Those are a nti-canc er medicines and painkillers,” Adam says. “You’ll need to do a formal


    chemotherapy routine, but these can get you started. Leah, in a battle like this, every moment


    matters. Please. I beg you. Take the pills.”


    5/6


    I inspect each one then rip thebels off, shred them up and then flush them down the toilet.


    “Please don’t tell me you threw them out.”


    “No. Just the packaging.”


    He breathes heavily.


    “He doesn’t know, and I don’t want him to know, Adam.”


    Whether sic k or not, I have my pride. I’ve swallowed enough of it thesest few years. I won’t use my


    illness to gain sympathy,


    and Aaron wouldn’t even necessarily sympathize with me


    anyway.


    “Don’t drink coffee. Or alcohol. Avoid sugary foods.


    Remember to take the meds on time…”


    Adam takes a deep breath and rattles off more instructions.


    Foods to eat. What to avoid. As if the list of do’s and don’ts


    really matters.


    “Leah, are you listening to me?”


    I smile into the phone. “You have a nice voice.”


    Adam is speechless. Then: “You’re not listening.” He’s angry


    “Thank you,” I tell him. He’s the first person to care about me in a long time.


    “You’re still so young…Please, don’t give up,” he mutters, his


    voice choking with emotion.


    Text ? owned by N?velDrama.Org.


    I feel his sorrow through the phone.


    It’sforting. Like someone in this world actually cares


    about me.


    “Leah,” his tone is so grave I feel my stomach sink to my toes. “There’s more I have to tell you…”