Chapter 36: By My Side
"I said you can leave, Snow," Anastasia spoke again to let Liam know that he was allowed to leave the room when she noticed how he kept standing there in the center of the room.
The alpha furrowed her brows in confusion when she noticed how Liam did not respond, and did not even move at all.
She moved the laptop off her her lap and placed it on the bed before carefully standing up, she was dizzy, and her body felt so weak.
It was so strange and she hated how fragile and vulnerable she was feeling at this moment without her inner wolf.
After some seconds, the dizziness vanished, Anastasia slowly walked toward Liam who was standing in the middle of the room and looking at something "Snow?"
Finally, Liam blinked and moved his gaze to Anastasia’s face, looking at those dark circles and black blood vessels on her eyeballs and around her eyes.
"Did you drink wine yesterday, alpha?" Liam asked in a low tone, as he watched Anastasia narrowing her eyes.
She was so confused and her mind was so foggy, she could feel big black holes in her memories.
She tightened her eyes, shutting them close then the dizziness hit her again, she felt the ground under her feet moving and the room squeezing her body.
The second her legs gave up on her, Liam was fast enough to wrap his arms around her and slowly crouched down on the floor so that she would not fall and hit her head hard against the floor "Alpha, can you hear me? Please allow me to carry you to your bed."
Anastasia’s eyes started glowing red and going back to their regular color as she blinked while massaging her head "You can."
Liam sighed in relief and slowly slid one of his arms under the alpha’s thighs and the other one under her back before easily lifting her up bridal style and bringing her to her bed.
"Please drink this." After he helped her lie down on her bed, he picked up the glass of orange juice that he made for her and brought the rim of the glass close to her mouth.
With closed eyes, Anastasia opened her mouth and drank some of the juice and even allowed Liam to feed her the steak that he made for her earlier.
"I did drink wine yesterday." When Anastasia felt a bit better after eating her lunch, she finally answered Liam’s question, still confused.
Liam again glanced at that spilled glass of wine on the floor behind the couch and looked back at Anastasia, asking "What is the last thing you remember from yesterday?"
Anastasia bit her lower lip while staring blankly at Liam "I was in Scott’s room then I went to my office to work and head back to my room. I found that bottle of wine there, I had some glasses of it, and carried on working then I don’t remember what happened after."
Liam nodded and stood up, walking toward the bottle of wine, only to break and slam it against the table.
His jaw almost hit the flood, he glanced at Anastasia who was just as shocked as he was "Wolfsbane."
They both stared at the violet tiny herb that was inside the bottle of wine which was empty by the time Liam found it because Anastasia had drunk almost all of it yesterday.
"Someone is trying to kill you," Liam stated in a shaky tone, he was terrified of the idea of losing his mate.
To his surprise, Anastasia seemed to notice that.
She shook her head "Wolfsbane can’t kill me like it does to other wolves." Liam clenched his fist in an attempt to hold himself together before stepping closer to Anastasia and sitting next to her on her bed just like he had done earlier.
"What do you mean? Doesn’t Wolfsbane end a wolf’s life when it reaches our heart? By looking at how much wine you had and the period of time since then, you should have been...d-dead by now."
He felt it in his chest, he was scared for his mate’s life.
Even the word dead and Anastasia in the same sentence was hard for him to say without stuttering.
"Yes, but my wolf protects me from death. When wolfsbane enters my body in a large amount, my wolf goes into a coma for weeks and comes back later."
She explained it to me slowly with her soothing voice, which made me feel a bit relieved "So you are going to be okay?"
Anastasia nodded, allowing me to sigh in relief before glancing at the shattered bottle on the table and the violet herb in it "Who put the wolfsbane in your wine though? And why, when and where?"
Anastasia seemed to finally realize that someone in her pack actually wanted to hurt her but she does not remember a thing. "I don’t know."
"I need to find out who came to your room yesterday," Liam mumbled under his breath but since he was close enough to Anastasia, she was able to hear what he said.
A comfortable silence coated the room before suddenly Anastasia opened her mouth to speak " About yesterday, I would like to apologize for what I did. I was not in my right mind and I don’t remember what I did, but that doesn’t mean it was okay for me to...you know. I regretted and I’m ready to take full responsibility, I can pay as much as you want for any damages."
She regretted it.
That stung.
Liam felt all the happiness that he had yesterday, demolished.
He made an effort to fake a minor grin for Anastasia to pretend like he did not care because he did not want to seem like a wimp "It’s okay. I was okay with it. I had no problem with it. No need to apologize, there was no damage of any kind. I enjoyed it too."
Anastasia stared at him for a couple of seconds before asking "You are an omega or partially one... I didn’t leave any physical damage on you? I didn’t hurt you?"
Her question made Liam look at her in confusion and shake his head.
He knows she leaves those betas with injuries after sex but that only happens when she is in her rut.
She was not in her rut yesterday so why did she think she hurt him physically? And insisted that it was because he was an omega?
Anastasia remained silent for a couple of seconds before mumbling "Okay." While examining his body with her tired eyes.
"I will clean the glass and the wine," Liam whispered before standing up and walking toward the table to start cleaning the broken glass and the little amount of wine that was left in the bottle.
While he was cleaning, he could feel Anastasia’s eyes on him.
He did not know why she was looking at him all of a sudden, burning hole into his body and face.
She could not believe the fact that she had sex with him without hurting him. freewebnoveℓ.com
Did she hurt an omega before?
Is this why she stays away from them?
But as far as Liam knows Anastasia only sleeps with Betas and only has sex with them when she is in her rut. ƒreewebɳovel.com
She has been the reason why those betas get hospitalized every month and she keeps doing it anyway, so that does not add up.
If she is scared of hurting omegas and decided to keep her distance from them then she would have done the same to the betas.
Gosh, Anastasia is such a mysterious woman.
There are things about her that are hidden and they are confusing Liam a lot.
He just wants to understand Anastasia so that he can decide if he should let her know about their bond or not.
The Anastasia from yesterday was so sweet and gentle, she gave him her jacket and prioritized his pleasure over hers and helped him shower, blow dry his hair, and put some clothes on, she even cuddled with him.
Basically accepted him as her mate and had no problem with his rank, his job, or his financial state.
But the Anastasia from yesterday does not have anything in common with the Anastasia that he sees every day.
She was a completely different person last night.
He had no idea that wine and wolfsbane could make her act so differently.
He kind of wish she could stay the same as last night but in the bottom of his heart and mind, he knows it’s wrong.
After he made sure to collect all the broken glass from the table and the floor, he started cleaning the wind that was spilled around.
"I’m done. I will get going, for now, alpha." Uttered Liam while standing in the middle of the room again, holding the plastic bag that had all the broken glass and the used paper towels in it and also holding the tray in which he brought Anastasia’s lunch earlier.
Anastasia averted her gaze from her laptop, she stared at him for a little while before speaking "Thank you for bringing my lunch and helping me earlier. And also thank you for helping me figure out what’s going on with me."
Liam felt his chest swell in contentment and pride for being able to help his mate somehow. "You are welcome. I don’t mind bringing your breakfast, lunch, and dinner every single day. If you allow me."
Anastasia again stared into his eyes, no emotion clear on her face and as usual Liam had no idea what she was thinking of.
" I heard Philip say you are a fast learner. By looking at my situation right now, it will take weeks for me to get my strength and wolf back. I want you to focus on training to take Caleb’s place and fight by side from now on."