The Alpha's Little Slave

Chapter 141: Brothers

"Harper, why the anger?" Nicole asked in confusion. I couldn’t even begin to explain matters before I heard a low, guttural groan from the bed. It was Blaise, and he was stirring awake, his eyes hazy with tiredness and pain.

Oh shit. I didn’t manage to control my emotions well enough, so much so that I might have woken Blaise when he was supposed to be resting.

"Blaise, you’re awake!" I immediately dashed to his side, a hand touching his face. I frowned; it was a lot warmer than usual. He was running a temperature. "Nicole, why is he hot?"

Blaise smirked. He croaked, "I know. I was just born this way."

I gave him a disparaging glance. This was not the time for jokes. Nicole also rushed over and tutted disapprovingly, expertly shoving a mixture of herbs into Blaise’s mouth to chew as though he was a cow.

Blaise was clearly used to such treatment methods because all he did was obediently chew while staring up at my face, blinking slowly as though he couldn’t believe who he was seeing.

"You’re back," Blaise said through a mouthful of grass. "What got you so upset?"

"Many things, but I’ll tell you when you get better," I said, stroking his hair.

Blaise needed to focus on recovering, and not on my possible wild conjectures. Blaise seemed like he wanted to push further, but his eyes were slowly closing again from my gentle hands on his head. Poor Blaise. He must have been exhausted, if he could be lulled to sleep by my hands.

"No, tell me now," Blaise insisted weakly. "I felt your emotions, you know. This whole day. What scared you so badly?"

My mouth opened and closed wordlessly. "Don’t overreact when I tell you this."

"I won’t," Blaise promised earnestly.

"Damon said there were vampires in Everhaven. I may have met one of them," I said frankly in one quick breath. There was a moment of stunned silence as Blaise registered my words.

Just when I thought he would take this in stride, Blaise choked on his breath and spat out his handful of herbs in my direction. freeweɓnøvel.com

"Oh god!" Nicole hurriedly helped him up and began patting his back, as Blaise wheezed and coughed. Guess he didn’t take the news too well!

"Blaise, are you alright?" I asked after he had calmed down somewhat.

"I should be asking that question!" Blaise burst out, his arms reaching out for me to hold me tight. "Are you hurt?"

I eagerly went into his arms, relishing his embrace. I frowned when my arms circled his body; Blaise seemed thinner already, and we had only been apart for a mere two days. How could his condition be worsening so quickly?

"I’m fine, I don’t think he wanted to hurt me― at least, not outwardly," I frowned. "I didn’t know what he wanted from me though. But I suspect that we have a spy in Fangborne leaking information outside. News of your condition isn’t a secret anymore."

To my surprise, Blaise just shrugged nonchalantly. "Fair enough. They would be terrible spies if they couldn’t even suss out this piece of news. Remember to let Damon know about this when he comes back."

"You seem very blase about it," I said.

"Damon will return with the parts," Blaise said confidently. "I have nothing to worry about."

***

True enough, despite my worst fears of vampires swarming Damon and killing him or Damon possibly driving off into a ditch and his car exploding into smithereens because of his reckless driving, Damon managed to arrive back in Fangborne a mere two days later with nothing more than impressive dark circles under his eyes to rival Nicole’s own.

"Here are the machines. Cut him up now," Damon barked out without a single hello as he all but lugged the machines into the infirmary, looking like he would love for nothing more than to fling them on the floor and be done with it.

"Don’t throw them! Put them down gently!" Nicole warned, frantically trying to set them up.

Meanwhile, Blaise just let out a weak chuckle from his bed.

"Damon, I’m not even under anesthesia. This is going to hurt," Blaise complained good-naturedly. "Are you trying to get back at me for monopolizing Harper’s attention for the past few days?"

"You’ll live; you’re remarkably hard to kill, like a cockroach," Damon retorted, his lips pulling into a smirk.

I noted with small amusement that Damon’s heartless words didn’t change the fact that he had rushed back obscenely quickly to ensure Blaise’s survival, and from Blaise’s answering grin, he knew it too.

Brothers. I thought fondly to myself. So heartwarmingly stupid.

Damon began to complain while Nicole continued to make preparations for Blaise’s surgery. "I didn’t lug this nonsense all the way back to Fangborne for you to die. Did you know how much that stupid doctor nagged my ear off, telling me to look after you as though you aren’t a fully grown werewolf? Trying to get me to eat vegetables like a goddamn rabbit and sleep before midnight like you aren’t a werewolf that rises with the moon."

I snorted, imagining the sight of Doctor Thomas’s smaller figure twisting Damon’s ear to get him to listen while Damon sneered at him.

"He really thinks you’re still that small kid he took in. Maybe you should go and visit him when you recover, he might be going senile," Damon finished. "Transform into a wolf in front of him while you’re at it. Let him remember you’re a werewolf." freewebnøvel.coɱ

Blaise merely smiled, but I detected a hint of melancholy in his eyes. "It’s better if he doesn’t see me. You know that. It’s not safe for him."

Damon snorted. "Neither was that swill he called breakfast at the diner, but he still ate it. Besides, the town smells of bloodsuckers. If he’s not careful, he’ll become a walking blood bag. When you recover, knock him out with a hammer and drag him here."

"We can’t make him move. His place is with the humans." Blaise frowned, but his mind stumbled upon another thought. Gus was supposed to fix the machine, wasn’t he?

I suddenly felt an ominous feeling curling in my gut. What if he tampered with it?

"Damon, did you know who fixed the machine? Were you there when he fixed it?"