Free Web NovelChapter 148: The Surprising Nurse Elise I
Damon immediately planted himself in front of me in a fit of protectiveness, his entire bulk blocking me from Elise’s view. Similarly, my hackles were instinctively raised by her words. It could be simply a coincidence that she brought up Gus, but after all that had happened, I simply didn’t believe in casual coincidences any longer.
Elise worked at the hospital too, didn’t she? If she wanted to sabotage the machines, she would have ample opportunity and no one would be any wiser. Hell, she could even visit the rooms during her lunch hours and loosen a screw every day, and it would be enough!
Just the very thought made my blood boil, and I peered over Damon’s shoulder to glare at her.
But Elise merely blinked and laughed, her earlier shyness all but gone, as though they were nothing but a figment of my imagination. "Mister, there’s no need for such dramatics. Why the sudden overreaction?"
"How do you even know about Gus?" I asked suspiciously.
Since Elise was a nurse, her first thought should be assuming that we were here to look for Doctor Thomas and not a random handyman. The fact that she brought up Gus meant that somehow or another, she must have known what Damon and I were really here for.
And that made her a threat.
Elise smiled. "Who doesn’t know about Gus? He’s practically a celebrity here. So handsome, yet so mysterious. Much like you, Mister."
Now I was beginning to grow more annoyed― not just at Elise’s roundabout non-answers, but also because she kept on blatantly hitting on Damon.
Damon growled. "If you have nothing else to say, get the fuck out of my way."
Elise shook her head and tutted, a frown forming on her face. "Now, is that something you should say to a lady, Mister― or should I say Damon Valentine, Alpha of Fangborne?"
Before I could even react to this woman knowing Damon’s true identity, she lunged towards us, the blade of a silver knife glinting ominously in her hands, its edges wickedly sharp. I could only gasp, stunned by this sudden attack. My feet were rooted to the ground, despite every cell in my body telling me to duck and run for cover.
I knew right there and then, if this woman had decided to kill me, I would be nothing more than a sitting duck. However, it seemed like she only had eyes for Damon.
Thankfully, Damon had better reflexes than I did and parried the blow. Unfortunately, the only thing he could parry it with were his own arms, since he didn’t have a weapon. Rivulets of blood began to stream down his hands as he hissed in pain. But Elise didn’t escape unscathed either, Damon had landed a quick blow to her torso, causing her to choke on air.
"Harper, get in the car now!" Damon yelled, with his back still facing me. All his attention was on Elise, who was drawing in close for another attempt. "This woman is a hunter!"
A hunter.
Those two words reverberated in my eardrums, causing blood to rush through my body as I shivered, but not from the cold. The fear any werewolf had for a hunter was instinctual― hunters had made it their life mission to slay any werewolf they came across without any exceptions.
Back then, Stormclaw’s wolves loved scaring young pups with stories about hunters picking them off at night and slowly torturing the living daylights out of them, and they took special care in letting me know that I would die a most painful death at the hands of these hunters because I was a weakling with no true wolf bloodline.
Needless to say, I had a more than healthy fear of hunters. The right thing to do would be to heed Damon’s instructions and run for the car, but I couldn’t bear to leave him alone.
If what Damon said was true, then he was in more danger than I was! Forget being his mate, what kind of friend would I be if I left him in the lurch to save myself?
So instead of running for the car, I made sure to keep a further distance away from her but made sure to keep Damon still in my sights.
"Damon, be careful!"
Elise chuckled in dark amusement, her eyes darting to linger on my face. "Oh, so you are Harper. How nice to finally meet you. I must say, you look awfully familiar."
"What do you mean by that?" I asked, my heart freezing in my throat. Unbidden, my mother’s photo floated in my mind.
Damon’s eyes darted to me for a brief moment, and I sensed his worry welling up within me.
It seemed that my loyalties might be tested earlier than expected. freewebnovel.cσ๓
No, I was being ridiculous. She could simply have meant it in other ways― like claiming I had an ordinary unremarkable face that people would assume they saw.
That’s right. I wasn’t going to be fooled again. Now that Damon’s life was in jeopardy, my priority was ensuring the both of us got out alive.
Elise smirked. "If you know, you know. We’re not so different, you and I. In fact, you and I might even be considered cousins!"
Cousins? No, that was preposterous. Elise definitely meant it as a metaphor. There was no way I had cousins. My father definitely had no siblings, and my mother...
I did not know if she had. But even if she did, that would mean that she was a hunter too, since the art of werewolf hunting was passed down through select families.
If my mother was a hunter, she would never have gotten together with my father, to begin with, let alone be willing to have a child with him, fated mate or not. It was as impossible as a vampire agreeing to mate with a werewolf.
Elise had inadvertently tangled herself when weaving such a ludicrous story that I could only laugh in response, realizing her words for the lies they were. Preposterous was too weak a word to describe the sheer nonsense that was emerging from Elise’s mouth.
"Stop bullshitting, that’s impossible!" I snorted. "If you want to lie to me, at least make it believable!"
