Sold To The Demon Alpha
Chapter 28

Roma’s POV:

The hours that I sat alone in that hallway, after sending Raphael away felt like a lifetime as I watched the door that Scian had entered and waited for news.

Sleep was far from me and agony was my companion as I imagined what would happen if Scian came out of that room and could not save her.

I would lose Aria Ajello. Just like I had lost my wife and pup and both times, it would be my fault.

A monster. I destroyed everything I touched.

I didn’t even deserve to be sitting here, knowing that I could have avoided this by just going after her to explain and ensuring that she was safe instead of hiding away in a room like I always did whenever I felt like I was out of control.

And now she would bear scars on her body from where the ferals has slashed her.

I wondered what she must have thought when the Beast advanced towards her.

She must have been so frightened. The fragile thing. She must have thought she was going to die. She must have felt so scared and alone.

I remembered how I had shown her the lake and the innocent smile she had given, her eyes filled with childlike wonder as she looked at the lake and how she had excitedly brought out her sketch pad to draw in it.

She didn’t deserve any of it. From her father’s abuse to living here. But I could not let her go. Not yet at least. I had her father’s debt still keeping her here and until she was done paying, I had the excuse of keeping her with me. But a time would come when she would finish paying off those debts and I would be left with a choice.

The better choice would be to let her go. To let her fall in love and marry a human who could give her a good life rather than a werewolf who had a demon living inside him who could snap her neck or rip her heart out with one single attack. A demon possessed man who would kill her if he dared to mark her as his.

Did I like Aria Ajello?

Was that what this was?

Did I perhaps, have feelings for her?

The door opened and Scian came out, the two other healers flinching as they still saw that I was covered in b***d but bowing before they left.

Scian walked towards where I had risen to my feet and gave me a disapproving look.

“Are you perhaps injured?”

I shook my head and she nodded.

“Indeed. The time where you sustained injuries have long passed. You are a big bad wolf now. Which leads me to ask, why you are still covered in b***d in my infirmary and scaring my staff?”

My eyes widened and I tried to come up with an answer. Deciding to settle for the truth since Scian already knew who Aria was to me, I sighed.

“I could not leave her here. All alone. I could not leave without knowing how she was doing. How is she?”

Scian sighed and folded her arms.

“We have stitched her wounds. For her broken ribs, we have given her some pain killers and fluids to help with dehydration. But she is running a fever, perhaps because she was in the rain. So one of the healers will clean her with a wet cloth from time to time until her fever breaks. But she lives, Roma. She’s alive.”

I didn’t realize that I was holding my breath until I released it and Scian’s smile was filled with sympathy as she reached up and wiped a tear from under my eye that I did not even know was there.

“Be careful or you’ll let others know what she means to you and I know that you do not want that.”

Sniffing, I nodded.

“Can I see her?”

“Not looking like that, you can’t.”

“But, she’s not awake, right? I’ll just see how she is…”

“You may be the Alpha but in here, I am in charge and I will not have you going to see my patient looking like that. Change and come back. I will open the door gladly when you do.” She said with her brows raised and when I nodded, she smiled.

“And when you come, i’ll give you some vitamins. You look deathly pale.”

The transformation took a lot out of me and I had barely recovered from the last one but I knew that it would be foolish to argue with Scian when she was right.

Heading to my room, I showered quickly, discarding my bloodied clothes and when I returned to the infirmary, Scian was waiting with some tablets and a glass of water and her eyebrows raised as if daring me to not take them and see if she would not throw me out of the infirmary.

If I wasn’t so tired of everything, I would have laughed.

But my eyes threatened to water again when I finally entered the room where Aria was sleeping, her chest rising and falling, the only indication that she truly lived.

Her pulse remained faint but it sounded better than before but my eyes were fixed on the bandages. On her forehead just above her left brow. On her stomach. On her right leg.

And yet, she looked like an angel.

Moving closer to the bed as Scian dropped the bowl of water and towel she had brought in on the table, I fisted my hands and shook my head.

“You didn’t do this to her, Roma. Don’t have that look.”

“But she wouldn’t have been hurt like this if she hadn’t met me.”

“That’s your guilt speaking. You brought her here with bruises from her father’s hands. You saved her.”

“And now I put her in harm’s way.”

Touching my shoulder, Scian turned me to face her and shook her head.

“If you’re just going to stand around and beat yourself up, then you can do that outside. But know this, I know you. And you are not a bad person.”

I smiled bitterly.

“You wouldn’t be saying that if I shifted right now. You wouldn’t even be alive to say anything if I did.”

“Raphael came to see her after you left. He told me that you stopped yourself before you could hurt her.”

I shrugged

“It might just be luck. The Beast killed enough probably.”

“Perhaps. Or maybe there is something to it. Now, I would like to lower her temperature. You can wait outside till I’m done.”

She soaked the towel in the bowl and I took it from her hand gently.

“Let me do it. I learned enough growing up in this hallway.”

Her eyes widened in surprise.

“Are you sure?”

Nodding, I turned towards Aria and touched her neck softly with the wet cloth, my eyes zeroing in on the freckles that dusted her pretty face and realizing that I was right.

Somehow, I had gone from not wanting to be near Aria Ajello because she was human to actually liking her. To wanting her around. To missing the way she smiled and how her eyes lit up whenever she saw me.

And in that moment, I knew that I had to do what was best for her. I had to cut her off, if I wanted her to live.

Because letting her in would only mean her death.