The Alpha King’s Human Mate
Bonus Chapter – Clark & Griffin (4)-1
Bonus Chapter (4)
“My goal is to appreciate my body for what it has done.”
Sia Cooper
311⁄2 Years Following Liam’s Defeat
1 hung over a porcelain toilet in one of the guest bathrooms, puking out the little bit of breakfast I’d managed to get down before ending up, well…
Here.
“Your Majesty,” came the soft voice of Jane, the girl who’d brought my breakfast. “Should I call the healer? You don’t seem well.”
I waited for the nausea to pass before I answered, “No, no…you don’t need to bother a healer or anything. I just don’t think the bacon agreed with me.” Even the thought of the fatty, greasy bacon that ended up on my plate this morning caused another wave of nausea to roll over me and I retched again. “Just no more bacon. I just need to keep my breakfasts lighter.”
“Your Majesty, please,” Jane pleaded. “This is the third time this week I’ve found you like this. I really don’t think you’re well. First it was the eggs, and then that sriracha sauce you like…and now the bacon?”
“Maybe I have a stomach bug or something,” I retorted. “I just need a little bit of rest.”
I could hear Jane sigh.
“Your Majesty…if you won’t let me call the healer, then you leave me no choice. I’ll have to send word to your husband.”
I paused. Griffin was out of town on a diplomatic trip that was sensitive enough to require his presence in person, but if someone got word to him that I wasn’t feeling well, I knew he’d abandon the mission and rush home.
I slumped over the bowl. “Alright. You can call the doctor.”
dayda yok
“So, you’ve been experiencing nausea.” The doctor, a twenty–something woman with dark hair, stood over me, shining a bright light. in my eyes. She was the youngest physician I’d ever seen in the castle, but according to Jane, a prodigy who’d been invited to the castle after helping out during the war.
–
Mostly, she looked a little nervous to be treating me but I was used to that by now.
And at least I didn’t have Griffin staring her down while she tries to work.
I blinked against the bright light. Was this some kind of neural exam? I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen a human doctor,
and most werewolf doctors
–
–
or healers didn’t have a perfect understanding of human anatomy. This doctor in particular had brought a textbook into the room that read: Diseases of the Human Body.
It didn’t exactly inspire confidence…but I couldn’t fault her for trying to do her research.
“Uh, yeah. I’ve had some nausea.”
“Have you eaten anything unusual in the past week? Been around anyone you know is sick?”
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Bonus Chapter – Clark & Griffin (4) 1
Not as far as I know.”
“Any other symptoms besides nausea?”
“Well… I scratched the back of my head. “The nausea is new, but I’ve been exhausted for the past few weeks for no real reason. Just feeling like…off, you know?”
The doctor blinked at me in a way that told me no, she did not understand what feeling “off” meant. Still, she made a noise of
I
acknowledgement and spent several minutes flipping through the textbook while I waited in a chair next to the bed, (2)
Finally, her eyes lit up. “Oh, I found it. I have a diagnosis!”
“You do?”
Her lips thinned, her forehead creasing in concern. “Your Majesty, believe this might be incredibly serious. We need to take you to
the infirmary immediately. And quarantine you.”
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I reeled back. “What? It’s that serious?” My heart began pounding, my head racing with all the worst case scenarios. “I’m only a little fatigued and nauseous. You’re looking at me like I have cancer or something.”
The wrinkles on her forehead deepened. “No, Your Majesty…I’m afraid it’s more serious than that.”
My stomach dropped. “More serious than cancer?”
1
Perhaps I should have let Jane call Griffin after all – if only to have him by my side while I died from whatever terminal illness the
doctor was about to diagnose me with.
She sucked in a breath, wringing her hands together. “I’m afraid it looks as if you have the bubonic plague, Your Majesty.”
