Page 45 of The Alpha’s Heir

“No, dear, you keep going.” Sally offered her an encouraging smile as she motioned to the vital sign display screen. “I think he likes this one. We’ll only be a minute. It’s just some paperwork we need to take care of.”

Meg’s eyes met mine before she continued, and I hated the ingrained feeling of shame that washed over me. I knew what was coming.

Councilwoman Troy may have been the one footing the bill, but as my father’s last living kin, it was me that signed off on everything. Seeing that itemized bill every quarter was as effective as any leash.

That massive number kept him alive. Kept up the slight bit of hope that this expensive treatment might someday bring back the man he’d once been.

The monthly bill was more than I made in a year.

“If you want to go over the charges, you can find the codes here.” The nurse spoke softly, not meeting my eyes.

I added my name to the signature line without looking.

“Should we continue forwarding the bill to the Troy house?”

I nodded once; voice stuck in my throat. What could I say? I’d been saving every extra cent I earned in my military career, and I only had enough for maybe half a year of treatment. That was as long as nothing changed.

One misstep. One bad night with drastic life-saving measures needed. One new test to run…

I wouldn’t be able to cover the following day.

“Sorry. You know the drill. I have to ask.” Sally whisked the signed paperwork out of sight. “You should bring your fiancé around here more often. Her voice livens up the halls.”

A cold pit opened in my chest. “She’s not my fiancé.”

“Oh no?” Sally cringed in embarrassment. “My mistake. I assumed when I saw the ring.”

Bitterness coated my tongue as I turned away.

I couldn’t even afford to keep my own father alive. How could I pay for a ring like that for a girl as pretty as Meg?

The knot twisting in my gut grew tighter as we said our goodbyes. Meg climbed into the front seat next to me, chewing her bottom lip as we drove in silence back to the government housing district.

All the while, I berated myself for doing this. No matter what the nurses had said about my father’s brain waves and needing more human connection, or that it was almost like I had brought him a real gift. That seeing Meg next to him had done something to me, giving me a hope I hadn’t felt in a long time.

This was dangerous. Reckless. I had no clue what I was thinking. If the council or the colonel found out…

“You don’t take anyone else to see him?” Meg broke through my brooding thoughts. It wasn’t an accusatory question, but it felt like one.

Still, I couldn’t lie. “No. He wouldn’t want anyone to see him that way.”

“He’s your father,” she said.

I smiled sadly. “What gave it away?”

“The eyebrows… The nose.” She turned in her seat to face me. “The fact that the two of you smell like family.”

“You can smell that?” It was almost too easy to forget there were differences between us when she acted so human. Not that her beauty was normal by human standards, but she didn’t present in the way we were told mutants behaved.

“There’s more they don’t tell you,” Dad always said. “Question everything.”

“I can smell a lot of things.” Meg stopped talking as I rolled down my window to show the security guard my badge, and waited until we drove through. “Are you going to get in trouble for bringing me outside today?”

I didn’t know how she knew that. But she seemed like an intuitive woman. I also didn’t know how to answer the question. Time was slipping away from us fast, though. The Troy house loomed up ahead. I found myself not wanting our time to be over.

“What else can you smell that we can’t?” I teased, hoping to end today on a good note at least.

Meg’s smile fell. “Nothing.”