Coldsnap: The Billionaire Alpha's Fated Pregnant Princess (GL)
Chapter 68 - Does The Quick Fox Run From Blood?

Chapter 68: Chapter 68 - Does The Quick Fox Run From Blood?

AN: Trypanophobics beware! (There are needles in Chapter~)

- - - - -

"Now, we will also need to take some blood for testing."

She pulls out a small tray with several color-topped tubes with needles. Lavender, gold, and red.

Setting it on the counter, she glances back at me with an assessing look as I calmly shake my head.

"Have you ever had that done before?"

"No, I have not."

"Some of Dr. Lang’s patients prefer that she draws their blood instead. However, if you’re comfortable with it, I can perform this now so that your preliminary results may be available for her as you talk."

The way she phrases it suggests this is very routine. That some patients simply had some understandable preferences.

Without any real knowledge of ’why’ - just like with the higher temperatures. Just someone doing her job, without expressly questioning the peculiarities of certain patients that come through here.

Humans are strange. I’d be toocurious to leave it alone.

"You can do it now."

> I want to get all of this over with. <

As Vrika whimpers, she gestures for me to take a seat again. While Helene hasn’t really been to a doctor, she’s seen a medical drama or two in the past.

"Great. I’ll just need you to roll up your sleeve and extend your arm for me."

So I know what is coming and do as she asks. When I reveal the pale skin of my inner elbow, Nancy wraps a rubber cord around my upper arm and tightens it until I can feel some pressure building.

"Make a fist for me, please."

When I clench the hand, she taps at the inside of my elbow. The sensation is rather strange.

"There they are."

Somehow it became impersonal... in a way that makes me feel like livestock again. Or perhaps it’s just the nature of treating the patient?

When you begin thinking of them as the same sort of sack of meat and veins as any other. She begins swabbing my skin with something cold and antiseptic-smelling.

"This will just be a small pinch feeling. Okay?"

My wolf growls softly inside as Nancy readies the needle. I feel an almost primal urge to pull away from the sharp instrument.

To avoid being punctured by this stranger who could shove the tool anywhere right now. But I breathe deeply and focus on staying still.

On not causing a scene by shifting. Which is why I’m sure most werewolves prefer to be ’handled’ by one of their own kind.

Metal slides into skin with a sharp but brief pain. I watch, fascinated despite slight anxiety, as my dark blood quickly fills the first tube.

I can’t help but notice she’s been working with a little caution in her whole form. As if she’s actually had patients react poorly to this before.

Though it must have been a human, since she’d certainly know what I am if a wolf had lost their cool. Maybe...?

> Depends on if they knocked her out too quick for her to see anything? <

"You’re doing great, just two more."

Nancy offers in rote comfort while switching to the second tube. When she’s finished with them all, she removes the ’tourniquet’ and presses a small cotton ball against the puncture site.

"Hold this here for me. We’ll give it a minute to stop bleeding."

The nurse instructs me while guiding my other hand to apply pressure. The bleeding stops quite quickly, of course.

Werewolf healing might not be so high speed that this would have been so simple for a longer laceration, but for an ’injury’ like this? Almost immediate.

Still, I dutifully hold the cotton in place... not wanting to seem unusual.

"I will take these to our lab technician. As well as your other sample. Here is a bandage for you to apply. When I do the blood draws I’m supposed to let you cover it for some reason..."

The woman explains while placing labels on each one, before turning and handing me a piece of adhesive.

"Dr. Lang will still need to perform a physical examination, however she will be busy with the other patients for some time. You’re welcome to return to the waiting room with the others if you’d like."

After she leaves with my blood samples, I inspect the tiny puncture in my arm. It’s alreadyclosed, a small fading red dot the only evidence it was ever there.

> Yes, I wonder why she is told not to do this for our kind. A real mystery. <

While lining up the adhesive strip over the piece of cotton to keep up appearances, I thought about it for a while - whether to just stay hiding in here or not. Still undecided by the time I roll down my sleeve.

Do I really want to go back and sit with those other werewolves? One who won’t look at me and one that won’t stop taking looks.

The clock on the wall ticks, marking each second with the mechanism of its internal gears. That annoying noise is ultimately the deciding factor.

Grabbing my bags and slipping out of the room, I walk back down the hall and into the waiting area. Strangely relieved to see the two Pineheart pack members still there.

"Oh, you’re still waiting. How about it, did you miss my company?"

The stern woman clicks her tongue as I pass by. I’m truly surprised she did not reclaim her seat the moment I left!

> I certainly would have done it to her, were our roles reversed. Then again... if I were her I would have let me sit on my lap. <

A weak bark and a growl from my wolf makes me smirk as I settle and take out my phone. Vrika is beginning to realize it is fruitless to keep me from thinking weird things.

Or perhaps it has simply realized that I am not in nearly as much mood to do the things I might once have done, with any of the women I’ve met so far. The... Alpha whose pheromones made my body do things of its own accord aside.

My brain starts thinking in unhelpful directions, so I hurriedly pick a new topic to type in the search bar of this device. Websites about [Apocalypse] fill the screen and I click on one whose excerpt seemed the most intriguing.

It mentioned Systems and is probably fiction, but it still may help. When I tap the link, a colorful ’advertisement’ pops up at the bottom of my screen that catches my eyes.

[Fox Run: Can you escape the hunters?] it proclaims while showing a cartoonish and impossibly orange fox leaping over obstacles.

My finger hovers over the [X] to close it... but curiosity wins. It always does.

I tap the ad instead and it sends me to the ’store’ where I have to tap a few more things. Luckily, the game installs quickly - I have no idea how much the size really meant.

The premise is also simple and well instructed. Guide a fox through an endless forest, jumping over logs, holes, and traps set by hunters.

Each successful jump earned ’points’ - and collecting glowingberries along the path provides bonuses. Helene had played precious few of these kinds of applications in her time... and never one on a screen as large as this.

"This is ridiculous. As if a fox would run in a straight line when hunted."

Despite my criticism, I find my fingers tapping and swiping with clearly increasing skill as ’my character’ runs on its own through the digital forest. Real-world surroundings fade as I focus on timing each jump perfectly and nabbing every berry.

> I suppose it is a good thing this one does not seem to have any purchases. I should refrain from downloading any that do... <

Resolving to avoid them completely, I start another ’run’.