Page 77 of Dark Rebel's Reckoning

The clinic was only two levels up from the dungeon, and as he exited the elevator, he had to force himself not to jog and limit himself to a fast walk.

When he opened the door, he found Fenella sitting in one of the waiting room chairs, a magazine open on her knees. She looked up at him and smiled.

"My knight has arrived." She rose to her feet and turned toward Bridget, who was in the office, sitting behind the desk. "Thanks again, Bridget. I guess I'll see you tomorrow when you come to talk to the girls?"

The doctor nodded. "Don't tell them that I'm coming. I want to do this casually."

"Got it." Fenella gave Bridget the thumbs up.

Fenella was fronting the tough-girl persona, but even though they weren't an item for long and it had been half a century ago, he knew her well enough to see the cracks in that façade. Her eyes were slightly too bright, her posture too rigid, and he got suddenly anxious. Despite everything she'd been through, Fenella had been unshakable so far. What had happened to tip her over the edge?

He prayed to the Fates it wasn't a pregnancy.

As soon as they were out the door, he turned toward her. "Everything alright?"

Fenella shrugged, the motion a bit too casual. "Fine. I'm not pregnant, and there's no lasting damage. No great surprise, since my body's really good at fixing whatever gets broken."

She spoke the words like something she'd prepared to say before he arrived, but he decided to let it go.

"Good to hear," Max said. "That's one less thing to worry about." He kept walking.

When they reached the elevator, she turned to him. "Did you call Din?"

The question caught him off guard. "Not yet. I had to put some work in or my boss would have been cross with me."

It was an exaggeration. He could have easily composed a text or called, but he needed a little more time to mentally prepare for the confrontation.

"I need Din to check on my family." She crossed her arms over her chest. "My parents are gone, but my brother's still around, and he has kids, who probably have their own kids by now."

"Your brother can't transfer the genes to his kids. Did your mother have sisters?"

"No. She had two brothers. One younger and one older. Why?"

"There is no reason for the Doomers to look for your family, if they know that. Did you tell him about them?"

Fenella laughed, a harsh sound that was devoid of humor. "I probably told him about every shit I've taken in my seventy years of life." The bitterness in her voice was palpable. "He interrogated me endlessly, while drugged, semi-sober, or sober, and he never pulled his punches."

The casual way she referenced the abuse made something dark unfurl in Max's chest. He'd known intellectually what had likely happened during her captivity, but hearing her speak of it so matter-of-factly drove home the reality of what she'd endured.

With a soft ping the elevator announced its arrival, and the doors slid open, but Max remained motionless, a sudden rush of rage freezing him in place. He could feel his fangs pressing against his gums, demanding release.

"Max?" Fenella's voice seemed distant.

He tried to clear the red haze of rage, to force the primal response back down, but it was no use as horrific images kept bombarding his mind, and his fangs punched through, sharp and prominent, a physical manifestation of his fury.

Fenella took a sudden step back, her eyes widening with fear. "Your fangs..." she whispered, her Scottish accent thickening with alarm.

The fear in her voice snapped Max back to the present. He immediately raised a hand to cover his mouth, realizing what he'd triggered.

"I'm sorry," he managed, willing his fangs to retract. "Don't be frightened. It's just a protective response. I swear."

"His fangs would elongate like that every time before he started beating me," Fenella said, her voice hollow. "Sometimes I wasn't sure if it was real or if I was hallucinating."

"It's not the same," he said carefully, ensuring his fangs were fully retracted before lowering his hand. "I'm not like him, Fenella. I would never hurt you."

She nodded, though wariness still lingered in her posture. "I know that. Logically, I know that."

The elevator doors had closed in the meantime, and Max called for it again.

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