Ditched Cheating Alpha, I Led My Daughter to Life's Peak novel Chapter 291

Nurse Janice sighs, forcefully. She's never reminded me more of Suzie than now, with her chin in the air as she begrudgingly agrees to help. For now. Maybe. Until the other alphas arrive to talk some sense into us.

She moves in front of the couch, meeting my eyes. "Luna." She looks at Shen, but the rogue beside me is apprehensive. I try to see Nurse Janice from her perspective. A white coat wrapped around a person whose towering over me. A hand that puts a mysterious black bag on the floor. Wavy hair and wary eyes. "Hello, my name is Dr. Janice."

Doctor? I raise an eyebrow.

"Some people know me as the nurse from the school." She bends down to grab her stethoscope out of her bag. "But make no mistake, I have the qualifications to help you today."

I'm impressed by how smoothly she navigates the tense situation, but without missing a beat, Shen asks, "What are you qualified to do to us exactly?"

"Whatever best suits my pack." Dr. Janice reaches for Fei.

Obviously Shen doesn't give the toddler to her.

I'm dumbfounded. What the heck was that? I expected something way more encouraging. You're fine. You're safe. I'm gonna help you. Instead, she drags her thumb over her throat. "Should I...?"

My jaw drops. Shen's eyes widen. Before Onai can nod, I quickly say, "Don't worry, Shen."

"It's too late for that," she whispers.

"No." I put my hand on her shoulder. "I know Dr. Janice is being... cold right now, but she's actually a really nice person."

"Oh, is she?" Shen forces a smile.

I give her a look before turning to the woman before us. "I personally know for a fact that she's going to help Fei, because no matter what, Fei's innocent in all of this."

Dr. Janice gives me a frown that screams, 'Who said that?'

My eyes widen. "You do plan on helping, right?"

Silence.

"Right?" My voice cracks. I feel like I'm at the end of a rope I never knew I was holding on to.

Dr. Janice turns to Onai slowly, unwillingly. "... Do you have a back room we could use?"

"For?" Shen asks.

"i guess." Onai glances at the hallway, ignoring the younger girl. "You could use the second room to the right, or I could ask my Dad if-"

"Second room to the right is fine," Dr. Janice says quickly.

Awkward silence.

Shen tries again with me. "What's the back room for?"

"I don't know," I tell her.

Dr. Janice keeps talking. "I told him to bring the rest of my stuff for me. Sorry. I didn't know we were doing shady business in the woods." She raises her voice loud enough for her nephew to hear through the wood. "Hurry up with the red one... Please!"

"I'm trying, Auntie. It's a lot." Ethel opens the door just enough to push a few things in. Then he shuts it.

"I didn't know what I'd need," Dr. Janice answers the unasked question in the air. Why so much?

An awkward silence fills the room. Shen uses the opportunity to tap my arm, inadvertently getting everyone's-and I mean everyone's negative-attention. She pulls her hand back as if I burned her, but she keeps talking. "About this... room." She swallows the lump in her throat.

"Not to cut you off, but." Onai looks between Axel and me, forcefully. His face is as uncaring as usual, but his dark eyes say anything but. "What exactly is the plan?"

I'm drawing a blank. "The... plan?"

"For Ethel?" He keeps looking at the door. "He's going to come in at any minute."

I don't get what he means until he gives me a knowing look.

Suddenly, my mind goes back to the night Ethel "caught" us in my backyard. He threatened to tell Aiden we were having an affair for the sake of saving his own skin, and I gave Onai the okay to knock him out. My face drops. Uh oh.

Axel asks, "What?"

I cringe.

"What is it?" He moves closer.