The Lost Queen

Ch. 4: An Alpha's Sickness

Rayne's hand flew to her mouth as she booked it straight to the bathroom for her second time that following morning.

Her stomach rolled like thunder with each cramp as she was slammed with another wave of nausea after thinking about the fruit she was snacking on only moments before. She groaned and spilled out the remnants of her breakfast, her throat burning and eyes watering.

Damn, was the fruit bad? It couldn't have been. It was the ripest, yummiest orange and mango she'd ever tasted. She didn't remember seeing anything bad about it, but then again, she didn't eat fruit very often. 

"Rayne! Rayne, are you alright?" Jarrah called, panicked on the other side of the bathroom. Crap, she almost forgot she left him mid-conversation.  "Can I come in?"

"J-just give me a minute," she stuttered, breathless. "L-let me brush my teeth first."

Shaky, Rayne struggled up to her feet and forced herself over to the bathroom sink on the other side of the room. She wrapped one hand around the edge of the basin as she brushed her teeth and scrubbed her tongue off with the toothbrush Jarrah had given her the night before. One glance at her reflection and she knew she looked like shit, with her curls knotted together and eyes puffy from watering. But there was nothing she could really do about that, so she called Jarrah in.

Jarrah wasted no time in bursting through the bathroom door and taking Rayne into his arms. She pressed her feverish cheek against his cool chest and let him smooth her curls off her flushed face, his heart pounding with worry.

"What's wrong?" he rushed, brushing the tears from her face. "Was it the fruit?"

"I don't think so," she said, rubbing at her sore belly. She didn't even care that she was standing utterly naked next to him. She just wanted to feel better. "I-I don't know what's wrong."

Jarrah pressed the back of his hand against her forehead. "I'll get the palace healer."

Rayne shook her head. "We don't need to do that."

"Rayne, don't fight with me on this. You're sick and need to be looked at."

"It's not necessary," she insisted. "He has royal advisors and family to tend to. I can just wait until I go back home next week!"

Jarrah shook his head. "That's too long. It'll take five minutes, wolf, if that. Then after that we can walk the grounds and I can show you around the palace."

Rayne groaned like a five-year-old and he just smiled, having known he won that little battle. He pressed his lips to her temple and picked her up under her legs. She didn't protest as he brought her over to his shower and turned on a stream of warm water that closely resembled a waterfall.

"Want me to stay with you?" he murmured low in her ear.

"Please," she whispered, running her fingers through his dark hair that spilled over her like a blanket.

Jarrah curled her into him and stepped into the shower. With gentle hands, he helped her wash, dry, and clothe her body for the next twenty minutes. Sometime between getting sick and dressing up, the king's maids changed out the bedding for fresh ones, so Jarrah propped her up on a pillow in the center of the bed while he grabbed the royal healer.

Rayne played with the fringe hem of her soft, olive green skirt that rested just above her knees when lying down while he did so. She'd have to fix her curls after the healer saw her, but at the moment, all she wanted to do was sleep. Hell, she was almost falling asleep in the shower, which only encouraged Jarrah's concern. A wolf had never been in their world before, so the both of them almost wondered if it was something in the atmosphere that was making her sick.