Page 39 of Mask and the Magnolia

What’s weird is, I’m not the least bit mad about it.

NINE

ONE DOWN

DESMOND

Ifeel a little less like death today.

I actually feel pretty fucking good compared to how things have been going. But that’s because Nurse Hubbard was out when I got my injection and while it’s only been a couple days, I can tell I got my normal meds this time.

Thanks to the good little doctors who gave it to me instead.

Isaak walked Magnolia through the entire process; measuring out my dose, where to stick me, what to do afterward.

She was at the medical hospital before coming here and has given hundreds of shots, she made that very clear, but I think Dr. Lowe was looking for a reason to get close.

Close tobothof us.

Oh, and what sweet torture it was to have them both touching me at the same time. I didn’t want it to end. I even offered to let her test all of her skills on me and despite the fact that she blushed right down to her combat boot-covered toes, Magnolia politely declined.

We’re getting there, though.

I’ve been watching everyone much closer the last couple of days. Closer and with a clearer mind.

Now I can see the entire puzzle, and how it hinges on one single piece.

One piece that’s teetering on the edge already, sitting right on the cusp of having a breakthrough.

Everything is right there, on the verge of exposure, I can almost touch it.

One risky move, one critical decision.

That’s all it’s going to take and everything will fall into place.

I grin as I kick my feet up on the footrest, leaning back in the recliner with my hands behind my head. I’ve been watching Calix follow Korvin back and forth from the vacant hall to the storage closet all morning. Back and forth, to and fro.

Carrying things that don’t really have to be moved yet just so he has a reason to follow him.

The alpha grabs a table, then the beta grabs a chair. Korvin moves the pool table, Calix goes for the cues and frame.

This is better than TV.

I could watch these two all day, especially since I can tell my alpha is aware of his company, he’s hyperaware even though I'm the only one to notice, but he doesn’t fully understand thewhybehind having a tagalong.

Korvin is smart, don’t get me wrong, but there’s a bit of a disconnect between the emotions he has, and the emotions he sees. The former are complex and hidden, they slip through accidentally and are quickly buried, but the latter seem to leave him annoyed. Not because he doesn’t know what they are, or doesn’t understand what they mean in a more generalized way, I just don’t think Vin has a fucking clue when it comes to the deeper seated cause.

It’s fascinating, really.

An unsettling and intimidating alpha struggling with big feelings.

Feelings he’s going to fight until the bitter end.

All while the people around him,hispeople, try to navigatehim.

Calix is winning.

Sure, Korvin has been checking up on me since we’ve been here, and he gravitates toward me without even trying. And yeah, it’s a matter of time before our scent matches start to do the same, but the desperate and lonely beta managed to beat us all to the punch and slip through a crack in those carefully constructed walls.