Alpha King’s Lost Luna by Aubrey Pepper

Chapter 143 Something different
CAS SANDRA
Later that day, Lancel accompanied me to the dungeon to check on Spi ke’s
progress.
Between the celebration, the opening of the clinic, and all of the other events. of late, I hadn’t stopped in to visit the imposter in a while. I had no idea where he was at with his research and wanted to compare it to what Becky had been working
on.
There was bound to be overlap, and hopefully, we were coming close to
progress.
If we could help heal the people of Wild Crawler as well as the man that I loved… there could be a real improvement in the state of Wegalla. I could finally put to rest the years of countless research and focus my efforts on other things, like my relationship with the Alpha King.
As Lancel and I descended the staircase to the dungeon, the awkwardness
between us grew.
Asher’s most trusted guard said little and seemed even more reserved than usual as we walked. I knew he was unhappy with the Alpha King’s decision to let an imposter and criminal conduct such important research, but there was no other
choice.
Whatever Asher ordered was absolute, so Lancel had no choice but to honor it.
I could admire his dedication to his Alpha, but I wished that he could lighten up round me and let his guard down, so to speak. Lancel and I had spent plenty of ime in close proximity with one another. Why was he still so on edge in my presence?
Did he suspect my true identity?
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aimer
Was there mistrust there?
It was hard to say. But by the time we reached the dungeon, I cast those questions aside. There were more pressing matters to attend to. My relationship with Lancel could wait.

“I’ll be over here,” Lancel announced gruffly, and he stood like a statue just beyond the cells. “Call if something is awry. If he tries anything funny-”
“You’ll be the first to know,” I assured him.
Lancel offered me a single nod, and then I walked down the hall until I reached Spi ke’s cell.
Spi ke seemed exceptionally focused today. His dark eyes were narrowed behind his safety goggles, and his gaze was hyper-focused on the beaker in front of
him.
I tried to tread lightly to not disturb him, but when I approached the bars of his cell to see what he was doing, the man let out a huff and cursed under his breath.
“I’m sorry,” I apologized quickly.
“Fine,” Spi k e replied, but he cast his beaker back down on the ground. “You shouldn’t sneak up on someone mid-experiment.”
“I’m sorry,” I emphasized again, and then I gestured down at the beaker. “What happened?” ”
I was close to being successful,” he murmured, and then he huffed again. “So very close.”
frowned. “What were you close to succeeding?”
“I’ve been trying to recreate a poison,” he explained, his voice weary and tired. “I was suspecting that the disease was initially caused by a chronic poison. However, I failed to replicate it. Something isn’t right.”
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As Spi ke’s revelation sunk in, I nodded my head in response. I hadn’t expected progress so soon. This was likely great news and could be a massive help to us.
“Could you attempt it again?” I wondered.
“Again?” Spi ke repeated back and then, much to my dismay, he shook his head dejectedly. “No, this attempt was my last idea. I don’t have any further inspiration
on the matter.”
I was puzzled by his answer and took a step closer.
“I don’t understand,” I admitted as my brow furrowed. “What do you mean by
that?”
Spi ke took a deep breath and stepped away from his table full of scientific equipment and data.
“When I examined the coroner’s report, I was confident we were dealing with a chronic poison,” he elaborated as he crossed his arms against his chest and approached the bars. “However, this blood sample appears to be slightly different. I believe this discrepancy was because the sample I used today and the others I tried before came from different individuals, which could explain the differing test results. Consequently, I attempted to conduct experiments based on this assumption… but I
failed.”
He released a heavy sigh. “There are two potential explanations for the failure. Either my initial research direction was wrong, or the person who provided the blood sample had a similar, yet subtly different disease.”
“A different disease?” I asked in surprise.
Spi ke nodded. “I believe I might have been mistaken from the beginning because I wasn’t aware that the blood sample was taken from the Alpha King. I had assumed both of the samples came from a different source, but clearly, that wasn’t
the case.”
I was taken aback by his answer.
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I understood what he was implying, and realized the problem moments later. I didn’t think Spi ke was initially wrong and knew in the back of my mind that it was possible that the disease Asher had was different than the one prevalent in Wild
Crawler.
But I hadn’t given it too much thought out of fear of the truth. If Asher’s disease was different… what could that mean?
I cast those worries aside at once. Though he was correct, I couldn’t let him know that the blood sample had in fact come from Asher. No one, aside from me, could know that the Alpha King was ill. It was an ironclad secret that I had no intention of sharing.
So, I simply rolled my shoulders back and smiled.