Hoping that 2021 will be better than last year, and more normal.
Oh. Oh. Your girl won the Magical Awards held by the Magical_Community. A huge shoutout to them for arranging such awards for us writers. <3
Okay back to the chapter.
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"You remind me of your mother"
Connor and Ryan sat outside the hospital room where Dr. Stevens was checking Selena, there were a few nurses inside. Ryan was very much aware of Connor clenching and unclenching his fists.
Ileana rushed into the hospital making the two men turn to look at her.
Ryan stood up but Connor remained seated and maintained his stoic face.
"What are you doing here? I thought you wanted to rest," Ryan said putting his hand on Ileana's forehead to take her temperature.
She swatted his hands away, "Ryan, I skipped breakfast because I threw up. She's throwing up blood. That trumps me resting."
Ryan smiled sadly, "True. Mason is still inside, you can wait with us."
Ileana stole a glance at Connor but didn't say a word. Connor was a very calm person but for some reason, Ileana was a little quiet around Connor, maybe Connor's lash out was to receive a little bit of blame for that. She put an extra effort to mind her words around him.
She sat beside Ryan who still held his mate's hand and didn't say a word out loud.
'I still don't understand why,' Ryan linked Ileana.
'Why what?' she asked, trying to keep her expression masked.
'You are a little bit afraid of Connor.'
'No, I am not!' Ileana answered a bit too fast.
'Wanna try that again?'
Ileana sighed, 'He just seems so...'
She struggled to find the correct word but struggled and Ryan answered for her, 'Powerful?'
With a nod, she answered, 'I know, he has a very dominant aura.'
The door of the room opened and Mason came out while taking his mask off.
All three of them stood up to hear what he had to say.
Mason at first took a deep breath and looked at Connor first, and then at his beta. Connor, having the alpha blood, demanded attention. Mason felt the urge to look at Connor while speaking, but he turned to his beta at the last minute.
"She was poisoned."
The only sound that was heard was the gasp of Ileana. The anger and dominance radiating off the two extremely dominant werewolves had Mason taking a few steps backwards.
"Is she okay now?" Connor spoke first, his voice tensed, barely controlled.
"She is," Mason nodded, there was only a bare minimum of softening in their postures but Mason continued, "She was poisoned with a combination Aconite and Oleander."
"That's..."
"Wolfsbane." Mason finished his beta's doubt.
Connor's eyes stilled on the doctor even more. Mason felt the stillness in Connor's eyes. He shifted uncomfortably but avoided looking at the furious wolf.
"Someone poisoned her food. Aconite is Wolfsbane and Oleander is a very lethal poison in the human world. The Wolfsbane mixed with Oleander was ruining her organs from the inside. I have drained the poison and given her one of the medicines. She should be up in a few days but we don't know how long it will take."
"What does that mean?" Connor asked silently.
"It means that the damage was bad, so she can wake up any time during the next two to seven. If it's more than seven days, we'll have to think of another course of treatment."
"Wouldn't it become worse if this treatment isn't working and we have to wait for seven more days?"
Mason bowed his head slightly and whispered, "That's the thing, there's no way to find out before seven days."
The four werewolves stood silently in the hallways until Ileana spoke, "So we wait." Connor immediately turned to look at Ileana, making the wolf a little conscious but she didn't let it stop her this time.
"Ileana, this isn't...."
"Ryan, this is Selena," Ileana interrupted her mate and then turned to look at Connor's stony face, "Mason is one of the best werewolf doctors. He studied human medicine and he worked with numerous pack elders to learn about werewolf medicine too. I believe him if he says this is our only option right now."
"What if the seven days worsen her condition?" Connor asked Ileana.
"She will be constantly under observation and someone will be constantly checking on her." Mason looked at Ryan, "We will not disappoint, Beta." He then turned to look at Connor, "Trust us, sir."
Damien burst through the door in Xavier's office only to be greeted by Connor standing by the window, and Ryan sitting in one of the visitor's chairs, facing the door. Adriana was right behind him.
"We just heard, how is she doing?" Damien voiced his worries.
Ryan narrated the events of that evening. Just as he finished, Connor turned around.
Adriana kept a hand on Damien's voice, hoping to calm him down when she felt her mate tensing.
"So, we know who did it?"
"I have my guesses."
The couple turned to look at Connor, Adriana's eyes softened on seeing him.
Connor's face showed rage but Adriana could see the fear hidden behind it. However, she knew better than voicing it then and there.
Damien however still held the anger in his eyes.
"Connor..."
"Please don't apologize." Damien nodded his head silently, there was regret in his eyes but the fire burnt brighter than it, "My sister has been here for a few months now, she has been in the hospital twice, and that's just as far as I know."
"Does Xavier know?" Damien asked after a few second's silence.
"No," Ryan answered this time, "He just went today. I thought we can wait until she wakes up, if she doesn't in say three days, I will let him know then."
"She's his mate. He should know," Connor said.
"He needs to get his work done. They've gone to discuss important things, things that concern Selena too. Right now if he comes rushing back being emotional it'll only put us in a bad position with the hunters."
When Connor continued to stare at Ryan, and the beta continued, "If it gets any worse, the first person I will call is Xavier. But right now, we need this meeting, we need our allies."
Connor nodded and stiffly walked to the door, only to be stopped by Adriana with a hand on his shoulders. He didn't turn to look at her. Adriana linked Damien and Ryan to leave her with Connor.
The two men silently walked away. Damien was wary of leaving Adriana alone with an angry alpha wolf, but he knew that Connor would never harm her, and Adriana was strong enough to protect herself anyway.
When they had the room to themselves Adriana moved to stand in front of Connor.
"Mason really is one of the best werewolf doctors. He won't leave any stoned unturned in trying to save her."
Connor nodded his head once stiffly but Adriana wasn't done.
"Connor," she waited until he looked at her, "We will take care of her."
"I don't mean to be rude, Mrs. Martinez but excuse me if I cannot believe that."
"I understand, I also understand that you know the circumstances." Connor remained silent but his cover was breaking as Adriana gave him a motherly smile.
He bit his lips trying to stop them from trembling when a single tear rolled down his cheek.
"Connor, you are doing an amazing job as her brother. You don't have to be her parent too."
"How do I not?" Adriana's smile turned sad, "I wasn't there. I was living my dream while my little sister saw our family getting slaughtered. She saw our parents and siblings die, she saw our pack getting burnt, she lived through two whole years of torture and I didn't even know."
"You're a good brother." Connor scoffed but Adriana wasn't going to give up just yet, "Listen to me, Connor." Connor's eyes found hers instantly. "You are a damn good brother. And you are a great son. We knew your parents, and both Damien and I know for a fact that they are proud of you."
"Yeah..." Connor muttered, still not completely believing it.
"You both are my children's soul mates, that makes you our children too. You're not alone anymore, dear."
Connor smiled sadly this time, he now understood what Selena meant when she said Adriana and Damien reminded her of their parents, they really are a lot similar.
"Thank you," he whispered.
Adriana held his shoulders and gave her a hug. After one or two initial seconds of hesitation, Connor too wrapped his arms around her shoulder, accepting the motherly embrace.
"You two haven't marked each other yet," Adriana pointed out, making Connor's cheeks turn a light shade of red. She let him out of the embrace.
"Yeah, we didn't get the chance in between all this. Eve is..." Connor shook his head, "She is under stress with all these. She didn't want this to be a distraction from the current situation."
Adriana nodded but looked at Connor with a mischievous smile, "She lets you call her Eve?"
Connor too smiled, genuinely this time, Adriana noticed how Connor looked more relaxed and filled with life just from the mention of Eve. Adriana realised that even though Connor puts off a tough front, he is not dealing well with the incident too.
"She just told me not to call her that in front of Ileana."
Adriana chuckled and shook her head. Their children had some great wolves as their mates. It's only Aiden now who's left, she thought.
Damien, however, had sent Ryan back to the hospital and to check on Selena. One more thing to do before he went back to his room. Damien walked down to the bottom floor and walked until he was standing in front of the specific door which he knew all too better.
He knocked on the door and stood patiently.
When Stacy opened the door, her eyes widened on seeing the previous alpha in front of her. She gulped and bowed her head.
"Sir, can I help you with anything?"
Damien smiled at her and Stacy's nerves settled a little bit, "Would you like to come in?"
Damien took a step in and stood by the window, the one that gave him a clear view of the woods. He turned and looked at Stacy. The she-wolf smiled nervously.
"You remind me of your mother."
Stacy stilled, her mother was not a topic she liked to talk about. Stacy hadn't met her mom, she was brought up by her grandparents who too died when she was merely fourteen. She had been in the packhouse since then, and the alpha and beta couples took care of her.
However, Damien had always been wary of her. He never stopped Xavier from being Stacy's friend as he felt sorry for the girl.
"My mother?" Stacy asked with wide eyes. No one ever told her anything about her mother, not even her grandparents, who were her father's parents.
"Yes," Damien said, turning to look at her, "Did your grandparents ever tell you why she was made to leave?"
Stacy shook her head.
"No wonder; they hated her. She killed your father."
"She what!?" Damien didn't think her eyes could be any wider.
"She was obsessed with another wolf, so much so that she murdered her own mate to be with him. She tried to harm that wolf's mate as well, which made the alpha finally banish her."
"She's alive?" Stacy always thought she didn't know her mother because she was dead.
"No, she is dead."
There were a lot of things going on in her mind, she was curious, but she wasn't really feeling any emotions. The one thing that bothered her was why was Damien telling her all these now?
"She came back later, with a pack of rogues, to attack the pack, the male had to kill her when she tried to kill his mate."
"I see."
"It's a pity," Stacy tilted her head slightly and looked at the Alpha, whose smile slowly morphed into something angry and dangerous, making Stacy take a step back to get away from the dominance, "You turned out to be exactly like her."
"Sir, I don't know what you mean." Her voice trembled slightly
"Poisoning your future Luna, going after another's mate, being obsessed with a mated wolf, an alpha, for the hunger of power, you are way too much like your mother."
Stacy looked at Damien, the fear was still there but this time, there was a little anger too, "You killed my mother."
"She went after my mate."
Stacy scoffed and moved away from Damien.
"I allowed you here because you were just a baby. You didn't deserve to get punished for your mother's mistakes. But if you follow in her footsteps, I cannot guarantee how long you will last here."
"You have no proof," Stacy said smugly or at least pretending to be smug.
"But I do, you don't have a scent, you cannot smell our scents too. One of the basic side effects of hiding scent is that it deteriorates your senses too. That's already extremely suspicious."
Damien took a few strides until he was standing right in front of Stacy, the she-wolf backed against the while but Damien got in front of her face.
"I have given you enough chances. You tried to ruin someone's bond, you tried to frame someone. I have more than two people who have heard you threatening her. Take it as a threat if you want. If you threaten my family, I will put you down."
Stacy only let her breath fall when Damien walked out of her room. Her mother was after Alpha Damien Martinez? Really now?
What a surprise, Stacy thought as she smirked.
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Any guesses what is coming next?
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