ISABELLE'S POV
"Are you kidding?"
Jada brought her hands up to her face and rubbed her temples in irritation, closing her eyes simultaneously. "No, Isabelle, I'm not kidding."
"So you're going to abandon the responsibilities of taking care of two little girls and being with your mate, just so you can stay in Toronto with your friend? A friend who's completely capable of taking care of himself?"
Still rubbing her head, she nodded slowly, eyes still shut. "I will be staying in Toronto. Gabriel Caine said that your pack could move to the available territory. I have no intention of leaving Charlie or Arabelle behind."
"But you're okay with leaving me behind, is that it?"
Her eyes snapped open and she narrowed them on me, her hands dropping to her sides. "What part of 'Gabriel said that your pack could move to the available territory' did you not understand?"
"So you expect me to move my entire pack to a different country just so you can live near your friend?" I asked slowly, as if she were stupid. She clearly must have been if she even thought to suggest such an idiotic thing to me.
"Can we not have this argument right now," Jada sighed, "I feel shitty and we still have a few days left. We'll figure it out later."
"No," I pushed, "we're going to figure it out right now. You expect me to move my entire pack to another country for you?"
With an exasperated groan, she threw her hands up in the air. "Don't move your pack then, Isabelle, I don't give a shit. You happy now? Can I go lie down without you fucking bothering me?"
"No, you can't. You made a commitment to me and to the two little girls downstairs. You can't abandon them just because you want to be all buddy buddy with Julian. I'm your mate, Jada! Not him! I'm the person you put before everyone!"
Jada scoffed. Turning on her heel, she paced back and forth for a few seconds, her jaw clenched, eyes shut tightly. And then she snapped.
"Julian is the most important person in my entire life." The words were uttered so quietly and so monotonously that it took me a couple seconds to process it. She continued, "I do not care that you are my mate. I love you, and you know that, but never ever assume that I will ever put you before Julian.
"I am not asking you to move your entire pack across the country. I am not asking you to give up your pack or to give up Arabelle. I am telling you that with or without you, I am staying in Toronto. I am telling you that I will do whatever it takes to see the girls, but I am not living in Hawaii with you. You can decide what to do with that information. I am staying in Toronto. With Julian. End of discussion."
"Are you having an affair?" I yelled. Mentally I knew that they'd never been more than friends, and if they had, it was in the past. Mentally I knew that it was probably one of the stupidest questions to ever leave my mouth. But I wanted to hear her say no. Especially after telling me that he was more important than me, her soul mate.
"Do you even listen to yourself when you talk?" Jada asked, irritation leaking into her tone. "Or are you just fucking stupid?"
"It was a yes or no question, Jada. Answer it."
"Do you really fucking think I'm sleeping with Julian right now?"
"Answer. The. Question."
"If you don't know the answer for yourself, you can seriously kiss my ass, Isabelle. I deserve a lot more respect from you."
"Answer the fucking question!" I screamed at her. What was so fucking hard about answering a simple yes or no question? Why couldn't she just shut the fuck up for one second and reassure me? Tell me she wasn't sleeping with her best friend so that my wolf would settle down? So I would settle down?
"Fuck you," she spit at me. "I'm not sleeping with Julian. You know that. You should know that. Now please, fuck off so I can lie down."
"Are you sleeping with someone else?" I asked, purposely ignoring her plea for me to leave. I had to force the words out of my mouth calmly when I wanted to scream and thrash and throw things at her. Instead, I fought my wolf mentally and stared Jada down from my position ten feet away from her.
Her face twisted into a hateful scowl, but before she could say anything in response, her eyes rolled to the back of her head, and she dropped to the ground.
My heart dropped in my chest and I ran the short distance over to her. Her eyes were closed and she was slumped down on the carpet. Her chest was rising and falling, and I'd have felt it if she had suddenly died, but I was still beyond worried. I called her name a few times and place my hands on her cheeks. Her skin was boiling hot, so much so that I took my hands off her skin almost immediately.
"Julian!" I screamed, "Julian please come here!"
I could hear Jada's parents speaking in worried tones downstairs, but they were watching over Charlie and Ari, and I knew they wouldn't leave them alone. Luckily for me, Julian rushed into the room only seconds later, scanned the area within a second, and ran towards Jada and I faster than I could blink.
He scooped her up and began running down the hallway. "Julian, where the hell are you going?" I cried, rushing after him.
"I have to take her to the Institute," he called, halfway down the stairs. "Hurry up if you're coming. She won't be able to survive the heat for very long."
God, it was my fault. Her passing out was all my fault. If I hadn't have pushed her and pushed her for answers and asked stupid questions... If I had just let her lie down and rest like she'd pleaded me whilst I fought with her, maybe she'd be okay.
She'd had what we thought was the flu for almost three weeks, but we couldn't exactly have it checked out while in Toronto. My throwing up had stopped this morning, I hadn't thrown up all day, and it was just past 7pm. Jada though, it looked as though she was anything but okay.
Arriving at the Institute was the most uncomfortable and awkward experience I'd ever endured. Every Hunter on the premises took out their weapons and were standing on guard an upright the minute they spotted me. I could tell they were relaxed upon seeing Julian, but went back to defensive when he reached into the back and pulled Jada out of the backseat.
I heard people whisper Julian's name and even Jada's as I followed him into the building. I couldn't focus on the details of the interior, but I could tell it was older styled, definitely not modern. The blonde man practically ran through the series of hallways before he shoved himself through a set of double doors and disappeared from my sight.
When I finally ran in behind him, Jada was lying on a table and Julian was speaking so quickly to who I assume was the doctor that I couldn't keep up. My head was spinning as I moved closer to Jada and held back my sobs.
After a brief minute of speaking amongst themselves, the doctor, a tall, handsome looking man, began to calmly move around Jada, doing a series of things that I wasn't equipped to understand. He attached her to a machine and then began shuffling through the cabinet on the far wall across from my seated position.
I sat for almost twenty minutes in silence, watching the man move around and do his duty, until he stated in a velvet voice, "Her body is rejecting the wolf."
My heart dropped. "What?"
I was met with a pair of striking blue eyes as the doctor peered at me. "Jada. Her body is rejecting the wolf. I assume you're her mate, yes?" I nodded. "Then surely you've been going through the symptoms of what happens when the mate bond breaks. Sickness, nausea, headaches, a nagging feeling, almost?"
"What do you mean the mate bond breaks?" I demanded. My Alpha tone slipped through, but this man was a Hunter, and completely immune to the change in my tone.
With a casual shrug, he said, "Your mate bond strengthened significantly when Jada became a hybrid, of sorts. But because she's rejecting the wolf, the wolf that is currently dying will take the entire mate bond away. So if Jada makes a recovery, you will both not have any sort of bond when her wolf finally dies."
"Save her wolf!" I pleaded, "please, save her wolf!"
"If Jada survives the wolf's death, she will make a full recovery," the doctor informed me, looking too calm for a situation like this. "And, if I'm not mistaken, Jada isn't very fond of that side of her to begin with, no?"
Without another word, I ran towards the small garbage can in the corner of the room, and I threw up.
"Wonderful!" The doctor cried, "the Wolfsbane is working! You may be extremely sick for the next couple of hours, Ms. Sinclair, I assure you it will pass."
He muttered something to Julian and then slipped out of the room, a clipboard under his arm. Julian sighed and took a seat beside Jada's bed, where she remained motionless and very warm still.
"Dorian is a Hunter, Isabelle," he said, his eyes closed as he leaned back in the chair and folded his arms. "He's not fond of werewolves, it's why he became a doctor instead of doing missions. He doesn't have to deal with races he doesn't like." He chuckled slightly, and then silenced.
I sat on the floor near the garbage, not willing to stand because of the nausea that wracked my head, and held my breath to keep from sobbing. When I could finally manage to hold in my tears and the breath in my lungs was running out, I whispered, "This is all my fault."
"Doubtful," he replied instantly, "Jada's body was rejecting her wolf with or without your involvement. Claiming she was sleeping with me was just plain cruel, though."
"I didn't mean it," I groaned, dropping my head to rest against the wall. "I knew the answer already I was just... mad."
Julian had his hand gripping Jada's casually, still leaning back against his chair. His thumb caressed the back of her hand, but his eyes were still closed. "Clearly you were angry, but even you should know well enough not to ask Jada stupid questions. She doesn't do well with stupidity."
For the next hour, I threw up more than usual. My head was ringing and I began to cold sweat. Despite my increasing illness, the thought of Jada losing her wolf hurt even more. It was selfish of me to wish unhappiness upon her, but she was a wolf, just like me, just like our two little girls. And our mate bond...
A sob escaped through my lips and I clamped a hand over my mouth quickly to silence it, but Julian had clearly heard it, and he lifted his head from Jada's bed to stare at me.
He didn't say anything immediately, and I could barely pay attention to the way his hazel eyes examined my bent over figure. I closed my eyes and squeezed my mouth shut when he said, "You're being selfish."
Another cry slipped from my mouth, "What?"
"You're being selfish," he said casually, and rested his head back against my mate's bed, closing his eyes. "Jada hates her wolf. She's kept her blocked out for weeks, she hates the werewolf heat, hates the telepathy. You wishing she could be a wolf will only keep her in lifelong misery."
"B-but-"
"I get it, you want to save the mate bond. It's understandable that you'd want to do that. But this is her life, Isabelle. Wouldn't you rather her be healthy and happy, then miserable with you?"
I didn't have anything to say to that, but he knew that already.
"I texted Rowan, he's here and is going to drive you back."
"What? No! I have to stay-" He cut me off again.
"No, you need to be there for your children. And you need to get some rest. Jada can do this by herself, and I don't plan on leaving anytime soon. I'll text you when she wakes up."
Irritation boiled within me and not wanting to make him mad or send Jada into another downward spiral, I glared at him and stormed out, not caring about any of the Hunters with their weapons pointed directly at me the entirety of my walk to the parking lot.