My saving grace turned out to be Sasha, who grabbed my upper arm and forced me to face her. Inside my head I screamed for her to get a shot of adrenaline from the pack doctor. Yet all that came out of my mouth was another cough.
Instead, Sasha pushed a small bottle to my lips and ordered me to drink it. I viciously shook my head, while trying to mind-link Jared for help. How could she not see that I couldn't breathe, let alone swallow whatever she thought I needed to drink?
Sasha, however, ignored my weak protest and forced the liquid down my throat. Instead of easing my pain, the liquid caused me to start coughing even more violently.
Seconds ticked by before I finally realized that while the cough still persisted, I could now breathe again. The muscles in my throat unclenched and I greedily reached for as much air as possible.
Only when I was sure that I wouldn't suffocate, did I notice the silent tears streaming down my cheeks. I quickly wiped them away, while ignoring the trembling in my hands.
"What... was... that?" I rasped out.
"It's a potion that binds whatever poison is in your blood stream." Sasha sank down onto Dyson's chair and then pulled out another bottle from the purple pouch strapped to her hip. "Now, we have to wait and see if the poison will work on me as well. I didn't drink as much of the water as you, but one can never be sure."
"Poison?" I shook my head. "It's wasn't a poison. It was an allergic reaction. I'm guessing there were peanuts in the water."
"Allergic reaction?" Sasha furrowed her eyebrows. "I think I've heard of those before. They're a human conditions, aren't they?"
Before I could open my mouth to explain, Jared barged into the room. He pulled the chair I was still sitting on away from the table and crouched down in front of me.
"Thank the Goddess. Are you're okay?"
"I'm fine." I quickly reassured him and brushed my fingers along his cheek. "Apparently Sasha's potion works just as good as an EpiPen."
Wordlessly he pulled me up from the chair and wrapped me in a tight hug. The second I noticed the tremble in his body, I wrapped my arms around him and ran my hand up and down his back.
"I'm fine," I repeated.
"What the hell happened?"
"I thought it was poison, but Naia said it was only a human allergic reaction," Sasha said from behind my back.
"Allergic reaction?" Jared pushed me away from his body, and instead wrapped his hands around my upper arms. "Did you eat peanuts?"
"She didn't," Sasha said before I could. "She only drank a glass of water."
"Who gave you this water?" Jared's voice turned into a soft whisper, which clashed with his darkening eyes and sharpening canines.
"Ortiz," I whispered.
A loud growl tore its way out of Jared's throat as his eyes formed into two pitch black circles.
"Whoa!" Molly appeared in the open doorway of the dining room. "What's going on? Who pissed him off this time?"
"Bring me Ortiz!"
His booming roar caused me to flinch and inch an unconscious step backwards. However, instead of in fear from his shaking figure, I moved away because of the volume of his shout. If I had stood any closer to him, my eardrums might have exploded.
"What is—" Ortiz appeared in the open doorway next to Molly.
In the blink of an eye, Jared crossed the room and wrapped his hand around the former Gamma's throat. Without even a drop of sweat he lifted the said guy into the air and began to squeeze.
"Do you actually have a death wish?"
"Wh... What?" Ortiz struggled in Jared's hold, but he proved to be unable to escape the deadly hold.
"You dare harm my mate?"
The moment I saw Jared's hand tighten even further, I hurried across the room. I wasn't sure what I could possibly do, but I knew I couldn't just stand by and watch him kill somebody.
"Let him go."
Before I could reach Jared's side, however, Molly appeared in front of me and blocked my way.
"He's not in control right now," she said, while keeping her arms spread wide apart. "You can try to talk to him, but from a safe distance. I can't allow my Luna to get hurt."
"Jared?" I called out and craned my neck, so I could see past Molly's shoulder.
"Wasn't the first lemonade enough?" Jared acted like he hadn't even heard me. "Now you've restored to poisoning water?"
"Lemonade?" Molly glanced at Jared and Ortiz and then back at me. "Poison? What in the name of the Moon happened here?"
"I... I didn't..." Ortiz rasped out, but he didn't get much else out as Jared tightened his hold for another fraction.
"You need to stop him," I said to Molly.
It didn't matter if Ortiz intentionally contaminated the water or not. I couldn't allow Jared to kill him. Enemy or not, Ortiz was still a member of Blue Moon.
"What's going on here?"
The question came from the entrance into the dining room, where Dyson and Conner appeared. While the latter had his arm wrapped around Dyson's shoulder and was leaning against him, Dyson stared at Jared and Ortiz with raised eyebrows.
"Stop him," I said the moment Dyson's eyes moved from Sasha to Molly and me.
"What?" Dyson asked.
"You need to stop Jared from killing Ortiz." I waited for two heartbeats, but Dyson still remained rooted to his spot. "Now!"
In an instant Conner lifted his arm off Dyson and leaned against the wall. Dyson, on the other hand, immediately rushed forward. The second he reached Jared's side, he grabbed onto his arm. However, Jared proved to be too strong. Only after Molly rushed to his other side, did she and Dyson managed to pry Jared's fingers of Ortiz. The said guy landed on the floor and erupted into a coughing fit.
"Let go of me!" Jared growled, while keeping his eyes firmly fixed on the former Gamma. "He tried to harm Naia again."
"What?" Dyson turned his head toward Ortiz.
"What if it isn't his doing?" The soft whisper had all of our heads snapping in Conner's direction. "What if the hunters are forcing him to do it?"
"It's his own doing." Jared completely disregarded him, and snapped his eyes back to Ortiz.
I, on the other hand, kept my attention focused on Conner. The moment he had mentioned hunters I immediately remembered what exactly he had demanded of Aiko. He had told her to tell him where Larry was.
I pushed Jared's growls into the background and instead made my way over to Conner. He watched me with careful eyes, but made no move to flee.
Now, that I really looked at him, there was no denying that he didn't look like himself. His once shiny blonde hair was a lifeless mob and the spark in his eyes I had seen in Larry's presence was nowhere to be found. Not to mention the bandage wrapped around the upper part of his chest.
"Are you okay?" I stopped a step away from him.
"I'll need some time to heal, but Dr. Walsh says I'm going to make a quick recovery."
"Good." I turned around to look at Sasha, who was still sitting on Dyson's chair. "Help me get him to the table."
"There's no—" Conner began, but Sasha and I completely disregarded him.
With joined forces we helped him over to the long table, where he sat down onto the chair Sasha had been occupying a moment ago.
"Dyson and Molly take Jared and Ortiz out." I turned to the group of four. "I need to talk to Conner in private."
"You can talk to him later," Jared barked, but his eyes remained focused on the former Gamma. "Right now Ortiz needs to be punished."
"You can go deal with him outside."
Opposite to my words Jared remained rooted to his spot and focused his dark eyes on me. He even stopped his struggles to tear himself out of Molly and Dyson's hold.
"What's going on? What do the two of you have to talk about?"
"You can hear about it after I'm done talking with him." I crossed my arms in front of my chest and glanced at everyone still present inside the room. "I need everyone to leave."
"Not a chance in hell." Jared tore his arms out of Molly and Dyson's hold and took a step closer to me.
One scan around the room told me that he wouldn't be the only difficult one. Everyone's eyes were glistening with curiosity, and their shoulders set in a stubborn refusal.
"Fine." I glared at everyone still present inside the room. "You can all stay, but you need to promise to keep your mouths shut until Conner and I finish our conversation. Deal?"
To my surprise everyone wordlessly nodded in agreement. I focused back on the still healing warrior, who now looked like a man on death row, waiting for the axe to strike.
"How long have you known that Aiko was a hunter?"
From the corner of my eye I saw Jared open his mouth, but one glare from me had him quickly shutting it back again. Still, that didn't stop him from shooting a fierce glare in Conner's direction. His expression was one that said "explain everything before I decide to free your head from your shoulders."
"I didn't know she was a hunter until just before the celebration." Conner rested his hand on top of the bandage wrapped around his upper chest. "She came to me and told me that if I wanted to see Larry again, I had to free the captured hunter."
"Larry isn't visiting his family, is he?"
"No." Conner shook his head. "He set out to visit them, but soon after he left I got a call. It came from his phone, but it wasn't him. It was a hunter. He... he told me that if I ever want to see Larry alive, I have to follow his orders. And that if I told anyone, he would... kill Larry."
"Go on." The cold order came from Jared, whose face was now a blank mask.
"He kept asking me questions about the pack, but I made sure not to give him anything substantial... I thought all I gave him was useless crap... I never thought... You have to believe me... I just wanted Larry to come back alive."
"Where's Larry now?" Jared asked.
"I don't know. But I know for sure that he's still alive. I can feel it. My Larry is still out there." Conner lifted his eyes up to Jared. "I know that what I did is a betrayal of you, Alpha, and the pack. I deserve to die for my actions... But please don't blame Larry. He had nothing to do with any of this."
"You can't kill him!" I snapped my head at Jared. "He—"
"Calm down." Jared diminished the distance between us and wrapped his arm around my shoulders. "I'm not killing anyone, except for maybe Ortiz later on. Conner, I might not agree with what you did, but I can't blame you. If I was in your place, I know I would do everything in my power to save Naia. I understand what loving your mate can make you do."
Despite knowing that Larry was in a life threatening situation, I couldn't stop the warm sensation spreading through my body at Jared's words.
"What else happened out there?" Jared asked.
Conner and I shared a brief glance and with a wordless understanding I lunged into an explanation of Aiko's involvement. The further I got, the tighter Jared's arm around me became. But it never turned into a degree I couldn't handle.
After our explanation, everyone jumped to life, and they began discussing a strategy on how to proceed. I, on the other hand, couldn't help but wonder how I had missed the wolf inside my own room. Why didn't I ever bother to question Conner's explanation that Larry was visiting his family? Or his unexplained curt attitude when I asked about Larry?
Maybe if I had only noticed it sooner...
Quicker than I expected a plan was formed. And despite it already starting to turn dark outside, everyone agreed not to waste a single moment. With Jared in charge they decided that he would lead a group of pack warriors to search for Larry.
The first to volunteer to join him was Conner, and despite his still healing injury Jared allowed him to join them.
"No, he can't go." I shook my head in denial. Could he not remember that it had been only a couple of hours since Conner had been shot?
"Either I take him with us, or he's going to do something dangerous and stupid in search for his mate," Jared said. "Face it, Naia. We werewolves are a stubborn bunch. And there isn't a force on Earth that could keep us away from our mates."
No matter how convincing his words sounded, I couldn't allow him to change my mind. Conner needed to rest and heal. Before I could open my mouth though, Jared turned to face another one of the present warriors.
"Ortiz, you're coming as well." Jared's expression darkened into a scowl. "You're not leaving my sight until I decide what your punishment is going to be."
"What about me?" I asked.
Because I was now officially the Luna, I expected Jared to give me a task as well. Instead, he told me to go rest. I protested as loud as possible, but in the end I was forced to watch their disappearing figures. And while standing in the open front entrance, I kept reassuring myself that Larry was going to be okay.
He had to be.
***
Please, remember to vote and comment if you like the chapter.
Much love
- E