Page 71 of Meeting Her Mate
“Alpha wolves tend to play things close to the chest. Don’t take it personally. Be glad, instead. Be happy that he’s okay and that you two are now bonded officially. You may not know this, but you’ve had a lot of effect on him,” Vince said. He patted my shoulder affectionately.
We stayed seated for another half hour, watching the empty commune. The party had died down after our arrival. The men who had accompanied me into the forest broke the news to the rest of the pack. They solemnly wound up the party and went back to their homes. Morgan and the rest of the men stayed at the clinic with me for a while, but after Dr. Morris said that it would take some time before he’d find something substantial, I excused the men to go back to their homes.
Now, gripped with anticipation, I waited.
Finally, after what seemed like another hour, Dr. Morris opened the door of his clinic and signaled us both to come inside.
Will lay there on the bed, dressed in clinical robes. He was sleeping soundly. There were some scratches on his body, but none of them were deep enough to leave scars. I cautiously walked up to him and took hold of his hand. Even though he was asleep, he wrapped his fingers around my hand.
“He muttered your name a few times while he was still under,” Dr. Morris said. “For the record, Vince, next time you decide to steal military-grade tranquilizers from my personal supply, be so courteous as to inform me beforehand. If you had injected him with another dose, it would have been lethal.”
“I’m sorry,” Vince said, shifting his feet embarrassingly. “I was only following orders.”
“Geez, where have we heard that before?” Dr. Morris said, rolling his eyes. He then brought up the chart he was holding and addressed me. “Upon conducting emergency bloodwork, I have some bad news. Will is stable for now. He’s going to wake up in a few hours when the tranquilizer’s effect wears off. I doubt he’s going to remember what happened to him. You must be very careful with him, Alexis. There’s no telling what’s going to happen next.”
My breath suddenly turned cold upon hearing the doctor’s remarks. All my extremities seemed to go numb. “What does this mean?”
“Will came to me a couple of times, wanting some reports on his bloodwork. I didn’t consider it right to share the findings with him right away until I had something concrete to tell him. However, this emergency bloodwork has confirmed my worst suspicion. The chemicals that are coursing through his body have poisoned him, leaving only two options for him. Either his body will succumb to the adverse effects of the experiments, or he’s going to morph into his feral form permanently. Given his latest results, I only see his condition worsening from here,” Dr. Morris said grimly. He put the chart down and looked at me with a mixture of kindness, pity, and sadness. “There’s nothing that I, as a doctor, can do to simply cleanse him of the poisons that are affecting him. There’s no such method of detox that exists in the medical science.”
“That can’t be it,” Vince said in a fierce voice. “Will is strong. He’s going to get through this. You can’t seriously expect me to buy your brand of pessimistic bullshit, doctor! You’re more than a doctor; you’re a werewolf of the Grimm pack. A healer, first and foremost. Isn’t there anything we can do?”
“I am afraid not. Traditional medicine has no solutions for him,” Dr. Morris said.
“What about alternative medicine? Native American herbalism? Old Nordic medicine from our ancestors?” I asked. “Will’s always going on about the magical ways of the Vikings, the old Norse people, and so on. Isn’t there some arcane knowledge in our books that we can use to our benefit?”
“There is a limit to my knowledge and methods, Ms. Richards, and this is where it ends,” Dr. Morris said. “Any further experimentation with alternative medicine will yield results that I cannot guarantee the safety of.”
“You’re dooming him to a fate of death or madness,” Vince said.
“Why don’t you understand? The fact that he’s alive so far is miraculous in itself,” Dr. Morris said, shaking his head fervently. “He’s a medical anomaly. By no means should he be alive, given how many alterations have been made to his body as a result of decades of torture, experiments, mutations, and so forth!”
“You’re giving up, doctor. But that doesn’t mean that I’m going to!” Vincent snapped and stormed out of the clinic, leaving me alone in there with Will’s unconscious body and a very perplexed Dr. Morris.
I looked at Will and placed my hand on his heart. His heartbeat was feeble but stable.
“He’s not going to die,” I said. “We are bonded. I will lend him all my strength. Will shall live a long and happy life.”
“As much as I appreciate your sentiment, none of that is medically applicable,” Dr. Morris said. “My advice would be to spend the rest of your days with him while he’s still sane and alive. Cherish the time that you do have with him rather than mourn the time when he’s not going to be there. I’m sorry.”
“A man as valiant as Will does not brave the horrors of war, sail through the chaotic oceans, and survive years of torture and experiments just to die idly on his deathbed. Death will have him when it has earned him. Not a second sooner,” I said, glaring into Dr. Morris’s spectacle-covered eyes.
“He’s going to be very weak when he wakes up. The feral shifting and the loss of control over his mental faculties have taken a lot out of him. Be there for him. I’m prescribing you some medication for him. Make sure he takes them. In the meantime, hope for the best and plan for the worst,” Dr. Morris said while scribbling a prescription on his pad.
As I heard Dr. Morris’s remarks, I wondered if all doctors were disaffected by the disasters their patients went through or if it was just Dr. Morris who was this unfeeling.
“You may think me a bit indifferent, Miss Richards. I understand. But in the interest of medical integrity, I must be honest. I know a lost cause when I see one. It’s better for you that you do, too,” he said.
***
That night which would have been a night of celebration, I did not sleep a wink. Vince had absconded in the night. I did not know where he was. I waited for him to show up, but in the end, Morgan and Simon had to take the stretcher with Will lying on it to his home. There, they helped me get him on his bed, then assisted just a bit with the mess he had made when he had gone berserk.
I spent the entire night by his side, watching him sleep, keeping an eye out for the slightest movement.
The most painful and difficult night in my life was when I was home alone for the first time after my parents’ death.
This night was a close second.
Chapter 26: Will