Chapter 116

Rachel POV

Our Blessed Goddess Medical Center

Getting to the hospital was proving to be an exercise in organized chaos.

Tyler still didn't want me to go while Nathan was adamant I had to be allowed to go. Neither of the Alphas in my life could stop fighting with each other long enough to agree on how I would be transported to Ethan.

I was in the process of ordering a ride for myself with my cell phone when Adam came into the house looking pissed.

"I've got the car pulled around to the front if you can stop fighting long enough to get in."

Adam was normally a very laid back guy -he had to be in order to tolerate being Beta to Tyler- so I was surprised to see him angry.

Was there too much testosterone in the air? What was happening with all of us? We were at each other's throats as if we were rivals rather than friends.

Nathan moved to take my arm, gently tugging me toward the door, "He's right. We need to get you to the hospital. You can ride in the backseat with Tyler. I'll stay upfront with Adam."

"No, you won't," Tyler growled, reaching over to take my other arm and tug me away from Nathan, "You drove here. You can damn well drive to the hospital if you're so set on going. I still say this is going to be a mistake. If anything happens to her, I swear by the Moon Goddess I'll---"

"Stop it! I shouted.

I was tired of them already. I just wanted to get to my brother as fast as possible. None of their squabbling mattered---and besides, I wasn't some prize for them to fight over.

"If you can't be civil with one another, I'm going to call a car service to go on my own. Stop acting like I'm a bone you both want to gnaw on. I'm not some object for you to fight over."

Why couldn't they understand this wasn't about them? Or me?

My brother -my only brother- was undergoing surgery on the other side of the city while they picked fights with each other.

Adam met my eyes and gestured with a nod to the door. He was clearly tired of the Alphas, too. I followed his lead, shrugging my arms free of both Nathan and Tyler to stalk to the waiting car outside.

If I had thought we'd leave immediately, I was to be proven sadly mistaken.

Tyler and Nathan argued once more over whether or not Nathan was to be allowed to travel with us in the sedan.

Finally fed up with them both, I asked Adam to just drive me on my own which spurred them into action.

In the end, Tyler and I rode in the backseat of the sedan while Nathan smugly occupied the passenger seat up front beside Adam---who looked as if he'd rather be driving anyone else anywhere else and I couldn't blame him one bit.

We arrived at Our Blessed Goddess Medical Center with no resolution to the tension between our merry band of misfits.

Determined to get to my brother, I sprang for the door as soon as Adam pulled to the curb beside the Visitor's Entrance. I was still fast enough to get the door open though Tyler was faster than I expected.

Tyler was out of the car before I could even try to push the door closed on him; Nathan exited the front seat at almost the exact same time. Neither Alpha was willing to let me go anywhere alone.

I didn't know what to do upon arriving inside the sprawling lobby.

The smell of blood tainted the air around me, making me feel as if I were breathing in metal and death with every breath.

A wave of dizziness rocked me on my feet. I was grateful for Tyler's overattentiveness since he steadied me before I had even fully recognized how sick I was becoming.

"I told you this was a bad idea."

"You didn't. You told me I couldn't go. Stop talking. Find my brother. Nathan? Call Art."

Nathan had his phone out before I'd even looked away from him. I couldn't pay attention to what he was saying.

All around me were wolfen. The air was thick with scents of wolves layering over the blood odor, intermingling with it, making my mind fixate on how hurt Ethan had to be to need to come here. What had happened to him during the fight? Would he recover?

"Don't borrow trouble," Tyler murmured into my ear, his voice a safe rumble in a world gone mad, "My mother used to say that."

Tyler must be more worried about me than I thought to bring up his mother.

I wanted to ask him about the saying. I wanted to ask him about his mother. I wanted to go home because this was all a mistake, my brother hadn't tried to enter the illegal world of supernatural fighting and so he wasn't in surgery.

"We need to go to the far elevator bank. He's still in the surgery waiting room on level 3."

The walk to the elevators took a whole day. A week passed while we rose from 'G' for ground floor to '3' where the surgical waiting rooms resided. I was a whole year older when I finally caught my first glimpse of Alpha Inspector Art Windsor again.

"Goddess take you both! What part of 'don't bring her here' didn't you understand?"

"How is my brother?" I asked, knowing I had to take charge of the direction of the conversation fast or risk losing any chance to get a quick answer regarding Ethan's situation, "Tell me everything you know. Is he still in surgery? What are they doing? What kind or procedure is it? When can I see him? What---"

"Calm down! I can't answer every question at the same time. He's still in surgery. They've had to do several different procedures. The wounds were poisoned. His healing cells aren't responding to the injuries as a result."

Poison.

The idea of poison worsened the dizzy sensation I felt and I swayed on my feet, for the first time wondering if all the concerns for my safety might be real.

What reason could someone have to poison Ethan though? He was an omega who wouldn't inherit anything more than Patrick's home. There was no high-ranking match waiting on him, no inheritance to entice gold diggers, no position he'd leave empty if he were taken out of play.

"What kind of poison?" Tyler asked, his deep voice a concerned rumble which echoed in my ears.

I was beginning to feel sicker and seeing Art's face turn darker didn't help me at all. What could be bad enough to put the Alpha Inspector on edge? Did he know who had poisoned Ethan? How could Art have found out so quickly?

Questions swam around inside my mind. I was drowning in fear. All I could do was keep moving, kicking, paddling, whatever it took to keep my head above the dark waters I'd never wanted to dive into.

"I don't know. I tried to get an answer from Justice. She either genuinely doesn't know what we're looking at or it's bad enough for her to need to clear the info with the Alpha Council before telling me."

The idea information was being withheld from Art -or would be held back from him- made worse the sick feeling trying to swallow me.

I just wanted to see my brother, watch him breathe, hear his heartbeat, smell his familiar scent of woods and sundrenched summer days.

"They're able to treat it though, right? Ethan will be cured."

Poison couldn't take away my brother's future. I needed Art to tell me so because my brother was only 18-years-old. He was too young to be left with permanent injuries and too precious to me besides.

Ethan had to be okay. I couldn't stand any other possibility. I couldn't even stomach the idea of another outcome outside of a full recovery.

"I wish I could say 'yes' to you, Rachel, but I just don't know."

Art looked sad and grim at once; I wondered how many times he'd given bad news to family members like myself.

I decided the number didn't matter when I caught a glimpse of knowledge in his eyes I realized I never wanted to learn.

"What can we do?" I took a deep breath to steady myself before asking again, "What can I do? I can't just wait here. I can't just wait to hear if my brother---"

Art looked away from me, no answer to give me. I looked from Tyler to Nathan and back to Art again as I tried to mentally accept what no one was willing to say aloud.

There was nothing for me to do. Nothing for any of us to do. Nothing to do except wait.