Tristan
“I’m sorry,” I said quickly. “I’m not trying to undermine you guys bond. I’m just… scared. I’m terrified that we’re going to lose her to this thing.”
‘We won’t lose her,” Orion said. But his voice didn’t sound convinced.
Sarah stood up and walked over to me. She put her hands on my shoulders and made me look at her. “Athena is the strongest person I know,” she said. “If anyone can beat this, it’s her.”
I wanted to believe her. But strength hadn’t been enough in that cave.
Athena’s own strength had almost killed her.
“What did your great–grandmother do?” I asked Orion. “When the power tried to take over?”
“Mom never said it tried to take over,” Orion said. “She said our great–grandmother learned to live with it. To coexist with it.”
“Athena can’t coexist with something that wants to kill people,” I said.
“Maybe it doesn’t have to be about killing, Sarah said. “Maybe there’s another way to use it.”
I shook my head. “You didn’t see what it did to Daxon and Seraphine. It didn’t just kill them. It drained every bit of life from their bodies until there was
nothing left but husks.”
The room went quiet again. I could hear my own heartbeat pounding in my ears.
“There’s something else,” Orion said quietly.
I turned to look at him. “What?”
‘Mom mentioned that sometimes, when someone with the power drained life from multiple people at once, they needed time to recover. Days or even weeks of being unconscious while the power settled back down.”
‘How long?‘ Sarah asked.
“She didn’t say exactly,” Orion said. “But Athena drained two people completely. That’s more than our great–grandmother ever did once.”
My stomach dropped. “So we could be looking at weeks of keeping her sedated?”
“Maybe,” Orion said. ‘Or maybe longer.”
I felt like I couldn’t breathe. The thought of Athena lying unconscious for weeks, of not being able to talk to her or hold her or know it she was even still in there, was almost too much to handle.
“We’ll figure it out,” Sarah said again. But even she sounded less certain now.
There was a knock at the front door and we all froze. Sarah went to answer it and came back with Dr. Graze. He was a thin man in his sixties with gray hair and kind eyes. He’d been the pack physician for as long as I could remember.
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Chapter 196
“How is she?‘ he asked immediately.
“Unconscious,” Orion said. “We gave her the sedative like you said.”
“Good, Dr. Graze said. He set his medical bag down on the coffee table. “I want to examine her, but I need to know what I’m dealing with first. Sarah told me there was some kind of incident?”
Orion and I exchanged glances. How do you explain ancient werewolf magic to a man of science?
“She shifted under extreme stress,‘ I said carefully. “The shift was violent and took a lot out of her.”
Dr. Graze nodded like that made sense. “Traumatic shifts can be very hard on the body. Let me take a look.”
He followed us back to the guest room. Orion unlocked the door and we all went inside. Dr. Graze approached the bed slowly and knelt down next to
Athena’s still form.
He checked her pulse and listened to her breathing. He looked at her eyes and felt along her ribs. After a few minutes, he sat back on his heels.
‘She’s severely undernourished,” he said. “When was the last time she ate?”
I tried to think. “Yesterday morning, maybe?”
“That’s not enough to account for this level of malnutrition,” Dr. Graze said. “This looks like she hasn’t eaten properly in weeks.”
I knew what had caused it, but I couldn’t explain that to him.
“What can we do?” Sarah asked.
IV fluids,” he said. “Nutrients and electrolytes. But she needs to wake up soon so she can eat real food.”
“How soon?” Orion asked.
A few days at most,” Dr. Graze said. “After that, her body will start shutting down.”
I felt the blood drain from my face. “What if she can’t wake up yet?‘
70
Dr. Graze looked confused. “Why wouldn’t she be able to wake up? The sedative will wear off in eight hours.”
“What if we need to keep her sedated longer?” I asked.
“I wouldn’t recommend that,” Dr. Graze said. “Her body needs time to recover. Keeping her unconscious will only make things worse.”
I looked at Orion desperately. We were caught between two impossible choices. Wake/Athena up and risk the power taking control again, or keep her sedated and watch her body waste away.
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15:28 Sat, Jan 10 G MR
The Biker Alpha Who Became My Second Chance Mate
Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.
