Ezra
My mind races as I pace the hospital room and watch as the Doc gives Kat some injections and hooks an IV up to her. My blood is boiling trying to figure out how she got wolfsbane in her system. Shirley stands by the far window, her brows furrow in worry, her thumb and finger pinching her bottom lip as she watches the Doctor.
"Get out!" I tell everyone but the Doctor, the two nurses instantly rush out the door. Shirley lifts her head to look at me but remains, tears roll down her face as she looks on at her daughter who is unconscious, laying on the hospital bed covered by the clinical blue hospital blanket.
"I said get out!" Shirley looks at me startled.
"She is my daughter. You can't make me leave her," she scoffs.
"Until I find out how she ingested wolfsbane, no one goes near her," I tell her.
Shirley doesn't budge; I am two seconds away from tossing her out myself.
"Get the fuck out of this room now!" I scream at her, forcing my Alpha aura over her. She whimpers, turning her neck in submission before rushing out the door behind me.
Moving closer to the bed, I sit next to Kat brushing her dark hair from her face while Doc frantically tries to hook a fluid bag up to her.
"Calm down Doc, I wasn't talking to you," I tell him and I hear his heart rate slow and his hands stop trembling as he exhales in relief.
"How much is in her system?"
"We won't know until her blood samples come back," he says and I nod, peering down at my mate who is almost as pale as the white sheet she is lying on, her skin cold and clammy.
Hours pass as I wait in her hospital room pacing, my wolf howling in my head at his hurt mate, giving me a headache. Kat remains unconscious; the only sounds are her breathing and the beep of the heart rate monitor.
Doc opens the door, I look up to see him with some papers in hand. I can hear Shirley and Derrick arguing in the hall but pay them no attention, I’m more focused on the sound of my mate’s beating heart. The door pushes open further and Doc comes in, shutting the door behind him. I stop watching as he flicks through her charts in his hand, he gasps and his eyes dart nervously towards me. “What do her blood tests show?” I ask him and he glances at her.
"She has three times the lethal dose in her system," he whispers looking back down at the charts.
"She will be okay though?" I ask him.
“She is stable but–” Doc nods, but looks away from me and I can tell he wants to say something else.
"What is it?"
Doc sighs and tucks her folder under his arm. "The amount she ingested is near impossible for someone to swallow whole. No one would be able to ingest that much of that plant, Alpha. It was either in liquid or pill form. No one would be able to eat that much."
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying someone gave it to her, to hurt her, or she took concentrated levels to commit suicide."
I take a step back in shock, my stomach dropping at his words.
"You think she tried to kill herself? She seemed fine earlier."
"No, that was just a suggestion. I believe someone gave her a concentrated dose. There is no way she should have access to that plant," he tells me.
The yelling outside in the hallway gets louder, to the point we can hear it even through the closed door. The sound of a slap makes us whip around. I push past Doc to see what is going on.
Rushing out, I expect to see Derrick with a red mark on his face, but I am shocked when I see it is Shirley. Derrick’s chest heaves as he stands off with his mate, glaring daggers at her.
I see red at knowing he just hit his mate. I stalk toward him and he turns to stare at me, his wolf peeps out but I don't care. I grab him by his throat and slam him hard against the wall.
Rushing down the corridor I spot Mateo from the corner of my eye. He reaches me and grips my arm, holding me back from teaching this abusive asshole a lesson.
"Woah settle down, Ezra," Mateo says, having walked in on this chaos.
If he knew what Derrick had just done he would have him by his throat too.
Derrick glares at his mate unperturbed by my hand wrapped around his throat. He shoves me off him and I reluctantly let go, my entire body trembling at what he has just done. Nothing justifies hitting his mate.
"You go near our daughter again I will fucking kill you," he spits at his mate, and Shirley backs away from him, tears rushing down her face.
“Derrick?” I question. My blood runs cold. Pieces of a puzzle are falling into place but I don't want to jump to conclusions.
Derrick shakes his head, growling as if he is fighting for control before pointing at her angrily. "I fucking warned you last time over this shit!" he screams. His face turning red with his rage, he takes a step toward her. Mateo’s hand falls on his shoulder in warning.
"Someone needs to tell me what's going on, now!" I demand.
"Ask her, I need a fucking smoke," Derrick growls angrily, stalking off down the hallway. We watch him leave and I turn to look at Shirley.
Mateo is also glaring at her, as Doc watches from the doorway.
Behind Doc, I hear a groan. I rush through the open door past him. She's waking up. I stop inside the door, leaning on the frame as relief surges through me.
Doc rushes toward her with water and she clutches the glass, gulping the water down. Her hands tremble. Kat lays back down when she suddenly notices everyone, her face flushes an adorable shade of pink.
"I'm so sorry baby, I didn't know, I didn't know," Shirley says, clutching her face, Kat looks at her mother confused.
Mateo lets out a menacing growl, ripping Shirley away from her daughter by the back of her shirt. "What the fuck did you do?" He demands. Doc jumps out of the way as fur sprouts on Mateo's arms.
I move toward the bed to check on Kat. "You okay, love?" I ask her.
"Love?" She asks, as I realize what I said. She shakes her head, before looking at Mateo who has her mother cornered by the window. "I'm fine, please don't hurt my mom, she didn't do anything. I accidentally touched some in Science class," she lies.
I could tell not even she believes what is leaving her lips. She was fine during detention, and we don’t allow wolfsbane in Science or any other class. She is scared and trying to protect her mother. This becomes more evident as tears spring up in her eyes and trail down her cheeks.
"No one can ingest that amount dear, who are you covering up for? Who gave you the wolfsbane?" Doc says gently, patting her shoulder.
"No, it was an accident, in Science."
"Stop lying. One of you better speak and the truth this time," I spit out, turning to glare at Shirley.
Shirley looks away guiltily and now it makes sense why her mate slapped her.
"She needs to grow a tolerance just in case," Shirley whispers, barely audible to even my ears.
I growl, lunging at her and slamming her against the wall, while Kat screams in panic. "What did you just say?" I growl at her.
"She needs to build a tolerance to wolfsbane."
"You gave her three times the lethal dose!" I scream at her.
"Please, she didn't do anything," Kat cries, jumping to her feet and clutching my arm.
I look down at her beside me. She shouldn’t be out of bed. Doc seems to agree with the way he hovers behind her and so does Mateo, as if they expect her to collapse at any second.
"Sit down, I am done listening to your lies," I snap at Kat forcing my Alpha aura out accidentally.
She whimpers, Mateo grabs her as she drops to the ground sitting like I said.
"Shit, sorry," I apologize, I reach down and gently grab her from him. "Sorry, Kat," I whisper, scooping her legs out from under her and placing her back in the bed.
"You have got to be kidding me, this all makes so much sense now," Shirley mutters to herself behind me, and I glare at her over my shoulder.
"Get out, I will deal with you in a minute," I order her and she walks out slamming the door behind her.
I tuck my mate back under the blanket hoping she remains there this time.
"Mateo, stay with her while I handle her mother," Kat reaches for my hand, probably to beg me to stop. “No, she did the wrong thing,” I growl at her, and Maddox presses beneath my skin, wanting to come to the surface.
Mateo pushes Kat’s shoulder back, forcing her to lay down. "Go, Alpha, I will stay with her," he promises, sitting on the edge of the bed beside Kat.
"Wait, please don't hurt her, she meant no harm," Kat says, but once again I can tell not even she believes the words she is speaking as they come out as a whisper. But Shirley is her mother so I know she will still defend her even if she is intentionally trying to hurt her.