Chapter 37

Cody

Some how I was the one who got put in charge of telling Ashlynn what had happened. The Alpha elected to stay in town at the hospital to wait for Dawson to wake up. He said I was the only one who Ashlynn really knew from the group, so he thought it should come from me. We had rolled in around two in the morning, everyone completely exhausted. I saw that all the lights were off at Ashlynn's, so I just went to bed. I woke up around seven feeling like I hadn't slept at all. The worry was toying with me, and the responsibility to tell Ashlynn was weighing heavy. I got dressed and walked to the main house first. I thought Carolyn should be there to support Ashlynn.

All the lights were on downstairs, the Luna coming to the door as soon as I knocked. She let me in and offered me coffee and breakfast. That sounded amazing. I walked into the dining room and Carolyn was sitting there, finishing up her food and sipping her coffee. "Hey,"she smiled. "So good to see you this morning, but why do you look so tired?" I looked over at Jenna and she gave me a look, she clearly hadn't told Carolyn what happened last night.

I took the chair next to hers, and filled up my plate with the food on the table. One of the Omega's brought me a cup of coffee and then hurried out, after picking up Carolyn's empty plate. "It was a long night. The Alpha is in town at the hospital."

"What?", Carolyn nearly shouted and looked over at Jenna. Jenna sighed and sat down at the end of the table, her hands folded.

"It's not what you think. The Alpha is fine. He's there with one of the pack members. There was an incident last night as they were leaving the Godsend Pack. Alpha is waiting for them to wake up," Jenna told her.

"Oh. Ok." Carolyn was quiet a minute. She looked at me,"Something feels off. What's going on Cody?"

I set my fork down. "Dawson was shot with a wolfsbane dart, he's still unconscious. I came here to ask you to go with me to tell Ashlynn."

Jenna cut in, "Maybe you should wait. He could wake up soon. I know she has a lot of work to do today. There are mares coming in at ten."

"She's already up. I saw the lights on in the clinic. It won't be long before she starts asking where Dawson is, or looking for him. I can't just keep it from her," I tell them, looking back and forth between the two women.

Carolyn placed her hand over mine. It was clenched on my thigh in a tight fist. As soon as she touched me, I relaxed and gave her a small smile.

"I know my daughter. If you don't tell her, she's going to be pissed. She's strong, she can handle it. It's not like you're telling her he's dead." Carolyn looks at me and I don't say anything. "Right Cody?" It's a question and a statement at the same time.

"We actually don't know what's going to happen. We don't know how much wolfsbane was in the dart." I chugged my coffee down and stood up. "I'm going to get this over with." I turned and walked out of the house.

By the time I got to the clinic it was almost eight in the morning. I just walked right in and found Ashlynn at the desk reviewing files for todays incoming horses. She looked up from her work and smiled.

"You look busy," I said. Of course she was busy, but I was trying to decide how to tell her about Dawson.

"Just getting a jump start on the day. I couldn't sleep. I've been in here since five. I have most everything done, just waiting on the inbound mares." She set down her pencil and pushed her chair back to stand. "I was actually going to make some coffee."

"Well I have something we should discuss first, if you don't mind." I lean against the wall, my hands in my pockets.

Ashlynn gives me a funny look. "You're acting weird Cody. You usually just waltz right in and say what you've got to say and walk back out." She crosses her arms across her chest. "Tell me what this is about."

I take a deep breath and proceed to tell her exactly what happened and where Dawson is. The second I say he's in the hospital, she's rounding the corner for the door. "Where the hell are you going Ash? I'm talking to you."

She turns around. "I knew something was wrong as soon as I woke up this morning. I felt off. Now I know why. You should have woke me when you got in this morning." She opens the door and as she walks out, she calls over her shoulder, "I'm going to the hospital."

I run out the door, "You need to stay here Ashlynn. There is nothing you can do. It's a waiting game. The Alpha is there."

Ashlynn turns around at the bottom of the steps to her apartment, her glare makes me stop in my tracks. "That is my mate. The Alpha has a pack to run. I'm the one that needs to be there, and that's where I'm going. You can handle the mares when they get here, just put them in stalls. I will do the rest later." She turns on her heel and runs up the stairs to her loft. I presume it was to get her keys, because thirty seconds later, she's running down the stairs and out to her truck. Nothing I can do now, I should have known I couldn't stop her. I know how it is, I had a mate once.

Ashlynn

I tore out of there like the devil himself was chasing me. I know it was unreasonable to think they should have woken me in the middle of the night, but I was still upset. I kept telling myself, they are just waiting for him to wake up. I was willing myself to slow down. I didn't need to put myself in the hospital to.

I made it in forty minutes flat, barely shoved my truck in park and ran inside. The receptionist looked up at me, her fingers mid-stroke on her keyboard. "Are you injured?" She asked me.

"What? No." I must have looked crazy or something. I realized I was sweating.

"Well, you look like you've been hurt or something. Are you having a heart attack?" Her voice was grating on my nerves.

"No. I'm hear for Dawson, the Alpha is with him." I told her.

She raised her eyebrows at me, "The who?" I realized she's human two seconds after it came out of my mouth. I can't believe they hire humans to work in a werewolf hospital.

"His boss. The owner of Lone Wolf Ranch."

"Oh, ok. Down the hall to the left," she points and goes back to her computer.

"Thanks," I mutter as I make my way down the hall. There's a waiting room and my Uncle is sitting back in a chair with a cup of coffee in his hand, looking quite a mess and very tired.

"Ash," he perks up and gets out of his chair. "Aren't you supposed to be doing intake on the horses today?"

I raise my eyebrow at him and stand with my hands on my hips. "For real Uncle Gabe?" I let out an exasperated sigh. "I did most of the work this morning. I've been up since five. I'm here for Dawson."

"Well ok then. I can go home. He's in room 112. They will only let you stay a few minutes at a time, they are trying to monitor the amount of wolfsbane in his blood still, so they keep taking blood samples. I'm told he should wake up later today." My Uncle goes to head out the door.

"Should?" I ask and he stops.

"Yeah, nothing is guaranteed kiddo," and he walks out, leaving me standing in the waiting room alone.

Time to find room 112. I head down the hallway till I come across a nurses station. The nurse at the desk just points me down the hall and I walk till I see room 112. There's a huge glass window, and the heavy wooden door is closed. There is a women in scrubs fussing over him, writing stuff on a clip board, in between chewing on her pen. I tap on the window. She turns and smiles and waves me in.

"Hello there," she is very chipper. "And you are?"

I take a moment to catch her scent. I don't want to assume she's a wolf. But she is. Of course they can't have humans taking care of wolves, that could be catastrophic. "Hi, I'm Ashlynn. I'm his...uh...I'm his mate."

The nurse looks at me and then looks over at Dawson. He's bare from the waist up. "Well I don't see a mark," she says matter of factly. "We have to be careful about who is in here you know. Someone tried to kill him."

I gulp,"I know. And no I'm not marked and neither is he. We just found out a couple of days ago, but we have been dating for a few months before that anyway." I don't know why I'm telling her all of this. I could have just told her to call the Alpha.

She nods her head. "Ok, but try not to touch anything. I will be back in a half an hour to draw some blood." She walked out without a second look.

I pull up a chair next to the bed. I'm not sure what to do, so I just hold his hand, afraid to touch anything. I lay my head on the edge of the bed and close my eyes. All I can hear is the beeping of the machines, and I feel like my heart is breaking. "Please wake up Dawson," I whisper, hoping he hears me.