Chapter 40

Ashlynn

I finished reviewing all the files for the seven mares coming in today. When the first three arrived, we quickly examined them. One of the mares, we weren't sure was going to be able to be bred this time. Her ovaries didn't appear to have mature follicles, so she may need to wait until early spring. I would do an ultrasound tomorrow to confirm.

I went to speak to Cody. I advised him of the mare who potentially had a follicular prematurity. We discussed the four mares that would be arriving around dinner time. He assured me that he'd catalog them and put them in stalls and I could do my evaluation in the morning. When we finished, I ran up to my loft to shower, change and grab a quick bit to eat. I wanted to get into town to the hospital. My Uncle had told me Dawson still wasn't awake. I didn't care, I wanted to sit with him. I hoped he could feel my presence. I hoped that the mate bond would help him.

I tried not to speed in to town, but truthfully, I was in a hurry to see Dawson. It had been twenty four hours since I left his bedside. Surely there had been a change by now. Hopefully for the better.

As I walked into the critical care unit, one of the nurses saw me passing by and stopped me. "Sorry miss but I think you should wait. There's a lot going on in Mr. Campbell's room right now. They won't let you in. Maybe take a seat in the waiting room. I can come get you when it's ok to let you come back." She gave me a tight smile.

"What's going on? Is there something wrong?" I asked, worry evident in my voice.

"Nothing different from yesterday. They are just in the process of inserting a special line and hooking him up to a machine to filter his blood. It shouldn't be much longer," she turned to walk back to her post at the desk, pointing down the hall to the waiting room. "Go sit. I will come get you."

"Hold on. What do you mean to filter his blood? Why would they need to do that?" I asked, irritated that she was dismissing me.

The nurse sighed, her eyes meeting mine. "He has silver in his blood. The doctor would like to see if he can filter it out. I'm sure Dr. Cortez will explain it to you when he's done inserting the line. I can send him to the waiting room." She followed that with a look that said she was clearly done talking about it.

I nodded my head in understanding and went to sit in the waiting room. I didn't do much sitting, rather I paced the room like a caged cat.

It was probably at least thirty minutes before Dr. Cortez walked in to the waiting room. He sat me down and explained the procedure and why they had to do it. I didn't even know how he had silver in his blood so I made sure to ask. He seemed surprised that my Uncle didn't tell me. I was sure he was just trying to protect me, so he withheld that information so that I wouldn't worry so much. Either way, it was scary to learn of this. Dawson could die as a result.

After the doctor gave me the go ahead to return to Dawson's room, I stood outside the window gazing in at his still form. Dawson now lay with some sort of large tube coming out of his neck. It was attached to a large machine, and his blood was being pulled from his body and then returned via another tube. It looked scary. There was a nurse in there writing some stuff on a clip board and then walking to the computer on the wall to enter data into what I assumed was his medical record. She would occasionally touch some buttons on the machine and check this big clear tube that had what looked like a filter in it. I tapped the window to get her attention as Dr. Cortez had told me to do. The nurse looked up and smiled at me, then waived for me to come inside.

When I entered the room, she pulled a chair up to the side of the bed opposite the big machine and motioned for me to sit. She advised me not to touch any of the lines, but said it was ok if I held Dawson's hand. Not knowing what else I could do, I placed my hand on top of his. He felt cool to my touch, and that concerned me, as werewolves were always warm. I looked up at the nurse, "He's cold."

"It's normal. We are taking his blood outside of the body and putting it back in. It's not anything to be concerned about. I'm monitoring his temperature." She explained. It made me feel a little better, but I still had a pit in my stomach.

I lay my head on the bed, near his ear. I kept whispering to him that I was there and to wake up. He didn't respond. Eventually I grew quiet and just listened to whirring sound of the machine and the nurse tapping on the keyboard of her computer. At some point I fell asleep with my head still lying on the bed near his.