Chapter 273 273 The Miracle in the Doctor’s Office

Chapter 273 273 The Miracle in the Doctor’s Office
Ethan and Meadow returned to the mansion in silence. The ride back from the Clearwater house had been too heavy for words, even through the mind link. Meadow sat beside him, staring out of the window, but he knew she was not seeing the road or the trees or the pack houses they passed. She was still inside that living room, still hearing the truth about Onawa Docela, the Ace clan, Tamar, Blake, and the little girl they had all failed in different ways. Ethan wanted to hold her hand, but he also knew some hurts needed space before comfort could enter.
The moment they got to the entrance, Brian helped them down from the van. They entered the mansion and went straight to their room without stopping to speak to anyone. Meadow’s face was calm, but Ethan knew his wife now. Her silence had layers. There was the silence forced on her by compulsion, and then there was the silence she chose when her heart was too full to trust itself with movement. This was the second kind. The kind that made his chest ache because he knew he had caused part of it by taking her there without warning.
“Are you still mad at me?” Ethan asked when they entered their room.
Meadow was standing by the closet, taking off her blouse. She paused and looked at him. Her eyes were still wet in a tired way, not crying anymore, but not fine either. She shook her head because she was not mad at him, not truly. She was mad at the situation. Mad at the years stolen from her. Mad at the truth everyone else had known before she did. Mad at the way her whole childhood had been built on silence, shame and half-truths.
“Had you not taken me there, I wouldn’t have discovered the truth. What I am mad about is that you did not tell me what you knew,” she confessed through the mind link.
Ethan’s guilt deepened. He wheeled close to her, then got up carefully once he was near enough and held her by the closet. He kissed the mark on her neck, hoping to soften the hurt before it grew teeth. Meadow pulled away immediately because she knew exactly what he was doing. He was trying to cheat his way through the situation with kisses and scent, and no matter how much her body loved him, she still had enough sense to know it.
Her reaction made Ethan chuckle softly.
“Are you going to punish me for it?” he asked.
He moved closer until her back touched the wall. Meadow turned her head to the side, fighting the pull of his forest scent. It was unfair how quickly her body knew him now. How quickly anger and desire started mixing whenever he touched her like this. He kissed his mark again, slower this time, his mouth warm on the sensitive skin.
“I wanted to get to the bottom of it, darling. I wanted to be sure what my mother told me was accurate. That was why I did not tell you,” he linked her.
He kept nibbling and kissing the mark while he explained, and Meadow hated that her thighs pressed together without her permission. She was still upset, but her body had begun to betray her. Ethan noticed. Of course he did. His scent shifted slightly, and his confidence returned.
“The issue with your parents was too delicate for me to feed you false information. I wanted to solve the problem, not compound it,” he added.
Meadow wanted to stay firm. She really did. But Ethan’s mouth was on her neck, and his hands were already gentle on her body. He unhooked her bra, and when his mouth moved to her breasts, she let her head fall back against the wall. The argument was not over, but for the moment, she allowed herself to feel him. She opened to the love he offered willingly, and a soft sound slipped from her throat when his mouth closed over one nipple.
Ethan heard the small sound and nearly lost himself in it. Meadow was making more of them lately. Little moans, sighs, broken breaths that felt like promises. Not words yet, but proof that something buried inside her was shifting. He worshipped her breasts until her nipples hardened beneath his tongue, then sucked them some more because he loved the way her fingers dragged through his hair when he did it. By then, her panties were soaked, and the scent of her arousal filled the small space between them.
He went down on his knees before her and rolled her skirt and panties down together, leaving her bare. The smell of her hit him fully, sweet and tempting, and he breathed her in like she was the only thing that could steady him. He parted her legs and leaned in, using his tongue to open her gently before teasing the sensitive place that always made her tremble.
Meadow grabbed his hair tightly to support herself because her knees weakened almost at once. Ethan placed one of her legs over his shoulder, keeping her back against the wall while his mouth stayed between her thighs. He loved her slowly there, then deeper, giving her the kind of apology that did not need words. Meadow felt herself coming apart. She had been extra sensitive lately, though she had not thought much of it. Everything Ethan did seemed to reach deeper than before. Every touch felt sharper. Every kiss seemed to set fire to places in her body that were already waiting for him.
Ethan had noticed it too. She was wetter, softer, easier to bring to the edge, and he loved it. He loved her reactions. Loved the way her body trusted him even when her mind was still angry. He worshipped her until she came, tugging at his hair while her body shook against the wall. He wished, as he often did, that she could call his name. But the thought did not make him sad the way it used to. He knew her body. He knew her hands. He knew her eyes. Her silence was not empty to him.
Still, he hoped one day he would hear it.
When her strength left her, he carried her to the bed to apologise to her properly for shocking her with the visit to her parents.
A week passed after that, and nothing out of the ordinary happened. Whitewood and Ceenas were ready for war, but there was still no sign of the hidden Alpha. Everyone waited with their nerves stretched thin, and that waiting became its own kind of torture. Joseph had considered seizing the mansion back from Cynthia, but he knew doing that would only make the bastard behind her re-strategise. They did not want him hiding deeper. They wanted to lure him out and end him properly. So everyone went about their business, pretending life was normal while preparing for the day he showed his face.
They wondered how long it would take him to gather his army of rogues and strike. No one liked the answer because there was no answer. Joseph spent most of his time getting to know Victoria, and the more he learned about her, the more he fell in love. It was strange and beautiful to watch him soften in a way no one had expected. He was still Joseph, still sharp and serious when needed, but with Victoria, there was something peaceful about him now.
Amber was recovering happily with Levi, and Levi never let her out of his sight for long. He had also set a trap for the person poisoning her by ordering food and drinks from the kitchen as usual. The staff did not know they had discovered Amber’s condition was due to poisoning, and Levi made sure it stayed that way. He wanted the culprit careless. He wanted whoever had done it to believe they were safe.
Every night, Levi ordered food or drinks from the kitchen. He made sure he tasted a little of it and drank the water or juice before throwing the rest away. Amber never touched any of it. They only ate from Ethan’s kitchen now, where Meadow, Victoria and Elaine handled the meals. Each morning, Levi went to the hospital for tests, hoping something would finally show up. For two weeks, every result came out clean, and he began to wonder if the culprit had given up or sensed danger.
One morning, Levi was heading to the hospital for his usual test when he saw Ethan and Meadow getting into the van. He knew they were heading out. He did not want to seem nosey, but Meadow did not look well. Her face was pale, and she had that weak heaviness around her eyes that made his stomach tighten. After what had happened to Amber, Levi could not ignore it.
“What is the matter?” Levi asked.
“She ran a temperature most of the night, so I decided we would see the doctor this morning,” Ethan said.
Meadow truly looked pale, and fear entered Levi’s chest immediately. What if the person poisoning Amber had moved on to Meadow now that she was the true Luna? The thought was enough to make him angry and afraid at the same time.
“Who cooked the last meal she ate?” Levi asked.
Ethan frowned a little because the question seemed unrelated, but he answered anyway.
“It was Elaine. Meadow, Victoria and Elaine cook all our meals,” Ethan replied.
Levi considered the answer. Someone might have slipped something into the food without them knowing, but that theory did not sit right if Meadow was the only one sick. He did not want to pry too much, so he asked if he could join them at the hospital instead. Ethan agreed, and Levi got into the front seat.
He did not leave Amber alone without protection. He left her in Joseph and Victoria’s care and pleaded with them not to feed her anything they had not handled themselves. Joseph understood immediately, and Victoria nodded with the seriousness the matter deserved.