Chapter 12: 11, A sick pup

Colin’s POV

The rogues had nothing to do with Adina, Colin was almost certain of it. He had spent most of the morning questioning them. The two rogues were in bad luck. After being interrupted from his morning with Adina, Colin had a lot of frustration to get rid of. After feeling satisfied that he got all the information he could from the rogues, he had killed them.

Two single rogues were at no risk to his pack. Most rogues weren’t. But sometimes rogues banded together in larger groups. Then you had a serious problem. He knew this from experience. It was a lesson he didn’t need to be taught twice.

To be on the safe side, he didn’t want the two rogues to go free. He couldn’t be a hundred percent certain that the two of them didn’t work for someone else or had banded together. Better to be safe than sorry. His priority was the safety of Adina and the pack.

“I know the luna and Sean came here for protection. What are we protecting them from? Do we have a rogue army issue?” Mateo asked Colin as they made their way to the pack house.

“Not that I know of. If I could tell you the details, I would. But it’s on a need-to-know basis,” Colin said, using a tone that told his beta that the issue was closed. Mateo just nodded.

Colin realized it was a couple of hours until lunch. He could spend them in his office. The never-ending pile of paperwork could use some attention, he realised.

Paperwork was even more challenging than usual as his mind kept wandering to Adina. Mostly, he thought about what she had said when they first met and how he could change her mind.

But he also thought about how her hair looked when it rolled down her shoulder and about how her kisses tasted of lemon and about what almost had happened that morning. He tried to stay away from the last subject. Because, one, it made his pants feel too small and, two; it made him want to kill his beta.

When the clock finally showed it was time for lunch, Colin headed out to the kitchen. Mateo and Jason were there, making grilled cheese sandwiches. When they saw the disappointment on Colin’s face, they both laughed.

“Don’t worry, alpha, she can’t be too far away,” Mateo said. He understood Colin’s need to be close to his new mate.

“Unless she has figured out what a bad deal she is getting and has run away,” Jason taunted him and both he and Mateo laughed. Colin just huffed irritably.

“Oh, come on, eat something and they will be back before you know it,” Mateo said, giving Colin’s back a hard slap.

Colin took his beta's advice. But after almost an hour, the girls and Sean still hadn’t shown. The only thing that kept Colin from freaking out was the fact that Sean was with Adina. Colin may have had some issues with the man, but he never doubted that Sean would lay down his own life to protect Adina.

After ten more minutes, they heard a car pull up and soon the omegas were busy taking shopping bags up to Colin and Adina’s apartment. Colin looked on in amusement. She had been busy, his little mate. He enjoyed the feeling of knowing he had provided this for her, and his wolf puffed up his chest in pride. But still no Adina.

Colin walked up to the driver and asked where his luna was.

“Sorry alpha, there was no room in the car, so they walked home. They should be here within five minutes.” the warrior said and Colin dismissed him.

They heard the car leave and then footsteps on the gravel outside. Colin opened the door and saw Julia, Adina, and Sean walking toward them. Julia stepped around him, probably to greet Mateo.

But Colin didn’t care. All he cared about was the blond bombshell that was his mate that was walking toward him. He reached out for her and held her to him. Taking the time to enjoy her scent. The world seemed like a better place when she was pressed against him.

He asked if she needed anything to eat, but she declined and so they said goodbye to the others to go to the clinic.

“You seem to get along well with Julia,” Colin said to Adina as they walked past the training grounds.

“Yes, I really like her,” she replied.

“Good. Julia could need a friend in the pack. She is a good person, but she has had some difficulties fitting in,” Colin added.

“Yes, she told me about the whole nudity thing,” his mate said, chuckling. “But I told her about the time Sean and I was staying in the vampire nest. I think she sees the nudity better now,“ Adina said cheerfully.

Colin didn’t get the connection straight away. What could vampires have to do with nudity? Then he remembered the tales about what went on in vampire nests, and it made him stop dead in his tracks.

“You lived with vampires?” Colin asked.

“Yes, a couple of years back,” she said, looking curiously at him.

“And you saw what went on there?” he asked quietly.

“Yes, it was…” she searched for the right word.

“Despicable,” Sean helped her out.

“Yes, that’s a good word for it,” she agreed. Colin felt rage because his mate had been in that situation, and scared. Was that what she expected of him?

“Did you ever…?” he couldn’t even finish the sentence.

“Take part? Goddess no,” she protested. “I was barely sixteen and terrified of what went on. We cut our visit short and left three months early. Nests have been off the table ever since then,” Adina said.

Colin looked at her, pleased with her answer, but still upset that someone had thought it to be a good idea to place her there. He kissed her on top of her head before muttering “Vampire nest” shaking his head and getting them going again.

Adina’s POV

Colin showed them to the small one-story building and held the door open so they could walk in, and Adina smiled at him. His arm had been wrapped around her waist since they had started their walk. He had to let go of her to open the door, but he put his hand on her back. The constant physical contact made Adina feel safe and her inner wolf relished it.

They stepped into the building and came into an empty room except for plastic chairs that were pushed up to the walls. A waiting area, Adina surmised. A small bell had sounded when the door opened. As the waiting area didn’t have a reception, that was a necessity, Adina thought.

The three of them stood waiting for a little while until a door at the other end of the room opened and an older werewolf in a white coat entered. His thick grey hair went down to his shoulders, and he had a thick but short beard. His blue eyes were smiling. He was followed by Amy. When she saw Colin, her expression went from bored to excited. Adina decided she really didn’t like her.

“Alpha, how nice of you to stop by,” the grey-haired man said with a smile.

“Of course Doc, anything for you,” Colin replied.

“Hello alpha,” Amy smiled and looked at Colin as if she wanted to devour him.

Yes, Adina didn’t like her, her wolf hated her, but Colin didn’t seem to notice. He just gave a brief nod in her direction. That did not go down well with Amy, Adina thought, a bit satisfied.

“Let me introduce our two newcomers,” Colin said, walking up to the doctor. “This is Adina, my mate, and her friend Sean,” he introduced them. “Adina and Sean, this is our pack doctor James and you have already met Amy”

“It’s an honour, Luna. My mate was quite correct in how beautiful you are,” the old man said, bowing his head. Colin growled a warning to the doctor.

“No offence alpha,” the man said, holding up his hands and averting his eyes from Adina.

“Please call me Adina doctor James,” Adina said, slapping Colin on his arm.

“Only if you call me Doc, luna Adina, everyone around here does,” he said with a little smile.

Adina nodded and realized there was no chance to get anyone to drop the title of luna. They had too much respect for Colin.

“Why did you ask me over, old friend?” Colin asked as he put his arm around Adina’s waist again.

“Come into my office. Amy will get us some coffee and we can talk while sitting down. Do you drink coffee, luna Adina, or do you prefer tea maybe?” he asked as they made their way to his office.

“Coffee is just fine, with milk if you got it,” she answered. He nodded and let them into his office.

He didn’t tell Amy to make the coffee, and it didn’t look like she had taken the hint. She strolled into the office as well. There was a moment of silence when Doc looked at Amy and Amy looked at Doc, both bewildered by what the other one wanted.

“Amy, coffee,” he finally said. “And bring milk.”

She left the room with a sigh.

“That girl,” he said, but didn’t elaborate any further. “I’m afraid it isn’t good news, alpha,” Doc said as he had directed Adina and Colin to sit on the little couch that stood in the corner of his office.

Sean had declined the offer of a chair and stood leaning against the wall while Doc sat in his office chair that he had rolled out to be closer to the couch. Colin had moved his arm from Adina’s waist to instead let it be draped around her shoulders, his fingers drawing circles on her upper arm.

“Let’s hear it anyway,” Colin said, and Adina could feel that he wasn’t as relaxed as he wanted everyone to think. Bad news from a doctor was always bad.

“We have noticed an increase of pups getting sick. The pups that are younger than four years seem to be affected. They run a high fever, sometimes get a rash and they get a severe cough. It reminds me of a severe case of the common cold that humans get.” Doc said.

“How many?” Colin asked.

“Eight, but that is sixty per cent of the pups in that age group. No fatalities this far, but little Tim Morgan is in a bad state. He is admitted to the hospital. If his fever doesn’t come down soon, I’m afraid he will go into seizures.” Adina felt a cold lump in her stomach.

“Have you given him Acetaminophen and Ibuprofen?” she asked. Both Colin and Doc looked in surprise at her.

“Yes luna, we have also tried cold baths and compresses but the fever doesn’t want to let go of him,” Doc said.

“May I see him? I may be able to help.” Adina said.

“Follow me, please,” Doc said without hesitation and got up from his chair.

Colin got out off the couch and held out a hand to help Adina get up. In the door on their way out of his office, they met Amy that had a tray with coffee.

“Leave it for now Amy, we are going to see Tim,” Doc said showing the group the way.

They stopped outside a room. There was a window in the wall so they could look into the room. Inside, a young woman, probably a couple of years younger than Adina, sat in a chair close to a small bed. In the bed, a little boy lay.

He looked to be around two years old. His face was red with fever and his blond hair was wet with sweat, sticking to his forehead. The woman held his little hand and now and then she dabbed her cheek with a tissue. Wiping tears away, Adina presumed.

Doc entered the room after a quiet knock on the door. Then he gently stepped forward to the woman and talked to her. At some point, he said something that made her sit up straight in shock and look out the window straight toward Adina.

“I think Doc just told her the pack has a new luna,” Colin whispered in Adina’s ear. The movement in the air made her spine tingle. Doc came out of the room.

“She has no objections to you coming in luna Adina. She is honoured that you would visit,“ he said to Adina with a smile. Adina nodded.

“Sean, please wait for me here,” Adina said, and he nodded without an argument.

She would have asked Colin to wait outside as well. But she didn’t think he would listen, and this was his pack after all. So together with Doc and Colin, she entered the room.

“Mrs Morgan, how are you holding up?” asked Colin in a soft voice.

Adina looked at him with a little smile. He kept surprising her. Mrs Morgan looked up at them.

“Alpha,” she said and started getting up from her chair.

“No, no, stay where you are. I just wanted to introduce my mate Adina,” Colin said, gently putting a hand on her shoulder so she would remain in the chair.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Adina said, smiling at the woman.

“Oh luna, it is an honour to meet you. I’m sorry I’m such a mess. Please forgive me,” Mrs Morgan said, running her hand through her hair and trying to smooth out some creases in her blouse with her other hand.

“You have nothing to apologize for. This must be agonizing for you. I’m impressed by how well you are holding up,” Adina said as she knelt in front of the woman so that she was at eye level. She took the woman’s hand to stop her from tugging on her blouse.

“Yes, yes, this has been an ordeal. I’m just so afraid that Timmy will not make it. I don’t know what to do if he doesn’t make it,” Mrs Morgan sobbed.

“I can only imagine the heartache this is giving you. May I have a look at Timmy to see if there is anything I can do to help?” Adina asked.

Mrs Morgan gave her permission, and Adina carefully let go of her hand and went around to the other side of the bed.  

Tim lay on the bed with his eyes closed. Adina could hear the sharp wheezing when he took a breath, which told her he most likely had an infection in his lungs. She bent over the bed and placed her right hand on the boy’s forehead. It was warm and sticky.

She took a couple of deep breaths and placed her left hand on his chest. She focused her energy on his body, and she could feel the disease. It had run ramped in this little body. She gathered the magic and slowly, not to shock his already tired body, she removed the infection.