Chapter 108 Chapter~108~Coming full circle.

Chapter 108 Chapter~108~Coming full circle.
Harley~

So this is the corner of the pack Delilah was haunting; that explains a lot. The air in Sean's hospital room was thick with her overpowering perfume, which made me nauseous.

She was hovering over Sean, checking the various tubes and monitors. Her performance felt more practiced than genuine; Nick and I exchanged a glance a moment before she looked up.

Seeing us, she froze, her breath hitching as she took a jagged, silent breath. Her pull back from Sean was a sudden, unnatural distancing from a mate.

She's overdoing it trying to hide………my gaze goes to her hand as my brain slipped into chaos. She didn't have the ornate, silver-hinged ring on her right middle finger this morning.

Pressure builds in my chest as Rae comes through the pieces still shifting in my head. 'Harley, something is deeply wrong here.'

'Red alert, Rae,' I murmured back.

Ruby goes to her son's side, her fingers threading through Sean's limp, pale hand. She cast a sharp look toward Delilah; it was quick, but confirmed my root of suspicion. Ruby didn't trust her daughter-in-law any more than I did. "How has he been today?" She whispered, her voice like dry leaves skittering on pavement.

Delilah's gaze shifted toward the window, as if she were searching for the right answer. "The same, I'm afraid," she said, on a long, weary exhale. "Dr. Ponzie will make his rounds soon, though I doubt it matters. We need to discuss further the transfer to University Hospital."

"No." Titus's voice was a low vibration in the small room. He shook his head, the movement intentional. "My son stays here." He finished with a guttural sound, deep in his chest.

Delilah stiffened her spine and tilted her chin upward to meet his eyes. "He is my husband, Titus," she snapped, the words crisp and cold.

'Nick, you can't let her move him.' I tightened my grip on his arm.

'What am I supposed to do?' he thought back, now his pulse drumming in my ears.

'Burn her ass! Tell them about the affair if you have to. Delilah is dirty.

'What did you see?'

'I'm not sure yet.'

Titus's jaw locked, the skin across his knuckles white as he gripped the bedrail with a sharp, jagged breath. His teeth bared to snap back a retort, but the sweep of the hospital door as it swung open cut him off.

Ponzie stood framed in the doorway, the sterile hallway light silhouetting his frame like a cloak. He tucked the swollen manila folder under his arm as he lingered there for a beat.

The doctor's gaze swept the room like a searchlight before locking onto mine. "Good morning, everyone," he said, his voice low and gravelly. "Lady Harley, how are you?"

"I'm doing well, Doctor, thank you."

The eerie squeak of tile meeting heavy rubber soles filled the air as Ponzie moved to the bedside terminal. He dropped the file onto the laminate desk and began tapping at the keys. Rapid-fire clicking was the only sound in the tense silence.

"Where are we, Ponzie?" Titus finally broke the silence. His tone still vibrated with Delilah's undelivered fury, making the question come out like a bladed growl.

Ponzie didn't look up immediately; he finished a keystroke, then turned. His hand migrated to his hip as he met Titus's eyes. "I wish I knew." His pause felt thick. "There's no logic to Sean's condition; no medical precedent. And he's slipping."

"How so?" Titus tilted his chin up, his shoulders locking into a rigid line.

"His internal systems are failing," Ponzie said, his voice dropping to a sandpaper rasp.

Delilah bridged the gap between them, her hands already on her hips. She stopped inches from Ponzie's chest; her finger a trembling iron sight aimed at his throat. "So you'd rather watch your Alpha die than allow him to leave this godforsaken pack!"

"No, Luna." The tension between them charged the air and sharpened it.

Luna Ruby to the rescue; she steps to Ponzie's side. "No one wants that, Delilah, and my son will not die."

Ponzie looked away from Delilah to Titus. "Alpha, I'm already reaching outside our circles for an answer." His jaw muscles twitched. "If I can't find one, I have to suggest moving Sean." The sadness in his eyes when he turned to me caught my breath. "Lady Harley, I'll be ready for you shortly. The nurse will show you to an exam room."

With that, he was out the door, and the sound of it closing behind him echoed through the room. The five of us stood in its silence, glued to our spots.

Delilah swept a curtain of mahogany hair over her shoulder, tilting her chin upward. With a gleam in her eye, she was preparing to glide out like she'd won a prize.

Nick broke her momentum, stepping into her path and bringing me with him. "Not so fast, Delilah."

All color drained from her cheeks, and she recoiled into position. The silk of her blouse was a rustling echo in the sudden stillness.

Nick's fingers clamped around my hand; his palm was hot and slightly damp. He squared his shoulders against the suffocating weight of his parents' gaze. Taking a deep breath, he confessed, "Delilah and I had an affair."

The room went vacuum-sealed as my eyes darted to each face in the room. The only sound was the rhythmic, clinical hiss of the hospital monitor.

Titus broke first, his face darkening to a bruised purple. "Now you do this?" he roared, the words vibrating through the thin walls. He jabbed a finger in Nick's direction, then threw his arms wide with such violence that Ruby flinched and came to his side. "You've always been a selfish man, Nick, but this?"

Then he pivoted to Delilah, his voice dropping to a low, dangerous growl. "And you. Is there decency in you?!"

Delilah's gaze hit the linoleum. "Answer me!" Titus's open palm cracked against the metal bedrail; the sharp clang echoed, stinging the air.

She snapped her head back, the movement sharp enough to make her earrings jingle. "I didn't lie to Sean," she lied shamelessly. "He knows and forgives me." She adjusted her shirt, smoothing the fabric over her ribs with trembling fingers.

Ruby didn't yell; her expression never changed as she stared at Nick, her eyes glassy and bloodshot. "When, Nick?"

"It's over, Mother," Nick said, his voice flat and cold as stone. He didn't look at her; he kept his eyes locked on Delilah, a silent, daring challenge. "It was once, years ago."

Delilah leaned over the bed, her lips lingering on Sean's forehead for a beat too long. She straightened, cut a look of pure ice toward Nick and me, and shoved past us.

The scent of her heavy, floral perfume lingered like a bad memory. As the door swung shut, Ruby's strength gave out, and she collapsed into the vinyl chair, the air leaving her lungs in one long, broken shudder.