Chapter 20

Sara's POV

My heart felt like it was in my throat as we rushed to the Alpha, throwing on the first outfit I could find, which happened to be a sundress made with a white fabric covered in forget-me knots. Arriving at the Beta's home, it was larger than most but not as big as the Alpha's house. The house was made entirely from wood, it was beautiful to look at and had the most magnificent cliff view from the back porch, which we entered using rather than the front door. In the back room lay Edward on a hospital-type bed, with machines similar to what we had back home but somehow different. The room was filled with natural light, and being that it was only morning, I assumed this room would be like a greenhouse as the sun rose. The walls were painted a calming timeless cream and dotted on the walls were various paintings of different settings. It was hard to see exactly what was happening in the paintings from a distance but their colourings gave off a romantic vibe. To the side of Edward's bed sat a chest of drawers acting as a side table, a vase filled with roses atop them. "Where have you been?!" Demanded Isabella, releasing her father's hand to stand. She looked between the both of us, her eyes burning into me with disgust. Did she truly feel this about me or was my own guilt making me paranoid? After all, we were getting personal while Edward took ill. Drew paid her no mind, taking a seat opposite her nearest his father. "What is wrong with him?" Rob, who had entered with us, stood at the foot of the bed, his face frowning.

"I wanted to have you all here to explain." He began, his face looking tormented "The Doc says... Well, his best guess is, that it looks like your father's been poisoned." Gasps filled the room as horrified reactions occurred all around. My own hand shot up to cover my open mouth as I watched each reaction; Isabella, distraught tears streaming down her face, Drew, covered his face with both hands, not showing his reaction to the room, and Katie's face showed disbelief as she stated aloud "It must be something else." From the bond, I shared with Katie I could feel the intense fear she had for her father's condition. My heart wept not just for them, but for myself - I truly cared for the Alpha. The man lying in the hospital bed, with the salt and pepper hair, the man who welcomed me into his home although others were immensely scared of me, he showed me a level of respect I hadn't known possible from a "man of the house"; I was dumbfounded and could not imagine why anyone would want to hurt such a kind man. I peered on from the doorway at the family, unable to move from the spot I was standing. The floorboards creaked as I swayed with indecision. I wanted to be here, to support them, to support Edward, but at the same time, I felt I was intruding on a private matter. I stayed glued to the spot awkwardly. For the longest time, nobody moved or said anything. My eyes were glued on Edward, he looked so peaceful, if I didn't know any better I would think he was sleeping. As if sensing my indecision, Katie spoke, a croak in the back of her voice "Sit down, Princess, you've got me on edge." She gave me a small smile that just met her eyes, as I looked around, I noticed there was a wooden seat with a pale pink cushion next to Drew's as I headed towards it. Drew clearly had a different opinion on that as he pulled me with ease onto his lap instead, though I may have made it too easy for him as I didn't try to pull back at all. Why would I want to? I didn't have to look to know the eyes of everyone in the room were on us right now. I could feel the heat from their eyes burning into me - this could have been a good reason for not wanting to sit on Drew's lap right now! Confusion clouded my mind as I could feel Katie's shock, yet I dared not glance at any of them. The contact from Drew was just enough to alleviate my nerves as I felt him sigh, pulling me in closer, like a child cuddling their favourite teddy as they slept - all the while offering up no explanation to the others. Usually, I am sure they would be having a private discussion about this in their minds, like superheroes, but with poor Edward's illness, that seemed to be off the cards. When he's better, I must remember to ask him why that was. He was always so open about teaching me his wolfy ways, a lone tear escaped trickling down my cheek.

The pack doctors and nurses came in regularly to check on him, most of which I know or recognise from the gatherings, but nothing changed. "Talk me through it again," Drew stated again, he was in denial this was poison and was wracking his brain trying to piece together how this could have happened. "I keep going over it myself..." Rob began repeating himself again his voice full of anguish, "... yesterday he was fine throughout the day. We spent most of it together. With the whole pack being in one place, your father wanted to personally run the border to ensure we would all be safe- you know how your father is. Of course, I joined him. We ran past the threshold, over the three cliffs, and through Peddlers River. There was nothing unusual. As we got back, I headed straight for training and your father headed home. We got ready for the shift last night and he was sweating - I thought nothing of it, you know, we were near the bonfire, it was hot. Midnight came about and we shifted. I could sense something wasn't quite right, a niggling in my gut, but I couldn't say what. Unfortunately, now I know... Anyways, I told Evelyn I needed to check in. My wolf was agitated, you know? Anyways, that's when I found him. He was barely awake on the ground. I tried to move him in his wolf form, but Drew, you've got to realise, your father is a big wolf; it's not an easy thing to do. When he finally passed out, he shifted back into his human form. At that point, I carried him back to my house, avoiding everyone. I couldn't let the pack see him like that, there would be a mass panic. I tried to reach out to you and when I couldn't mind link anyone, I knew something was horribly wrong. So I set off to find the Doc and get him here ASAP. They've been working on him ever since." He told the story for the fourth time, sounding more defeated each time he told it.

"Why do they think it's poison? Could he not just be unwell?" I asked naively. As if to answer my question, Rob threw back the thin white sheet that covered the Alpha's legs. It was covered in deep blood red gashes and a purple hue surrounded the marks, his veins running to the wound were almost black in colour, and yet everywhere else looked completely normal. "Of course, it looks bad, a wolf bit him!?" I said questioningly, missing what was clearly obvious to everyone else as I scanned the room. "He is the Alpha, Ser. He should have healed almost instantly from a little bite." Drew breathed out. Isabella kissed her teeth towards us, causing Drew to growl dominantly, staring her down. She held eye contact with him, her brown eyes glistening as they filled with water, her body shaking gently as she fought for dominance before, finally, she caved, baring her neck to him. Ignoring the tension in the room, Rob spoke up, "The Docs think it's wolfsbane." He continued answering my questions before I had a chance to ask. "It's a plant, not grown round these parts, for the obvious reason. If given to any other species, it makes the victim delusional and easily swayed. Not nice, but the effects wear off eventually."

"... and to wolves?" I asked, already knowing the answer in my heart.

"To wolves. It is fatal. If anyone else had been poisoned with the dose Ed got, they would have been dead in hours if not minutes. He's fighting it right now as he's strong, but without the antidote, he will eventually fall." Rob's emotions were clear, you could feel his defeat in the air.

"If there's an antidote, why not just make it?" I couldn't understand, why they wouldn't have given him this already. A poison fatal to wolves, surely they'd keep an antidote stored for cases like this.

"Wolfsbane doesn't grow here, Sara. In fact, it's extremely rare these days. To find the antidote we would have to find the blue narcissus," Katie explained, chewing her thumb nail as she spoke.

"The blue narcissus," Isabella scoffed. "You know as well as I, that is nothing short of a rumor, Katerina! The truth is, while you were off doing, goddess knows what with my dearest brother, our father was lying here suffering the effects of the poison. If he is strong enough, he may fight this but the chances are he is dead already!" I could feel the hatred pouring out of her with every word. This time I was sure it wasn't imagined, she looked exasperated, her long brown hair disheveled from raking her fingers through it.

I knew this was the grief talking but it stung. My mouth bobbed open like a fish as I tried to form the words to apologise, but none came. Drew squeezed me firmly, his touch soothing me.

"Earth wolves cannot leave Domilia, we are not welcome elsewhere, it could be seen as an act of war. They would kill us on sight. Even if we could go, as Bella so kindly put it. The plant is rumour only. It's never been seen for generations if it ever did exist. If we even attempted to find it, we would just be left with more dead wolves." The air was thick with hopelessness, as Drew explained with a sigh.

We sat in the room for hours. Edward looked exactly the same as he had when we first arrived, giving me hope. Pins and needles started to gather in my feet crawling up my calves, so I stood up to stretch my legs, noticing my feet were sore from all the running around bare footed. As I stretched my legs walking around the room, I stared out the large window. The white paint had chipped in several places along with some scratch marks behind the handle from people opening them to let some air in. The room was feeling stuffy and we could probably use some fresh air. I gingerly opened the window but nobody reacted to this, so I pushed it open further, securing it in place by getting the metal stick into a hole in the handle. The view was exquisite, hard to believe I used to live so near to here, and yet it feels like worlds apart. I often forget about home, but when I remember it fills me full of dread, the thought of my father's fury at me when I finally have to return makes me want to break down and cry right here and curl up in a ball like a little scared mouse. As I stared out at the view, I allowed my mind to wonder - I daydreamed about returning home and my family is overcome with joy that I was safe and well. They would give their blessing for Drew and I to marry, and life would be perfect. Gosh, thank goodness they can't read my mind, I feel like a soppy schoolgirl madly in love with the head of the football team, knowing full well he is meant to be with the cheerleader - pack hierarchy if you will.

Rob lives at the top of a cliff, it was serene up here. From the window, the view was outstanding greenery for miles. I imagined sitting here on an evening watching the sunset would be one of the most romantic things one could do. As I turned back to face the room, I am sure I caught a smirk from Katie, this dang bond, I have no clue how deep it goes or how to control it - rolling my eyes I acted as if I hadn't even noticed.

We all took turns pacing, saying very little with words, but our glances spoke loudly. Full of content, I was snuggled back in Drew's lap when the door opened, and in strode Ezra and Addison. Her eyes widened at the scene in front of her, she seemed more upset about me and Drew than the Alpha, she didn't even glance at him. Feeling disrespectful, I attempted to stand but Drew held me tightly in place, staring back at his friends as if nothing was odd. He explained there was no update and right now it didn't look good. Addison stared at me the whole time with fury. Only when Drew said his father might die did I see Addison look at the Alpha for a long second with guilt and sorrow. All this time she was spending hating me and she realized her alpha was in bad shape - no wonder she was filled with guilt, her priorities were elsewhere. Ezra dragged another seat up to the bed, his clothes were visibly dirty and didn't seem his usual fashion, Addison begrudgingly sat next to him. Unlike Ezra, she looked the same way she always did, polished to perfection with a gorgeous lime green dress, her silky brown hair skimming her hips - she was enviously beautiful, there was no denying that. Her discomfort with the situation was clear and, truth be told, I felt immensely uneasy under her gaze.

The room began discussing the celebrations last night. I listened for a while before zoning out - I still felt downhearted about missing out. As time passed, every now and then the chatter would stop as they awaited an update from a nurse, but there were no changes. Having not been a part of their evening, I stood up again and looked out of the window at that view I had fallen in love with. How is it possible that in all of those plants, the one we need is not out there somewhere? It was not feasible to believe that it wasn't out there, it must be. I was sure it was, but where? My mind was going at 1000 miles an hour as the group chatted away. I needed to do something. I was restless sitting and waiting for a change, that was not helping them or me or Edward. "Excuse me," I whispered, unsure if anyone was listening, as I slipped away. Taking in a deep breath, I decided on my course. "Could you bring me a pen and paper please?" I gently asked an omega, she was a pretty thing in her own way. She was lean, some would say almost gawky and she had a gap between her teeth, but that didn't stop her from flashing her warm smile at me, and I am glad it didn't. She was a small ray of sunshine I desperately needed today. She quickly returned from the house with what I requested.

'Drew, forgive me

for not saying goodbye.

I have to do something

to help your father.

I am not a wolf, so it

must be me to leave. I

will take a chance outside

of Domilia and hopefully

return with what he needs.

Wait for me,

Sara."

Scribbling the words down as fast as I could, I needed to be gone before they noticed or I would never get away. I left the crumpled note on the porch table and left. My mind was set on one place - the omnis. If anyone could help me, I am sure I would find them there. Looking at the golden sun in the clear blue sky, I would say it was mid-afternoon. Best hurry and keep moving, it would take me a couple of hours to reach the stone archway. I pray, just like last night at the lagoon, the portal will grant me passage without the help of a wolf.