Chapter 169

Julian’s POV

Once Alice was feeling more comfortable and confident and gave her okay, the group of us returned to the hospital to check on Mom. We’d only just entered the waiting room, greeting my other family members, when Amber appeared down the hallway.

She wore a grim expression, which immediately told me the test results she had earlier come to the hospital to hear had been bad news.

With a subtle nod, she motioned for me to meet her near Mom’s room.

Leaving Alice in Aunt Kathy’s care, I walked over there. None of my family were presently in there, so we went inside.

Amber kept her eyes on the door as she told me, “What do you know about wolfsbane?”

“Wolfsbane? The poison?”

She nodded.

“Not much more than that,” I said. “Why?” I had a feeling, from her grim expression and her tight body language that I already knew the answer, but I still wanted to hear her say the words.

Amber took a breath. “This isn’t easy to tell you…”

“Just say it,” I said. As a Healer, I knew she was used to delivering bad news. I guessed it must be different with me. Any other day, in any other situation, this might make me feel good, special, that I was someone so important to her that she would change her usual way of doing things.

As it was, however, I was just worried. I wanted to get this over with, like pulling off a sticky bandage. Just rip it off and be done with it. Then the healing could come afterwards.

“Someone is poisoning your mother,” Amber said. “And that someone has to be someone who has been here at the hospital. It could be a member of the staff, but as this poisoning has been going on for a long time, since before she came to the hospital, I firmly believe it is more likely a member of your family who has been poisoning her.”

My initial reaction was to push that accusation away, to deflect as much as I could. Yes, my family was problematic, some more than others, and sure, some of them were even straight-up assholes.

But poisoners?

Murderers?

That seemed so far-fetched.

If it had been anyone other than Amber telling me this, I would have disbelieved them immediately. Worse, I would have gotten so angry that I would have demanded their job, perhaps. Or at least, demanded to see the evidence for myself.

But Amber was the one telling me, and I trusted Amber implicitly. She was an amazing Healer, and more, she was the woman I loved. I wasn’t sure if she loved me back in the same way, but I at least knew she cared for me deeply.

She wouldn’t pull a prank like this, and she wouldn’t lie.

“Who?” I asked her.

“I don’t know,” Amber said. “But the supervisor and I have a plan to figure that out.”

“Tell me.”

So she did, explaining about the camera the supervisor was out buying right at this moment. They were going to hide the camera inside of a stuffed animal and put it with the other get well soon gifts in the room.

I agreed with the plan, but there was still much about this situation that confused me.

“I don’t understand the intent,” I said. “If someone wanted her dead, why not just kill her right away?”

“Wolfsbane would easily kill a wolfless right away, but the effects are slower in a werewolf. It’s been slowly killing her. But that’s not all it’s been doing,” Amber explained. “One of the side effects of long-term exposure to the wolfsbane for werewolves is cognitive decline.”

“Her confusion…” I said, the pieces clicking into place.

“Yes,” Amber agreed. “I suspect that whoever has been poisoning her in this way wants her to forget something.”

That was possible, but what could they possibly want her to forget?

Gods, the guilt pressed down hard on my chest. How much had been going on in my pack without my knowledge, in my absence?

If I had been here, would I have noticed this change in Mom sooner? Could I have done something to prevent this before it got too far along?

Yet, at the same time, how could I ever regret the time I spent with Alice and Amber? Being with them has brought us all closer, which was what I had always wanted.

I hated that the poisoner had put me in this situation, making me feel like I had to choose between my mother and my wife and daughter. Nothing about this was fair, and it was all the poisoner’s fault.

“You have my consent for the camera,” I said. “I want to know the minute you see anything. Tell the supervisor too, and anyone who is watching the video. Call me immediately and I will confront the poisoner myself.”

Gods help whoever it was, because I would have no mercy.

Whoever threatened my mother, tried to kill her, would face the full wrath of me and my werewolf – and, I suspected, the rest of my family.

Amber placed a hand on my arm, near my wrist. I closed my eyes, trying to find comfort in her touch, and I did, in a small way. But my rage, my protectiveness, was flaring inside of me, a vicious wildfire.

I didn’t think I would be able to relax again until whoever had done this was brought to justice.

Amber stayed with me for a while, but when she left, I walked closer to my mom. I placed my hand on hers, hung my head in shame, and told her, “I’m sorry, Mom. If I had been here…”

No, I still didn’t want to go down that line of thinking. And who was to say that my being here would have stopped this? Maybe it would have only made her attacker bolder.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t stop this,” I said, which felt more honest. “But we will catch the person responsible. You have my word.”

Amber’s POV

After a while, when it seemed my touch wasn’t bringing Julian any more comfort, I excused myself, leaving him to watch his mother until the supervisor returned with the camera.

In the meantime, I returned to the back rooms, to the office the supervisor had given me to work from. There, he’d already gathered the books I had previously requested.

I had already scoured these texts, looking for a place to start in making a cure for Alice’s condition. Before, I had come up empty, but I was willing to look again. Perhaps I had missed something before. Even something small could be vital. It was worth a second look.

First though, I wanted to check the online database. Perhaps someone had posted new research that might help.

Yet, as I turned on the computer and logged into the database, I seemed to come up empty. It didn’t matter how I tweaked my search results. It seemed as if no one was doing any research on Alice’s condition, despite there having to be other children suffering similar afflictions.

I couldn’t give up. I would keep searching.

Even if that meant I had to do the research myself.