Chapter 91

[James’ POV]

“Oh my God...Oh my God...Oh my God...” Mia whimpered under her breath in a broken mantra. Tears continuously flowed down her cheeks like two heavy rivers.

James could feel his mate teetering on the edge of losing her mind. Meanwhile, he couldn’t pinpoint what he was feeling himself. It was a pure mixture of dread for the state of his friend and frustration for not being able to console Mia.

The woman was a shaking mess, moments away from crumbling to the floor. The second that call ended, he’d sprung into action and hauled the two of them out toward the car. Normally, he would have driven there himself; however, he needed to remain by her side.

He instructed the driver to take them to Rivers Bend Hospital while he wrapped his arms securely around her and held her close.

“Mia,” he hushed.

“Please,” she begged. “Please...Please...I can’t lose him.”

His heart clenched in his chest. “You’re not going to lose him,” he said firmly.

James cursed himself, knowing that he had no right to make such a claim when neither of them knew the full state of Chris. But he had to say something. He had to do something to ease the pain and distress she was feeling.

As soon as they arrived at the hospital, James struggled to keep up with Mia as she rushed out of the car to get to the main reception desk.

“My name is Mia Derek, we’re here about my brother, Chris Johnson,” she said. “Dr. Fairmont called me before.”

“Mrs. Derek!” a voice called from the side. Mia and James turned their heads to see an older woman in a long white coat rushing toward them. “I’m Doctor Fairmont.”

They all shook hands before diving into Chris’ situation.

“Now, bear with me,” she started. “In order to stabilize him, we had to induce a coma. He kept coming in and out of consciousness for the first few hours. When he first arrived, his levels were in total disarray. His blood pressure was plummeting due to the mass amount of blood. We managed to get him hooked up for a quick transfusion on O Negative.”

“H-How is he now?” Mia asked.

“He’s stabilized for the time being.”

“But he’s still asleep?” James questioned.

Dr. Fairmont nodded her head. “He didn’t appear to suffer any major head trauma from when we first examined him, but he’s lost a terrible amount of blood which doesn’t necessarily work in his favor as a means to help him come around quicker.”

“Will he be alright?” Mia asked fiercely.

“As his doctors, we’ve done all that we can do for him. Now, only time will tell. No one was able to pinpoint exactly what may have caused the accident. But, whatever it was, we all agreed that it had to be something exceedingly reckless.” Dr. Fairmont nodded her head before parting ways to visit other patients.

Mia drifted toward the waiting area and sank down into one of the open chairs. She buried her face in her hands and let out a long breath of defeat. James came to sit next to her and laid a hand on her back.

“I can’t believe this happened,” she said. “Chris is the most careful and diligent person I know. He doesn’t make careless mistakes and he’s never been reckless.”

James was well inclined to agree. Even when they were all younger, he’d always been more of the daredevil between the two. Chris acted more as the voice of reason. Dr. Fairmont made it a point to say that Chris had been acting recklessly, but the two of them knew better.

“You’ve got that right,” a younger man spoke out. “My name is Philip. I’m one of the guys on Chris’ team. And I’m here to tell you that what happened to your brother was no accident.”

Both James and Mia’s eyes widened in shock. “Explain,” James demanded softly.

“There was a man no one knew or could identify. He kept close to Chris throughout the dig. It was odd. It was as though he’d been waiting for the opportune time to strike when everyone was already busy with their own work.”

“But why?” Mia asked. “Why attack someone like Chris?”

“Chris told me at the beginning of this trip that he was in search of something valuable. And, believe it or not, I think he actually found it.”

“What was it?” James questioned.

“He spoke of an ancient poison that was both odorless and tasteless. ‘Moon Tear’, I think he called it. It’s known to be colorless and tasteless, causing gradual weakening without detection. If taken all at once, the effects are devastating as well as heavily lethal. He’d been searching for information on its origins for years.”

Mia’s brows furrowed in confusion. “A poison? Why the hell would Chris be after something so horrible?”

Philip shook his head. “It wasn’t the poison he was after...It was the cure. It’s been said that one of the particular effects this poison possessed was the ability to suppress a person’s wolf.”

James felt Mia’s entire body go stiff. Her jaw went slack and her eyes continued to widen whereas James felt the corners of his mouth pull upward into a proud smile. Of course, Chris would intentionally go out of his way to find a potential cure for his sister’s disability.

“Thank you for speaking to us about this,” James said.

Philip nodded his head and made off to speak to one of the other doctors. Mia’s expression was stricken with incredulous worry.

James favored Chris’ compassion for his sister but was not happy about the idea of causing Mia to spiral.

“I can’t believe him,” she said weakly. “I can’t lose him, James.”

“I know, love.”

“Who could have done such a horrible thing?”

James had a series of dark thoughts—none of which he would tell Mia about. The last thing he needed was to cause her any more stress.

Who is the one person who’s been trying to wreak havoc on his life since the very beginning?

‘Edward,’ his wolf stated angrily.

James grimaced to himself. This had to stop. Edward had to be stopped. But, in the meantime, he had to get Mia out of this place, knowing that it was doing nothing for her mentality.

“Come on, Mia. We should go back home,” he suggested.

Another stream of tears started to slip from her eyes. “Okay,” she said.

James curled an arm around her. “I promise you. I will get to the bottom of this.”