Chapter 158

Cara’s POV

I placed the back of my hand to Mia’s forehead and immediately felt her fever. Her hands were clammy. She seemed lethargic, like she couldn’t get up. When I asked her how she felt, she simply said, “Tired.”

“I’m going to take you to the hospital,” I said, worry taking hold.

“Please don’t,” she said, tears welling in her eyes. “I don’t want to go back there.”

“But, Mia…”

“I just need some rest. I swear I’m okay, Mom.” Brave as she was, she even tried to sit up. Her arms shook as she did so, and it absolutely broke my heart.

“I won’t promise not to take you,” I said as I helped ease her back down. “But I will send for a Healer to come here to check you over first, okay? But if he says you need to go, you need to go – no if’s, and’s, or but’s.

Mia pouted her bottom lip at me, a tactic that was sometimes effective and even now stirred something inside of me. Even so, I wasn’t going to negotiate on her health. She was going to see a Healer no matter what.

The only reason I hadn’t insisted on going to the hospital this minute was not just because she didn’t want to. In the past, sometimes these episodes with her health would only last for a few minutes before she bounced back.

After dragging her to the hospital so many times in the past, they’d told me there was only real concern if her symptoms lasted for more than an hour.

I hated that I didn’t know when all this began, but I checked my watch now and made note of the time.

“Rest,” I told her and tucked her in. When she was settled, dozing lightly, I left the room in search of a phone and some of Alaric’s contacts.

When my brothers saw my alarm, they helped me with the situation. The twins went to keep an eye on Mia, while Colin and I talked with the staff, who immediately called for a Healer.

The Healer arrived in short order, and my brothers all followed the Healer up to Mia’s room. I meant to go as well, of course, but I felt a little lightheaded for a moment and had to sit down in a chair near the stairs.

Ethan, after turning off his cartoon, likely realized something was going on, probably with Mia, and came snooping around the corner. When he saw me sitting there, holding onto the chair as if for dear life, he came over to me with worry in his eyes.

“Are you okay, Mom? You seem kinda... out of it.”

“I just need a minute to catch my breath.”

“Is Mia okay?”

“The Healer is with her now.”

“She gets sick a lot,” Ethan said.

“She does.”

“Is she sick because she was kidnapped?”

My heart dropped. “I don’t know.” I truly didn’t, but I had the same thoughts. Mia had only just been released from the hospital after being cleared, but what if the toll the ordeal took on her body triggered her mysterious illness again? Her immune system was already so frail, and with the added stress on top of it…

Maybe she should have never left the hospital to begin with.

Gods, I was so tired myself. For a moment, I could feel my head drooping and I almost lacked the strength to lift it again.

What was wrong with me? I had to hold everything together, if only for my children. Ethan was currently looking at me for comfort and support, and Mia was just upstairs with the Healer. She needed me too.

I didn’t have time to fall apart.

My kids needed me.

With more effort than probably should have been necessary, I pulled myself upright. I gave a quick hug to Ethan, then sent him back into the living room before I headed upstairs to check on Mia.

My own exhaustion had to be simply from my own worry and everything else that happened the past few days finally catching up with me. Now that Lilia and George, my potential assassins and Mia’s kidnappers, were caught, I could finally relax more than I’d been able to in a while.

Of course, the exhaustion would catch up to me. I wasn’t so young anymore, and without a wolf, everything took me longer to recover from than it had when my wolf had been with me.

The twins waited in the hallway for the healer to finish the examination, though Colin had gone inside to keep watch. I decided to join him inside of the room.

The Healer checked Mia’s temperature and her other vitals. Everything was high but not worryingly so. Not yet, anyway.

In the end, the doctor stepped into the hallway, as did Colin and me, and he shared his thoughts.

“I believe that she just needs rest at this point,” the Healer said. “To bring her into the hospital might only add more trauma to her already strained immune system. That being said, check her temperature every hour. If it rises even a single degree, she must come to the hospital. Even an inch in the wrong direction would be too dangerous.”

“I understand,” I said.

“Good,” the Healer said. He touched my arm. “She is a fighter. She will be fine.”

“Thank you, doctor,” I said.

The brothers led the Healer back downstairs, while Colin stayed with me in the hallway.

“If you want,” Colin said after a moment, “Ryan, Aidan, and I were talking it over. We’d like to stay around for a little while longer. Just to make sure you and the kids settle in okay. Mia’s condition seems to give us another reason…”

“Please,” I said, though his words surprised me. “Settle in…?”

Colin shrugged. “After what we suspected happened last night… er, happened, we assumed you might choose to stay here after all. We just want to make sure you’ll be alright.”

“I still haven’t decided anything,” I said. “And nothing happened last night but some enthusiastic kissing.”

“In front of Noel…”

“He told you?”

“He was somewhat dazed,” Colin said. “I drove him back to his hotel. He said he was going to give you some room for a while, but also told me to convey he would only ever be a phone call away. If you needed him, he would come running back.”

Noel was a good man. He’d been so helpful during the scare with Mia, and now he wanted to do what was best for me, even if it wasn’t in his own best interest.

“You don’t have to decide anything now,” Colin said. “Not about any of this. Mia’s health is far too important. But eventually, you will have to make a choice on where you want to stay, and what king of future you want. Alaric is the Alpha King of DuskWood. He will always pursue you, but if you stay in BloodyMoon, it will be difficult to be with him.”

I knew he was right. Yet, I couldn’t decide yet. I was so terribly confused, and my worry for Mia only made everything more intense.

I admitted, “My heart is opening to Alaric, but I have no idea if that’s enough.”