CHAPTER 78: THE AFTERMATH...

Slater

Tears glistened in my eyes as I stared at the picture before looking up at Jex again. "Why didn’t she come home if she survived? Why didn’t she contact anyone?’

"I don’t know," Jex shrugged helplessly. "I need to leave now, but I’ll contact you when I come out of hiding."

As he started to stand, I grabbed his arm. "Wait, I need you to help me out with something."

I pulled a pack of one of the drugs I’d recovered from the library and spent the next few seconds explaining Trisha’s routine and the hooded figure, which turned out to be a student in Ravenshore.

Jex examined the pills briefly and shook his head. "It’s a hard drug for sure, but you won’t get much from analyzing these. It’s probably just Trisha trying to maintain her expensive lifestyle. The only way you could get more information is to confront Trisha directly..."

Just as Jex was still talking, he ducked his head and whispered urgently. "You were followed."

I froze. "What?"

"I noticed a big, bulky guy has been pacing outside the café since you entered, and with the way he keeps looking inside, he might come in for you soon."

"Shit!" I groaned. "I double-checked on that, I swear."

"It’s too late to regret now or anything. Listen carefully, when I count to five, you’re going to leave and head down to the lower villages in Ravenspire. There’s a shop that operates as a front for a black market. When you go there, loudly say you want to buy Viagra, sex toys, a magazine...anything a typical boy your age would buy. Make it believable."

He leaned closer. "Slip the man a pack of one of the drugs and just say Gamma. When he analyses it, he’ll contact you. Then try to return the rest when you get back to school. Focus on following the people who sell them, not the drugs themselves. Having these in your possession can put you in real trouble."

I nodded.

"Now," Jex whispered. "Count to five, then go."

At the fifth count, I stood, my chest hammering in my chest, and walked out of the café.

***

I got back to the hospital a little after midnight.

I found a late-night snack shop and grabbed some food, trying to come up with a suitable explanation for why I’d been delayed. When I arrived at the VIP corridor, I saw Alpha Terry was still in his position, as was Kael, but there was no sign of Charis.

"Where is Eamon?" I asked, looking around the waiting area frantically. After everything I heard tonight, I didn’t ever want to let her out of my sight.

None of them answered me.

I dropped the food bags in my hands on the bench and walked directly up to Kael, who sat hunched forward on the bench, elbows on his knees, head tilted down like he’d been wrestling with guilt.

"Where is my brother?"

Kael didn’t lift his head. "You were gone for six hours, Slater. Where have you been? Where exactly are you coming from?"

"Answer the damn question," I said through gritted teeth, ignoring his question. "Where is Eamon?"

"He’s in the operating room," Alpha Terry said quietly behind me.

I whirled around to face him. "I didn’t get that."

"He’s in the operating room with Rhett," Alpha Terry repeated patiently. "Rhett needed a blood transfusion, and only Eamon’s blood type could match. It was a direct transfusion, so Eamon had to be wheeled in together with him."

I stared at him for a few seconds, trying to understand what I’d just been told. Then I laughed bitterly.

"Who authorized that? Eamon is seventeen years old, and I’m his legal guardian when our father can’t be reached immediately. No decisions about his health should be made without me. How can you allow medical procedures to be performed on him without proper consent?"

"Slater," Kael said quietly. "That’s enough. Just sit down."

"I am not your child, Kael," I glared at him. "Don’t tell me to sit down."

"Then what should we have done?" Kael snapped, raising his face to look at me for the first time. "What exactly would your shouting do now or change? Want to storm into that operating room and drag him out because you decided to disappear for six hours to buy food, and we didn’t wait for your permission to save someone’s life?"

"That is why they invented a phone, Kael Winters," I turned to him fully now. "Why didn’t I get a call?"

"So, Rhett would bleed out before you make up your mind? Do you have any idea how critical the last few hours have been and how we had to make difficult decisions based on that? Lives were hanging in the balance—"

"Not at the expense of my brother’s life," I fired back. "Rhett is my friend, but Eamon is fucking important to me, and that’s something you wouldn’t ever know."

"If he’s important, why do you always let others take care of him?" Kael fired back, rising to his full height. "You go around acting like you should be given a prize for the world’s best stepbrother, but you do nothing. You don’t care about him one bit."

"Just because I don’t wear his clothes or tuck him to bed doesn’t mean I don’t care. You cannot rationalize your weird romantic response to Eamon as care. Just own it, you fucking like him and it’s clouding your senses, making you think no one else cares for him like you do."

"Take that back, Slater Riggs," he said roughly.

"I won’t!" I retorted and turned to Alpha Terry. "Alpha Terry, respectfully, I want you to know that I’m not going to let this slide. I’ll be informing my father bout this unauthorized medical procedure."

He shrugged, sparing me a glance, but didn’t say anything.

Realizing how foolish I must look—getting angry about my stepbrother donating blood to save a life while having no reasonable explanation for my six-hour absence, I dropped onto the waiting bench with a frustrated sigh, rubbing my temples.

After a while, Kael turned to me.

"Did you at least get the gloves?" he asked tersely.

My eyes popped open—the gloves.

Shit.

I cursed under my breath, rubbing my face harder. I’d forgotten about that completely.

Kael scoffed, stared at me with disdain, before he looked away.

Ten minutes later, the operating room doors opened, and a gurney was wheeled out. I sprang to my feet, and so did Alpha Terry. Only Kael remained seated.

It was Charis. She seemed to be fast asleep with a single IV line connected to her arm. She looked peaceful and slightly pale. If only she knew there was a bounty on her head because of how special she was.

I scanned the faces of everyone who had come out of the operating room with her, searching for any sign that during the blood transfusion, they had discovered her real identity. But they all looked tired.

More importantly, I noticed she still wore her clothes from this morning, which was a good sign.

I moved to block the gurney. "Why isn’t he awake?" I asked with a stern expression.

Dr. Maxwell emerged from the operating room, behind the nurses, pulling off his surgical gloves.

"He’s fine, just asleep. It’s well past midnight, and blood donation takes a toll on the body, too. His vitals are steady, and he was able to save Rhett. Your stepbrother is going to be fine."

Alpha Terry walked forward slowly, his voice cracked with emotion as he turned to Dr. Maxwell.

"Really? My son survived?"

"Yes," Dr Maxwell nodded with a small smile. "We were able to remove all the necrotic tissue around the heart valve. He stopped bleeding mid-transfusion, and we were able to transfuse enough blood volume to restore proper circulation. His blood pressure, pulse, and oxygen levels are stable now. But he’s not out of danger. We’ll monitor him for the next 24 hours to be sure."

Alpha Terry’s hand flew to his mouth as he breathed with relief, as if he had been holding back. A tear rolled down his cheek, and he didn’t bother to hide it.

"When can I see him?"

"Soon," Dr Maxwell assured him. "They’re just cleaning him up to ensure he doesn’t pick up any infections. He’ll be moved to a sterile recovery suite, but you’ll be able to see him."

"And Eamon?" Alpha Terry and Kael asked simultaneously.

"He’s fine and healthy," Dr Maxwell repeated. "He just needs rest, food and proper hydration. That’s all. There was no complication, but we’ll keep him until this evening, as a precaution."

Kael, who hadn’t bothered to stand when Charis was brought out, finally relaxed. He slouched back against the bench like a load had been lifted from his shoulders.

I stepped aside so the nurses could wheel Charis to the recovery room.

As they disappeared down the corridor, I turned and noticed Kael was walking toward the elevator.

"Where are you going?" I called out as I walked towards him.

He ignored me and continued walking.

"C’mon, you can’t leave now. It’s late, no cabs are running, and we should stay until daylight."

He still ignored me. As soon as the elevator arrived, he stepped in and pressed the ground floor button. Just as the doors closed, he looked at me one last time and said.

"Concentrate on taking care of your brother."