Alpha Zander
Chapter 64

The putrid scent of antiseptic assaults my nose as I pace in the hospital’s emergency room, waiting for the doctor to tell me why my Luna, Beta, and Gamma are in the state they are in.

I burst through the doors earlier to replace Ashleigh, only to be kicked out, so the hospital staff had space to work on her. I hoped they were helping her. I can’t lose her.

Her bloodstains on my skin from holding her close have now dried as I didn’t want to wash away her scent.

It was the only thing keeping me sane right now.

Oliver comes flying down the hall with Brent hot on his heels. I sent him and her parents a message as soon l as I arrived, and Danni was checked in. He looked so pale when we got to the hospital, and it f****g killed me the state they were all in.

I hate the smell of hospitals .. The smell of disinfectant stings my nose, making my eyes water. I fight Jace for control, trying not to let him take over and go on a rampage. Hospitals always bring back bad memories so the smell alone makes me uneasy.

“What’s the update!?” Oliver demands, as he stops before me, bristling with his eyes flashing. It seems I’m not the only one about to lose my s**t. Both of them look pissed and ready to kill something or someone.

Honestly, I probably look just the same.

“No update yet. They are still working on her and the others. “

I sigh. I’m still only wearing the loose pants Oliver gave me back at the school, and I didn’t miss some of the looks I was getting from the females. Before Ashleigh, I would have gone for it, but now it pisses me off because they all can see my mark and know l am mated.

“What was it like back there?” I asked curiously. Part of me wanted to stay and tend to my pack, but I needed to be close to my Luna.

“An absolute shitfest,” Oliver replies as he scrubs a hand over his face. “Council members just arrived as I left. They were going through a roll call to make sure no one else died or was injured during the attack. They found two rogues still scouting around the school and have taken them into custody.”

Brent looks f*****g devastated as he stands between us. I can see the gears in his head turning, I know he blames himself just as much as I did.

“It’s not your fault,” I tell him, clasping a supportive hand on his shoulder.

“I should have been there, it’s not fair they are in such a mess,” Brent mumbles, head down and a hand rubbing the back of his neck in frustration.

I shake my head, “Both my Beta and Gamma were there, and look what happened to them. You could have been in the same place or worse.” I look at both of them.

We may have hated each other before, but the fact we all love Ashleigh and will do anything for her has brought us a little bit closer.

Brent just nods and continues to observe the area.

He’s on high alert, since he is on ‘enemy land’. He moves over to one of the empty chairs and slumps down into it resting his head against the wall.

“Did the council say anything before you left?” I ask Oliver

“No, not really. They just wanted to know how many were lost, as far as I know. I lost two, and Riverview lost one.” He sighs.

“s**t, I thought it was just us who lost one,” I sighed.

No parent should have to go through the loss of a child.

The family link alone f*****g hurts just as much as the pack link. I feel for Oliver. At least I only had the one link snap, not two and I pray there isn’t anymore.

“We’re your two non-shifters, too?” I ask. He nods, with a haunted look on his face.

“s**t, the kids didn’t even have a chance,” I mumble.

Cowards! They went after the vulnerable.

“Did anyone see the rogues they caught?” I asked.

“No, they just whisked them away without saying a f*****g thing to anyone, had the council witch bind their mouth’s shut until they arrive in council territory.” He said.

“f**k, we really wont get ahold on them now will we?”

I sigh.

Oliver shakes his head and moves toward Brent, its been a f*****g rough day on all of us. Especially the families who lost the kids, I had to get Ellie to contact Tyler’s family and I’ll go around to visit them later on to pay my respects and see if they need any help with planning his funeral.

It felt like hours passed by as we watched the hospital fill with more people. Come evening patients entered with small problems while others had dislocated arms or cut legs. A part of me is curious about how those happened. It distracts me slightly from what is happening just a few doors down.

l am about to completely lose my s**t when a doctor who I recognize was looking after Ashleigh walks toward us with a concerned look. My heart hammers in my chest, I can feel Jace rise in concern for our mate, I know It is taking everything for him to stay put just as it is for me.

Jace’s aura spills in full force as the doctor stops in front of us. He bares his neck and submits, while sweating bullets. “Alpha,” he greets me with a shaky voice.

“You better have good news doctor.” Jace snarls, not even caring that everyone around us stopped what they were doing and was submitting to him.

‘Settle down bud, he’s the one helping them’ I sigh, fighting for control. I know he is upset, and so was I but he didn’t need to be a d**k to our pack members who are trying to help our mate.

“Follow me to my office please. We will have privacy and it will be easier to talk,” Dr. West gestures toward the double doors that lead out of the emergency room and towards a hallway going to his office.

His office is clean and slick, just like the rest of the hospital. It has a big double wooden desk and an office chair, with two chairs in front, and another along the side wall. Filing cabinets run along the back wall and a tall lamp offers some light in the corner next to a double window that overlooks the car park.

“Please, take a seat,” he gestures towards the seats, Oliver and I move forward and slump down into them and Brent takes the one against the wall.

“May I know how our Luna, Beta and Gamma ended up in the state they were in when they arrived?” he asks, looking between Oliver and me as he bends down and pulls a folder from the bottom drawer of his desk and starts flicking through it.

“There was an attack at school … rogues. They stopped the ones on the lower part of the school, we were up at the top in a different place. By the time we got to them Eric and Ashleigh were unconscious and Danni passed out on the way here.” I reply. I don’t know the exact details of what happened down there … even Danni couldn’t tell me much by the time we got to him.

Dr West nods and scribbles information in the folder.

He switches to the clipboard he was carrying earlier and flicks through the paperwork attached to it. “I wish I had better news but… based on the b***d test results and their symptoms I believe they all received a large dose of , wolfsbane plus some other type of poison. This made them weak and explains why they aren’t healing properly.”

“Daniel’s dose is about half what Eric and our Luna received, ” he explains. “We were able to flush out as much as we could but they will still need a few days here in the hospital and time to recover. For now, do either of them have any allergies we should know of?” he continues.

“Not that I’m aware of, no,” l say, looking at Oliver for confirmation. Honestly I don’t think l’ve ever asked Ashleigh if she has had any allergies, as far as I knew she didn’t.

Oliver just shakes his head listening to the conversation. It seems both he and Brent are still dumbfounded by the wolfsbane and poison.

“Doctor, Daniel mentioned that the rogues who attacked them had no scent. How is this possible?” Oliver asked.

Dr. West looks taken back, “Are you sure?” he asks with a shaky voice, not as clear and precise as he was before.

We both nod. “We couldn’t sense them at all. It was like they all just vanished. They also seem different from the ones we fought, they were bigger and stronger,” I explain further.

“Witchcraft, is involved. It may be more dangerous than we realize,” he mumbles as he stands and pulls out a red velvet book from one of the filing cabinets and starts flicking through the pages.

“f**k,” Oliver hisses, I look over to him and raise a questioning eyebrow.

Mum mentioned a long time ago that Liverpool heirs had a hybrid bloodline. part-witch, part-wolf. We assumed it died out in the last few generations since none of the offspring have shown signs of magic, that we are aware of. These days, it isn’t unusual to have hybrid bloodlines, mostly because it was a lot easier to replace your mate, and a lot of people are now more accepting of the supernatural world. Human-wolf hybrids are more common than part-witch or part-vampire.

Oliver just shakes his head and sighs, “l don’t like to deal with Eleanor Badrot and her coven unless I really have to, she’s a b***h to deal with and always collects on her debts. She only ever helps if she has something to gain.”

“Classic witch then,” I chuckle. “We may have no other choice though,” I sigh. Our pack lost all contact with the witches when Dad banished them years ago. In fact, I don’t think I have ever really seen any before except for the two council members.

Oliver sighs and nods, he doesn’t like the idea much but if it’ll help figure out what is going on, I would pay whatever debt they want, especially if it was going to help my mate and pack.

“Can we go and see them?” I ask Dr. West. Jace and I are on edge. Even though Ashleigh is in the same building, we were antsy with not being able to be close to her. We need to be with our mate.

“Yes, I will take you to Luna Ashleigh first, the others are across the hall from her,” he nods as he stands and leads the way out of his office and through the hospital to their rooms.

It wasn’t long until we arrived at her room, I could smell her scent, filtering through to the hallways. Even though I was in the same building as her, it was frustratingly annoying that I couldn’t be close to her.

“Before you leave, I would like to take some b***d samples from the three of you to check if there are any traces of poison or wolfsbane,” the doctor says. “Just to make sure. We want to play it safe to avoid any issues later on,” he goes on to explain.

My eyes are fixated on the door in front of me. All I want right now is to hold my mate, I don’t give a f**k about anything else.

Out of the corner of my eye I see Oliver and Brent shifting uneasily on their feet and looking at each other with concern.

“I understand both of you are from Liverpool, but please keep in mind doctor-patient confidentiality also exists in pack lands. I only wish to ensure everyone is protected, even more so if witchcraft is involved in this mess.” Dr. West continues to make his case to reassure them.

“We can discuss this later, doctor. I’ll stop by once we are all done,” I didn’t want them uneasy, more than they already probably are.”Now, can I please see my mate?”

“Yes, Alpha, my apologies,” he nods and opens the door behind him. “Please be mindful that she hasn’t healed much, so it may be a scary sight,” he warns, closing the door behind us as we walk in.

The room is big enough for a single bed, two chairs, and a small sink and mirror are next to the bed for easy access. Another door leads to a walk-in bathroom with a shower, toilet and sink. A large window is on the other side covered by sheer curtains to block the glaring ,sunset.

I push past the curtain wrapped around her bed, and my eyes land on her fragile body. They dressed Ashleigh in a light blue hospital gown that hangs off her body. A dressing is on the side of her neck, and bandages are wrapped around her arm. Her hair is a frazzled mess, with b***d from the battle still matted in it.

‘Mate,’ Jace whines and pushes forward, wanting to hold her.

“f**k, I sigh, dropping to my knees at the side of her bed. Her scent engulfs me as I pull back strands of her hair that cover her face.

“We need information .. I’ll give whatever the witches want, but this stops now. I can’t lose her, and I won’t lose any more pack members. We can’t go on like this.” I didn’t give a s**t if Liverpool were our enemies, that was the past. Right now, we need to build an alliance against this, it’s bigger than all of us and unless we know how to stop it, working together is the only option.

“l agree, I’ll see if we can replace them as they always move around. I’ll have my trackers try and track them down” Oliver says. “I’ll forward any information I replace and send you updates.”

My mind reels with so many possibilities of what this is, and what it could be. We don’t know much yet, but hopefully we will replace something out soon.