by Terra Wolf
I watched nervously as Shane opened up the box that was delivered to us. Inside the box were a small vial and a sheet of paper. Shane set the vial on the table and picked up the sheet of paper. I stared at it with a confused expression on my face.
“Is that chocolate?” Shane nodded and continued to read the paper.
He let out an awkward laugh. “Haven’t you heard that chocolate is poisonous to animals?”
“But part of us is human. Why would just two pieces of chocolate send you to the hospital? With the amount of chocolate I have eaten over my lifetime, I should be dead by now.”
Shane set the paper down on the table and let out a laugh. “This isn’t just normal chocolate, it’s pure theobromine, which is the chemical that’s harmful to animals. By eating this, I will get sick enough to warrant going to the hospital, but not so sick where it will kill me.”
Realization washed over me. I did remember not feeling so great when I had eaten too much chocolate. At least this was chocolate and not something lethal. “Well, I’m glad you don’t have to take some strong poison then.”
Shane smiled, but it never fully reached his eyes. I could tell that he was nervous.
I walked toward him and wrapped my arms around him. His arms tightened around me and he kissed the top of my head.
“Let’s get this over with,” Shane sighed. He broke our embrace and reached for the vial. He popped off the top and dumped the contents into his mouth and swallowed.
I watched him nervously. At first, Shane looked like he felt fine. Then suddenly, Shane grabbed his stomach and let out a loud groan. I rushed toward him as he collapsed onto the ground. Was he supposed to be reacting this quickly to it? I reached for his face and realized that he had passed out. His skin felt cool underneath my touch. Panic coursed through my veins. Please don’t let this be something more serious happening.
“Shane, wake up!” I pushed my fingers to his neck to feel his pulse. It beat against my fingers, which made me feel better, but it felt weak. Weaker than it should be for a bear. I jumped up quickly and rushed over to the phone and dialed Marco’s number. He picked up on the first ring.
“Marco, get the ambulance over here now!”
“It’s already on the way, Lydia. Don’t worry, Shane will be fine.”
I looked over at Shane’s body on the ground and prayed that my brother was right.
12
Shane
My eyes fluttered open. My vision was blurred so I squeezed my eyes shut to gain some focus. I turned to the side and recognized Lydia’s curvy form in the chair. She was fast asleep. A slow smile spread across my face. Even when she slept, she was beautiful.
I turned my head to take in the rest of my surroundings. I was on a small bed. The sheets felt rough against my skin. There was a gentle beeping sound in the room and I quickly realized that we had made it to the hospital. I reached my hand up to rub my forehead and noticed an IV tube in my arm. I was about to yank it out when I heard Lydia stir in the chair.
“Oh thank God, you’re awake!” Lydia stood up quickly and rushed over to my bedside.
I smiled at her. But my smile faltered when I tried to remember how I had ended up here. “What happened?” My throat felt scratchy as I asked.
Lydia looked around and leaned closer to my ear and whispered. “You ate the pure theobromine and you collapsed. I called Marco and the ambulance came and picked you up.”
She leaned back up from my ear and continued. “Once the ambulance came and got you loaded inside, you had a seizure on the way to the hospital.” I watched as tears formed at the corner of Lydia’s eyes. “ After your seizure they were able to stabilize you. I was so scared on the way over, but the doctors here have been amazing. They admitted you right away, and they’re running blood tests now to see what happened.”
I could read between the lines that Lydia was giving me. We arrived at the hospital fine, and were admitted, which was the plan all along. Now we would have to wait and see what else they would do to me. Once I saw Marco again I planned on punching him in the gut for making me take that stuff. Lydia squeezed my hand and I smiled up at her.
“How are you feeling?” she asked.
“I’m feeling a lot better than I was.” Taking the theobromine was a terrible experience. I had always felt a little off when I had regular chocolate, so I usually avoided the stuff. However, having the pure chemical that caused the reaction had set my insides on fire. It felt as though my whole body had been fighting to get it out of my system as quickly as it could, and I felt weak now because of it. I tightened my jaw. Now was not the time to be weak. I needed to somehow suck it up so that I could figure out what was really going on and make sure that Lydia was safe.
I moved over and let Lydia sit down on the hospital bed. She leaned down and pressed a light kiss on my lips.
“I was so worried about you,” she said honestly.
I felt terrible for putting her in this position. Deep down, I knew I needed someone else to be there to see what was happening, but I hated that it had to be her. I never wanted to make her frightened, like she was in the ambulance, ever again.
“I’m so sorry I scared you. I hate that you had to experience that. It was the last thing I want to do to you.”
She gave me a genuine smile and leaned down to whisper in my ear. “I know that if there was any other way, you would have done it. This is the only way to figure out what’s going on here.”
I stared up at her in amazement. Lydia was truly an amazing woman to understand that we had a mission to accomplish. I would have to tell Marco that she is a lot stronger than he thinks.
“I love you,” I blurted without thinking. The moment the words passed over my lips though, I knew that it was the truth. I loved Lydia more than anything. She was mine. My bear growled underneath the surface and said mate, and I knew the bear was right. Lydia was my one true mate. The person I was supposed to be with for the rest of my life.
Blood rushed towards Lydia’s face and she smiled down at me. “I love you too.”
Someone else in the room cleared their throat. My bear went on high alert and I searched for the intruder that had ruined our moment. I let out a low growl in warning.
A small brunette wearing a lab coat stood at the doorway. “Sorry to interrupt,” she said a little flustered. Lydia stood up from the bed and smiled. “ Oh no, it’s fine. Shane, this is Dr. Evans. She has been taking care of you since you arrived.”
Dr. Evans walked toward me and offered her hand. I could sense easily that she was human. I took her hand and she gave me a genuine smile.
“It’s nice to see you finally awake, Shane,” Dr. Evans said. “You’ve been out for several hours now.”
“It’s nice to be awake again,” I said. “Have you figured out what’s going on with me?”
Dr. Evans dropped her hand and looked at the chart that she was holding in her arms.
“We’ve run some tests, but we haven’t figured out yet what caused you to pass out like you did and have seizures. I want to keep you here for a few days while we run some more tests to figure out what happened.”
I looked over to Lydia’s face. She immediately understood my concern. “They’ve just taken your blood so far,” Lydia told me.
“That’s right,” Dr. Evans said. “I think it was an allergic reaction to something you ate, but what concerns me are the seizures.”
“Have I had any more since I arrived?”
“No, but you were on the brink of one late last night. Our monitors were able to catch it before it happened and we were able to stop it. Because of that, I do want to keep watch over you in case you have one while we run some more tests on your blood.”
I nodded. Being on the police force, I had developed good judgment of character. I always seemed to be able to spot who was being truthful and who was not. It was as if they had a smell come off them when they were trying to lie. Dr. Evans seemed completely genuine. From the way she spoke, it seeme
d that she was truly concerned about me and that she wanted to pinpoint the reason for the seizures. She might be someone that I could trust.
“Thanks for looking out for me, Dr. Evans,” I said.
“It’s my pleasure. I just came in because the machines alerted us that you were finally awake. I just want to check in on some vital signs.”
Lydia squeezed my hand again and walked back to her chair. Dr. Evans walked up and used her stethoscope to check my heart rate and blood pressure. When she was finished, she grabbed her chart and scribbled down some notes.
“Everything seems right on track here. I’m going to order some more tests on your blood, and once I have the results, I’ll let you know. Hopefully this all was just an allergic reaction and nothing more serious. In the meantime, try and get some rest.”
“Thanks, Dr. Evans,” Lydia said.
“You’re welcome, Mrs. McAbbot.” She walked out of the hospital room. Lydia walked back up to the bed and sat down.
I moved my body over so that Lydia could lay down and I could wrap my arms around her.
“I kind of like the ring of Mrs. McAbbot,” I said as I nuzzled Lydia’s neck. She laughed.
“I kind of like it too.”
13
Lydia
I opened my eyes and realized that I was still wrapped in Shane’s arms in the tiny hospital bed. I leaned back and heard Shane sigh behind me.
“We must have fallen asleep,” he said gruffly.
I pulled up my wrist to check the time. My watch said 6:00 pm.
“Yeah, apparently we did. We needed it though, after the late night we had.”
I sat slowly up from the bed and turned to look at Shane. I had never been more scared than when Shane had collapsed in front of me. By the time the ambulance arrived, he was completely unresponsive no matter how hard I had hit and shook him. Tears were streaming down my face as the EMTs lifted him up on the gurney and placed him inside. I immediately hopped in after and bit back the scream in my throat once his seizure started.
I did not calm down until Dr. Evans assured me that Shane would truly be fine. Deep down, I knew that I probably should not have trusted Dr. Evans, but something about her seemed truthful. She wasn’t malicious toward Shane in any way and acted as though she cared for his well-being. Going into this undercover job, I was extremely nervous that no one would actually help Shane once he was sick, however, Dr. Evans exceeded my expectations. I trusted her, and hoped that my trust would not end up misplaced.
“As much as I hate to see you leave, I need you to go walk around a little bit and see what you can find,” Shane said, pulling me from my thoughts. A small knot of nerves formed in my stomach. How would I be able to find anything?
“What do you want me to do? Just wander around the hospital?”
Shane rubbed my back slowly. “Basically yes. See if you can find any other family members of patients that you can talk to.”
I nodded as I moved my legs over and pushed myself up off the small hospital bed. I looked back at Shane and tried to hide the concern from my face. A part of me did not want to leave Shane here alone. While I did trust Dr. Evans, I was not sure about the rest of the staff at the hospital.
“Are you sure it’s safe to leave you here alone?”
Shane smiled and nodded. “I can handle my own if something happens. Just be on alert for anything suspicious. If you start to feel unsafe, come back here or go directly to your brother.”
I nodded and felt the pit in my stomach ease. At least the rest of the Portland PD was close by in case anything happened. I just hoped that I would be able stop anything bad from happening to Shane.
I leaned down and kissed Shane passionately. His hands reached up and ran through my long hair. God, I loved how he made me feel.
I broke the kiss, knowing that if it continued, I would be in the hospital room with Shane a lot longer than we had planned.
I walked down the hospital corridor. I absolutely hated hospitals. The thick, sterile scent permeated my senses and I took a breath, in hoping to force the nauseous feeling to pass. I needed to find something on the hospital that would tie them to everything. But what the hell was I even supposed to be looking for? I wasn’t a cop so I certainly had never done any investigative work before. Truthfully, I had no idea where to even begin to look.
I walked up toward an empty waiting room and plopped down in the nearest chair in frustration. How was I supposed to do this? Without thinking, I pulled out my phone and texted Marco.
What should I even be looking for here?
Lydia, why the hell are you texting me now?
I rolled my eyes. Marco was always so overprotective sometimes. His phone number was not saved on my burner phone, so it wasn’t like there was some big neon sign over my head alerting everyone that I was undercover.
I just need some help. Tell me what to look for.
Fine. Look for anything out of the ordinary. If something seems off to you, tell your hubs about it.
I let out a small chuckle. Thinking of Shane as my husband was just too surreal. What surprised me the most, is that I kind of liked it. Being with him almost 24/7 for the last couple of weeks had made us very close. Not to mention that I completely fell for him. He had broken down any walls that I put up to make the outside world believe that I was strong. He was mine and always would be.
I put my phone back in my purse and set off to find something out of the ordinary.
Near the waiting room was a quiet hallway. I turned down the corridor, gently pushed open the double doors, and acted like I knew where I was headed so none of the staff would question me. Everything around me seemed eerily quiet, which sent chills up my spine.
I looked around and realized that this hallway was almost deserted compared to the corridor that Shane was in. There, everything was buzzing with nurses and doctors taking care of patients. In the hallway I was in, all the staff seemed to be gone. What was even stranger, was that their were no family members around. In Shane’s hallway you passed by at least two loved ones every way you turned. Here it was like a dead zone.
I walked up to a closed door and peeked in through the small window on the door. Inside was a patient that seemed to be sleeping. I looked back and forth to ensure I was the only one around and quietly slipped inside.
Inside was a woman who was slightly older than me. She had long blond hair that was almost white and pale skin. She seemed to be asleep so I walked up quietly to her bedside. At the foot of the woman’s bed was her chart. I grabbed it and started flipping through the pages.
Most of it was nonsense because I wasn’t a doctor, but a few words jumped out at me from the pages. “Medically induced coma” and “remain asleep while undergoing tests” sent my heart racing. I quickly put the chart down and noticed that the woman was hooked up to an IV drip. I pulled out my phone and snapped a picture of the IV bag knowing that I would never remember the name of the drug on the bag and then quickly slipped out of the room.
14
Shane
I sighed in relief when Lydia left the hospital room. I didn’t want to see her panic while I tried to figure out what was in my IV drip. I didn’t want another reason for her to be concerned about me.
I moved my body over to the side and strained myself to look up at the IV bag. I spotted the word saline and let out a breath. Saline was a pretty normal IV drip. At least the hospital wasn’t pumping me up with some horrible drug.
I relaxed a little and wondered how I could figure out what was truly going on. Maybe I could sneak out late tonight and look into things? With how weak my body felt though, I wasn’t even sure I could stand, let alone sneak around the hospital.
Just as I was about to get up and test my legs, the door opened and a younger gentleman in a lab coat walked in.
“Hi Shane, I’m Dr. Tyson.”
I looked at his face, confused.
“Isn’t my doctor Dr. Evans?”
Dr. Tyson smiled and nodded. �
��Yes, but Dr. Evans is a bit busy with some other patients right now, so she had me come in here to get some more information for your tests.”
I studied Dr. Tyson’s face. He was thin with a nasal tone to his voice, and for some reason, he seemed to put off a strange vibe. My bear shifted uneasily underneath my skin. I sat up in the bed and wished that I had some sort of weapon to defend myself.
“Sure, what information do you need?
Dr. Tyson walked over to the chair Lydia was sitting in earlier and sat down. He pulled a pen out of his pocket and opened up his manila folder and looked up at me.
“I just have some routine questions for you to answer.” Dr. Tyson looked back down at his folder.
“What type of shifter are you?”
I growled lightly. I tightened my jaw to keep my cool and to control my bear. Why did he need to know about what kind of shifter I am?
“I’m a grizzly bear.”
“And have you always been a grizzly bear? Or were you turned?”
Turned? I had never heard of anyone being turned into a shifter before. As far as I knew, we were all born that way. I could feel my bear just underneath the surface of my skin. Ready to come out in case I needed to defend myself.
“I don’t think it’s possible to turn someone, doc, I’ve always been a shifter.”
Dr. Tyson looked up at me and gave me a condescending smile, and turned back to his notes.
“Can you describe what happens when you shift?”
Anger started to bubble up inside my chest. The only reason this so called doctor needed any of this information was to gain more knowledge on shifters.
“Sorry, doc, but what does any of this have to do with why I’m here?”
Dr. Tyson looked back up at me with a fake smile.
“It has to do with everything, Mr. McAbbot. We need to know exactly what we’re dealing with, in order to have the best possible treatment plan.”