The Pet🐾 (Completed)

Chapter 36

Ashley

As quickly as Christine left, she was back. She had about twelve more bottles and assorted herbs, all carefully balanced in her arms. She set them down on the table and immediately began mixing them. Javiare came in not long after, breathless.

"She can run. That's all I've got to say," he said, shaking his head as he walked in.

"I need you guys to flip him over. I need his chest exposed," Christine instructed, pouring a green liquid into an orange one.

Javiare quickly came over, helping us carefully turn Roman onto his back. I could hear him wince from the pain. Christine handed me a small bottle of blue liquid.

"Give him this while I get the rest ready," she said.

I stared at the bottle, my stomach twisting. The last thing I had given him had almost killed him. What if this did the same?

Just then, Javiare grabbed the bottle and poured the blue liquid into Roman's mouth. He shot me a look like, "WTF?" I just looked down. I should have done that myself. I needed to stop overthinking things.

Christine lit three bundles of herbs and placed them into open glass jars. She ran around the room, setting one on either side of Roman, then made Sophia hold one at his feet.

"I need a syringe," she said sharply.

Javiare sprinted out to the nurse's station and grabbed an unused one from the desk, then returned. Christine instructed, "Close the door. We need the scents to get into his lungs." She filled the syringe with a creamy white liquid.

Holding it just above Roman's chest, she warned, "Hold him down. This might hurt."

Sophia held his feet while Javiare and I held his arms. I felt the faint tingles of our mate bond, almost slipping away, like he was still distant. Once we had him restrained, Christine lowered the syringe and began squeezing the liquid into him.

Almost immediately, Roman started jerking violently. At first, it wasn't too bad, but as Christine pulled the syringe out, he lurched forward. Javiare held him down as best he could, while Sophia and I were knocked back. Then his body went limp on the bed.

Christine let out a long sigh. I looked at her, horrified.

"What the f,u,c,k was that!?" I yelled.

She calmly started packing up her herbs and jars into her bag. "He will be fine. You need to give him the tea when he wakes up. He must drink it for two weeks," she said, handing Javiare a brown paper bag.

I sat down, letting out a shaky sigh, placing my hand on his. The sparks of our bond slowly returned. Sophia put her hand on my shoulder.

"Who would do this?" she asked softly.

I looked over at her, anger rising. "Jared and Jasper brought it here. They're probably responsible." I turned to Javiare, brows furrowed. "Have them both in Roman's office with guards. I'll be there shortly, once I know he's okay."

Javiare nodded and handed Sophia the bag before running out. Sophia leaned closer to me, her voice pleading.

"Jasper would never do that to his brother. I know him. He would never," she insisted.

I shook my head, recalling the dream. "That's not what my dream said..."

Suddenly, I felt a slight squeeze on my hand. I jumped up, leaning over Roman.

His deep chocolate eyes opened, locking onto mine. He smiled.

"Hey, beautiful," he coughed softly. "How's it going?"

Relief washed over me. Hearing his voice almost brought me to tears. I smiled down at him.

"How are you feeling?" I asked gently.

He stroked my hand with his thumb. "Better now that I know you're safe," he said.

Two light knocks sounded at the door. Two men, along with the boy from before, stepped in.

"We're here to escort—" one began, then froze when he saw Roman. He straightened. "Alpha Roman, I didn't know you were awake," he said respectfully.

Roman nodded at them. "Hello." He turned back to me. "Escort me? Why, and where?"

"I can explain everything later. I need to deal with this," I said.

He furrowed his brows. "Whatever it is, we can handle it together," he said, holding my hand tighter as he swung his legs off the bed. "I'm the Alpha after all. I should be there most of all."

I leaned over him. "Fine. I'll explain on the way," I said, draping his arm over my shoulder.

"I need some clothes, don't you think?" he chuckled.

One of the guards quickly stepped out and returned with pants and a shirt. Roman dressed, and we began walking down the hall.

"So what are we dealing with?" Roman asked.

I huffed. "Well... while you were out, Jared and Jasper brought this potion."

He raised an eyebrow at me.

"And they said it was a 'healing potion'... and to give it to you," I continued.

We exited the hospital, everyone watching as we passed.

"And how did that work?" Roman asked.

"That's the problem. It was poison. They brought it for you. We're just going to see what to do about it," I said as we walked.

Roman nodded. "So... how long was I out?" he asked.

"Um... about two days," I told him.