Page 20 of A Luna's Revenge

"Those symptoms are probably due to a combination of the breaking of the mate bond, your pregnancy, and the wolfsbane poisoning," she divulges. "I'm not surprised you're in the hospital." She begins typing again and continues.

"I am prescribing prenatal vitamins, and with the additional fluids, the wolfsbane should be out of your system in 24 hours. Those two things will help with the symptoms." Amaris examined my IV bag. "Lastly, I have a supplement I developed for rejected mates. I know you did the rejecting, but it eases mate separation. It’s safe for the pup. I took it myself during pregnancy."

"Thanks, Amaris," I sigh, exhausted. "I appreciate your expertise."

"You're welcome, Charlie. I will be out of town for a few weeks, but I will leave extensive notes for Dr. Frances so she can follow up on the wolfsbane poisoning. Do you know how you came to have wolfsbane poisoning?"

"I’ve no clue."

"Just rest, Charlie. You should be right as rain soon." She smiled at me, patted my hand, and walked out the door, leaving me with many questions and no answers.

Chapter 12 - Prisoners & Mates

Alpha Blake Collins -Present Day

This has been one busy month. I haven't even had time to meet all my responsibilities at home. I am thankful that I have such an excellent Beta to help me. I sent him to speak to the she-wolf currently admitted to the hospital, who wants to declare anonymous asylum in my pack.

Meanwhile, a team of Enforcers and I have an assignment from the Alpha Commander to pick up a couple of criminals from neighboring packs and transport them to Stone Mountain City. There is a crime spree against mate bonds as thecriminals are accused of tampering with mate bonds. I shake my head. It's going to be a long day.

We will head North to the Still Waters Pack to pick up Jeni Quinn and Sheila Morris from Alpha Devon. They are charged with interfering with the Alpha’s bond with Amaris by interfering and using wolfsbane poison.

I am personally acquainted with this one. I’ve been counseling them. I hope they can overcome this, but it’s mostly his stupidity. Amaris isa highly intelligent and confident wolf, so I don't hold much hope for him restoring the bond.

Next, I will head west to Little Silver Creek Pack to pick up Tracy Vincent. This one is serious. Ms. Vincent has been poisoning Alpha Jenson since the Alpha Conference three months ago. Fortunately, I didn't attend this one.

Alpha Jenson put out an APB for his Luna; she skipped the country when he moved the pregnant female onto the Alpha floor of the pack house. I don't know what it is about these Alphas and their Lunas. If I could only find my Luna, I would be the happiest of alphas.

We arrive at the Still Waters Pack around 7:00 am since we had an early start. Alpha Devon greets us with his lead enforcer, Enforcer Tevin Hill.

"Come on in and have breakfast with us," he invites. "They are feeding the prisoners and getting them ready for transport." We enter the dining room. Breakfast is laid out on the bar and served buffet style. I fill a plate and join Alpha Devon.

"How's it going between you and Amaris?" I inquire.

Devon drops his fork and leans back, pinching his nose and squinting. "She formally rejected me and is pushing me to sign divorce papers."

My fork halts midway between the plate and my mouth. "What caused such a drastic action on her part?"

"She feels like I’ve been siding with Jeni instead of her."

“Have you been siding with Jeni?”

He shakes his head. "I didn’t think so. I’ve been trying to facilitate a cease-fire between them. My best childhood memories have Jeni in them.”

“What do you want your future memories to have? Amaris, your pup, or Jeni?”

He blinks his eyes, looking startled. “I’ve never thought about it like that.”

“Maybe it’s time you did. You have a choice to make.”

“I never meant for Amaris to be a second choice. And Jeni’s betrayal has left me reeling. I don't know how to fix this." He fills me in on everything between him and Amaris since she has been here. He adds Jeni's machinations, and it’s a lot! A lot!

"I may not be the best one to give advice when it comes to females, Devon, but I think you can trust anything Amaris says. Since I've known her, she has never played games. Whatever she tells you, you need to listen toit. If she says Jeni is non-negotiable, you have to decide which is more important: your friendship with Jeni or your mate and child. I don’t know why there is even a hesitation. I know what I would choose—Amaris, hands down."

"It's not that simple any longer," Devon agonizes. "Jeni has shown her true colors. I see my mistakes in vivid hindsight. Amaris thinks I should have chosen her before I became aware of Jeni’s betrayal, and she's right. Now, I don't have any way to prove to Amaris that she always came first. It's too late."

"I hate that for you, man, I really do. I didn't have much faith that you all could come back from that. My advice is to be a good co-parent and work on being a worthy father. The best you can hope for in this situation is that Amaris finds a matewho is good to your pup, and she probably will because she is an exceptional female. I wish you the best of luck." I sympathize, patting him enthusiastically on the back."

He drops his head and discreetly wipes his eyes. "Well, let's get these criminals off my pack lands." He leads us to the basement.

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