Chapter 30

Within the half hour we were hurrying toward the entrance of the emergency room.

Emergency rooms at night were never pleasant. The lighting was harsh, the smell antiseptic, which gave werewolves instant headaches, and despite the problems being no different than what happened during the day, at night they seemed more frightening, more intense.

Charles, however, suddenly expanded the moment we entered the room. I looked at him in surprise as he strode to the front desk. Despite his casual workout clothes there was no mistaking him as the powerful Alpha he was.

The female behind the desk wilted under his intense gaze, and despite his calm tone of voice, she fumbled and stammered over the computer she was attempting to get information out of.

Poor girl. I totally get it, I thought.

Finally, she gave us directions to the appropriate waiting room, and Charles moved confidently through closed doors that I would have hesitated to open despite arrows pointing through.

We entered an area full of beds with curtains around them. We could hear the labored, painful breathing of various patients. The scents were mixed with chemicals and anxiety, and I had to take a deep, steadying breath.

Charles, on the other hand, turned his head carefully, totally unphased, and then confidently strode toward a curtain where the smell of cedar and pine wafted softly out.

He peeked his head around and then looked back, beckoning me forward.

"Charles," I heard a relieved voice say. It was Amy.

I stepped into the small space behind the curtain. Jessica was lying in the bed, pale, her eyes closed, a bit of crust around her mouth where a tube was coming out and hooked to a breathing machine.

Amy was looking at her feet, standing, and Charles put strong arms around her. She began to shake and I realized she was crying.

He released her and held her out, looking at her. "It's okay. I'm here. I'm going to take care of things."

She looked up, her eyes glossy, her face grateful. She caught sight of me and her face crumpled again. "Oh, Elena!" she held her arms out to me, and I stepped between her and Charles and let her cry onto my shoulder.

It took some time, but she finally quieted, and I sat her down, perching on the arm rest next to her. Charles looked at her and then at Jessica, his face grave.

"What happened?" he asked quietly, aware there were other patients on the other side of the slowly shifting curtains.

"She wasn't answering any of her devices so I went to her house. I knocked and knocked. Finally her neighbor came out. She knows me and so let me in with a key Jessica gave her."

Amy gulped and looked at her colleague. "She was on the floor. She had thrown up. I was afraid she had aspirated. The neighbor was already calling emergency services."

She looked at Charles. "That's all I know. A doctor is supposed to be by soon."

Charles nodded. He looked out of the curtain and I heard his calm, quiet, but commanding voice asking a nurse to see the doctor as soon as possible.

One appeared almost immediately and I smiled wryly to myself. The perks of being and Alpha.

The doctor looked at us, then hurriedly pulled up a chair for me and Charles, who thanked him but remained standing.

"She's ingested something toxic," he said looking at the charts and the instruments that were hooked up to Jessica. "We had to pump her stomach for any still left, but her body did a good job getting most of it out."

"What was it? Any way to tell?" Charles asked.

"Not at this point, something bread-like, maybe? It had to have been between 9 and noon, though, since her colleague was with her in the office for most of that time."

Jessica shifted and winced, and we all looked at her, holding our breath. She settled back into sleep.

"Will she wake on her own?" Charles asked.

"That's kind of what we are waiting for," the doctor said. "We don't know how it's affected her cognitive ability yet, and she inhaled a lot of her vomit, thus the tube."

He looked at Jessica, his eyes tired. "But she's young and healthy, and I have confidence. We will know probably in the next few hours. Best case scenario is she will be up at moving by at it again by tomorrow afternoon."

And the worst case scenario? I wondered, but didn't have the courage to ask.

Charles nodded. "Thank you, doctor."

The doctor nodded and handed Charles a business card. "Please let me know if you have questions. Mr. Rafe, isn't it?"

"Yes," Charles said, smiling grimly. "I appreciate your help and your discretion."

The doctor nodded. "Of course."

He left and we were left looking at Jessica.

"Amy," Charles said. "What did she eat this morning? Can you remember."

Amy nodded eagerly. "She ate two of those donuts that were delivered to the office."

Charles and I looked at each other.

"Did you have one?" he asked Amy.

She shook her head, her face grim. "Those had to have been it, right?"

"Seems that way."

"We'd better get that donut box fingerprinted," I said, looking at Charles.

"Good idea."

After getting Amy a fresh coffee we headed back to the office and up the elevator to the fourteenth floor.

"This isn't good," I said. "Right? It means someone intentionally put them there."

Charles nodded grimly. "It's not good, for sure. I'll have to check with the security guard. No one should be able to get in without a key card."

The door opened onto the dimly light penthouse.

Jessica's desk stood empty. There was nothing on her desk except papers and her empty inbox.

I looked in the trash can and Charles checked the breakroom. When that turned up nothing, we kept searching in all the cupboards, trashcans, and even in the desk drawers.

We looked everywhere, and then had to admit the truth to ourselves. The box of potentially poisoned donuts had gone.