Chapter 36

Aria’s POV

After being released from the hospital, I decided that Cathy was right. My stress levels were dangerous to both me and the baby. For both our sakes, I needed to take some time to balance myself out before something worse happened.

So I returned to Cathy’s house, put away my doctor costume, and as Aria, settled in to treat myself for a week or two. I wore my pajamas all day and watched far too much television, though I still made time to eat three meals and exercise daily.

While binging all the soap operas I could manage, I tried my very best to avoid all news channels. To keep my stress low, I needed to avoid all news entirely. Cathy and I had even worked out a system where she would take the newspaper straight from the stoop to work with her, so I never saw it.

This worked for about two days. But in my solitude, my worries for my patients, including Caleb, started eating away at me. His health was deteriorating but I felt confident he would hold out another week while I recovered. Still, it felt terribly selfish to be lounging around while my decision remained unclear to those it affected most.

Because of these bad feelings, during a commercial break on the soap opera, I found myself flipping channels to the local news. The moment I turned it on, they were showing a story about Caleb. He was a wartime hero, who had selflessly joined the front line despite his leadership role.

He’d been ready to die alongside his soldiers. Instead, his presence was credited as what turned the tide of the battle, giving his soldiers the strength and courage they needed to continue against insurmountable odds.

Caleb was the epitome of werewolf bravery and strength. In all the images they showed on the news segment, he reflected those values. All of these images were several years old. The news was either being untruthful or ignorant about the way Caleb looked now.

He wasn’t the bulky and confident werewolf he’d been in the war. Now, he was a frail old man dying in a hospital bed.

Frustrated, I couldn’t sit here anymore and do nothing anymore. This was too irresponsible, too selfish. Yet, if I tried to go near the hospital disguised as Dr. A, I’d be bombarded by press or protestors. It could even lead to a similar experience as I had in the past, when that man followed me home…

I shivered.

Although, to visit Caleb, maybe I didn’t have to be Dr. A. After all, Lucian and I were familiar with the family. It wouldn’t be all that strange for me, as Luna, to check on Caleb with everything going on.

With that decided, I dressed in one of my older conservative outfits – gray slacks and a black turtleneck – and ordered a cab to take me down to the hospital. Once there, some of the press standing outside recognized me. A few even came up for a statement.

“No comment,” I told them and kept walking.

They didn’t follow me into the hospital. There was still some outrage over the Luna’s lack of a comment about the current controversy, but compared to the unrest over Dr. A and her decision, no one really cared about Aria.

I definitely had more freedom this way. At least, in this instance.

I already knew where Caleb was in the hospital, so I took an elevator and found his room.

As I’d expected, he hadn’t changed much since my last visit. His health was on the decline, but he still had some time left. A month maybe, depending on his medicines.

The only thing that I could perceive that was different now was that most of Caleb’s family was gone. No Montgomery or his sister. Instead, the youngest son was there, sitting in a chair pulled up against his father’s bedside.

Matt.

I had not seen him in several years. He was a warrior and a soldier, off patrolling the borders of the pack lands and keep us safe from invasion. He must have returned when he heard news of his father’s condition.

He looked different than when I’d last seen him. He was broader in the shoulders and his muscles were even more defined than when he’d been in training. As a warrior, he must have had an intense workout schedule.

His dark hair was shorn short in a high and tight military style. He was dressed simply but respectfully with brown gray slacks and a black long-sleeved t-shirt that stretched to contain his bulging muscle. His only breach in decorum was that he was still wearing his warrior combat boots. They’d been shined but still seemed out of place with his other civilian clothing.

Looking toward the door, he saw me and immediately stood. “Aria.”

I knew Matt well. In the past, he’d asked me on a few dates, and I even went on a couple. But at the same time, Lucian and I had begun to become entangled. My growing love of Lucian kept me from developing feelings for Matt. In the end, I’d rejected him.

Now, he tried to offer me a small smile, but it quickly fell away as he looked down at his father.

“You must be here to visit Dad,” he said, ever direct.

“Yes.” I stepped closer, joining him at his father’s bedside.

For a moment, we stood there in silence watching his father sleep while the heart monitor beeped and a breathing machine rose and fell, pushing and pulling oxygen through Caleb’s system.

Matt wasn’t much of a talker, typically. When we’d gone out, he’d always encouraged me to do most of the talking, though he was an excellent listener.

Even so, I expected he had a lot on his mind today, and if I was quiet and patient, he might share some of that with me.

“It’s been a long time,” he said.

“It has.”

A pause.

“Dad would hate this,” Matt said. “Us watching him like he’s some kind of exhibit while he’s stuck in bed.”

I obviously didn’t know Caleb as well as Matt did, but even I could guess that a proud man like Caleb would hate to be in this bed.

“He loved this pack,” Matt continued, frowning, “And here it is, tearing itself apart over what to do with him. If he was awake, he’d tell everyone to knock it off.”

I wished that could happen. That he’d just pop his eyes open and tell everyone to knock it off.

“Don’t mistake, I love my father,” Matt added quickly.

“I know you do,” I assured him.

Very softly, Matt said, “He wouldn’t want this.”

I’d thought so too, but for a while, it had seemed like I was the only one. I was glad to be speaking with a like-minded individual, someone who knew Caleb well enough to know for sure what he would want and not want.

“It just…” He curtly cut himself off. Then he began again. “It makes me so damn sad.”

“I’m sorry, Matt.” I might have been young at the time, but I knew what it was like to watch parents pass away. It was a natural order of things. Kids were supposed to outlive their parents, but that didn’t make it easier when the time came to say goodbye.

“Dr. A’s medicine would extend his life, right?” Matt asked, glancing at me. There was no accusation in his gaze. I didn’t think he knew I was Dr. A.

“I think so,” I said carefully.

“But would he get better? Or would it just be more of… this…” He gestured back to the bed.

I didn’t have an answer that would suit him. With the medicine, there was a chance, however slight, that he could recover. But it seemed infinitely unlikely. The more realistic possibility was that he would suffer.

Suddenly, Matt glanced around. “I need to get out of here. Clear my head.” His gaze fell on me. “Would you come with me?”

I blinked, startled by the sudden request. “Huh?

“To a coffee shop or something. To catch up. I can’t stay here anymore.”

In the past, for Lucian’s sake, I would have turned Matt down. Though the offer was friendly, I was ever careful that Lucian’s reputation remained intact. Being seen with another man would have been reflected negatively on him.

Now, however, it didn’t matter. Lucian and I were divorcing, and with how often he was seen with Sheila…

Yet, above all this, the most important thing: Matt needed a friend right now. His father was dying and he was hurting. I was not so hard-hearted that I would ignore that and leave him on his own.

“Of course,” I said.

He seemed relieved.