Finally, I go to my room. I am anxious to talk to Charlie about what is going on. Surely, I will have time to explain thingsto her and we will be able to figure this out together. My hopes are crushed when I look at the bed and Charlie is lying facing away from me, her breaths even and deep in sleep.
The coward I am is relieved I don't have to face her yet. I begin my nighttime regimen and change for bed when my cell phone rings. "What!" I snap when I see Tracy calling.How did she get my number?!
I mind link Ben."Why does Tracy have my cell number?"
"All due respect, Alpha,"He answers,"She asked for it and I gave it to her because I don't know what to do about her. I'm sorry, but she's your responsibility."
I cut the link without answering because I could read between the lines. What he's really saying is that she ismy problem,andI guess that is fair.
Meanwhile, Tracy is talking in my ear about being hungry and wanting a full meal. I eventually convince her to agree to some ice cream. Redressing, I go get her some ice cream from the kitchen. When I talk to her, she latches on and tries to physically pull me into her room. I again get loose from her, telling her I need to get to bed.
No sooner am I back in my room, than she calls telling me she's cold. I take her some extra blankets and go to adjust the thermostat in her room and she clamps her arms around me again. I don't want to physically hurt her, but I have to use a bit of force to free myself. I want to call someone to help so I don't have to deal with her unwanted attention, but I don't want to wake anyone.
She continues to call me for one thing or another for most of the night. Eventually, I promise to go to a convenience store to get her some crazy thing she asked for, but instead, I turn off my cell and go to my office to sleep to avoid further disrupting Charlie’s rest.
At this point, my anxiety is off the charts, so I pop another sedative and curl up on the couch to try to get some sleep.
Chapter 11 - The Results Are In
Jenson - Present Day
I'm a complete mess, even more than I was before. Charlie has vanished in her SUV with her clothes, and I can't sense anything through any mate bond. All that is left is a black void. My wolf is also still missing, I am lost without true north.
I’ve deployed my best trackers, but they can't track her scent beyond the garage where she entered her SUV. I’ve notified all Alpha's and the Alpha Commander of my missing Luna and asked for discretion. I contacted my private investigator. Hopefully, she’ll be found soon.
In the meantime, I am done with Tracy Vincent. Everything points to her being behind an attempted mate tampering, which ironically, I played into her hands by allowing Charlie to go without knowing the full extent of the crime. I should have told Charlie when I got back from the Alpha conference. I was just so embarrassed and had no wolf to guide me. I’ve learned a lesson: to be honest and not hold anything back from my mate again if I ever get her back.
Dr. Bridgit called me to the clinic to get my test results. As I enter, Dr. Bridgit and Dr. Shannon are mulling over a holographic file above Dr. Shannon’s desk.
A pang of regret shoots through my chest, and I rub it. Charlie developed the systems that support our medical offices. She is responsible for inventing the technology behind the hologram system here and throughout the territory.
Looking up, Dr. Bridgit addresses me. "Ah, Alpha, good, you are here. Let's go to my office to discuss our findings." I nod, and Dr. Bridgit leads the way, with Dr. Shannon and me trailing behind.
Dr. Bridgit sits at her workstation and opens a holographic file above her desk. "I'm not going to sugarcoat it; we have problems." She eyes me as Dr. Shannon and I take the two armchairs before her desk.
"Let's start with the tea. It has traces of weak black magic. Whoever prepared it doesn't know what they are doing. If Ms. Vincent is practicing herself, there may be a grimoire in her room. It would help if you had her room searched. Here's a list of the ingredients we determined the tea contains. Most are inert." She points to a list on the hover screen. "Unfortunately, it does contain wolfsbane."
She points to another screen. "This is your blood toxicology report. You can see the high levels of wolfsbane indicated. The results are all over the place.
“There don't appear to be any other poisons. But for the levels of wolfsbane in your blood being so high, she was probably heavily dosing your food and drinks at the conference and slipped you a significant amount to render you and your wolf unconscious. This explains your missing wolf."
I am not surprised; it’s exactly what we suspected. I scrub my face. "How long will it take to work out of my system?"
"I don't know." Dr. Bridgit admits. "I’ve never seen such high levels in a wolf walking around. You should be more debilitated. It speaks to your strength. We can treat it relatively easily. But we need to watch for damage to your system—to your wolf."
"There is another issue we need to address." Dr. Bridgit continues. "If you and Luna Charlie didn't use condoms, such high concentrations would have made it into her system through bodily fluids."
"What?" I exclaim.
"Probably not enough to be dangerous, but she isn't as strong as you. It would be imperative to treat her as soon as possible."
"I have an army searching for her." I croak.
"Additionally," She flips through screens and stops on another page. "This is your lab semen analysis. I realize that doesn't make a lot of sense, motility, morphology, and sperm count, but in simple terms, you are 95.9% infertile. Based on these conclusions alone, it’s not likely that the pup Ms. Vincent is carrying belongs to you."
I sigh with relief, dropping my head to my hands. Scrubbing my face, I look at Dr. Bridgit. "Without my wolf, how can we know for sure?"
"I thought about that beforehand, Alpha. Using Ms. Vincent's blood that we took when we examined her and a sample of yours, it’s not your pup."