Chapter 80 - Something Has Changed

“Help!” Caleb shouted, carrying an unconscious Ashleigh in his arms.

Two nurses came running over. They helped him put her on a gurney and then checked her vitals.

“What’s wrong with her?” he asked, looking over them to make sure she was ok.

Ashleigh began to toss and turn on the gurney, shaking the nurses’ hands away.

“She’s on fire!” one of the nurses shouted as she checked the temperature. “Call the doctor, now!”

A nurse ran to the desk and picked up a phone. She seemed to connect right away as barely a second had passed when she shared who it was and where they were.

Ashleigh began to shake. She let out painful groans, hugged herself, and flailed.

“What is happening to her?!” Caleb roared.

One of the nurses tried to push him away, but the nurse backed away once they locked eyes with him.

Another nurse tried to hold Ashleigh down, but that seemed to only make it worse.

“Ashleigh…” he called to her sadly.

“Alpha Caleb?” a familiar voice called behind him.

Caleb turned around to see the woman Galen was so infatuated with, Bell. She looked beyond him to where Ashleigh continued to flail on the gurney. Bell quickly pushed past him to be at Ashleigh’s side.

Bell and the nurses immediately began to trade medical information back and forth. While Caleb had some training in medicine, most of his medical rotation had been focused on mental health. Even if he could remember everything they were saying and what they meant. His heart, head, and everything were too focused on Ashleigh to absorb anything else.

She hadn’t stopped moving around, the groans were getting louder, and he wondered if she was hurting.

“What’s wrong with her?” he asked again.

Bell looked back at him; she was surprised. She assumed he would have left as soon as the doctor arrived.

“You can’t be here, Alpha Caleb,” she said, “you need to give us room to help her.”

Caleb didn’t move. Ashleigh had started shaking even more violently this time.

“Hold her down!” Bell shouted.

They surrounded the table and did their best to hold her down. But Ashleigh was a strong woman, even while not fully awake. She shook off two of the four people holding her down.

Caleb moved without thinking about it. He rushed to her side, where she had kicked away the two nurses.

“Alpha Caleb, you can’t–“ Bell started to shout. She stopped when Ashleigh suddenly calmed.

Bell looked down at Ashleigh. She checked her vitals. She was resting. Peacefully. Bell lifted her eyes to where Alpha Caleb held Ashleigh’s hand, his eyes locked on Ashleigh’s face.

Bell quickly turned to the nurse beside her and gave her directions to get IV fluids started and see if the other two were injured. When the nurses left the room, Bell spoke to Caleb.

“You can let her go now. She’s asleep.”

“Are you sure?” he asked, not looking away from Ashleigh.

“Yes.”

Caleb sighed, and slowly he let go of her hand. She let out a soft moan of protest but otherwise remained peaceful. He backed away from her slowly.

“I need to perform a thorough exam on her. You can wait out there. Her family has already been called, so they will probably be here soon.” Bell said, indicating a waiting area past the doors he had brought Ashleigh through.

Caleb nodded, turning to walk away. The thought suddenly occurred to him that Bell wouldn’t understand why he would be with Ashleigh or how he could calm her. He wasn’t sure what to say, but he knew he should say something.

“Uhm… about why I brought her…” he started, but she raised a hand to stop him.

“If there’s something that Ashleigh wants me to know about,” Bell looked back and forth between them and smiled, “anything… she’ll tell me when she’s ready.”

Caleb gave her a smirk and nodded. He looked back at Ashleigh one more time, confirming that she was still resting peacefully. Then, he left to sit in a dark corner of the waiting room.

***

“Why is it taking so long?” Corrine asked as she paced the waiting room for likely the hundredth time in an hour.

“They have to run tests, figure out what caused it,” Axel replied. “Just sit down. Bell will be out to give us an update as soon as she has something.”

“Oh, your father should be here!” Corrine huffed angrily.

“It’s not like he knew Ashleigh would get sick the day he was taking the pups up the mountain. Besides, isn’t it better if he’s not here until we know exactly what is going on with her?” Axel offered.

“I suppose you're right. Of course, he would throw a fit about all this waiting.”

“Seriously, Mom, just relax. Bell already told us that Ashleigh is fine.”

Just then, the doors leading to the treatment rooms opened, and Bell came forward.

From behind the bookshelf, Caleb leaned forward to listen better.

“Hello, Luna,” Bell greeted Corrine respectfully.

“Oh, enough of that, just please tell us. I can’t take the waiting.”

“I’m very sorry for the waiting,” Bell smiled. “As I told you before, Ashleigh is doing quite well.”

“Then what happened to my baby?!” Corrine shouted.

“Mom…” Axel chided her.

“I’m sorry… I’m just worried!” Corrine pouted.

“It’s ok,” Bell laughed.

Bell looked around before gesturing for Axel and Corrine to sit near the bookshelf. Once they did, she sat across from them to explain the situation.

She told them that Ashleigh had passed out from a high fever, likely brought on by a combination of stress or emotional exhaustion and the onset of the full moon.

“But the full moon isn’t even until tomorrow,” said Axel.

“True, that is strange. But all Ashleigh’s symptoms and test results say the same thing. That this is mating sickness.”

“Mating sickness?” Corrine asked.

“What is that?” Axel questioned.

“As we all know, the mate bond has a physical and emotional connection. Mates can sense each other’s emotions; they feel a physical need for each other, some develop a telepathic link. And if something happens to one mate, the other goes through it to a certain extent.”

“Right, yes, we know all of this,” Corrine stated.

“Yes, of course,” Bell smiled. “Mating sickness is usually only found in wolves that are kept from their mate for some reason. It could be a terminal illness, a tradition, or even a dislike of each other.”

“I don’t understand,” Axel replied.

“Ashleigh’s body and the wolf know she has a mate. They feel the connection. So, the primal need for that connection to be made is making her sick,” Bell explained.

“So basically, what you’re saying is that she’s sick because she hasn’t gotten married yet?” Axel asked.

“Sort of, I mean, her case is strange,” Bell stated, “Honestly, most mating sickness happens within the first few months of meeting your mate. With my parents, my father had to wait almost a year to marry my mother because of her age. He suffered the mating sickness for almost nine months.”

“But it’s been two years. This has never happened before; we’ve always kept Ashleigh away from Granger during the full moon, but she has never gotten sick from it before,” Corrine said with confusion.

“I agree. Every full moon I have spent with her has been just like any other night,” Bell stated.

“Then why is this happening now?” Axel asked.

“I don’t really have a good answer for you,” Bell said, glancing over at the bookshelf. “All I can think is that something has changed in the past few months.”

Behind the bookshelf, Caleb couldn’t help but smile.

“Where is she!” a booming voice shouted from the hallway.

Granger suddenly burst into the waiting room, looking around frantically.

“Where is Ashleigh?!” he demanded, getting too close to Bell, causing her to flinch.

“Granger, calm down!” Axel shouted, jumping up to move between Granger and Bell. “Ashleigh’s fine. She’s resting.”

“What the hell happened to her?!” Granger growled.

Corrine and Axel explained what Bell had told them. Granger listened quietly, holding in his reactions.

“Were you with her today, Granger?” Corrine asked, “did you spend the morning together before your patrol? Is that why this happened?”

Granger was confused about what she meant initially, but it all connected. He had heard that Caleb was back. He just didn’t expect they would have been alone together already. The rage in his heart burned. But his expression remained calm.

“Yea,” he lied, “we were together all morning.”

“That must be the reason then,” Corrine said, looking at Axel, “they are spending time together too close to the full moon.”

“This is exactly why you should just let us marry tomorrow!” Granger shouted angrily.

“What?” said Axel.

Behind the bookshelf, Caleb held back his own anger.

“Uhm, I’m sorry, but Ashleigh won’t be awake,” Bell said quickly. “She needs to remain in a restful state until after the full moon. Otherwise, she could hurt herself.”

“So?” Granger stated, looking at the three shocked faces in front of him.. “She doesn’t have to be awake for the blessing of the Goddess or the marking.”