Chapter 90 - No Reason Not To

“Sorry!” Galen replied quickly. He reached forward when she hit the desk, but he stopped himself from touching her. “I didn’t mean to– sorry.”

Bell looked at him but turned away when she saw the look in his eyes. She couldn’t face him yet.

“What happened to Ashleigh?” Caleb pleaded again.

Bell refocused her attention on Caleb. She moved beside him to take a closer look at his condition. He looked exhausted and weak. She put the back of her hand to his head.

‘When did they become so close?’ Galen wondered to himself.

He cleared his throat loudly. Drawing both of their eyes towards him.

“Like I said, this,” Galen said, directing his chin towards Caleb, “happened last night.”

“Can you tell me what happened?” Bell asked softly, turning once more to Caleb.

Hearing the tenderness in her voice, Galen clenched his jaw.

“We were settled in our tent,” Caleb began, “after debating letting our wolves run. We had agreed that it would probably be best to refrain. Especially considering Galen had heard that there was a batch of new wolves having their first hunt together, I didn’t want to cause any problems.”

“Yes,” Bell answered, nodding as she spoke. “Luna Corrine took them out.”

“We were talking, simply sharing stories,” Caleb continued. “Suddenly, I felt an increasing sting on my arm, as though I had been cut. There was no wound, no mark, just incredible pain. It burned down the length of my arm and back up into my shoulder.”

Caleb reached his hand up to his shoulder at the memory. The white-hot pain had come over him, so suddenly the night before that he had almost thrown up.

“I couldn’t think, move, breathe. It felt like I was trapped with only this pain in me. My lungs burned, my entire body seized up, and then….” Caleb trailed off.

Bell stared at him, waiting for him to finish, but no words came out.

“And then the pain reached his heart,” Galen finished.

Bell turned to Galen; her brows furrowed in confusion.

“He clutched his chest, then looked up at me with a terror in his eyes I had never seen before,” Galen stated. Recalling the panic he had felt as he watched his friend suffer. “There was sweat on his brow, and all the color faded from him. All he said was her name before his heart stopped.”

“What?!” Bell shouted. Turning back to Caleb, she grabbed his wrist to feel his pulse. It was steady but weak.

She took a step back from him. Then, finding her desk, she let her body rest against it as everything that had been shared settled over her.

“I performed CPR,” Galen continued, “after he revived, I forced him to shift. He was too weak to run off and try to find her, but I knew his healing would be faster in his wolf form. He stirred but didn’t really come to full consciousness until this morning. He demanded we come see Ashleigh.”

Bell lifted her eyes once more to Caleb.

“It really is true…” she said softly, “I didn’t doubt her… but I guess I didn’t totally believe it either.”

Caleb turned to look at Bell with surprise.

“She told you?” he asked.

Bell nodded. Caleb smiled weakly.

“You asked me not to tell you, but after what I felt last night… I needed to know that she was ok,” he said. “I’m glad she already told you.”

“I’m glad someone else finally knows….” Galen sighed.

Bell rolled her eyes at Galen.

“What happened to her?” he asked.

“Her heart stopped, too,” Bell replied softly.

Caleb jumped up from his chair, stumbling as he did so. Galen was at his side in a moment and pushed him back down into his chair.

“What are you going to do? Fight her heart?! Sit down before you hurt yourself!” Galen shouted.

“She is ok now,” Bell said, looking at Caleb, “we don’t know exactly what happened. I am running some tests. But honestly, I don’t have a clue.”

“What kinds of tests?” Galen asked.

“Bloodwork, looking for abnormalities, allergens, spikes of white cells. A fishing expedition, really,” Bell replied, “I’m just not really sure what to look for.”

“Hmm…” Galen said, thinking, “do you have previous labs in her records? Baselines?”

“Of course.”

“If it’s alright with you, I could forward the information to Summer,” Galen offered. “With the technology we have, it would be far easier for us to find subtle differences in her system.”

Bell thought about it. She knew that Alpha Wyatt would not like this. But her interest was in finding out what happened to Ashleigh and preventing it from ever happening again.

“Ok, but let’s keep this between us,” she said.

Galen nodded.

“As for him,’ she said, indicating Caleb.

“He’ll be fine.”

“Oh? I didn’t realize you were a doctor now,” Bell said, raising an eyebrow to Galen.

“I’m not,” Galen chuckled. “I just meant that the last time this happened, he recovered fully within a few hours.”

“This has happened before?”

“Yea,” Galen replied nonchalantly. “When Ashleigh was poisoned with the wolfsbane.”

“He felt that too?” Bell asked, “But he was nowhere near her!”

Galen shrugged.

“Just like last night, it started with pain in his arm, then through his body. He got deathly sick for a long time,” he said. “But within a couple hours, he was fine. Had no problem leading the charge against the first wave of rogue wolves.”

“Interesting,” Bell replied, then moved to her computer. “I will forward you Ashleigh’s record now. Let me know as soon as you know something.”

“Alright, I’m going to make a call. Let them know what we need,” Galen said, pulling his phone out. He turned to Caleb before stepping out of the room. “Stay still!”

Bell giggled as the door closed.

“He trusts you.”

Bell looked up; Caleb’s eyes were locked on her.

“Otherwise, he would have realized what he just did,” he said.

“I don’t know what you mean,” Bell replied, looking away from him.

“The attacks. Galen told you something you didn’t know.”

“No, he said something that allowed me to figure out something I didn’t know. It was all just conjecture until you confirmed it,” Bell smiled, “And I was trying hard to pretend I didn’t hear it too.”

Caleb laughed.

“I already suspected there was something strange in those first attacks,” Bell said honestly. “The way Galen was looking for information on the wolfsbane, and frankly the way the reports we received were written. It was odd.”

“Will you keep this to yourself?” Caleb asked.

Bell thought for a moment. Then, finally, she got out of her chair and walked back to the front of her desk.

“Depends,” she said, crossing her arms. “Will you tell me the truth about what happened?”

“We don’t know that yet.”

“But when you do.”

Caleb squinted his eyes at her. Thinking, wondering.

“Will you believe me?”

“No reason not to,” she smiled.

“Can I trust you?” Caleb asked.

Bell’s smile turned into a giggle. “No reason not to.”

“I suppose that’s true.” Caleb laughed. “Deal.”

Caleb offered his hand; Bell smiled and took it, laughing as she shook it.

The door opened, and Galen stepped inside.

“Everything has been…” he started to speak, his words trailing off as his eyes were drawn down to their connected hands.

Bell was the first to react, pulling her hand back and moving behind the desk to sit at her computer.

“Did you get everything taken care of?” Caleb asked.

“Yes, my Alpha,” Galen replied, his eyes drifting to Bell.

Caleb glanced over at Bell then back to Galen.

“We should go….” Caleb said, turning to Bell. “We will let you know when we hear anything about Ashleigh’s results. Please do the same.”

“I will,” she said, typing away without even a glance up.

Caleb walked past Galen, leaving the room. Galen’s eyes lingered on Bell a moment longer. Before he turned and walked out.

Bell let out a deep breath after she was sure they were gone. Then, trying hard to avoid thinking of the one her mind naturally drifted to, she focused on her newfound information.

“Ashleigh and Alpha Caleb, mates? Crazy…” Bell laughed to herself.

She turned to the computer when part of the conversation suddenly struck her.

‘This has happened before?’

‘Yea, when Ashleigh was poisoned with the wolfsbane.’

Alpha Caleb had felt Ashleigh’s illness and pain miles and miles away.. So, if he was her mate, it made sense. But if he was not her only mate… why hadn’t Granger felt anything?