Leilani.

By the time I was finally pulled out of the room and helped to the reception where the triplets now sat, I was still shaking violently. My tears never for once stopped streaming down my face and to top it all, the image of Jarek lying in his room, all cold, all stiff... and literally battling with his life burned into the back of my skull, taunting me, twisting at the depths of my very heart... and most of all, reminding me of the weakling that I was for allowing the perpetrator of this crime to go Scot free.

My legs trembled with each step I took towards the reception, and when the triplets saw me coming— I knew the exact moment they saw me because I felt it— they rushed to their feet, their eyes deep with worry as they began to stumble over to me.

"Leilani..."

"Lani, what is it? What happened?"

I do not know which of them was talking and hell, I probably didn’t care as all I cared about at the moment was Jarek— not me but Jarek.

"Lani, can you explain to me what happened?" Caelum’s voice slipped into my ear but before I could voice out the things I wanted to say, I crashed into Zevran’s chest and his arms instinctively wrapped around my body.

"Breathe," that was the first thing I heard him say. "You’re hyperventilating, Lani, breathe."

It wasn’t until he said those words that I realized I hadn’t even been breathing properly and so, I subconsciously held my chest as I began to take in large loud gulps of air.

My tears wouldn’t stop falling even though it was now several minutes after I was dragged out of Jarek’s room and the heartache I felt from all of it only seemed to increase with each passing moment.

"What happened there?" Caelum asked again, and this time, somehow, I managed to pull my head away from Zevran’s chest to glance at him.

"It’s bad," those were the only words I managed to get out of my mouth before another wave of sorrow rushed through me. My eyes stung with tears and the sides burned so much, it felt as though liquid fire had been exposed to it.

I felt the other two brothers lean close even before I saw them, and with their bodies acting as humanoid shields, I felt slightly warmer.

Slightly calmer.

Hell, I had even stopped hyperventilating to an extent.

"What was bad?" I heard someone ask and I didn’t even bother to see who it was as I muttered; "Jay. His condition... it is bad."

"So you have agreed to proceed with the treatment plan?" Zevran brushed the hair on the side of my face, tucking it behind my ear as he asked, and in response, I nodded.

"Yes."

"Have they given you any documents to sign?"

"No."

"That means they’ll bring it to you soon," Caelum chirped in softly, brushing his fingers against the skin of my cheek. The sensation made me shiver slightly, "...are you sure you are in the right frame of mind to do that?"

When he asked that, I lifted my head to look at him, and in that moment, I realized to my horror that I probably wasn’t. I mean, I was still very frightened, very panicky in fact and the idea still scared me to some great extent.

Snapping my lips together, I nodded. "Yes, I can."

"I’ll talk you through it." He responded calmly and with that, I nodded, watching quietly with my heart racing violently in my chest as a nurse walked over holding a large black file in hand.

Without being told, I already knew what the file entailed, and just the thought of it made my heart race even more violently.

I tried to calm my raging heart but that was futile and do you know what was even more futile?

Being able to breathe.

My vision began to go blurry and even my throat felt so tight, you’d think I had swallowed a lump.

Suddenly, the sounds around me began to echo and then before I knew it, I could hardly dispel the ringing in my ears.

I stumbled slightly, causing the triplets to all try to catch me at the same time, but still, that helped nothing.

I was sinking.

Drowning.

My heart was breaking, and with that being the only feeling I had left to feel, I crashed against one of the sturdy chests beside me and slowly allowed myself to slip into oblivion. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

—

A few hours later, I was perched on one of the benches lining the reception hall of the hospital, tapping my feet against the floor as I waited for more news about Jay.

And I know that at this point, you may want to know how I got here, so I’ll brief you...

I fainted.

I fainted from all the panic and worry but as soon as I was resuscitated, the first thing I did was pick up the damn papers and sign.

So now, I was waiting for news and deep down, I hoped it was good news.

A few more hours later, and the same doctor— the one who had come to inform us about Jay’s condition came back, and helllll, he looked way worse than he did the first time.

If the first time, his shoulders were sunken, then right now, it definitely was only two inches away from hell.

His face was the darkest I have ever seen and his lips were curled downward into something that teethered between a frown and a snarl, and seeing that he looked as though he didn’t want to be here, I approached him first, stood right in front of him and asked;

"How is he?"

My voice for some reason, came out gruffer than I had intended for it to and maybe somewhat sharper too because he then lifted his head so fast, the speed almost made my vision swim as he drawled; "He?"

"Doctor, you know who I am talking about. Please, do not make me repeat myself." I sneered and with that, he nodded.

His eyes lit up like a light had just been turned on in his brain and then he lowered his head slowly, shaking it slightly as he said;

"It didn’t go as planned."

I froze and almost instantly, my throat went dry.

"Explain," I rasped,

"We didn’t realize that he was formerly on some medication before we prescribed that option, and as it is now, his current medication seem to be reactive with the previous one— negatively if I may ask," he stopped, glanced at me then at the triplets before continuing...

"We cannot induce coma because his body is fighting our medications, so at this point, it is advised that we simply let the silver run its course then treat him intensively afterwards."

As soon as I heard those words, my heart immediately stopped. A sudden ache lanced through my chest, making it almost impossible to function.

A couple of words he’d just said kept replaying in my head as if in a loop; But the ones which reoccurred too many times were:

’Let the silver run its course’

—On a werewolf not a human.

That was like practically waiting for him to take his last breath.