Chapter 495: A Healer’s Warning

Marta’s fingers were warm as she checked Sophia’s pulse.

"Are you still dizzy?" she asked Sophia quietly.

Sophia shook her head.

Marta paused for a second, studying her face closely, her eyes sharp and searching, like she was trying to peel something invisible from Sophia’s skin.

"Did you throw up again this morning?"

Sophia shook her head once more.

Marta nodded slowly.

Marta released her wrist and stood from the chair, moving to examine Sophia’s ankle. She gently unwrapped the bandage to get a better look.

The skin beneath was still discolored, faintly bruised. She pressed gently around the joint, making Sophia wince.

She pressed again, slower this time. Sophia clenched her fingers into the blanket.

"It’s sore," Sophia admitted quietly.

"It’s supposed to be," Marta replied. "You twisted it."

Orion coughed into his hand, hiding the chuckle that slipped through.

Marta straightened and wrapped the bandage back with practiced hands.

"If you keep the weight off it, you’ll recover in no time."

Sophia nodded.

Marta tied the final knot and then looked up at her.

"You’ll need to come in for regular checkups."

Sophia’s shoulders slumped slightly. "Again?"

"Yes, girl, again. You ingested Trihydra venom and I still need to keep you on regular checkups to be a hundred percent sure everything has been expelled from your system," Marta told her.

Sophia nodded.

"And also, if you notice anything strange—"

She lifted one finger.

"Anything at all. Headaches. Dizziness that comes back suddenly. Nausea. Heat in your chest. Cold in your limbs. Sudden exhaustion. Sudden pain. Anything at all, both the ones you can explain and the ones you can’t—don’t wait. Come here immediately. Don’t even ask Orion before you come..."

"Now, Marta," Orion said softly. "Shorty does not ask me before she does most things."

"I don’t?" she asked him in shock.

"No, you don’t," he told her. "You tell me after you’ve already made the decision. Take the test, for example."

Sophia paused, then tilted her head as if in thought and nodded.

"Well, that is true," she said with a smile.

Marta smiled. "I love a woman who is in charge. You know what, don’t even ask him for anything. It’s your life, it’s your body. Do what you want."

"Yes, ma’am," Sophia said to Marta with a small salute.

Marta chuckled again. "You can leave the medical facility. I know that’s the news you’ve been waiting for."

Sophia smiled faintly, guilty.

Marta shook her head.

"But before you go..." she said sternly.

She crossed her arms over her chest and looked directly at Sophia.

"Let’s get something straight. I do not want to see you in this medical facility for at least two months."

"As much as it is my job to treat injuries, illnesses, and foolish decisions made by pack members that will result in both of those I just mentioned," she said evenly, "you have become far too familiar with this place."

Sophia lowered her gaze.

"It is my responsibility to make sure you recover," Marta continued quietly, "just as it is my responsibility to make sure everyone else recovers when they are hurt. But you... you are becoming a frequent visitor, lovely girl."

Sophia swallowed.

"And that is not something I enjoy," Marta added, her voice gentler now. "Not because I dislike you. Because I don’t like seeing you broken so often."

Sophia nodded.

"I’ll be careful," she whispered.

Marta studied her face for a while, then she huffed quietly.

"Take care of yourself," she said simply.

Sophia nodded again.

Marta then turned to Orion. "And you," she said, pointing at him.

"Me?" Orion asked, pointing at himself. "What did I do?"

"You didn’t do anything—at least not yet. But if Sophia ends up in this place in the next two months as a patient, then I will come for you," Marta told him.

Orion blinked in shock. "Marta, why am I the one you’ll come after?" he asked her.

"I can’t hit Sophia, she’s too sweet for that. But I will hit you, boy. Don’t test me," Marta told him.

Sophia smiled softly as she chuckled.

Orion sighed at that. "I hear you. I’ll do everything in my power to make sure she doesn’t end up back here as a patient for at least two months."

"Better. By the way, I have—"

Before Marta could finish her words, someone rushed into the room. He had a grin on his face.

"I’m sorry, Alpha Orion, but I had to get you," Garrett told him.

Orion’s ears twitched just as Noctis spoke to him.

*He’s back.*

Marta clasped her hands together and thanked the Goddess, her smile wide with delight.

Sophia just looked at everyone, trying to understand what was happening.

"Orion?" she called out. "What is happening?"

But before Orion could even speak, Garrett spoke excitedly. "They are back."

Orion rolled his eyes at Garrett. "Sure. Just telling her that they are back is enough to let her know who is back."

Then he turned to Sophia and spoke softly.

"Ronan and the others are back."

Sophia’s smile widened and she tried to stand up from the bed.

"What are you doing?" Orion asked as he held her hands.

"Trying to leave so I can go see them," she told him.

Orion turned to Marta. "Please tell Shorty that she can’t just move like that, especially with a twisted ankle."

Marta chuckled at that. "She can move, Orion. She is not handicapped, after all."

Sophia gave Orion a look that literally translated to see, I can walk.

But then Marta turned to her.

"But just because you can walk doesn’t mean you should do it carelessly."

Orion gave Sophia a look then, mirroring the same one she had given him moments ago.

Marta then turned to Orion. "Before you guys leave, I wanted to tell you—Eldric is awake. He’s perfectly okay too. He woke up and grumbled about how he stank, and asked who put him in the clothes he was wearing and why he was in the medical facility... then he left."

Orion and Sophia turned to each other, then back to Marta.

"So... he was being himself," they said together.

"Exactly."