A minute later, my bedroom door swung open so fast it slammed the wall. I moved to the doorway of the bathroom to see Dastien stride in with Dr. Gonzales behind him. His eyes were glowing a light gold, telling me that his wolf was close to the surface.
Dastien squeezed my hand for a second before squatting next to Meredith. “How are you?”
“How do I look?”
“Pretty terrible.”
She did look pretty horrible. Her skin glistened with sweat and was so pale that it looked nearly see-through. Shadows hung under her glass-blue eyes, but it was her slouching shoulders that told me how poorly she felt. Werewolves had the best posture, but she was hunched over like she couldn’t even carry the weight of her head.
“Well, at least I look better than I feel,” she said.
Dastien grabbed her chin and looked into her eyes. I didn’t know what he was doing, but Meredith started to squirm as she tried to avert her gaze. “It’s what we thought. Her wolf’s awake and fighting her curse.”
Dr. Gonzales’ stilettos clacked against the tiles as she entered the bathroom. Werewolves might not get sick, but they definitely had a tendency to get into fights. She was around to patch us up.
The doctor always dressed like she was coming from a boardroom meeting. A pale pink blouse with a tie-neck was tucked into her dark gray pencil skirt. Instead of the blazer to finish off the skirt suit, she wore a white lab coat with her name embroidered in blue along the pocket. A black messenger bag held all of her first aid stuff. “We knew this might happen at some point. Can you calm her?” she asked Dastien.
As a strong alpha, Dastien could quiet or rouse the wolf in any Were. He made a shushing-purring sound at Meredith as he pushed power at her. He’d done it to me before when I felt out of control and it quieted my wolf, but Meredith didn’t turn to pudding like I did. Instead, she squirmed, trying to break free from his gaze.
That didn’t make any sense. Dastien’s shushing always worked.
“She’s too far gone. The wolf has been suppressed for so long…” Dastien stepped away, making room for Dr. Gonzales.
“What does that mean?” Meredith said.
“Might be a good idea to sedate her until we figure out other options and inform her parents.”
“Why are you talking about me like I’m not here?”
Fear raced through my veins, making me lightheaded. I sat back down on the edge of the tub and Meredith reached for my hand. I twined our fingers together.
This couldn’t be happening. Meredith had to be okay.
Dr. Gonzales swung her black messenger bag over her head, and pulled out what looked like a black cosmetics case. I had a feeling it wasn’t filled with make-up.
She unzipped the top, and grabbed a shot. For once, I didn’t mind seeing her bag full of needles.
“Meredith,” she said in a calm, even voice. “I’m going to give you something to make you sleep. When you wake, your wolf should be calm again. Okay?”
Meredith’s hand squeezed mine as she nodded.
Dr. Gonzales gripped Meredith’s arm and stabbed the needle in. It didn’t take long for the drugs to kick in. Dastien caught her as she slid to the floor, lifting her like she weighed nothing. As he put her in bed, I retreated to my room and started pacing.
This shouldn’t have happened. I should’ve pushed her to talk about her curse and how she was feeling. I knew something was wrong, but I’d let it go.
Stupid. How could I be so stupid?
“Tessa?” Dr. Gonzales’ voice brought me back to the present.
“Is she going to be okay?” I asked as I sat down on my bed.
“Can you tell us if something happened with Meredith?”
It didn’t go unnoticed that she didn’t say that Meredith was going to be okay. She wouldn’t lie.
“The curse is still active, but her wolf is awake. Has anything happened to Meredith recently? Anything that could upset her wolf?” the doctor prompted, but I didn’t have anything helpful. We went to class, we did homework, and we ate a ton of food. We didn’t even get to leave campus very often.
I tried to think of something that could have caused this, but for the life of me, I couldn’t. Last night was the first time I’d seen her act off at all. How did she get sick so quickly? “I can’t remember anything that really changed. We’ve been doing our usual stuff since the whole vampire thing.”
Dastien came back into the room. I finally really took him in. His navy blue T-shirt was just tight enough to hint at the muscles I knew were underneath. I was glad he’d come so quickly. Having him here made me feel better. Like everything was going to be okay.
