All Chapters of The Mate They Rejected: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

[CAINE]I caught him before his skull hit the stone.Rhys went down like something had cut the string holding him upright, and I had both arms under him before I'd finished deciding to move. His skin burned too hot against my forearm. His eyes weren't tracking."Get the healer." I didn't recognize my own voice. "Now."Warriors scattered in four directions at once. Someone knocked over the practice rack while getting out of the way. I didn't care about the rack."Rhys." I got a hand against his jaw, forcing his focus toward me. "Stay with me."His mouth moved. Nothing came out but air.'Something's wrong with him,' Kael said, low and urgent. 'Something's inside him.''I know.'I carried him myself. Faster than waiting on a stretcher, faster than anything else available to me. The infirmary doors stood open by the time I reached them—someone had run ahead, thank whatever was listening—and Bryn was clearing a table with one sweep of her arm before I'd crossed the threshold."Down. Here."

[SLOANE]Two in the morning, and the lab sat black except for one bench.I left every other light off on my way through. The dark made the room feel smaller, contained, and separate from the rest of the building—from the boys asleep two floors up and from Isla down the hall, who'd made me promise to wake her if anything changed.I hadn't woken her yet. There was nothing to tell her yet.I shrugged off my coat, rolled my sleeves to the elbow, and tied my hair back tight enough to forget about it. Set the vial down under the task light.Specimen One.Procedure. Habit. That was how fear stayed manageable—you gave it a checklist instead of room to breathe.I started where I always started. Elimination first, exotic explanations last.CBC. Inflammatory markers. Metabolic panel. Liver function, kidney function, electrolyte balance—the whole baseline sequence I could run half-asleep after five years of building this exact routine.Every value came back close enough to normal that another phy

[SLOANE]I left Kai's door closed.Sat in that hallway until the black outside the window thinned toward gray, then made myself stand before wanting to know, tipped over into needing to.He was still sleeping.I intended to let him keep doing that for as long as the illness allowed it.Before I could change my mind, I went down to the lab instead. It was the only room in the temple where I still had answers instead of impossible questions.Dr. Jackson was already there when I arrived, three reference journals stacked beside her elbow, coat still on like she hadn't stopped moving since she'd gotten my call."You didn't sleep," she noted, not looking up from Oliver's panel."Neither did you.""I'm not the one with two sons in refrigeration." She caught herself the instant it left her mouth. "Specimens. I meant specimens.""I know what you meant."Isla set a fresh coffee at my elbow without a word, then dropped into the chair across from Dr. Jackson like she'd claimed it hours ago. Which

[SLOANE]A pause settled around the table, waiting for the rest of the sentence."I also haven't accepted it," I finished.Nobody's expression shifted.Nobody's posture changed.It was, in its own quiet way, the most controlled confrontation I'd ever sat through—no raised voices, no ultimatums, just four people patiently narrowing my options one calm sentence at a time.The other three filed out once the meeting formally closed. Helena didn't.She waited until the door shut behind the last of them, then set her clipboard down and looked at me with something that hadn't been in the room five minutes earlier."You're afraid," she stated, without preamble.I didn't answer that right away."Not about failing the case," she went on. "You've never once hesitated over a difficult diagnosis. I've read your file.""Then what am I afraid of, in your professional opinion?""Remembering."The word landed harder than anything the three Council members had said combined."I remember perfectly," I t

[SLOANE]Ironwood came into view through dense stands of timber, older than the last territory, heavier, and built from wood that had darkened over generations rather than years.Guards waited at the gate, tense but organized. The whole settlement carried a hush that meant everyone here already understood what waiting felt like.The medical team greeted me by name before I'd finished stepping down from the vehicle."Dr. Davis." A younger healer offered a quick handshake. "We've read your reports. Every one."No introductions needed beyond that. My reputation had arrived ahead of me, apparently, and it had already done half my work.The Alpha met me himself, broad-shouldered, gray threading through dark hair at the temples, with the specific calm of a man who'd led long enough to stop performing authority and carry it."Rowan Ashcroft." He extended a hand. "Ironwood owes you a debt before you've treated a single patient.""I'm here to treat your patients." I shook his hand once, briefl