Andrew returned, panting slightly as he walked up to . "You don’t need to worry about Hansel. Doctor Morgan has been his doctor for years now and knows how to handle things like this. If it’s very severe, he’ll tell us too, don’t worry."
From the way Andrew sounded, it ant this was not a first-ti thing."
"I’m not worried," I said, shaking my head. If he’ll be fine, then it’s okay, I guess."
Mina, Margaret and David ca out afterwards.
They all exchanged quiet looks before Margaret turned to face Andrew. "Sir, our numbers are not looking good. We need to publish a statent debunking the rumour about Miss Rivers joining Apex and see if things improve from there."
"I know," Andrew sighed, "but Hansel said we cannot make any decision concerning Miss Rivers until he approves. I’m sorry, there’s not much we can do until he recovers, but you could still try to keep things at bay, right?"
"Yeah," Margaret nodded, casting a side glance. "I’ll return to the office then. There’s so much to do."
After she left, Mina, who had excused herself to the hallway to take a call, ca back with a frown on her face.
"What’s wrong?" Andrew asked.
"I just got a call from the company, and it’s not looking good," she gave Andrew another knowing glance. "We need to get it resolved right now, or else, things would only get worse."
"We can’t leave him alone," Andrew sighed. "Hold on, let ask Doctor Morgan if..."
He didn’t need to complete the words because Doctor Morgan was already strolling back to the sitting room, wiping sweat off his brow. When he got to Andrew, he shook his head.
"If we don’t get him ho by nightfall, he’s not going to live to see the next day."
I froze.
Both Mina and Andrew stared at the doctor as if he had developed a second head. After a while, Andrew laughed and said. "It’s a joke, right? I an I know he used to have these lapses but dying?"
Doctor Morgan stared at him and shook his head. He wanted to say sothing, but then his gaze caught mine, and he sighed again. "I can’t reveal more with her here, but basically, his organs are failing. His heart is shutting off, and the Raze is getting stronger than it should be at this point in the cycle."
"And that is not normal?" Andrew asked, staring at the man as equally confused as I was.
"It’s not," the doctor shook his head. "I can’t determine if it’s because he’s been overdosing on the suppressants or if sothing else is triggering it, but either way, he’s in grave danger. If we don’t get him stabilised soon, it’s going to consu him completely."
"But the full moon is not for another three days," Mina cried out, her voice was shaky. Her face had gone pale; all the earlier hostility had been replaced by terror. "How can his Raze be this strong already?"
"I don’t know," Doctor Morgan admitted, and the helplessness in his voice was more frightening than anything else. "But that’s why we need the pack healers. They’ll be able to keep him stable until we can figure out what’s happening. They have access to treatnts and redies I don’t have here in the city."
"It’s not looking good at all. We need to rush him back to the pack and allow the healers to handle it. He has less than four hours, or else, things would really go bad."
"Is this really the end for him, Doc? Is he going to die?" Mina asked suddenly.
Doctor Morgan sighed. "I don’t know, Mina. He might survive it or not. But we need to remain positive and try our best."
Mina let out a choked sob and turned away from all of us, her shoulders shaking as she covered her face with both hands. She walked into a corner and sank to the floor, weeping silently.
Even Andrew’s expression had changed into disbelief.
I stood there watching them, trying to piece together what they were saying. Pack house? Raze? Full moon? None of it made sense, but the way they were reacting—like Hansel was dying right in front of us—that part was crystal clear.
Also, I felt sad.
I couldn’t tell if it was the energy in the room, but there was this ache in my chest and a feeling that the room was closing in. Was it guilt? Sadness or helplessness?"
"Does Hansel have a terminal illness?" I found myself asking. "Is it cancer or sothing else?"
No one answered .
After a while, Doctor Morgan sighed heavily again and cleared his throat. "We might still have a chance to save his life, but we need to act fast."
Mina quickly wiped her tears, stood up, and said in a husky voice, "I’ll make arrangents for transport. The private jet can be ready in an hour."
Andrew nodded and pulled out his own phone. "I’ll call his father and let the pack know he’s coming."
As they disappeared into different corners of the house, making urgent calls, I was left standing there feeling useless. I didn’t understand what was happening, and I didn’t know how to help, but watching Hansel lie there unconscious, with a burning fever, was causing my heart to ache.
That shouldn’t matter to , right?
When Doctor Morgan turned to leave, I reached out and grabbed his sleeve.
"Doctor," I said, my voice barely above a whisper. "Is it... is it a terminal disease?"
He paused. Looked at for a long mont. Then nodded slowly. "Sothing like that."
I didn’t let go.
"Is there anything I can do?" I asked, desperate now. "Anything?"
He looked down at again, this ti his eyes softer. "Go to the kitchen. Bring a bowl of water."
I nodded and ran to the kitchen, grateful to finally have sothing useful to do. I found a large bowl and filled it with cold water from the tap before rushing to Hansel’s bedroom.
When I entered Hansel’s bedroom, I stopped short at what I saw.
Hansel was lying on the bed, stripped to the waist. His body glistened with sweat; his skin was red-hot and twitching, but what froze was the cuffs.
Both hands and legs were cuffed with big iron chains. Judging by the size of the chains, you’d think an Elephant was in the room with us.
"What—" I started to say, but Doctor Morgan cut off.
"It’s necessary," he said firmly, noticing my shocked expression. "So he doesn’t go into delirium and hurt himself. Or soone else. Now bring the water here."
I nodded mutely and ca closer to the bed, setting the bowl down on the coffee table with my hands trembling slightly. Doctor Morgan handed a towel and gestured to Hansel’s fever-flushed body.
"Start cleaning him. We need to bring his temperature down as much as possible before the transport arrives."
I dipped the towel in the cold water and began wiping down Hansel’s chest, trying not to think about the fact that I was basically touching a half-naked man who was unconscious and restrained.
His skin was so hot it felt like I could cook an egg on it, and every ti I pressed the cold towel against him, his muscles would twitch, and he’d murmur sothing that sounded like a plea for sothing.
We worked in silence, Doctor Morgan checking his vitals while I focused on cooling Hansel down. I desperately wanted to ask more questions about the restraints, about what ’Raze’ ant, about the pack house, and why going there would save his life, but sothing about the doctor’s intense concentration told this wasn’t the ti.
Was the pack house a health program where people confined themselves and tried holistic treatnt?
My mom used to go on those kinds of things a lot.
Mina rushed back into the room an hour later, her phone was still pressed to her ear. "The jet will be ready in forty-five minutes," she announced. "And the car is on its way to take him to the airport."
Andrew ca in right behind her. "I called them, and they’re expecting him. The healers will be standing by."
Mina’s phone started ringing again. She would look at the screen and imdiately decline the call.
After it happened about three tis, Andrew leaned close to her and asked. "Who keeps calling you, and why aren’t you picking up?"
"It’s several things all at once," she snapped, declining another call that ca through imdiately. "The Sterling deal, they want to have a sit-down with Hansel and the other thing I told you about."
Andrew sighed heavily, rubbing his forehead. "We need to handle that now. With Hansel unconscious, we can’t leave it unattended. If we don’t finalise this deal in the next few hours, it’ll be awarded to soone else. That’s a five-hundred-million-dollar contract we’ll lose."
"Well, I’m not leaving Hansel!" Mina shouted, eyes wide with panic. "Soone has to go with him! He can’t go alone—he needs there!"
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