Ronan’s POV
The sound of the glass shattering on the ground roused me into action.
Margaret was writhing on the kitchen floor and judging by the little piece of plant on the floor beside her, she had ingested wolfsbane.
I grabbed my phone to call the pack doctor before bending to lift her from the ground and carry her bridal style out of my chambers.
I wondered how the hell she had gotten the flower. It hadn’t been with her after we left the forest.
Perhaps she snuck out to the conservatory while I was asleep. I hadn’t heard a thing because I was so tired and slept deep.
I got downstairs and tried to settle her in as gently as I could in the backseat of my car.
Then I slid in behind the wheel and drove like a possessed man to the hospital which, thankfully, wasn’t far away from the palace.
The pack doctor and two nurses were already waiting outside with a stretcher when I got there.
I didn’t bother with proper parking. I rushed out of the car to the passenger side and yanked the door open.
The nurses had already brought the stretcher to where I was. I laid Margaret on it and they promptly wheeled her inside.
I walked briskly to keep up with them.
“She ingested wolfsbane,” I explained to the doctor.
“We’ll take it from here Ronan. Just go sit down,” he replied as they wheeled her into a room and shut the door.
I think I must have paced the length and breadth of that hospital floor in anxiety.
If she…no…when she got better, she was going to receive a serious scolding from me.
Why the hell would she have tried to take her life? I wondered.
I decided that they were taking too long in there and I hurried to the door.
It swung open just as I placed my hand on the handle.
“How’s she doing?” I asked.
“We’ve stabilized her. She’s going to be okay. She’s lucky you brought her in when you did. A few more minutes and she would have been dead,” he replied.
“Thank you doc. Can I see her?” I asked.
“Of course,” he replied.
The nurses left as I walked in and sat on the chair beside the hospital bed. Margaret was fast asleep. I watched as her chest rose and fell for a while.
My eyes went to the heart monitor and for a second I saw a flatline. I blinked and the monitor displayed a steady rhythm.
I shook my head and rubbed at my temples.
It suddenly occurred to me that I was supposed to give her mate, Lucien, a call.
I reached for my phone inside my pocket and dialled Lucien’s number.
He didn’t pick up at first and I wondered in disgust how he could sleep so comfortably when his mate hadn’t even returned to her chambers.
Was the mate bond not supposed to make him sense that she was in some type of danger?
I tried calling again and he picked up on the fourth ring.
“Hello,” he said, his voice heavy with sleep.
I was sure he didn’t even bother to check who was calling before he picked up.
“Do you have any idea where your wife is or if she’s safe?” I asked in irritation.
“Ronan,” he said groggily, recognizing my voice.
Then I heard his sharp intake of breath. “Is something wrong with Margaret?”
“Meet me at the hospital,” I replied and hung up.
I mindlessly scrolled through my phone while I waited for him to arrive.
The door burst open about fifteen minutes later and Lucien appeared.
I glared at him. “Can you please try to be quiet?”
He was still dressed in pyjamas and his hair was messy.
He walked slowly towards the bed and I could see the mixture of regret and relief in his features.
“What happened to her?” He murmured.
“Well, after you were stupid enough to bring another woman into your own, she concluded that her life was worth nothing and tried to take it. Wolfsbane,” I replied.
He gasped and his hand shook badly as he attempted to touch her face.
“Why?” I asked.
“I was just being so foolish,” he replied and I could hear the sadness in his voice.
I heaved a sigh. “You really have a lot of explaining and begging to do when she wakes up.”
He nodded and turned to face me. “Thank you, Ronan. I’ll take it from here. You should go get some sleep.”
I didn’t need any further encouragement.
I waved goodbye and walked out of the room. As I made my way out of the building, I thought about what would have happened if I hadn’t woken up exactly when I did.
She’d be dead. I shivered involuntarily and slid into my car.
It wasn’t until I got home and was already lying on my bed that the details of the dream came back to me.
I didn’t believe so much in dreams but I couldn’t risk anything bad happening to Malia. I had to keep her away from my brother.
I tried to go back to sleep and gave up a few minutes later. It was already dawn anyway.
I made my way to the kitchen and tried my best to get rid of every shard of glass on the floor.
Afterwards, I worked on a business project. It was something Ryder had no idea whatsoever about.
When I became Alpha, I was going to have to prove to the people that I was also capable of promoting the economic development of the pack.
I freshened up when I was done and downed just a glass of milk since I wasn’t hungry.
I made my way to the training field and wasn’t surprised that I was the first one there.
While I was doing some stretches and light warmups, the others began to arrive.
I had just finished training a group of new guards when someone tapped me lightly on my shoulder.
I already knew who it was before I turned.
Malia was standing before me. Her skin glowing with her perspiration.
There was just something about the way she was smelling combined with the beads of sweat rolling down her cleavage that called out to my primal side.
It was going to be so easy ripping off her blouse.
“Ronan!”
My eyes went up to her face.
“I’m so sorry. What were you saying?” I asked.
She gave me a look and shook her head. “Where’s Lucien? Or has he changed his mind about being in charge of my training?” She asked.
I thought of how much information I could give her.
“His wife is in the hospital so he has to be by her side in the meantime,” I answered.
“Oh,” she murmured and her eyes clouded with sympathy.
“Hope he wouldn’t mind if I paid them a visit after training. We could go there together,” she said.
I wasn’t too sure that that was a good idea but I nodded. “He wouldn’t mind.”
She gave me a small smile and walked off to join Scott and some other guys.
I couldn’t help but admire the curve of her butt. It was pure perfection.
I managed to drag my eyes away only to discover that Scott had been watching me.
He gave me a knowing grin and I rolled my eyes, turning to drill the newbies some more.
I guess Malia told Scott and the other guys with them what I had told her.
After training, they walked up to me together.
“So what’s the plan? Do you think we should go there all at once?” Scott asked.
I shook my head. “Definitely not. We should go in threes.”
They all agreed with my suggestion.
Malia, Scott and I, were to pay them a visit that afternoon, while another trio was going to pay them a visit in the evening.
I was starving already and would have gotten something to eat first, but I didn’t want to delay the others.
We arrived at the hospital and as we got closer to the door, I could hear Margaret’s angry voice.
We all stopped in our tracks, thinking it wasn’t a good idea to intrude.
In unspoken agreement, we all turned around and walked towards the hospital’s entrance.
We got to the palace, and Scott parted ways with us at some point.
“Why do you think she was angry?” Malia asked.
“It’s okay if you do not want to tell me,” she added quickly.
I smirked. I knew she was very curious.
I was silent until we got to her room.
“She caught him in their bed with another woman,” I said.
Her eyes widened and her lips parted slightly.
“And then she tried to take her own life by ingesting wolfsbane,” I added.
She gasped. “That’s crazy.”
“Yeah it is,” I said, nodding in agreement.
“But why did he do that?” She queried. “I haven’t met her but from the way Penelope speaks about her, she seems like an amazing person.”
I chuckled at her naivety.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re the most amazing woman. A man will cheat if he lacks discipline.”