Baby after One Night with the Prince
Chapter 62 - Poisoned Water

Tanya's POV.

I'm deeply worried and fueled by panic for my little girl. After considerable effort trying to wake her, she still doesn't show any signs of consciousness. Knowing the person I could count on I rush to Marco's door. I bet his lyc an senses could smell my severe fear, because before I can even make my way up the steps, he swings his door open with a fierce gaze. "What's wrong?"

"It's Claire. She won't wake up. I- I don't know what's wrong," I don't have to say much more, as we rush back to my place. Marco understandably checks for her pulse, and when he confirms she's still breathing he looks acutely puzzled. "Let's just get her to the hospital," I nod in response to his words, and I watch silently horrified as he gently lifts Claire's limp and unresponsive body into his arms.

But when he turns to me, his focused gaze forces me to sink into their depths, silently reminding me that I needed to stay strong. I move quickly to grab my things and we rush out the door. Course, my original plan to tell Marco the truth is pushed back due to Claire's sudden coma.

Upon reaching the hospital and getting her situated into a room, the doctor finally appears, checking her vitals and determining that Claire was poisoned. I'm completely at a loss for words, unsure of how this could've happened. But soon, Claire isn't the only one. As the hours tick by, more and more of the pack's residents pour into the small hospital building, all displaying different variations of some form of poisoning. Some are completely unconscious, while others are awake but terribly sick, continuously vomiting with skin that's pale and discolored.

Because of the growing impact of the situation Caspian eventually appears looking incredibly stressed and he goes over to initially talk to the various doctors on the matter. Although I'm very aware of the incident between the two of us yesterday, none of that matters right now, not when my daughter looks so lifeless as she lays asleep on the hospital bed. I'm sitting beside her, holding her hand in upmost sorrow, while Marco paces the room to contain his fears. While I didn't expect him too, Caspian eventually does enter the room, stopping Marco in his tracks. They respectfully acknowledge each other with a nod as if both silently agree that now is not the time to engage in a clash of masculinity when I am so close to the edge. Caspian turns to me solemnly, coming to stand at the end of the bed. His gaze flickers to Claire before returning to me.

"How's she doing?"

I squeeze Claire's fingers repeatedly, with tears threatening to spill down my cheeks. "She um, she still hasn't woken up. The doctor says she's been poisoned."

Caspian's eyes droop with acknowledgement and Marco seems to realize the Alpha knows more than we do. "What's going on out there? Everyone is getting ill," says the prince. Although not brash, he's still firm with his questions. Caspian sighs, rubbing a tired hand across his face. "The doctors agreed that it's some form of poisoning. But they can't pinpoint what. It's obviously been something that a majority in the pack have been exposed to. But the randomness is confusing. They don't understand why some are ill and why others aren't."

Marco then adds to the conversation. "But the disease isn't airborne, and it also isn't infectious?"

Caspian nods. "Yes, but it still doesn't explain why none of the lab tests can prove what it actually is. None of the tests are coming back positive. And if we don't know what this is, then we can't work on an antidote."

For the majority of their deciphering, I stay quiet, fragmented from reality as I watch my little girl. But I know, if we don't replace out what this is sooner or later, Claire may never wake up. And I couldn't live with that. The men quiet down as I finally rise from my seat, I lean down to press a desperate kiss against my little girl's forehead before turning back to the males.

Despite the disarray of my thoughts, one thing stands out clearly in my mind. "I don't think the illness is random," I say before elaborating. "With this many people ill, it must've been something the patients ingested while those of us that aren't ill did not. If we can replace the source, I'm sure we can figure out what the disease is."

The men nod in agreement. "I want to help figure out what's caused this Caspian." "Me too," says Marco.

I watch Caspian look to the both of us, slightly surprise at our willingness. But I think we all silently agree that we need to put aside yesterday's events and whatever embarrassment that follows. This problem is greater than all of us, it is threatening the life of the pack, and my baby, and we need to replace a solution as soon as possible.

Finally, Caspian nods his head curtly. "Alright. Let's do it," no matter how eccentric and playful he appears in his social life, Caspian is an Alpha for a reason. He is a leader, maybe not always able to put aside his emotions. But he does know how to get things done and rally those around him to his cause.

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"We need to first question the patients and their family members. A lot of people were at the banquet yesterday, I wouldn't be surprised if something there may have caused everyone to become ill. We need to replace out what they ate and when did they start to feel sick," both me and Marco nod, before the three of us depart from Claire's room, spreading out to different ends of the hospital.

But after talking to a couple of patients, we come to realize that the poison couldn't have been ingested at the banquet, since some of the patients weren't even there and still fell ill. So, we then go through what each patient ate in comparison to their family members. But still no pattern reveals itself. At the present time, I'm talking with Lisa and her father whose awake but incredibly ill.

"So, you both had the same dinner too?"

Lisa nods her head. "Yeah, I made spaghetti last night, it always tastes great with a glass of wine. Course, dad can't have wine with his meds, so he's got to have boring water," the two of them chuckle together despite the bleak situation. Until. Something dawns on me, all this time I have been focusing on food I haven't even thought about consumable liquids. "Wait Lisa, you didn't have any water last night?"

She shakes her head. "Not a sip."

My eyes widen, excusing myself to rush off, I quickly replace Marco and Caspian. "The water. Find out if any of the patients drank water in comparison to their relatives," the men don't question me and hurry off. Soon we return from questioning and come to realize the notable pattern, all the patients, including Claire have drunk water last night.

To confirm our fears the three of us as well as some of the other pack members that aren't sick head to the river that is the pack's main water source. It's also the place where Caspian found me the day I jumped off the cliff.

I haven't returned since then, the memory still hauntingly fresh in my mind as I approach the unruly water that channels its way through the forest. Marco comes to stand beside me, before crouching down near the water edging. Using a glass, he brought with him, he fills it with the liquid before lifting it up and swirling the glass to see if there is anything noticeable.

We watch as the water swirls and soon, a dark cloud swirls within it, tinting the water a dark sickening grey. It also smells slightly off. However, the moment the water stills, the dark smoke vanishes, disappearing as if it was never there to begin with.

"Black magic..." Marco mutters angrily.

Caspian's eyes widen. "Someone used black magic to tamper the water? But- but why... it's our only water source and all of our residents drink..." he trails off in dreaded realization of the motive.

It's only Marco that has the courage to admit the truth. "Someone wanted to poison your Pack..."

Many of the pack members around us gasp at this realization, but it's only me that notices Barlow standing off to the side. His eyes gloss over in some form of recognition that I couldn't understand.

With the situation looking bleak I return back to the hospital, helping out where I could due to the low number of staff and facilities. Eventually however I am pulled away by one of the doctors that wishes to speak to me about Claire's condition.

"So, we concluded that the mildly ill patients will eventually recover. However, those that are unconscious are less likely to wake up due to the severity."

A pit of dread suddenly rests uncomfortably in my stomach. "What does this mean for Claire?" I ask, despite somewhat already knowing.

"Because your home is so close to where the concentration of the poison in the river was at its highest, Claire ingested a much higher dosage of the black magic. There was no time to counteract the symptoms that escalated much faster than normal. And being so young, her body is just not strong enough to fight off the disease. I'm sorry Tanya, but Claire won't survive longer than three days."