Over the next few hours, I watched as Sinead slept fitfully. Though she tossed and turned, she didn't awaken. I noticed when sweat broke out on her forehead and lay my palm against it.
Believing her forehead felt hot, I called to Luke, over our mind-link and summoned him to me. Without having to ask, he brought Elizabeth with him.
The three of us conferred and the decision was unanimous; she had a fever. I got Luke to fetch back the doctor, and Elizabeth rushed to get a clean cloth and cold water.
"Sinead. Sinead.", I called, to see if I could rouse her from sleep.
But she didn't wake up. Starting to feel panicked, I took the blanket and sheet off her and looked at the stitched wound. It looked sore, which was normal.
But it also looked very red, and puffy. Holding my hand palm down, hovered over it, I could feel the heat coming off it.
I frowned. My gut said it was infected. And I tended to go with my gut feelings.
Elizabeth tried to bring down the fever by putting an ice water soaked cloth across Sinead's forehead.
As I waited for the doctor to return, I paced the length of the room. Elizabeth said a few things to try and calm me down but they didn't work. I was irritated, annoyed, angry, worried and confused.
I was irritated that the doctor's previous efforts hadn't worked, irritated that she had an infection. I was annoyed with the doctor. He'd done so well with patients in the past, why was this happening now? I was angry with myself. This was my mate; I was supposed to be protecting her. I was worried about her. I didn't like that she didn't wake up when I tried to awaken her. I was confused why the treatment hadn't worked; why she had the infection.
'None of this should have happened.', I thought to myself. 'I never should have let my jealousy get the better of me. Though it killed me to think of her with someone else, look where things ended up!'
I let out a deep sigh.
'I still don't know how it came to this…'
I thought about the earlier events of the day. I still don't know what had possessed me. It was like my emotions made me out of control. I shifted without meaning to and I had no control over the change.
My body seemed strange to me. Also I had no control over my actions. It made me feel helpless to watch my actions from afar, through my own eyes, and yet have no control over them. And helpless was the last thing any alpha wanted to feel.
Suddenly the door burst open and both Luke and the doctor rushed in. Luke gently pulled Elizabeth away from Sinead's side and towards the door. The doctor quickly took her vacant spot.
After examining his patient, Dr. Fionn was agitated. He could tell she had an infection, but didn't understand how or why. He stood behind the belief that his treatment should have worked, and seemed baffled that it clearly didn't.
"...umm…Saoirse…help…"
We both turned to face Sinead. She had murmured the words in her sleep.
I was wondering about her words, when I remembered Sinead telling me that Saoirse worked at the hospital, that she was a witch and a healer.
Suddenly, it was like a lightbulb had illuminated the room.
'I have to go get Saoirse!', I thought.
I put my hand on the right shoulder of Dr. Fionn.
"Stay here with her.", I instructed firmly.
"But, where are you…"
I cut him off. "I am going to get someone who can help. Stay with her. I don't want her to be alone."
I went to the kitchen, where I had left Sinead's bag. Rifling through it, I located her cell phone. Turning it on, I was lucky to find she didn't have a password set on it.
I went through her contacts to find her roommate's number. Saying a silent prayer, I called.
It rang once, twice, three times, and then went to the answering machine.
"Crap!"
I ended the call and then decided to try calling Sinead's other roommate, Amanda.
The phone rang and this time I had more success.
"Hello?"
"Hey. This is David. It's an emergency! Where is Saoirse? Sinead's hurt."
As quickly as possible, I filled her in, and she told me that Saoirse was at the hospital and that she got called in early to work.
'At least now I know why she wasn't answering her phone.', I thought.
I thanked her and was about to hang up when she stopped me.
"Wait!", She insisted. "If she's hurt I need to be with her. Where is she now?"
I reassured her that I would send Luke to bring her here, to Sinead. Then I hung up.
As I grabbed my car keys and headed for the door, I gave Luke instructions through mind-link. It was an easy assignment for him. He already knew where to go and who Amanda was.
I drove away from the house, speeding down the dirt roads and kicking up a trail of dust clouds behind me. As I neared the city, other cars appeared on the roads and when necessary, I drove around cars, passing them at a speed much over the posted limit.
I hoped I wouldn't come across any police officers. Although the sort of driving I was doing was very dangerous for humans to do, it was still safe for me. As a werewolf, my reaction time was much faster and my brain worked quicker than a humans.
It didn't take me long to make it to the hospital. Once parked, I jogged to the main entrance. After some inquiries and some convincing, on my part, I found out Saoirse was on the third floor. Not wanting to wait for the elevator, I ran up the stairs.
On the third floor, I followed the hallway to the right, until I got to the maternity ward. Turns out Saoirse was called in as a nurse on the maternity ward had called in sick.
When I burst in through the double doors, looking around anxiously, none of the staff bat an eye.
One young lady leaned in to her coworker and whispered, "Looks like another father just found out his wife is in labor. Maybe you should ask who he is looking for? My bet is room 3008 or 3010."