[Stephanie's POV]
"Steph, what's wrong? What happened to Patrick?" Dad ran towards us.
"Eric, He's poisoned. We couldn't move him now to prevent the toxin from spreading. Have someone bring the canopies and ice. The more ice, the better." Arthur looked up and spoke quickly to my father.
"Poisoned?" Though he was shocked, dad didn't hesitate to call Doctor Dave.
"There's a canopy in the gym. I'll get it.."
"I'll get ice." Two of the teachers in our pack responded at once.
Phone... As I saw my dad take out his phone from his pocket. I remembered Freya once looked at my pocket before leaving.
I took out my phone without noticing my hand trembling.
It's a message sent from Freya several minutes ago.
[I'm Patrick's mate.]
It was short, but it was enough to shock me into dropping my phone on the ground.
"How is this possible?" I looked at Patrick, who was still unconscious.
"What's wrong?" Arthur asked me.
"Freya, she's Patrick's mate." I looked back at Arthur, unsure of what to do next.
"She sent you a message telling you that? Then why would she message you after she had poisoned Patrick? " Arthur lifted an eyebrow. Obviously, the information hidden in his question stopped my heart for a few more seconds.
"What? Do you mean Patrick was poisoned by Freya? Wait! She was just pushed into Patrick's arms by Triton!"
"Look here," Arthur nodded as he turned Patrick's head to the side and gestured for me to look at Patrick's neck.
I leaned down to take a closer look at Patrick's neck. There was a patch of skin that had turned purple, but I couldn't find a wound or a bleeding spot. "What's that? Why can't I find the wound?"
"This wound is difficult to observe with eyes." Arthur shook his head and continued, "I released all my olfactory power just now and then smelled a very subtle smell of wolfsbane left on his neck."
"Wolfsbane?" My father and I both called out the name of the poisonous herb that all werewolves feared.
"Arthur, are you saying that Patrick's poison is wolfsbane?" My father knelt down to look at Patrick's neck and sniffed the blood coming out of his ear. His face turned pale.
"Actually, I smelled wolfsbane on that Triton's son and the she-wolf when I arrived at the school gate. But the scent was so light that it only lasted a minute or so. And I didn't notice the she-wolf had a weapon hidden in her hand when Triton pushed her into Patrick's arms. I don't know how the hell she did it." Arthur stood up, folded his arms, and calmly recounted what he had seen.
"But Eric, I have to say, you need to figure out how to protect your pack now. Who do you think Triton's first target will be once he gets control of this mysterious weapon that comes with wolfsbane poison?" My eyes fell to Arthur's calm face. If there wasn't sweat remained on his forehead, I would almost believe that the concerned look I saw on his face after I woke up was my hallucination.
"It took me 20 years to kill the wolfsbane in Mt. Leyte. How on earth did they find it? Why are they okay with touching wolfsbane?" My father clearly understood what Arthur meant. His question was also what I wanted to ask.
In addition, I could still remember Triton's confident smile in front of my father before he left and his pushing Freya into Patrick's arms. Could it be that Patrick and I were killed by Carl and Freya in the last life because of Triton's plan?
But why did Freya send me a message telling me that Patrick was her mate?
No! I shook my head. While it was important to get to the bottom of these questions, the most important thing right now was Patrick.
"Canopy is coming! "
"And ice!"
The two teachers who had gone to get the canopy and ice returned with what Arthur needed. Two cafeteria employees carrying ice buckets followed behind Mrs. Evans.
"The ice is not enough. Get some more. Frozen food is fine." I saw that they were holding only three buckets full of ice. No, these were not enough to cover Patrick's body. He needed ice to slow down the toxins' spread speed.
Arthur threw a smile at me. He knew I understood why he needed ice.
He looked up at the cloudless, clean sky again, his expression serious again, and said to Mr. Evans, "Use canopy to provide shade and shelter for Patrick."
Arthur turned to my father and asked him, "Eric, have the doctor in your pack developed a serum that will clear the wolfsbane's toxicity? No, he still has several different kinds of toxins in his body. It would be better to have a strong antidote serum."
''We don't have the technology or machines to produce the serum. There are enough herbs in Mt. Leyte for us to use. But even if there were herbs that could detoxify other toxins, you know that the poison of wolfsbane attacks our vital systems, and it is fatal to us." My father shook his head. His voice was breathless. Yes, he thought Patrick was going to die, just as I had just now.
But, now I didn't think so. Because the alpha king told me that he would not let Patrick die.
"Don't worry. Eric, I promised Steph I wouldn't let Patrick die. I never break my words." Arthur said to my father and tapped him on the shoulder
"Arthur, you do have a cure for the wolfsbane poison, don't you?" I asked him and poured all the ice from the bucket on Patrick's body.
My father suddenly remembered something. He grabbed Arthur's shoulder excitedly, "Your pack has worked out the serum to cure wolfsbane's toxic?"
"Patrick was lucky. I just happened to have a strong antidote serum in the first aid kit in my car." Arthur smiled, nodded, and took off his T-shirt.
"Have your doctors detoxify the others before I come back. If you don't have the machine to analyze the blood and don't know what he's been poisoned with. Then lower Patrick's body temperature as much as possible to slow down the toxin's spread." Arthur said as he continued to remove his jeans.
"Where's your car? I'll go get it with you right now." I realized Arthur was planning to shift to get the serum and immediately grabbed his wrist.
Arthur took off his shoes and smiled at me, "My car is at the entrance to the Leyte Mountain. I am not familiar with this mystery mountain. I do need you to come with me to get me out of the fog."
My father's eyes seemed to light up with hope, and he immediately said to Mr. Evans, "Andrew, have all our members bring in ice and frozen goods. If anyone has thick quilts and blankets, ask them to bring items here."
Mr. Evans understood how serious the situation was. He immediately nodded and darted off the campus after shifting in front of us.
"Ready?" Arthur patted the back of my hand.
I nodded eagerly.
In the blink of an eye, the giant black wolf appeared in front of me. He lay on the ground, waiting for me to climb onto his back.