Morana was lounging in the living room reclining chair, with a sort of balm on her face. Her plans were working like a charm. She could feel Alanna's misery, and it made her really glad. Knowing that Maëlys' daughter was going through problems and heartache, it was revigorating for Morana.
Alanna came home and noticed that Morana was in the living room, as she passed straight through it, on her way to the upper floor. She wanted to lay down and wait for the break of dawn, at last. She raised her hand to the necklace she wore. Its pendant hung below her breasts, underneath her clothes. It was a talisman made by Morana, containing a few herbs, in order to disguise Alanna's vampire scent and also repel certain other species, like werewolves.
Although Alanna had a sort of close relationship with Morana—after all, she was the one responsible for Alanna still existing in this world--, she didn't fully trust the witch. At least not when it came to Faolán. She couldn't tell what exactly was wrong, but she sensed that there was something. And if Morana found out that Alanna wasn't only meant to be Faolán's mate, but also she wasn't completely indifferent to him, which could complicate things.
Morana saw when Alanna got home, but chose not to say anything. She already knew that Alanna was upset about being stood up at the restaurant, by Faolán. That petty wolf was rather daring and insistent, but Morana would make sure that Alanna would never mate him. According to the prophecy she had had access to, centuries ago, the spirit of the Golden Wolf would be Morana's demise. She knew that Aillard not only had the family's crest, which had a golden wolf in it, but also a birthmark—a wolf—on his skin. From what Morana had observed through the mirror, Faolán also had that birthmark. He and Alanna—the daughter of the woman she most hated in this world—were the weapon against the witch. But Morana was aware of it all, and had a trick under her sleeve: she knew about the whole thing, while they were unaware of it.
*
Faolán was delirious all night long, in the medical ward bed, while Hannibal was in his office, trying to find out what kind of poison that one was. It was probably something very ancient, for there wasn't anything about it in his books, including the pack's old inscriptions.
"This is no ordinary poison. It seems like witchcraft." Hannibal commented about it with Zander.
"Witchcraft?" Zander asked, feeling a bit uncertain about it.
"Yes. Our kind is very ancient and there are several reports on witches being able to creating poisons, from their own blood, even. If that is the case, I have no idea how to resolve this issue, without us capturing the witch."
"Faolán is weak due to the absence of his mate. Do you think that, if she were with him, he would become stronger and able to fight off this poison and recover faster?"
"Maybe. But I can't guarantee that it would save him. The poison is powerful. The presence of the Luna may help our Alpha to fight it off, but not to overcome it. Eventually he'd succumb. But at least it would buy us time to find an antidote." Hannibal said, walking from side to side.
"I'll try to take care of that." Zander said, on his way out of the medical office, without waiting for any reply.
Zander headed to Faolán's bed and tried to talk to his friend, who only kept on babbling incoherent things.
"Man, I need your phone." Zander spoke by Faoláns ear.
Rafe, who was awake, connected with Piotr and told him that Faolán had left his stuff by a tree, a few miles from there. Zander visualized the place in the images sent by Rafe, transformed and ran his way there. He had a rubber band around his leg, for carrying small things and a few pieces of clothing. Faolán probably didn't have time to think about that, before heading to the battle site.
It didn't take Zander long to arrive at the indicated spot, and Faolán's stuff was still there. He hadn't hidden it very well—Zander noticed—but luckily no wanderer had spotted it.
He clutched the suitcase with his mouth and ran back as fast as possible. When got to the pack, he turned back to human and put on his clothes, before opening Faolán's suitcase and looking for his phone. When he found it, he went through Faolán's contacts, in order to find Alanna's cellphone number. He didn't find her name, which should be one of the first ones on the list. When he was scrolling down on the list again, he saw a name that caught his attention: 'Bossy Queen'. Zander rolled his eyes and tapped the 'call' button. However, her phone either had been switched off or was out of coverage area. Looking at the time, it figured. It wasn't even two in the morning, yet. He decided he'd tryagain, later. He needed to speak to her, instead of texting, because she might think it was some sort of prank Faolán was playing. He loved his Alpha, but knew how he could be quite annoying and clingy.
During the ten years that Faolán stayed away from the pack, Zander and he communicated with each other by phone calls, video calls, and, on few occasions, Zander visited him and they had nights out. Faolán became unbearable when he was after something that he wanted very much. Zander felt kind of sorry for Alanna.
Zander put Faolán's phone in his pocket and went to see and stay by his friend. He'd keep him company and help him with whatever he needed, while the pack's shaman was trying to find out about the mysterious poison. Zander also had to visit the other wounded ones. Some females were also helping out, as nursing assistants.
Hannibal had graduated from Medical School, and two females had gone to college and earned their Bachelor of Science in Nursing degrees, in order to provide healthcare for the pack. The former Alpha knew how important that was.