Chapter 0464

Hannah

“Hannah… Hannah, wake up…”

As if trudging my entire body through mud, I slowly regained consciousness. The first thing I registered was an overwhelming urge to vomit, quickly followed by a splitting headache; each throb felt like it might crack my skull.

I cracked one eye open, groaned, and immediately shut it again. The light from a nearby lamp blinded me.

“Oh, thank goodness. She’s awake. Hannah, are you alright?” Viona gently fanned my face with a magazine. “You’re going to be fine…”

“Ugh… I’m going to…” Hot bile rose in my throat, the urge to vomit unavoidable. Viona quickly turned me onto my side and rubbed my back as I retched into a small trash can.

When I finished, Viona paled and handed the can to the housekeeper, who hurried away.

I managed to open my eyes fully and sit up slightly. I was in the living room, lying on the large sectional couch. Noah sat at the other end, head hung low, while Drake patted his back. He looked as awful as I felt—and worried.

“Hannah—” Noah started to rise, but Drake shoved him back down.

“Oh no, lover boy,” Drake chided. “She’s fine. Don’t try to get up. I’m not cleaning more of your puke off the carpet.”

Noah looked furious, but I managed a small smile and sent a stroke of reassurance through our bond, causing him to relax slightly.

Viona handed me a glass of water. I gulped it down greedily and wiped my mouth.

“What the hell happened?” I muttered, rubbing my sweat-soaked forehead. The last thing I remembered was having a bit too much to drink and dancing in the living room. Had we really had that much to drink? Enough to make us throw up and lose consciousness?

“Scopolamine poisoning.”

Doctor Patel’s voice made me whip my head up, causing the room to spin. My eyes widened at the sight of him standing by the fireplace. He looked haggard, still in his pajamas, as if he’d been asleep and rushed here.

“We thought it best to call your doctor right away,” Viona said, though a hint of distaste colored her voice. She knew about Doctor Patel’s “frailty” claims and disliked him, but I couldn’t blame her for calling him instead of an ambulance. After all, it might not have been the best for our public image if the two Alphas combining packs and retaining their titles had been carted off to the emergency room with alcohol poisoning—or whatever the doctor had called it.

“Scop…” I stared down at the IV in my arm, which I hadn’t noticed before, and couldn’t finish the word.

“Scopolamine poisoning,” Doctor Patel repeated, crouching beside me. He pulled his stethoscope from a nearby medical bag and listened to my heartbeat. “A drug commonly used to treat nausea.”

I cleared my sore throat, recalling my vomiting spell all too well. “Ironic, considering I just puked my guts out.” I glanced at Noah. “But neither of us takes medication for that.”

Doctor Patel sighed and looped his stethoscope around his neck. “I don’t suspect you do. Have you eaten or drunk anything strange lately?”

My friends and I exchanged wary glances. “The wine was the only thing Noah and I had that the others didn’t tonight,” I said, gesturing vaguely towards the bottle. Viona strode over, picked it up, and studied the label closely.

“You’re sure it’s scopolamine that did all that?” Viona asked. “A simple antinausea drug?”

The doctor nodded. “It’s also known as ‘Devil’s Breath’ on the street,” he explained. “In high doses, it can lead to low blood pressure, unconsciousness, confusion, amnesia, and even death.”

Drake ran a hand through his hair. “I’ve heard of this stuff. There was a big scare in the eighties; some people believed powdered Devil’s Breath could alter someone’s state of mind, making them more… pliant. Confused. That even a trace amount on a business card or in a drink could allow attackers or kidnappers to take advantage of people.”

“He’s right. But I suspect the amount in your blood was intended to do much more than that,” Doctor Patel said quietly, lowering his gaze. “At minimum, whoever did this intended to alter your minds. At worst…”

His voice trailed off. Death.

My eyes widened, and I turned to Noah, who sat ramrod straight. “You’re absolutely certain?” I asked the doctor. “Without a doubt?”

“Your blood test results came back this morning, Alpha Hannah,” Doctor Patel said softly. “Remember when I said your blood pressure was low? This is why. There were trace amounts of scopolamine in your system. And I believe there would be much higher levels tonight, were we to test it. But the signs are obvious enough that I don’t believe that’s necessary.”

I felt as if all the air had been sucked from the room.

Noah and I looked at each other, stunned into silence. The wine… If Marcus really laced the bottle he gave us, then why? What was his purpose? Marcus despised me, that much I knew—but he clearly intended for both of us to drink it, not just me.

Why poison his own son with a drug that could cause unconsciousness, amnesia, and even death?

“But it was factory sealed,” Noah said, shaking his head in disbelief. “And it was a gift from my father. He might be an asshole, but he’d never poison anyone. Maybe someone laced it at the factory or something.”

Doctor Patel’s face went white at the mention of Noah’s father. Rising from his crouch, he took the empty bottle from Viona and studied it carefully, including the handwritten note.

“I… I’ll be damned…” he muttered, almost incredulously.

“What is it?” I asked, sitting up straighter.

The doctor looked like he might be sick now. He shook his head and set the bottle aside with trembling hands. The room was silent except for his soft murmurs as he clutched his hair and began to pace.

“No, no, no… He never said he was going to try to kill you…”