Underwater: The Silent Luna novel Chapter 161

Chapter 161

By the end of that explanation, both Ethan and Meadow were in shock.

Unknown to any of them, Keith had been too curious to leave it alone. He had listened long enough outside the room that the truth finally burst out of him with the door as he stepped in.

“That bastard Rosenberg.”

Keith’s anger was immediate and boiling. Ethan clearly was not pleased that he barged in, but he let it go. Maybe because the moment was already too big for propriety. Maybe because Keith had every right to be furious too.

Then Meadow linked Camila, cutting through the air in the room with the most important question.

“So what is the solution?”

Camila nodded, careful not to let Keith notice the link. She knew Ethan and Meadow wanted to keep Meadow’s progress secret until everything else was clearer. So she answered aloud in a way that respected that.

“Because Dr James was sure that was what they did, he advised me not to order the CT scan, or the culprits would be alerted that we have figured it out.”

That was the easy part. The sensible part. The part that sounded cautious and smart. What came next was harder, and Camila felt that difficulty gather in her chest before she even said it.

“Instead, he has offered to operate on Alpha in the ambulance we brought here and take out the shards.”

She said it quickly, as if speed might make it less frightening.

Keith shook his head immediately. His fear showed plainly. To him, Ethan being alive and crippled was still better than dead. That was the kind of fear people who loved someone could not help. Better broken than buried.

But Ethan spoke before Keith could fully object.

“Can he do it?”

There was desperation in the question. Desperation and hope twisted together so tightly that Camila almost had to look away. Ethan wanted it. Wanted out. Wanted the possibility badly enough that the danger no longer seemed to hold him back the same

way.

“I will give my advice, you think of it and discuss it before you agree.”

She tried to slow him down. Tried to hand him caution first. But Ethan shook his head.

“I have been this way for seven years. If there is the hope of getting me on my feet again, I will take it. I want to do so many things

17

|||

O

1/3

Chapter 161

that I can’t do now. I feel limited and useless.”

It was the first time he confessed it so plainly.

The words hung there heavily after he said them. Meadow touched his thigh, soft and quiet, and Ethan felt it but did not speak of it. That one touch carried more than consolation. It carried understanding. Pain. Loyalty. Love. Camila saw it and had to steady herself again.

Keith, trying to be the practical one, asked the next question.

“What are the complications?”

Camila sighed because now they were fully in the ugly part.

“There might be no shards there. It might be silver ingested. If that is the case, then we might have complications from bleeding

because the silver has impeded Alpha’s healing capacity. We will not have the right equipment to deal with such complications that

might affect the heart or the lungs, and the hospital is too far away to carry him to if that should happen.”

Keith nodded grimly.

“Then we will pick a hidden location close to the hospital and do it to eliminate that possibility.”

Ethan spoke again before fear could root him in place. He was eager now, almost hungry to move forward, hungry enough that every

barrier sounded to him like something to plan around rather than something to stop for

Then Keith asked another question, this one quieter and more painful in its own way.

“If there is silver in his spine and they take it out, how long will it take him to be normal again?”

“Six months. It takes six months for the liver to detoxify the system. In Alpha Ethan’s case, it might take longer because the silver

has been in his system for too long.”

Everyone in the room seemed to sigh at once after that.

Six months.

Maybe longer.

It was not immediate salvation. Not quick. Not easy. It was only the beginning of another long road. Still, Ethan did not look deterred. If anything, the time only seemed to make him more resolved. Six months was a road. Seven years had been a prison.

Keith kept pushing at the problem.

“Can’t we run blood work or stool analysis to determine where the silver is?”

Camila shook her head.

WED

17

|||

O

く

2/3

12:24 Wed, Jun 17 MO

Chapter 161

“Either way, it will be present in the blood, and dead red blood cells in the stool will carry traces of the metal. The only safe option

is a CT scan to eliminate the shards being in the spine, but other than that, we have to guess.”

That answer frustrated all of them. Guessing with a body was a cruel thing. But that was where they were.

“What if we take Alpha Ethan to a hospital in another pack?”

Keith’s suggestion was born of fear too, but Ethan cut it down at once..

“If people from my pack will do this to me, what do you think others would do?”

That ended it.

Comments

LIKE

Write Comments

<SHARE

WELD

111

O

<

3/3

Underwater: The Silent Luna