The days before the fated meeting, my body felt strange. The first change was my breasts, which got tender from wearing clothes. Then, slight fatigue set in, making me unable to keep up with Fenris as much as I could before.

I wrote off most of it as stress caused by the upcoming meeting. Even when my cycle was delayed, that usually happened when I was anxious about something. It didn’t help that Amara kept seeing me on the regular.

She mentioned wanting to study my unique body but said a little about what she observed in me.

I never asked her, either.

On the meeting day, though, my world was set anew from when I woke up. I felt sicker than I had since the festival events. Fenris was startled awake when I ran into the bathroom, expelling everything in my stomach into the toilet.

My world felt like it was spinning, even though I remained idle. Fenris joined me quicker than lightning before patting my back. It would’ve been a comfort if I didn’t have a magnetic pull towards the toilet.

“Hang in there, Lily. I’m going to call Amara.” He breathed before dialing the medic to come.

After finishing up the call, he texted Liam to come as well. Placing the phone away, he turned his full attention towards me.

"Hey, she’s on the way. Are you okay?" Fenris soothed my back.

Shivers ran down my spine as I didn’t know how to answer him. This was a first for me. Even with my fever moments, I never felt like this. The nausea had me pinned to where I was.

"I don’t know." I struggled to say as more of my stomach contents threatened to come out of me again.

The prior night, I had eaten nothing too heavy. So, my stomach was relatively empty, yet I felt like everything wanted to come up—acid and all, which t burned on the way up.

"You think what you ate last night might’ve done this?" he asked.

I joggled my head, not knowing what was wrong. He tried to comfort me while we waited for Liam and Amara to come. It only took a few minutes for the brown wolf, whom Fenris had given a key to the room, to open the door, which allowed the medic to enter.

Shade was by the door the entire time, watching everything unfold. Amara asked me a series of questions that I needed help to answer. My wolf hesitantly left the bathroom to give the medic space to work.

After a few analysis spells, she sighed, relaxing her stance.

"Do you know what’s wrong with me?" I mumbled, still feeling ill.

It was trickling away when Fenris's phone answered a call from Ryker outside the bathroom about the meeting time and place. It caused the elf to be hesitant, looking outside towards the two wolves.

"Yes... but..." Amara peered around.

"But...?" I echoed the elf's words.

Something didn’t seem right, and I didn’t feel right.

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"Have you been taking the pills I gave you?" Amara asked, changing the conversation.

I gazed at her, utterly baffled by her.

How does that have anything to do with it?

She had given me some pills, telling me it reinforced my system about two weeks ago. It was vitamins of some kind, which I didn’t mind taking.

"Yes, but I want to know what you think it might be. Has the gate made me more unstable?" I started feeling unwell again.

The urge to hurdle my contents made me hug the bowl again.

She sighed, shaking her head. "I can’t tell you. I need to do more analysis before I tell you anything concrete."

"What? Am I dying?" I asked.

Did my actions at the festival destroy my body?

The elf grabbed my hands, "No! You aren’t dying," she grumbled, glancing back at Shade.

The little familiar tilted her head once eyes were on her.

"Can you please close the door?" Amara asked the curious cat, who did as she wanted.

Once the door was closed, she took out a portable sigil—an accessory medics carried around to protect their patients' confidentiality. Slowly, she leaned into me, brushing my hair away from my ear.

"I can’t keep this up for long, or they’ll think something is off, but I can’t tell anymore because the walls have ears. I’m sorry. It isn’t safe for you." She whispered in my ear, quickly taking off the sigil, hoping the boys were none the wiser.

"What?" I mumbled, unable to follow her.

Is someone listening to us speak here?

Fenris probably knew, which would explain why he avoided speaking about anything vital while we were here. He would only allow certain topics to come up when we were there. The council probably did something when they rebuilt it.

After all, we only used it to make love—something he wanted to announce to everyone.

"You have food poisoning. What you ate last night probably didn’t go well with all your stress." Amara concluded, closing her kit.

Fenris opened the door, worried about what was happening behind it.

"Will she be fine?" He asked.

The elf stood up from the bathroom floor. "Yes, she’s okay. Just give her some plain biscuits to eat. Eat bland foods, and don't eat anything too hot or smelly for a while. Oh! Tons of liquids, too!" She recommended.

Fenris gently helped me up. My world was still woozy but calmer than before.

"The meeting’s in the afternoon. Will Lily be okay to travel by then?" Liam asked, sitting down by Fenris's bed.

I wondered how many colors my skin was turning when my wolf slowly led me onto the bed.

"She’ll be fine to attend. I’ll be there in case, too." The elf assured the boys, glancing at Fenris, who was tracing my cheek, troubled that I was too pale.

"Your dad’s going to let you?" The silver wolf shifted his gaze towards her.

Amara huffed in return. "Try not to stress her too much."

The elf took a slight jab at Fenris, who growled at her tease. It was true he was drowning himself in me. We both were. His touch wasn’t what caused this, or so I thought. After the medic left, he gave me some salt cookies, which fell decent on my upset tummy.

However, I could stomach nothing else. A few minutes passed before everything returned to normal, and color returned to my face. Fenris was unusually protective of me, too. He was reluctant to leave me alone with anyone for longer than a minute or two, even if that person was Liam.

He kept me close even when Melody joined us—something unusual for him. It was like his protective drive was haywire. The black wolf was training Liam to control herself for the past month. Their relationship had also strengthened since the night of the festival.

For the first time, I felt what Melody experienced when she saw Fenris and me kissing. They appeared happy together—something my wolf didn’t care about when he hounded me, ensuring I was okay before we left the room for the last time.

The meeting was on the top floor of the Cerberus building. Even though I tried to keep up, it wasn’t long until Fenris had to pick me up on his back. The fatigue was showing again; even the distance to the elevator was too much for me today.

I never intended to enter the room on Fenris's back, but I couldn’t help it. Otherwise, it would’ve taken me too long to get there. Melody held on to my dress behind Fenris, feeling intimidated by everything happening, too.

This day was new for her; she thought it would never come as the elders would reevaluate her ranking. Liam led the way in the front while my wolf ensured we were both okay.

Today is also the day I will make my case to the council and Lycan elders. I can only hope they’ll listen to reason. If not… I…