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Chapter Thirty-Five

Ronan

R onan had been watching the closing proses in the job site’s trailer with his crew. He screamed at the TV when Teal fell over, white-hot fear coursing through his veins. His co-workers nodded with silent sympathy as he rushed out to his truck.

He drove to the courthouse, not knowing what else to do, listening to the news on the radio.

But the news didn’t know anything about what had happened to Teal. After the omega lawyer’s collapse, they cut to reporters interviewing the alphaholes on the courthouse steps. Then they switched to the newsroom, where the newscasters speculated about the cause of Teal’s collapse.

His truck’s speakers read out the texts coming in on his phone. Sorcha, Niall, and Jax were all as terrified as he was. The betas were on their way to the courthouse. Sorcha was staying home with the boys.

Not knowing Teal’s condition was pure agony.

Ronan drove ten miles above the speed limit as he tapped on the steering wheel and cursed every red light and stop sign that delayed him from getting to his husband.

Teal had looked exhausted. Ronan had noticed the little line form above his nose, the sweat on his brow, and the way he’d hovered his fist over his abdomen.

He’d known Teal wasn’t fine, despite what he’d said.

Why hadn’t Ronan insisted he go to the doctor?

Why had his strong, passionate husband collapsed in a puddle on the floor?

Tears threatened, but he was too panicked for them to fall.

Ronan was five minutes from the courthouse when another message came through. Dayson. Letting him know he was in an ambulance with Teal. Headed to the emergency room. He’d also texted Sorcha, Niall, and Jax to let them know.

Ronan whipped his head in all directions to make sure the road was empty before gripping the steering wheel and making a U-turn in the middle of the highway.

Fifty-nine minutes after he’d watched Teal collapse on live TV, Ronan was in the lobby of the omega wing of the hospital demanding to see him.

He was usually more measured and calm, but his inner alpha roared.

He recalled months ago when they’d brought Sorcha in for his stitches, and the terrible words he’d had with that alphahole, Dr. Braswell.

There was no way he’d allow Teal to receive shoddy care.

The only thing that kept him from banging his fist on the reception desk and yelling at the startled omega receptionist were the placating hands that appeared like magic on either side of him.

His betas.

“It’ll be okay,” Niall assured him, resting his head on Ronan’s shoulder. “He’s with the doctors now.”

“Yes.” Jax squeezed his left arm. “We got here ten minutes ago, and Dayson filled us in. They don’t know exactly what’s wrong, but Teal is high-profile, which is why they already called in one of the lead physicians from the alpha wing. The doctor promised to give us an update within half an hour.”

“It was chaos in the courtroom,” a voice spoke up, and Ronan turned to see Dayson sitting in a green vinyl chair, tilting his head to rest it against the wall behind him.

“What happened?” Ronan asked him.

Dayson exhaled loudly, demonstrably distressed.

“I’m still not exactly sure. I could feel it when he sat down after he finished his prose.

It was like sitting next to a heat vent on full blast. He was so hot.

Sweating. His breaths were coming in little wheezes, like it was hard for him.

I doubt you could hear it on the cameras, but I knew something was wrong.

His stomach, again, and he’s been so stubborn about admitting how much pain he’s in.

After he collapsed, the court officers got the ambulance there pretty quick.

Schulman and Carson and Mikel all volunteered to go, but I insisted it be me.

” Dayson’s voice cracked as he added, “Teal never woke up. Not when they brought the stretcher into the courtroom. Not when the idiots outside started shouting that this should somehow invalidate the case, maybe even cheering that he fell over. Not even when we got into the ambulance and they turned the sirens on.” Dayson’s face contorted in a mix of guilt and anger.

“Stars! I wanted to win my case, but I shouldn’t have let him push himself so hard. ”

Niall sat next to him. “You couldn’t have stopped him,” he said. “Not on this. He wanted to be in the courtroom, to see this thing through.”

“Niall’s right.” Ronan felt rationality returning as he reassured Dayson. “Nothing about this is your fault. Thank you for getting in the ambulance with him. And for letting us all know.”

After Dayson spoke to the family, Ronan noticed him go over to sit with a man he recognized as Mikel, an alpha co-worker of Teal’s that had caused his husband some grief over the years.

Ronan’s lips pursed until he noticed the tender way Mikel put his arm around Dayson, and how the omega leaned into the grim-faced alpha in return.

Mikel held Dayson and gave Ronan an upnod. In the other alpha’s face, Ronan saw genuine concern for Teal. Both Dayson and Mikel had been in the courtroom when Teal went down. And they were here now. That was what mattered.

The alpha doctor arrived ten minutes later. Dr. Kinzinger seemed authentically kind and capable as he introduced himself to Ronan, nothing like Dr. Braswell.

The doctor darted his eyes toward the betas standing next to Ronan, silently asking the other alpha if he should proceed.

“Dr. Kinzinger, let me introduce you to Niall and Jax,” Ronan stated. “They are Teal’s close family members, and you can share any information about his condition with them, the same way you would me.”

“Of course,” the doctor replied. Ronan was sure the man wondered what type of family the betas were, since it was well-documented that both Ronan and Teal did not have siblings, but he maintained his professional demeanor and did not ask. “Please let me give you all an update.”

“Thank you,” the three men responded in unison.

“Teal is currently not conscious, but his brain activity doesn’t show a comatose state. Best we can tell, he appears to be in the type of slumber induced by drugs—”

“You think someone drugged him?” Ronan asked.

“It’s a definite possibility. We won’t know until we get the results of his bloodwork, which should happen in the next few hours. Teal is also having some additional symptoms that appear to be signs of an impending heat. But we don’t know for sure yet. The bloodwork should tell us quite a bit.”

“Can we see him?”

“It’s not our usual protocol, but it’s fine if you want to sit by his bedside.

Like I said, he’s completely out of it, but whatever’s wrong doesn’t appear to be contagious.

He’s hooked up to monitors, but we’re not anticipating that any sort of emergency procedure will be necessary…

To be clear, I’m not promising that. Until we get his bloodwork back, all options are still on the table, but that’s how it appears at this moment.

I can’t imagine having his family nearby would be a bad thing.

Your scent may even reach him, which might help him wake up.

You’re all welcome to visit, but one at a time, please. ”

“Okay.” Ronan turned to Niall and Jax. “We’ll take turns.”

“You should go first,” Niall said. “I hope the doctor is right and Teal will smell you. We’ll call Sorcha and give him the update.”

Ronan followed the doctor and was pleased to find they’d given Teal his own room.

But he was distraught to see how ill his husband looked.

Gray tinged the omega’s skin, and the blue veins on his neck and forearms protruded visibly.

There were red dots along his arms and peeking above the collar of his hospital gown.

A rash? Ronan hadn’t noticed anything last night, but it was possible he’d missed it since Teal had been sleeping in pajamas the past few days, as opposed to his pre-High Court practice of going to bed nude.

Teal’s body lay deathly still on the thin hospital mattress. The steady beep…beep…beep of the monitors provided an eerie soundtrack for the stark room, along with occasional rattling breaths that sounded like they were ripped from the bottom of Teal’s throat.

Careful of the IV line sticking out of Teal’s wrist, Ronan sat next to the bed and grasped the omega’s hand.

“I’m so sorry, baby. I had no idea you were this sick.

” He kissed Teal’s knuckles, but his husband didn’t stir.

Ronan kept talking. “You did so good today. The whole state was watching. We are so proud of you. Me and Sorcha and Niall and Jax and the kids. We can’t wait for you to wake up and come home so we can take care of you. ”

Ronan again felt tears gathering in his eyes. He wanted to promise that he would fix whatever was wrong. His inner alpha insisted it was his duty. But what if he couldn’t?

He gave himself a few moments to let the despair fester before steeling himself to go back into the lobby.

He knew Niall and Jax were eager to see Teal.

The best thing he could do for Teal now was take care of their family, to make sure that things didn’t fall apart while Teal focused on getting better.

But first, Teal needed to wake up.

Ronan’s steps were heavy as he returned to the lobby. He was surprised to find Mr. Schulman and Mr. Carson waiting there.

Niall approached Ronan. “Teal’s bosses arrived to check on him, and also to ask your permission to put out a short statement saying that Teal is ill, but that he’s in the hospital and doctors are working to figure out what’s wrong.”

Mr. Schulman walked over and shook Ronan’s hand.

“We are awfully sorry to bother you, Mr. McGinn. I think you know how much we care about Teal. Carson and I had a feeling something was wrong in court, but Teal kept saying he was fine. And, well, I’m not proud of this, but we wanted him to be the one to handle the case so badly, we put aside our concerns and let him work, even though he was clearly in pain. ”

“It’s alright,” Ronan said. “I doubt you could have talked him out of it. I mean, I’m his husband and I had no idea he was this sick either. None of us did.”

“I’m not surprised he held it together so well. He’s the strongest omega I’ve ever met,” Mr. Carson chimed in. “Don’t tell my husband I said that, of course.”

Ronan appreciated the first moment of levity he’d had in hours. “Of course not.”

“Are you okay if we issue the statement?” Mr. Schulman asked.

“There is a lot of speculation out there. Teal is one of the state’s most high-profile omegas, and to put it bluntly, his fall happening on camera after his masterful closing prose was fairly sensational.

Before the reporters work themselves into a frenzy questioning what’s wrong, we think it would be smart to get ahead of it. ”

Ronan looked over at Niall and Jax, who nodded. Dayson did too.

“Please put out your statement,” Ronan said. “I don’t really care what the public thinks, or what the media says. This isn’t a PR issue for me. All I care about is that my husband gets well.”

“Alright, thank you,” Mr. Carson clapped Ronan on the shoulder. “We are all rooting for Teal. It’s a shame he won’t be there to hear the verdict.” The two men picked up their coats and began walking toward the exit.

“By the way, when you leave, you ought to consider going out the back exit,” Mr. Shulman said.

“There are tons of reporters out there. Members of the public too. Many people love Teal, including thousands of folks who have never met him. I thought about that when Teal mentioned all the threats he’s received in his prose today.

It’s important to never forget that more folks out there love him than hate him. They’re all behind him now.”

Now that Teal’s bosses had alluded to it, Ronan could make out the low din of a crowd gathered outside the hospital. “Thanks for putting out the statement.”

After the alphas had left, Niall went back to sit with Teal. Ronan wanted to check in with hospital security about the crowd outside, and he asked Jax to call Sorcha with an update.

Jax went into a private area to make the call. Dayson took the opportunity to approach Ronan.

“You’ll need to be careful. There will be a lot of eyes on Teal and the rest of your family right now.

” Dayson’s gaze shifted meaningfully in Jax’s direction and Ronan knew that he’d guessed the betas were more than just nanny and nanny’s boyfriend to the McGinns.

It made sense he’d figure it out, since Dayson already knew about Sorcha.

“I understand,” Ronan replied. “At this point, I honestly don’t give a fuck what anyone thinks.

I just want Teal to get better.” He sighed, blowing out a long breath toward the ceiling.

“But I don’t want to make the decision to change anything about our image without talking it over with Teal.

That’s not something that should happen while he’s out of it. ”

Dayson nodded. “My thoughts exactly. And I’ll do what I can to help.”

“Thanks. I’ll talk to Niall and Jax about keeping things low-key. And I’ll give Sorcha the heads up that there may be more eyes on us in the near-term.”

Dayson laid a hand on Ronan’s shoulder. “It’s the right call.

I have a feeling Teal will feel as you do.

Between the tribunal and his illness, not to mention all the changes that have been happening with your family, it’s clear his priorities and perceptions are changing.

But you’re correct that he should be involved. ”

Twenty minutes later, Niall returned and Jax went to sit by Teal’s bed. After he came out, Dayson took his turn.

While Dayson was with Teal, Dr. Kinzinger came out and pulled Ronan, Niall, and Jax into a small private office to the side of the waiting room.

“I have the results of Teal’s bloodwork,” he stated gravely. “Unfortunately, it’s not great news.”