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 offamilythe 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 steadybeep…beep…beepof 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. Wecan’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.”
