Fated Mates: Book 1 of the True Mates Series (23 page)

“No!” Alynna protested, but knew it was hopeless. She reeked of sex, and even if Frankie couldn’t smell it, she knew she looked disheveled. “I mean…it’s complicated ok? I’ll explain another time, I promise.”

Frankie tsked as she approached Alynna. “Ok, well, we need to do something…Christ, Alynna, what were you thinking?”

“I wasn’t,” Alynna frowned. “Oh crap, I need to go out there and say thank you in like 15 minutes.”
 

“Ok, ok, don’t panic, I’ll take care of it ok?” Frankie bit her lip. “Stay here.”

***

“I’m deeply humbled by your presence here,” Alynna recited the words she and Cady had written the previous week. She was standing midway up the grand staircase, with everyone in the ballroom looking up at her. “I would like to thank those who traveled, near and far, just to be here tonight. I wish your family and your clan health, wealth, and happiness.”
 

Alynna sighed with relief. She scanned her audience, trying to find Frankie, but once again, her newfound friend had seemingly vanished.
 

 
Frankie had quickly sprung into action to help her get ready. She grabbed a passing waiter, shoved a hundred dollar bill into his hand and ordered him to go clear out the ladies room nearby and then get them. Soon, they made their way to the ladies’ room, where a “closed for cleaning” sign blocked the door.

Frankie grabbed every type of perfume and lotion in the room, spraying Alynna liberally after wiping her down with damp towels. She helped the younger woman fix her hair and gave her a swipe of her own cherry red lipstick. “Bombshell red, for good luck.” she said, giving the tube a kiss and tucking it back into her clutch.
 

The bruises on her arms, however, were harder to hide, so Frankie stripped off her own white gloves and gave them to Alynna. They were barely long enough to cover the bruises, but they would do.

“You look great, sweetie,” Frankie gave her a small kiss on the cheek. “Now, go get ‘em!”

Alynna rushed out the bathroom, and found Cady, who immediately rushed her to the front to make her speech. She also passed by Grant and Nicky, and she gave a silent thanks to Frankie as they didn’t seem to notice anything was wrong.
 

She raised her glass and then had a small sip of her champagne. Everyone in the room followed suit. “Thank you and please, continue to enjoy the evening!”

Everyone clapped, and Alynna made her way to the bottom of the stairs. She greeted everyone, tried her best to recall her names, and slowly made her way to Grant and Cady, who were standing off to the side, just by the ante room. She stumbled slightly, but regained her footing quickly. “Too much champagne,” she laughed at the older Lycan who had come forward to introduce himself. She suddenly felt tired, her limbs feeling loose and achey.

“How’d I do?” she joked when she reached her brother and Cady.

“You did great!” Cady said, embracing the younger woman.

“I’m proud of you, Alynna,” Grant beamed at her.

“Thank you,” she said breathlessly. “Cady did all the work though and…” she stopped, as if she forgot something.

“Yes, Alynna?” Cady asked, her eyes narrowed. “Are you ok? Your pupils…”

“Huh?” she asked. Alynna suddenly felt loopy, as if she was drunk.

“Alynna,” Grant tipped her head up. “Are you ok?”

Oh shit, oh shit, Alynna thought to herself. Did Grant smell Alex on her? He was giving her a serious look.

“I’m sorry, Grant I—” But before she could continue, the floor underneath are gave way and her vision went to black.

“Alynna!”

***

“Grant?” Dr. Faulkner called out as he entered the waiting room where Grant, Cady, and Nick were waiting. Alex stood off to the side, guarding the door to the private clinic located inside The Enclave, where they rushed Alynna after she remained unresponsive. They were all still in their formal wear, though Grant and Nick had long ago removed their ties and jackets. Cady was barefoot, stretched out on the couch with Nick’s coat draped over her as she napped.
 

“Tom,” Grant shot up to his feet and stalked over to the older man. “Is she up? Can I see her? What happened?”

The older man shook his head. “Alynna will be fine.” Tension lifted from the room. “She’s resting now, I don’t want her disturbed. You can see her in a few hours.”

“No, I want to know—”

“Please Grant,” Dr. Faulkner implored. “Sit down, I’ll tell you what we know, but you can’t disturb her now, ok?”

Grant nodded and sat back down on the chair he had been occupying for hours. Outside, the sky was pink as the sun slowly began to rise over Manhattan. “Ok doc, tell us what happened.”

The older man sighed and sat down on the couch next to Cady. “Well, I can confirm, she was definitely poisoned, a strain of nightshade, aka belladonna.”

“Were you able to administer an antidote?” Cady inquired.
 

“See, that’s it,” Dr. Faulkner’s brows knitted in confusion. “We had the antidote on route from one of the hospitals in the area. But by the time it got here, she hardly needed it.”

“What do you mean?” Grant asked. “She’s going to be fine, you said.”

“Yes, she’s tired, but healthy. She’ll wake up feeling like she ran a marathon. She almost coded on us, but then…vitals became steady. She was sweating and vomiting for a while, as if her body was flushing out the poison.”

“Is that…normal?” Cady asked.

He shook his head. “No. Not to human or Lycans. Our bodies don’t just reject poison for no reason.” Before anyone else could ask, he continued. “And no, I don’t know why her body did that or have any other explanation. I’m going to run some more tests of course, just to make sure it’s ok and we have the antidote on standby.”

 
Grant rubbed his temples with his fingers. “Is it because she’s a True Mate offspring?”
 

“Could be. That’s the only thing different about her. Maybe she has some antibodies in her that rejects belladonna. Belladonna was traditionally used by witches to kill Lycans back in the day. It could also be that someone in your family line survived such a poisoning and developed this antibody. I can’t know for sure, and I’m not sure I’ll be able to find out, without serious testing and research.”

“Thank you doc,” Grant said. “If you say she needs a few hours rest, we should all go home then. I’ll be back before lunch time, but call me if anything changes.” He turned to Nick and Cady. “Get some rest, but first thing tomorrow, I want all those security tapes reviewed, all staff interviewed.”

“Yes, Primul,” Nick said, nodding. “I’ve had my team confiscate all the tapes from tonight and last night’s as well, just in case. I’ll be overseeing the interviews myself in the morning.”
 

“Do you think it’s Alynna’s friend in green that did this?” Cady asked.
 

“I don’t know,” Grant’s eyes turned hard as steel. “But if she is, then there will be hell to pay.”

Alex said nothing while he sat in the corner, but he agreed with his Alpha silently.
 

***

“Grant, I need one more thing,” Alynna said as she pushed the tray away. She had been up since nine that morning, but couldn’t find the strength to get out of bed. It was lunch time and as Grant promised, he showed up just in time for Alynna’s first meal since the night before.

“What is it? Do you need more pillows? Some soup? Water?”

“No,” she shook her head. “I need you to stop acting like a mother hen, and give me some space, will you? I swear if you invade any more of my personal space, we’d be breaking the laws of physics!” Since he showed up, Grant had done nothing but hover over her, offering her food, pillows, and blankets.

“Sorry!” he said, putting his hands up. “I just want you to be comfortable.”

“I am comfortable,” she sighed, motioning for him to come and sit on her bed. He sat down beside her, and to his surprise, she cuddled up to his side, throwing an arm across his chest and squeezing him tight. “I’m fine. I’ll be fine. And thanks for getting all those flowers out of here, I was starting to think I’d died and woken up in floral hell.”

Unfortunately, about a dozen other Lycans had seen Alynna collapse at the ball. They rushed her to ante room and blocked anyone from seeing her, but it was too late. Cady came out of the room and announced to everyone that Alynna had fainted from exhaustion and that she lacked sleep, so she was going to retire for the evening. They were able to discreetly rush her out of the hotel to the waiting unmarked van in the service entrance.
 

“Cady!” she greeted, as soon as she saw the pretty redhead enter the door. She was followed by Nick and to her surprise, Alex. She said nothing, but nodded to them.

“Alynna!” Cady rushed to her side. “Oh my lord, are you feeling ok? Do you need anything?”

She shook her head. “Like I was telling Mr. Florence Nightengale here - I’m perfectly alright. Just tired and achey.”

“Good,” Cady sighed with relief. “Are you feeling ok to talk? I can call Dr. Faulkner or we could re-schedule.”

“I’m good,” Alynna nodded. “But, if you’re going to ask me about last night…it’s weird, my memory’s a little foggy.”

“That’s ok,” Grant said, giving her a kiss on the forehead. “Just tell us as much as you can.”

“Where should I start?” she asked.
 

“When did you begin feeling woozy?” Nick said, stepping forward.

“Hmmmm…” she paused. “After the speech, I guess? People were kind of crushing against me, and I felt hot and overwhelmed.”

“How about before you went up to say thank you? What did you do?”

Alynna swallowed a gulp and it took all her concentration not to look at Alex. “My memory’s a little bit hazy…”

“Alex was the last person on the team to see you just before you went up to speak,” Cady explained. “He says he saw you into the balcony and checked up on you?”

She nodded and mentally sighed with relief. “Yes, um…I had gone out there with Liam for some fresh air. We were there alone, maybe 30 minutes? Then he got a phone call and had to leave.”

“Liam Henney?” Cady looked up at Grant.

“Did he give you anything to drink or eat?” Grant inquired.

“No…and no! It couldn’t have been him!” Alynna said defensively. “Doesn’t poison act quickly? I would have collapsed on the balcony and…” she drifted off.

“And what?” Nick asked. “What else happened?” He looked at Alex. “You said you saw Ms. Chase after the Alpha had left?

“Yes, Al Doilea,” Alex said cooly. “I went in, checked in on her and left.” Alex’s face was a stoic mask, his lie expertly told. Well, he technically wasn’t lying, he was just leaving out a few things.
 

“Uhm…” she scrambled. “Well, after that, my friend found me…”
Oh dear. Frankie. Was it Frankie?

“Who?” Grant’s voice took on a forceful tone. “Was it that woman in green you were talking to with Liam and the Texas delegation?”

She nodded. “She had to take a phone call and I didn’t see her after that. Then you came and introduced us to more people, then Liam and I went to the balcony. After he left and, uh, Alex came to check on me, she came in.”

“Did you see this woman?” Grant turned to Alex. “After you left?”

The Lycan shook his head. “No, Primul, forgive me, I did not.”

“We need to find her and interrogate her,” Grant said.

“No!” Alynna protested. “I mean, she can’t have poisoned me! She didn’t hand me anything to eat or drink!”

“Who was she?” Cady asked soothingly, patting the younger woman’s arm.
 

“I don’t know, I mean…she’s a Lycan for sure. She said she didn’t RSVP, but she changed her mind last minute.”

“Her name?”

“Uhm…she didn’t say,” Alynna lied. An idea formed in her head. She would find Frankie first and get to the bottom of this. She was sick and tired of living in fear. “Really guys, it can’t be her. She’s so nice and kind, and she defended me and my mom from those catty bitches…”

“We can’t rule out anyone,” Nick explained. “Not yet. If you can remember anything more about her, we can at least eliminate her from the list of suspects.”

“What else have you determined?” Alynna asked, hoping to change the subject.

“Well, sounds like it was the champagne,” Nick continued. “Did you see who gave it to you?”

“Someone just handed it to me…a waiter?” she said.

Cady nodded. “We interviewed every member of the staff, except for one waiter. He called in sick today.”

“Wait, no one else was poisoned? Just me?” Alynna asked.

“Yes,” Nick confirmed. “We have yet to hear any other cases of belladonna poisoning from other guests.”

“That’s strange….” Alynna said, her eyes narrowing. “That was the last thing I remember drinking
 
before I collapsed. After I drank it, I remember somebody taking the glass from my hand, like yanking it away,” her eyes narrowed.
 

“Hmmmm…” Nick contemplated on what she said. “It could be the same waiter. He might have wanted to destroy the evidence.”

Grant let out a soft growl. “I want him found. Today.” He said in a deadly voice.
 

“Yes Primul,” both Nick and Alex answered, bowing their heads.

“Let me help,” Alynna said. Four pairs of eyes looked at her. “I’m a PI, I know these things. I can help track him down. Please.” She wanted to find Frankie first, just in case. Grant looked like he was going insane from worry, and she didn’t want him to do something he might regret.

Grant sighed. “We’ll talk about it, ok? I want you to be 100 percent first.”

“I am…better…” she yawned. “Aw, fuck.” She collapsed back on the bed. “Fine, I’ll rest.”

A knock interrupted their conversation, and Grant strode to the door to answer it. He spoke a few words to the person on the other side of the door then turned around, carrying a big package in his arms.

“Alynna?”

“Yes?” Alynna remained on the bed, her arms over her face.
 

“Why did Liam Henney send you a basket of Campbell’s Chunky Chicken soup?”

Alynna sat up and looked at the package in Grant’s hands - a huge basket, filled with the distinctive white and red cans wrapped up in a bow - and then up to her brother’s confused face. She laughed out loud.