Underwater: The Silent Luna novel Chapter 146

Chapter 146

Keith hung up, and back in James’s office Camila waited.

Ethan took the tablet from Meadow with gratitude.

“Thank you, darling.”

Simple words, but full of feeling.

Meanwhile Camila sat with James in uneasy silence. He had not stopped observing her.

“Alpha Ethan?” he asked after she ended the call.

She nodded.

James leaned back slightly and gave a slow breath.

“He is a volatile man. That is a very risky patient.”

Camila surprised herself by defending Ethan immediately.

“He isn’t. He is very alright.”

James looked amused by that, and perhaps a little softened too.

“I guess his Luna finally brought out the best in him. I heard he dotes on her.”

Camila nodded. That much was true. She had seen the way he looked at Meadow during the session, the way his entire expression changed around her, the raw protective love in him. Whatever Ethan had once been in the eyes of others after his accident, the man she had encountered with Meadow was not a monster. He was sharp. Dangerous maybe. But also deeply attached to his wife.

“Why do you want to book a scan for him? I thought the Luna was your patient?”

“Yes, she is.”

“From the look of things, both seem to be your patients. Is he having issues with his wolf?”

Camila shook her head immediately. That line she would not cross. Ethan’s condition was sensitive enough without being spread

around, even to James.

“Just doing random checks, that is all. Luna insists.”

James nodded, though she knew he did not fully believe her. He was kind enough not to press. That was one of the reasons she

trusted him.

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Chapter 146

Then the email came in.

She forwarded it to James at once. His monitor was far better than her phone screen, large and sharp enough to inspect the details properly. He opened the email and began studying the documents in silence.

Time stretched.

Camila sat still and tried not to fidget, but the longer he looked, the tighter her body became. Forty-five minutes passed. Forty five

terrible minutes of waiting while James compared records, zoomed in, leaned close, sat back, and said nothing. By the end of it, he/

removed his glasses and looked as white as a sheet.

That frightened her more than if he had cursed.

“According to the document, Dr Rosenberg was his doctor, and Mark Louis was his surgeon. He was operated on twice, but there are some discrepancies between the day of his first operation and the first CT scan image.”

Camila frowned.

“Is there no silver in it?”

“There are two shards of silver in his lumbar intervertebral discs, and there are none in the second.”

She got up immediately and moved beside him to see the screen. James had placed the operation consent form and the CT scan time stamp side by side. The first scan occurred hours after the operation. The second scan, the one that supposedly showed no silver, had a blurry time stamp. Subtle enough that a lay person might miss it. But not subtle enough for a competent doctor to miss. Not

someone like Rosenberg.

“That is not all.”

James pointed with the tip of his pen.

“Look at the shape of the silver shards.”

Camila stared harder.

“They are blunt and would not have been able to dig through his skin far enough to get lodged in his spine.”

The world seemed to go colder around her.

She understood immediately. There was only one way blunt shards like that had reached that precise place.

They had been put there.

During the first operation.

Her mouth went dry.

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Chapter 146

“Why will they place silver and then take it out?”

James looked deeply uncomfortable now, as if even speaking the possibilities aloud made him want distance from them.

“I do not think they took it out, Camila, and I do not think Ethan can shift anymore. Maybe that is why Luna insisted.”/

The bluntness of it hit her hard. Not because she had not feared as much, but because now another doctor had seen enough to say it plainly. Ethan might truly be trapped this way until someone intervened properly. And if the intervention was blocked long

enough? The damage could become permanent.

James turned toward her more fully.

“I hope you have not ordered that scan.”

She shook her head.

He sighed with visible relief.

“Does anyone know you are consulting for the Alpha and not just the Luna?”

Camila hesitated for a beat.

“Brad knows.”

James nodded.

“Very well, I hope he knows to keep it to himself?”

She nodded again.

Then James said something that startled her almost as much as the scans had.

“This might be crazy, but I want to operate on Alpha Ethan. It won’t be in the hospital, either.”

He was already deleting the email from his computer and inbox as he spoke. No hesitation. No second thought. Just clean removal, the instincts of a man who knew danger when he saw it and intended to leave as little trace as possible.

“How?”

Her voice came out smaller than she wanted.

“I will let you know all I need. We can do it there if you have an ambulance available. This silver needs to be taken out if he ever

wants to heal and walk again.”

That line sat between them with terrible weight.

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Chapter 146

If he ever wants to heal and walk again.

So it had come to this. Not just therapy. Not just observation. Not just suspicion. Surgery. Quietly done. Outside the hospital.

Because the hospital itself could no longer be trusted.

Camila thanked James, but even as she did, her body felt wrong. Shaky. Thin. Too aware of everything around her. She left his office

quietly, forcing herself not to rush. Forcing herself not to look like a woman who had just found proof of deliberate sabotage against

her Alpha. The hallway felt too open. Every face looked suddenly like someone who might know more than they should. Every

ordinary sound grated against her nerves.

She stepped outside and only then let herself breathe badly.

She was shaking.

Not a little. Completely.

She tried to compose herself as best she could before returning, but fear had already dug in too deep. Because now it was no longer merely a possibility that Ethan had been wronged. It was real. Someone had done this. Someone had cut him open and placed silver where it would ruin him. Someone had watched him lose his legs, his wolf, his peace, while carrying the truth inside their own

chest.

And now Camila knew.

Which meant she was no longer simply near danger.

She was inside it.

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Underwater: The Silent Luna