Underwater: The Silent Luna novel Chapter 187

Chapter 187

The nurse hooked Ethan up to the antibiotics and left the room quietly, as if even the sound of her steps might disturb the fragile

peace that had settled over his body after the surgery. For the first time in a very long while, Ethan did not look trapped in pain or

tension. He looked tired, heavily sedated, and pale, but not tormented. There was something different about the room now. Something lighter under all the fear. He had survived the surgery. The silver was out. That should have been enough to let everyone

breathe, but none of them truly could.

Not yet.

Keith stood in the living room with Dr James and Camila, and all the exhaustion of the night sat on him now that the movemen had slowed. He had stayed alert through the surgery, through the preparations, through the uncertainty, through the waiting, and

now he was standing in the aftermath trying to tell himself it had gone well. But “well” did not mean safe. Not in Whitewood anymore. Not after what had happened to Brad. Not after what they had discovered about Ethan. Not after the attack waiting out

there in the dark for the wrong moment to move again.

Still, he asked the question because he needed something clear. Something practical. Something that did not sound like fear.

“So what do we do now?” Keith asked.

Dr James smiled, but it was the smile of a man who was also running on strain and relief rather than comfort.

“He is alright now. The antibiotics are just to keep his wound from being infected before his wolf abilities take over,” Dr James said.

Keith nodded, though the explanation did not fully settle him. He watched James turn to Camila like he already expected her to

carry the next part of this. That immediately made something in Keith’s mind catch.

“Remember the detox regiment,” Dr James said.

Camila nodded.

“You have to start it tomorrow morning. So he can recover faster,” Dr James added.

Keith frowned. He understood the words. He understood the treatment. But he did not understand why Dr James was handing

instructions over as if he was already done with the case. Ethan had just come through the most dangerous part, and instead of

acting like the attending doctor who would now remain close and manage the recovery, James sounded like a man passing along a

final note before taking his leave.

“What about you?” Keith asked.

The confusion in Keith’s voice came out more sharply than he meant it to. He did not like that he was having to ask. He did not like the shape of what he was beginning to suspect either. Camila realised it at once. Ethan had not told Keith. Of course he had not.

Ethan had been too busy deciding, surviving, hoping, and hiding things from Meadow. Somewhere inside all of that, he had either forgotten to tell Keith the arrangement or decided it was not worth complicating the night with one more argument.

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Chapter 187

So Camila smiled, though her smile was careful.

“Actually, Beta, Dr James planned on leaving after the surgery. He would have stayed a day to ensure no complications, but since the surgery went well, he would want to leave. I told Alpha, and he was okay with it,” Camila said.

Keith shook his head immediately. He did not like it. He did not like it at all.

“Who will protect him? Our men are stretched thin. Alpha Joseph could only send five warriors. That says a lot. We can’t part with

any to guard him in the city,” Keith said.

The argument was practical, but underneath it was something more than that. Keith did not like loose ends. He did not like vulnerable people moving out into the dark without proper cover. And this was no ordinary frightened doctor/This was the man who had just cut Ethan open and pulled proof of sabotage from his body. If the wrong people found him before he disappeared properly, then they would silence him. Keith knew it. Camila knew it. James definitely knew it.

Camila shook her head again.

“There will be no need for that. Dr James plans on leaving town until the matter dies down. At least Alpha would have one less

person to worry about,” Camila said.

She said it with a smile, but Keith remained uncomfortable. One less person to worry about. In theory, that made sense. In practice, it sounded too easy. Too convenient. Too abrupt. Keith had spent too much time around danger to trust ease when ease came right

after blood and panic.

Still, he did not want to seem like he was being difficult for no reason. So instead of arguing more, he called Rashel and asked her to follow him to Ethan’s room. If Meadow confirmed the arrangement, then at least he would know Ethan had really agreed to it and the doctor was not inventing permission because he wanted to disappear fast.

Keith entered the room and found Meadow awake. She was standing by Ethan’s bed, looking at him in that quiet way of hers that always seemed softer than everyone else in the room deserved. She had sadness in her eyes, even though she smiled when she saw Keith. The sight of Ethan lying there had clearly not left her untouched. She looked like someone who had been trying to be brave

for too long.

“Luna, you are up,” Keith said.

Keith’s voice gentled instantly around her. Meadow looked at him and smiled faintly, but the sadness in her eyes deepened.

“How did it go?” Meadow signed.

Rashel translated the sign for her, and Keith looked back at Meadow.

“It went well. They took them out. He did not have any complications,” Keith replied.

She nodded and turned her eyes back to Ethan immediately. He was sleeping peacefully, and for a moment Meadow forgot Keith and

Rashel were there at all. She reached out and touched Ethan’s forehead, then brushed his hair away carefully. There was so much

tenderness in that small gesture that Keith had to look away for a second.

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Chapter 187

Meadow had known when Ethan left the bed. She had known. That was the part she had not said aloud to anyone. She knew the

exact moment his warmth left her side. Knew the exact moment he slipped away into the dark to face that operation. But she had chosen not to open her eyes. Chosen to pretend. Chosen to lie there and let him have his way because she knew if she looked at him then, she would have begged him again not to go. Somewhere between fear and exhaustion, she had eventually fallen asleep. If

she had stayed awake longer, if she had known for certain that the operation had already begun, she would never have rested at all.

Keith called to her again.

“Luna,” Keith said.

She looked at him.

“Is it true that Alpha Ethan said Dr James can go after the operation?” Keith asked.

Meadow nodded without hesitation. She had been there when Camila raised it. She had seen Ethan reluctantly agree. She might not

like it, but yes, Ethan had allowed it.

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Underwater: The Silent Luna