Chapter Fifteen: The Midnight Call
1676 Words
Ella dreamed of wolves.
Not the wolves she knew—Mira, Dent, Thorne—but others. Strangers. They ran through dark forests under a moon that hung low and swollen in the sky. Their eyes glowed gold. Their teeth were sharp.
She woke with a gasp, her heart pounding.
The clinic was dark. The fluorescent lights had been turned off hours ago to save electricity. Only the emergency bulb above the examination table still glowed, casting weak shadows across the room.
Ella sat up and checked her phone. 2:47 AM. No new messages.
She lay back down, but sleep wouldn't come. Her mind raced with lists—supplies she needed, patients she hadn't seen, tasks she hadn't completed.
The system pinged softly:
**Insomnia detected.**
**Recommendation: Herbal tea. Meditation. Counting sheep.**
Ella snorted. Counting sheep. The system had a sense of humor after all.
She was about to get up and make tea when her phone buzzed.
A text from an unknown number:
**Unknown:** *Healer. I need you. Come to the old warehouse on Cherry Street. Come alone.*
Ella stared at the message. Her first instinct was to ignore it—to assume it was a trap or a prank. But something about the wording made her pause.
*I need you.*
Not "I need help." Not "I need a doctor." *I need you.*
She typed back:
**Ella:** *Who is this?*
The response came within seconds:
**Unknown:** *Someone who's dying.*
Ella stood up.
---
She found Mira in the staff quarters, asleep on a cot. The older wolf woke at the slightest touch, her hand going to the knife under her pillow.
"What is it?" Mira asked, her voice low.
"A text. Someone needs me at an old warehouse on Cherry Street."
Mira's eyes narrowed. "At three in the morning?"
"I know it sounds like a trap."
"It sounds exactly like a trap."
"Probably." Ella pulled on her jacket. "But what if it's not?"
Mira grabbed her arm. "You can't go alone."
"I have to. They said come alone."
"Then I'll follow at a distance." Mira's grip tightened. "I won't let you walk into danger without backup."
Ella looked at her—at the scarred face, the wary eyes, the hand that had killed to protect this place.
"Fine," she said. "But stay out of sight."
---
The old warehouse on Cherry Street was exactly that—old, abandoned, with boarded windows and a roof that had collapsed in one corner. It sat at the edge of the industrial district, surrounded by empty lots and chain-link fences.
Ella approached slowly, her flashlight cutting through the darkness. The system pinged:
**Location: Abandoned warehouse**
**Threat level: Unknown**
**Life signs detected: 1 (humanoid)**
**Recommendation: Proceed with caution.**
One life sign. One person. Maybe the one who had sent the text.
Ella found the entrance—a door that had been pried open, the lock broken. She pushed it open and stepped inside.
The smell hit her first. Blood. Infection. Death.
She followed it to the back of the warehouse, where a figure lay on a pile of rags.
---
It was a woman.
She was young—maybe twenty-five—with dark skin and close-cropped hair. Her clothes were torn, her face was gaunt, and her left leg was a mess of torn flesh and blackened veins.
Silver poisoning. Type-7.
The system confirmed it:
**Patient scan in progress...**
**Name: Unknown**
**Species: Wolf (Beta)**
**Condition: Critical**
**Primary diagnosis: Silver toxin Type-7 poisoning**
**Secondary diagnoses: Sepsis, dehydration, malnutrition**
**Estimated time until death: 12 hours**
Ella knelt beside her. "I'm the Healer. I'm here to help."
The woman's eyes fluttered open. They were dark and fever-bright.
"You came," she whispered.
"I came."
"Didn't think you would."
"I almost didn't." Ella opened her backpack and began pulling out supplies. "What's your name?"
"Kira."
"Kira, I need to treat your leg. It's going to hurt. A lot. But if I don't, you'll die. Do you understand?"
Kira nodded weakly. "Do what you have to."
---
The surgery took three hours.
Ella worked by flashlight, her hands steady, her mind focused. The system guided her, highlighting necrotic tissue, suggesting incision points, monitoring Kira's vitals.
**Silver levels: Critical**
**Debridement in progress...**
**Estimated completion: 45 minutes**
Kira didn't scream. She bit down on a piece of leather Ella had given her and endured the pain in silence, her eyes squeezed shut, her hands clenched into fists.
Mira appeared in the doorway after the first hour, her face pale. "You need help?"
"I need light. And more bandages."
Mira brought both. She held the flashlight steady while Ella worked, her jaw tight, her eyes never leaving the wound.
"She's not from the Under-City," Mira said.
"I know."
"Her clothes—they're expensive. She's from a pack. A wealthy one."
Ella didn't respond. She was focused on the wound, on the slow reveal of pink, healthy flesh beneath the rot.
**Debridement complete.**
**Silver levels: Reduced to moderate**
**Initiating nightshade protocol...**
She measured out the nightshade, adjusted the dosage, and inserted an IV. Kira's vitals stabilized—slowly, but surely.
**Patient status: Critical but stable**
**Survival probability: 65%**
Ella sat back on her heels and wiped her forehead. Her hands were red to the wrists. Her back ached. Her eyes burned.
But Kira was alive.
---
Kira woke at dawn.
Ella was sitting beside her, monitoring the IV, when the woman's eyes fluttered open. They were clearer now—the fever haze gone, replaced by awareness.
"Where am I?" Kira asked.
"The Under-City. My clinic."
Kira tried to sit up, winced, and lay back down. "You saved me."
"I tried to."
"Why?"
Ella thought about the question. She'd been asked it before—by Mira, by Lily, by Dominic Blackwood. And every time, the answer came out differently.
This time, she said: "Because someone should."
Kira stared at her for a long moment. Then she said, "I'm not from here. I'm from the Silver Creek pack."
Ella's blood ran cold. Silver Creek. The pack that had cast out Lena. The pack that had the best medical facilities in the region.
"Why are you in the Under-City?" Ella asked.
"I was running." Kira's voice was hoarse. "From my father. He's the one who poisoned me."
"Your father poisoned you?"
"He's been experimenting with silver variants. Weaponizing them. I found out. He couldn't let me live." Kira's eyes filled with tears. "I've been running for weeks. Hiding in tunnels, eating garbage, trying to stay alive. I heard about you—the Healer who saves anyone. I came because I had nowhere else to go."
Ella was silent. The system pinged:
**Information received: Silver toxin Type-7 origin identified.**
**Source: Silver Creek pack Alpha (Kira's father).**
**Threat level: High.**
**Recommendation: Share information with Wolf Alliance.**
Ella thought about Dominic Blackwood. About his promise to investigate the Type-7 poison. About the warehouse where Caleb had found the vials.
This was connected. All of it.
"You're safe here," Ella said. "No one will hurt you."
Kira's tears spilled over. "Thank you."
"Don't thank me yet." Ella stood up. "We have a lot of work to do."
---
The system pinged again as Ella walked to the examination table:
**Task complete: Midnight Rescue**
**Reward: $1,500 credited to account**
**Skill Unlocked: Crisis Triage (Level 1)**
**Reputation increased: Under-City (+10), Silver Creek pack (-50)**
**Current funds: $4,273.50 ($2,773.50 + $1,500)**
**Clinic Upgrade - Phase 3 progress: 50%**
Ella stared at the numbers. Four thousand dollars. Halfway to her goal.
But the reputation hit worried her. Silver Creek pack—Kira's pack—now saw her as an enemy. And they had resources. Power. A madman at the helm who was weaponizing silver.
She needed to tell Dominic. Needed to warn him.
But first, she had patients to treat.
---
Lena arrived at the clinic an hour later.
She took one look at Kira and froze. "I know her."
"She's from your pack," Ella said.
"She's the Alpha's daughter." Lena's voice was tight. "The one who got away."
"She's a patient now. That's all that matters."
Lena's jaw tightened, but she nodded. "What do you need?"
"Help me change her bandages. And keep an eye on her vitals. She's not out of danger yet."
They worked in silence, cleaning the wound, applying fresh bandages, adjusting the IV. Kira slept through it all, exhausted by the surgery and the poison still in her blood.
When they finished, Lena said, "Her father will come looking for her."
"I know."
"He'll burn this place to the ground if he thinks she's here."
"Then we make sure he doesn't find out." Ella met Lena's eyes. "Can you keep a secret?"
Lena's expression was unreadable. "I've kept bigger ones."
---
That afternoon, Ella called Dominic.
She stood in the supply closet—the only place in the clinic with any privacy—and dialed his number. He answered on the second ring.
"Healer," he said. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"I found the source of the Type-7 poison."
There was a pause. Then: "Tell me."
"Silver Creek pack. The Alpha is manufacturing it. Weaponizing it. His daughter—Kira—she's here. She confirmed everything."
Another pause. Longer this time.
"Silver Creek is one of the most powerful packs in the region," Dominic said. "If their Alpha is behind this—"
"He is."
"Then we have a problem."
"We have a war," Ella said. "But first, we have a patient. Kira needs time to recover. Can you buy us that time?"
"How?"
"Pressure Silver Creek. Make them think you're investigating something else. Give me a week."
Dominic was silent for a long moment. Then he said, "You're asking me to lie to a pack Alpha."
"I'm asking you to save lives."
Another pause. Then: "One week. No more."
"One week is all I need."
Ella hung up and leaned against the wall. Her hands were shaking.
She had started a war. Or maybe the war had started without her, and she was just trying to survive it.
Either way, there was no going back.
- Writer
