No Stopping Him

CHAPTER 9

It had now been almost a week since Jax came into our clinic. 

He was still being held as a patient considering the wolfsbane in his system needed more time to work itself out. His wounds needed to be monitored and cleaned regularly with how slow he was healing and the kid had nowhere to go as far as we knew. 

Our main goal at the moment—aside from waiting to hear back from the Lycan Child Protective Services about Jax's identity and potential family—was to get Jax comfortable with getting his blood drawn. We needed a sample to know for sure how much wolfsbane was left in his system, among other things. 

But, we had to work with Jax slowly to introduce the needle. The first time a nurse tried taking his blood, he went into another flashback. It wasn't nearly as violent as the last one and I was able to calm him down a lot quicker, though.

I now knew that needles were something that triggered the kid, so I warned the other doctors and made plans to start introducing needles to him slowly and without the threat of being poked. That's what I had planned for today when I started making my way to the clinic. 

I did not—however—plan for all the vans with news channel logos on their sides parked in front of the entrance. 

"What the hell?" I muttered to myself as I tried to find somewhere to park.

 Jax's case wasn't made public—mainly due to him being a minor—because we didn't have enough information to share to anyone, let alone the news stations. There should have been no way for anyone to know about Jax, so they must have been crowding the clinic for some other reason.

As soon as I stepped out of the car and made my way to the doors, it seemed as if all the people turned their flashing lights my way after noticing the very obvious healthcare staff, light green scrubs I had on. 

I was glad my sunglasses were already resting on my nose, but they didn't work hardly as much as I would've liked. I used my hands to shield my eyes as I marched through the crowd. 

Men and women with microphones tried stopping me mid step with people behind them carrying large cameras, flashing lights going off every few seconds as others in the crowd just tried to get as many pictures as possible. 

I could hardly get through the crowd and as all their attention turned toward me, they were making it physically impossible to go through while avoiding physical contact with any of them. 

"Sir! Sir, can you share more information about your new patient?"

"Is the patient you have in there one of The Divine?"

"How do we know the hunters are actually searching for an extinct species?"

Questions were hurled at me left and right and my stomach filled with dread. 

They were here about Jax!?

I had no idea how news of our situation came to light, but I needed a way into the clinic to get started on figuring it out. 

"No comment." I just kept repeating, attempting feebly to keep my face covered as I tried pushing closer to the doors. 

My heart rate was starting to pick up, this was all too much. I couldn't get a proper breath and I felt myself starting to tremble. 

At some point, a hand grabbed my arm and tugged me through the horde of people. I thought that would have been the tipping point, physical contact so abrupt when I'd been trying to avoid it that whole time, but instead I instantly felt myself relax at the touch and knew immediately that it was Easton. 

I tried to keep myself under control as we finally pushed through the crowd and into the clinic. Fortunately, a wall of security was keeping the reporters from being able to enter the building. 

"Finn, hey, it's alright. Are you okay? They didn't touch you, did they?"

Easton's voice was rushed as he bowed his head to find my eyes. His hands hovered hesitantly above each of my shoulders and I found myself shockingly wanting nothing more than for him to give in and hold me. 

"Yes, yeah. What's going on?" I was finally able to ask after collecting my bearings. 

"I'm not sure, all those vans were out there when I pulled in earlier. We need to find Dr. Davis and—"

"Finn! Officer Thatcher!" Aaliyah's voice cut in at the perfect moment and we both looked over as she rushed toward us. Her dreads were pulled back in a low bun and she had on the matching scrubs to my own, her eyebrows furrowed in frustration. 

"Do either of you happen to know how the hell there are fifteen some odd vans with people holding massive cameras outside my clinic right now, questioning all my staff about Jax and The Divine?!"

"I was hoping you could tell me." I responded with a cringe. This wasn't good. If us knowing about The Divine wound up on the news, the hunters could find out and work even harder to cover their tracks. . .or worse. 

However, that wasn't what was bothering me the most. 

Adrenaline rushed through my veins as I came to a horrifying realization. 

"So, they're all really here because of Jax? You're telling me a bunch of people want to film and question an 8 year old boy about the extreme trauma he went through just for their own gain? Oh, hell no!"

I turned around and stormed my ass back toward the doors to put a stop to this nonsense, previous panic forgotten.

"Woah, hey. Let's think about this! We know talking to them isn't gonna make them go away." Easton chimed in as he stepped in front of me, blocking my path. I narrowed my eyes at him and reveled in the way he shrunk into himself just a tad. 

"I don't care how long they stay out there, but if they want to hang around my workplace, then they're gonna have to deal with my voice."

I heard Aaliyah sigh behind me as I stepped completely around the officer. She muttered something to Easton I didn't catch, but I had a feeling it was something along the lines of 'there's no stopping him now'.

Finally free of any path blocks, I made my way back through the doors and got myself ready to have multiple cameras and microphones shoved into my face. 

I vowed to protect Jax—and any other victim out there—in any way I could. If that meant having my face plastered on the news, then so be it. 

A/N~ I am so sorry my updates keep being late, I've had so much going on. Hoping to improve my timing, but at this time I really can't say when I'll be able to start posting on time. However, please know I will do my best to keep posting every week, even if it's not on Saturday. I love you all so much!

QoTD: What kinda trouble do you think Finn is gonna cause next?<.<

P.S. You can now read chapter 10 of What is a Victim on Patreon and Ream, all my links are below:)

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/Eli_Kay