Chapter 4

I pulled out my phone and mind-linked the Beta.

The only way out was another pack's infirmary.

I dragged myself to the lift. The doors opened and I ran straight into a male healer.

His eyes filled with alarm when he saw me. "Miss—if I'm reading this right, your birthing passage is already fully open. Where are you going?"

Behind him, another patient shouted.

"Look! Is that the pup's paw between her legs?"

"It is—oh gods, it is!"

By the time Damon had finished soothing Seraphine and stepped out of the room—

What he saw was me, bleeding from below, being wheeled away on a stretcher toward the emergency birthing chamber.

Fading in and out, I saw Damon come apart.

He grabbed at the healers, trying to ask what was happening, and one of them shoved him aside.

"Out of the way!"

"This female's condition is critical. Lives on the line. Don't block treatment—"

"You didn't see that female just now. Goddess have mercy. The pup's paw was hanging out of her."

"Terrifying. Condition like that, still wandering around. What were the healers thinking."

"Exactly. The female was half-dead from the pain, and no family with her..."

Damon listened to the voices of other laboring females drifting up and down the hall.

His hands wouldn't stop trembling. His voice was dry, and he kept repeating it.

"How... how could this be..."

Hadn't they said she wasn't ready to whelp. How did she end up here.

Was she okay. Was the pup okay.

Ignoring the stares of everyone in the corridor, Damon sprinted to the door of the emergency chamber.

He collapsed to his knees, pressing his forehead against the cold stone wall outside the door, and he prayed.

"Please. Let Elara be safe. Let the pup be safe."

From inside the chamber, a sharp newborn wail cut the air.

Damon jerked upright. His eyes lit with relief.

Like something had been lifted off him.

"It's okay. It's okay. The pup's okay."

Then a female healer pushed through the door.

Damon rushed forward and grabbed her arm. "Is my Elara okay? Is the pup a male or a female?"

The healer looked at him carefully. "Which one do you mean, the one in there?"

Damon said quickly, "The female who was just brought in. She was about to whelp."

The healer coldly pushed his hand off her arm, her brow knotted. It was clear she'd seen what had happened out here.

"Your female is still being worked on. It's going to be a long time."

"Her condition is extremely dangerous. You're family, aren't you? Prepare yourself."

"Also, we have a consent form. Sign it."

Damon's hands shook so badly he nearly couldn't hold the stylus.

Once he'd signed, he grabbed at the healer like she was his only rope.

"Save them. Use the best equipment. The best healers. I don't care what it costs."

The healer sighed again. Her voice was full of blame.

"What were you doing before? The pup was ready to come out long ago. Trapped inside, cut off from air. A little longer and it would have died in the womb."

"And the mother—ten fingers open, and you let her thrash like that. The pain she must have been in."

"We're already using the best equipment. The family needs to stop getting in the way."

Damon staggered. He almost couldn't stay on his feet.

"Ten fingers open... suffocating... stillborn..."

He muttered it under his breath. "I didn't know. When I left the room she was fine."

"Had she been in that much pain the whole time..."

He remembered Elara, crying, screaming at him to cut the pup out.

And he remembered how he'd answered her—cold, certain she was making a scene.

Why hadn't he believed her.

He'd believed a so-called best birth-healer over his own female.

Regret was drowning him. He wanted to tear apart the version of himself from an hour ago.

The chamber door swung open again.

A healer stepped out, shaking his head. "Who's family for the female just brought in?"

Damon hurried forward. "Me. I am. I'm her mate."

The healer's voice was exhausted. "Sir. Our condolences. The pup was cut off from air too long. When we cut her out, she was already gone."

Damon stood there like the sky had crashed down on him. He couldn't process it.

"Use the best equipment. Go back in. Save her!"

The healer sighed. "The pup is gone. Our condolences."

An apprentice healer couldn't hold her tongue.

"Back in the room, I could tell she was fully dilated. But the senior healer insisted she wasn't ready."

"Bold-faced lie, wasn't it?"

"Gods. A living pup, just like that..."

Damon was barely there. He couldn't accept that it was real.

Right then his phone buzzed with a pack-feed notification.

Damon tapped it, not even sure why. It was hidden-camera footage.

It was Elara, in that room, strapped down with the silver restraints, begging.

The caption said, I'll throw my whole career away to post this. Twisted mate triangle. Healers without honor...

In the footage Elara was tied to the bed with the silver-threaded bands.

Sweat beaded across her forehead. Her voice was so thin.

And even like that, she was still pleading.

"The pup isn't going to make it. Save the pup. Save me."

Damon had never hated himself so much.

He hadn't known Elara was in that much pain. He hadn't known his decision would do something he could never take back.

The pup was gone. Elara was in the chamber and he didn't know if she'd live.