AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Sylvie, open your eyes.” I bark at her without meaning to. The fear and panic in the moment bringing my alpha to the surface. Her lids flutter, but her gorgeous hazel eyes remain closed.
Fuck.
She’s out of our reach. If she’s not even here enough to follow an alpha bark, she’s out of our reach. A choked sob pulls from my chest, soaks into her skin where I have my face buried. “That’s okay, baby girl,” I mutter. “It’s okay. You can just sleep for now. It’s okay. We’ll get you to the hospital. We’ll get you taken care of. I promise.”
There’re a lot of things I told myself I would do if Vee ever came back into our lives, if she forgave us and gave us another chance. One of them was never lying to her again, never making promises I can’t keep.
Maybe this is one I won’t be able to follow through on. But damn if I will not do everything in my power to keep her here with us.
“Almost there,” Topher murmurs from the front seat.
“She’s too goddamn cold.” Davis’s fingers rub over her hand. While Topher reaches for the heat, turning it on full blast.
Asher shrugs out of his coat and drapes it over her, over my arms because there’s no way in hell I’m letting her go, even if it’s just bundle her up more. It doesn’t help her temperature, and I don’t know why we thought it would. She’s already bundled in an oversized hoodie and the weather has been unseasonably warm.
No, our girl is so fucking cold because she’s dying. Her body is shutting down on her. Her lips are pale, bordering on blue. “Drive faster, Topher,” I growl at him, and he doesn’t argue, pressing his foot down and urging the car to higher speeds.
Minutes later, he’s peeling into the parking lot and parking in the ambulance lane. We all tumble out of the car, not hesitating to stride right into the emergency room. We must look feral because people scatter out of our way as the five of us practically run into the hospital.
The nurse behind the check-in desk stares at us with concern and a fair amount of fear. Not that I blame her. Four alphas and a beta intent on saving their mate might be a little fucking overwhelming, but I don’t have it in me to be gentle with her.
“We need a doctor, now,” I bark at her. I may have guilt about using it on Vee, but I have no guilt at all in using it on everyone else to get her the help she needs.
The nurse’s face pales and she jerks to her feet, rounding the desk to come closer to us. “What’s the problem?”
“She’s fucking dying,” Ford snarls. “Get a doctor.” Ford also has no problem asserting dominance, it seems.
The little thing’s jaw clenches and she takes in Vee’s pale face, her unmoving form. “Follow me.”
Fucking finally. I heft my precious burden a little higher in my arms, and stride after the nurse as she leads us through a set of electric double doors and further into the emergency room.
“What happened?” she asks, glancing over her shoulder at us, all business.
I open my mouth to tell her how we fucked up, but can’t find my voice. I can’t find the words.
Topher presses a hand into my back, a gentle support. “She has Rejected Mate Disorder. She saw something that triggered it.”
The nurse had looked surprised at first, but then her lips thin out and she glares at us. “Bring her in here, and then I’ll need you to step out.”
“Not a chance in fucking hell,” Asher says with menace in his voice.
The nurse ignores him, picking up a phone and paging a doctor to the room as I sit on the bed. I know I’m supposed to lay Sylvie down, I’m supposed to give space to the doctors to work, but I fucking can’t.
There is no part of me that is onboard with not having Vee in my arms.
The nurse glares at us as she hangs up the phone. “Look. I’m going to level with you. If you’re the reason she’s like this, you might make it worse. And having the five of you in here, along with the doctor and any support staff…”
I look around the small room and understand what she’s saying. They’ll need the space to work on her, to give her the medical care she needs. We’ll be in the way.
“We can’t leave her,” Davis says, sounding pained at the very idea. I’m right there with him. “We promised. We promised, Jackson. What if she wakes up and we’re not here?”
“It could make her worse,” Asher says, arms folded across his chest like he’s ready to dig in his heels. “Just get us a bigger room.”
The nurse shakes her head. “This is the ER. We don’t have bigger rooms.” But she must be able to tell we won’t bend on this. “One of you can stay,” she concedes, before looking at Topher. “You’re a beta?”
He nods. “Yes.”
“Okay. You stay. Everyone else needs to get out.”
