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She shakes her head. “Nope, not mine.” She makes her call, telling dispatch what happened and letting them know where we’re going. When she’s finished, she returns to Vanessa. “Shit, drive faster!”
I hit the gas, flying through a red light, sweat breaking out on my forehead as I nearly sideswipe another vehicle. “Where’s the siren on this thing?” She tells me and I turn on both the siren and lights, which helps ease my path. “What’s happening now?”
I hear a grunt, then Denise says, “Full cardiac arrest, I’m administering the paddles. Keep driving.”
I see the hospital up ahead and floor the gas pedal, taking the ramp so fast the ambulance bounces. I squeal to a stop in front of the emergency doors and hurry into the back where Denise is crouched next to Vanessa. She pushes a button on the machine next to her and Vanessa’s body jumps.
Without looking up, she says, “Tell them acute cardiac arrest. They’ll know what to do.”
Helpless rage rips through me at being unable to do more than gopher for the real heroes. I have to check the urge to put my fist through the back of the ambulance, instead pushing the doors open.
There’s nothing I or anyone can do to save her. The curse has come to claim another victim. I feel it in every part of my soul, feel her slipping away from me, feel my despair. I’m losing her like all the others.
“Help me!” I shout, racing into the emergency department. “We have an acute… an acute…” Fuck. Then I hear Lennox’s voice in my head. Acute cardiac arrest. I repeat it and seconds later, three humans join me as I lead them back outside.
They take over for Denise, pulling the stretcher from the ambulance while she fills them in on everything she’s done for Vanessa. I follow, but I’m stopped at a set of doors where a security officer steps out to stop me.
“I’m her husband,” I say urgently. “Let me through.” I try to look past him as they whisk Vanessa down the hall.
“I’m sorry, patients and staff only.” His gaze holds compassion, but it doesn’t stop me from reaching for him with the intent of using his body to unblock the doors.
What stops me is Denise, who slides in between us. She puts her hands on my chest and gives me a small push. “You can’t help her in there, big guy.” She indicates the sitting room. “Let’s have a seat. They’ll come talk to us as soon as they know more.”
“I want to be with her.” She might die if I’m not there with her. What if she slips away and I wasn’t there for her last breath?
“You’ll slow them down,” Denise insists, pulling me to the waiting room and shoving me towards a chair. “I have some paperwork to fill out, but I’ll be here. You stay put, buddy.” She strides away as I drop into the chair, my head in my hands.
I feel lost. I always feel lost among the humans. With every mate, we’re surrounded by humans, not shifters, when she dies. Human medicine is crap, it never saves them.
I know you’re hurting, brother, Lennox says, but you must not blame the humans. They’re doing what they can to keep her alive.
They’ll fail, I answer miserably. They always fail.
Enough! I’m startled to hear Fallon’s voice and I lift my head, listening. Fallon hasn’t spoken to us through our familial bond in over two hundred years. Not since his mate was killed. His words are dim, as though coming from a long way away, but I can hear them. Your mate lives still and while she lives there’s hope.
Silence follows Fallon’s speech as my brothers scramble to understand how and why Fallon is suddenly speaking to us. His brain was damaged when his mate cursed him. We thought him incapable of reconnecting with us, but apparently, we were wrong.
I don’t need to understand why he’s here because he’s right. While there’s breath left in Vanessa’s body and mine, we are still mates and I owe her my hope, not my despair. She is courage incarnate and I won’t tarnish her bright spirit by giving up on her.
Okay, I’m good, I tell my brothers. Thank you for being here, but I need some time alone. I can’t think with your voices bouncing around my head.
Fair enough, Rush leaves.
Take care of her, brother. Seconds later, Lock is gone.
Fallon leaves without speaking again.
Lennox says, I’m enroute to the airport. I’ll be with you in a few hours.
He’s gone before I can reply. I don’t know what I would’ve said anyway. There’s no point in his being here to witness Vanessa’s death. But at the same time, I desperately want my twin brother here.
When I’ve lost a mate, he has always been the calm in my stormy seas. He’s the one person who has refused to let the tide of despair overwhelm me. But this time… this time is different. This time there’s no moving on. Come what may, Vanessa is my final mate.
“Keenan Wolven-North?” I look up as a woman in a lab coat approaches.
I nod, standing.
“Please come with me.”
