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CHAPTER 41
When I opened my eyes, it felt like no time had passed at all from telling Marcus to save the baby. I could still feel the burn of the bullet and the dazed feeling that had come with so much blood loss. But it quickly became obvious that a lot had happened while I was asleep. The first thing I noticed was the tube in my throat. It immediately made me panic when I tried to swallow and found myself unable to.
“Hey honey, shhh, just calm down.” Adair’s voice washed around me, and I forced myself to stop trying to swallow. My eyes felt sticky as I blinked a few times, trying to clear my blurry vision.
“Go and grab Marcus and Rio, they’re downstairs in the cafeteria.” Adair said, talking to someone that I couldn’t see or hear.
Finally, he came into view and I was shocked by his appearance. I had never seen more than a scruff of hair on his face, and now he looked a little bit like an island castaway with the beginnings of a full beard on his face. His blue eyes had purple bags under them. He also looked like he hadn’t combed his hair in days because it was standing straight up on his head as if he had spent the better part of a week tugging at it.
That didn’t stop him from smiling though as he leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to my forehead, his leather and citrus scent helping to soothe the confusion and discomfort that I was feeling.
“You scared the shit out of us, Madeline. Don’t you ever do that again.” I couldn’t speak so I just raised an eyebrow at him as if to say‘I scared you?’He had been shot first after all.
As I readjusted to being awake again, I took a mental diagnostic of my body. My chest hurt and my limbs felt leaden, but something else was missing. It took me a second to realize what it was, but when it did the monitors around me began to chime and beep wildly as I pressed my hands to my stomach. Where was my baby? Had Marcus gone back on his promise to put the baby first?
Despair filled my body, and I began to dig my fingers under the edge of the tape keeping the tube inside of my mouth.
“Honey, stop, don’t do that.” Adair said as he gently pulled my hands away from my face. “He’s okay. The baby is okay.”
He? My baby was a boy? Tears filled my eyes and I slumped into the bed with relief.
“Can you take the tube out?” Adair asked someone that I couldn’t see.
“Yes we can, but why don’t you step outside? It’s not a pleasant thing to watch.” A familiar voice said and suddenly one of Tibby’s alphas, Matteo Diaz, was in my line of vision.
“I’m staying.” Adair said firmly and his hand slid into mine.
“Fair enough, hi Madeline, welcome back to the land of the living. You sure scared the shit out of us for a moment there, let’s just agree that we aren’t going to do comas anymore in this family, okay?”
Matteo quickly explained how pulling the tube out was going to work as a nurse pulled a metal tray close to my hospital bed. “When I tell you to cough, continue to do so until the tube is all the way out. You will probably be hoarse and have a sore throat for a couple of days.”
Ten minutes later and the tube was out and my eyes were streaming with tears as I tried to re-learn how to breathe properly again.
“I’ll send your other alphas in once they get here.” With that, the alpha left Adair and I alone in the room.
“How are you feeling?” I asked hoarsely, reaching for him and letting him envelope me in a shuddering hug. I could feel the desperation and relief through our bond, a desperation and relief that was being echoed by my other alphas, wherever they were.
“I’m fine, I got ‘lucky' is what the doctor’s said. Though, I don’t know how fucking lucky I feel when a bullet goes right through me and into my pregnant mate.” He leaned in to kiss me but I avoided it. Adair frowned at me, his question on his face.
“I probably have coma breath.” I said, suddenly feeling self-conscious.
“I don’t care,” Adair growled and swooped in for a kiss that made my toes curl. “You aren’t allowed to leave us, Madeline. It’s against the rules.”
“What rules?” I asked, smiling against his mouth.
“The ones I just made up.” Adair replied and pressed his forehead to mine. “I love you, Madeline.”
I was just about to respond in kind when the door slammed open. Marcus and Rio hurried in, Rio carrying a huge brown paper bag, and Marcus carrying a green bundle in his arms.
“You’re really awake.” Rio breathed, practically tossing the bag onto a nearby table before running over to my hospital bed. He kissed my forehead, cheeks, and finally my lips.
I wanted to respond to his kisses, but my full attention was on Marcus and what he was holding.
“Is that...?” my voice was tight with emotion as Marcus approached us.
“Madeline, would you like to meet your son?” Marcus was already crying, and I had a feeling that he’d been doing a lot of that while I was out.
I held my shaking arms out for the baby before drawing them back into my chest. “I’m worried I’m not strong enough to hold him properly.” I admitted, ashamed. I was his mother, what kind of mother couldn’t hold their baby?
