Chapter 488

Olivia

The bright fluorescent lights overhead as the nurses wheeled me into the emergency room was all I could see. Their bright glare practically blinded me, but I felt so far away that it didn’t even matter anymore.

“Acute pain… Bleeding… Nausea…”

“How many months…?”

“Bad sign…”

Their words seemed to fade in and out, along with the looks on their faces as they leaned over me. All the while, Angela was the one constant: her hand wrapped tightly around mine, the tears in her eyes, the feeling of her fingers brushing my sweat-caked hair out of my face.

“I’m here, Liv,” she said gently, never once leaving my side the entire time. “I’m here.”

I was able to manage a weak smile in her direction, but something dear to me was missing amongst all of the pain and the chaos.

My husband.

He still hadn’t answered my calls or any of the messages I had sent him. Or at least, he hadn’t the last time I had checked. At some point during the frantic car ride to the emergency room, the phone had slipped out of my fingers when I had doubled over in another wave of excruciating pain.

“Where is he?” I thought frantically to my wolf. “I need Nathan. I need him…”

But my wolf hardly responded. All of her energy was focused on keeping my baby alive. Something was wrong—something was very, very wrong. It had all happened so quickly, too. One moment I was stuck in a bout of morning sickness, and the next…

No. I refused to believe that my baby was sick. I refused to believe it even when the doctors frantically wheeled me into a private exam room. I still refused to believe it even when an IV was stuck in my arm and my legs were put up in stirrups.

And even then, I refused to believe it when the doctor came into the room, his eyes hard with worry.

“Hello, Mrs. Ford,” the emergency room doctor, a stout older man with a kindly face and a white mustache, said as he entered. “I’m Doctor Stratton. I hear you’re having some pregnancy complications.”

I opened my mouth to speak, but no words would come; I couldn’t quite tell if it was from the pain wracking my body or the fact that if I spoke, if I confirmed what the doctor had just said, it would make it all too real.

Thankfully, Angela was still by my side and she stepped in for me.

“She said she started experiencing extreme nausea around noon,” she explained more calmly than I ever could have. “Her last wave of vomiting ended with blood trickling down her leg. It’s been a rapid decline after that.”

The doctor nodded thoughtfully as he pulled on his latex gloves. “Any cramping?”

“Yes, doctor.” Angela gave my hand a squeeze. I was still too choked up to speak. “Severe cramping ever since that last vomiting episode. She’s also been lightheaded and feverish.”

“I can see that.” The doctor sighed sorrowfully and walked over to me. “Mrs. Ford, I’m going to do a pelvic exam now. Do you give consent?”

All I could do was manage to nod stiffly. As the doctor began his exam, the sensation of the cold speculum and his latex-covered fingers felt far away. My body was here, but my mind and heart were elsewhere. They were with Nathan, wherever he was.

God, where was he? I must have called him eight, nine, maybe even ten times before my fingers finally lost the ability to dial his number. He still hadn’t called back, not even after my frantic voicemail message.

I imagined that he was likely sitting at the Alpha association table, discussing some boring business matters with the other Alphas. Maybe his phone was in his coat pocket, hanging on the coat rack. Or maybe it was in his hand, but Dan was refusing to let him answer.

Fucking Dan.

Now, more than ever, I hated that brutish bastard. I hated the way he treated everyone around him—my husband, his own wife, even me. Like we were all just side characters in his grand story. As if our troubles, our pain, were of no consequence.

But now wasn’t the time to be lamenting over a narcissistic Alpha. Because when the doctor finished his exam and lifted his head from the exam table, his face was grim.

“Doctor… What… Tell me what’s wrong,” I somehow managed around the lump in my throat.

The doctor sighed as he peeled off his gloves and threw them in a nearby sterile trash can.

“We’ll still need to do an ultrasound,” he said softly. “But it looks as if you’ve got a placental abruption on your hands.”

I blinked confusedly between the doctor and Angela. The doctor, with another heavy sigh, continued to explain. “A placental abruption is when the placenta disconnects from the inner wall of the uterus,” he said. “It’s a very serious, and often very sudden, condition.”

I swallowed. “So… So what does this mean for my baby?” I whispered.

“Well, as of right now, your baby is still safe and healthy,” the doctor explained. “But, if the placental abruption worsens, we may need to induce labor. And considering the fact that you are—how many weeks are you, exactly?”

“Twenty-two weeks.”

The doctor nodded grimly. “At twenty-two weeks, a preterm birth could be incredibly dangerous for the baby. Possible death may occur.”

His words felt like ice in my heart. I felt my blood run cold, felt my face drain of all color. Even my iron grip on Angela’s hand seemed to slip away along with whatever hope I had left.

“My… My baby could die?” I whispered, my voice trembling as tears began to cloud my vision.

“I know it’s a hard pill to swallow, but you need to know the truth of the matter,” the doctor said softly. “But first, we’ll perform the ultrasound. And don’t lose all hope yet; with proper bed rest, you may still be able to deliver safely at the twenty-five week mark.”

“So you’ll have to induce labor by then?” Angela asked.

“Quite possibly.” The doctor sighed and shook his head. “We’ll need to keep an eye on Mrs. Ford until then. If the abruption worsens, we may need to induce labor before then. That means, for the next three to four weeks, Mrs. Ford will need to remain in bed for fear of causing more complications.”

“So either way, my baby is in trouble,” I said shakily. “Even at twenty-five weeks, a premature birth could be fatal.”

The doctor was silent for a moment, his mustache twitching as he considered how to respond. Then, finally, he set his jaw hard and nodded. “Yes.”

I felt as though the world was tilting beneath me. A sob wracked my body, followed by another, and before I knew it the tears were so thick in my eyes that I could see nothing.

I don’t know how long I cried for. To me, it felt like hours, maybe even days, but in reality it was likely only even a few minutes. All I knew for certain was that when I came back to the present moment, I was still here in the hospital—meaning that it was real and not a horrible nightmare as I had so desperately hoped.

Nnly Angela was left with me in the room now. Her hand was still tightly wrapped around mine, and her own eyes were filled with tears.

“I’m so sorry, Liv,” she whispered. “I wish I could do something…”

I couldn’t respond even if I had wanted to. It felt as if my voice had been stolen from my throat, and all I could do was roll over and squeeze my eyes shut tight.

In that moment, I cursed Jenifer and her evil tricks in my mind. The hex that I had worked so hard to lift felt suddenly all too real, all too malevolent. Maybe I had never lifted it at all.

Or maybe my baby had been doomed from the beginning, and Jenifer had nothing to do with it at all. Either way, I needed Nathan here now. I needed him by my side to share in my pain.

But he wasn’t here. And I didn’t know how long it would be before Alpha Dan finally let him come to me.