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DANE
My Alpha was in surgery, my mate was recovering from falling down a cliff and my daughter was in a humidicrib because she’d been born prematurely and by emergency C-section.
I put my head in my hands and closed my eyes.
“Things can’t possibly get any worse,” I muttered to Sam, as we sat in the horribly uncomfortable white chairs that lined the hospital waiting room. My stomach was in knots.
“I hope everyone else from the pack is okay.”
Sam patted me on the shoulder. “Our pack is alive. Let’s hold onto that. We’ll find out about everyone else soon, I’m sure.”
I stood up and stretched my back. “I’m going to see Celeste and the baby.”
Sam nodded and ran his hand through his hair. “I’m gonna stay here and wait for the surgeons to come out and tell me about Tayte.”
“Okay. Thanks, Sam.”
I walked away from my Beta, my whole body feeling like it had been put on a torture rack and stretched.
What a day.
I pushed open the door to stop dead at the sight before me.
“She’s out!” I said.
Celeste was breastfeeding our daughter, her beautiful flesh pressed against our daughter’s bare skin.
Celeste looked up and beamed at me. “They said she’s doing way better than they expected, and I finally got to hold her. To nurse her! Look how strong she is.”
I walked up next to the bed and watched as the baby suckled strongly.
I kissed my mate’s forehead, the warmth in the room making Celeste feel hot to the touch, even in the light gown she barely wore.
“You’re amazing, she’s amazing. Hey, have you thought of a name yet?”
She looked up at me, her blue eyes big and wide.
“I have, but I wanted to ask Tayte before I told anyone else. Where is he? Is he okay?”
Not really.
I grabbed a chair that leaned against the wall and pulled it over to sit closer to my mate.
I couldn’t resist reaching out and stroking the baby’s soft head. “She has blonde hair.”
Celeste grabbed my wrist. “Dane, how’s Tayte?”
I ran my hand through my hair. “He’s um....”
“He’s not dead. Tell me he’s not dead.” Her voice sounded panicked and I rushed to reassure her.
“He’s not dead.”
That was all I could tell her, though.
“Then where is he?”
“He’s in surgery.”
She swallowed, hard, her already pale skin going even more pale. “Why? I mean, what’s the surgery for?”
I didn’t really want to recall all the injuries my Alpha had sustained.
“Ah... dislocated shoulder, knife wound to the belly, burned face, cut off ear...”
Tears sprouted and slid down Celeste’s face.
“Burned face... knife... oh my God.”
I grabbed her hand and squeezed it.
“I suppose we have to be grateful the bears were taking their time killing him, or we may have arrived too late.”
“I don’t know what to say. Is he going to be okay?”
“I don’t know.”
She began to cry as she rocked the baby.
“Dane, I didn’t want this to happen. Not like this. I mean, I was so angry at him, but now...”
I stroked her head and kissed her hair. “I know. It puts it all in perspective, doesn’t it?”
She nodded. “Yes, it does.”
The baby came off Celeste’s nipple, her eyes closed and her mouth still open.
Milk dribbled down the side of her face.
“Do you want to hold her?”
I glanced down at her.
“I’d love to, but I’m not very clean.”
I gestured down to my clothes that were some of the spares we kept in the car in case of emergencies.
“The doctors asked why Tayte was naked when we brought him in, but we didn’t have much of an explanation.”
Celeste put the baby over her shoulder and gently rubbed her back.
“So, what’s going to happen? Do you know?”
I shook my head. “I have no idea. Wolf shifters have abnormal healing powers, which probably is one of the reasons the baby is doing better than they all expected. We’re strong and fit and healthy, but Tayte’s injuries were... extensive.”
I swallowed hard against the lump in my throat.
“We can only wait, I suppose. Sam’s sitting in the waiting room now.”
Celeste nodded, then sobbed softly.
“I can’t believe this all happened. Actually, I can. I always knew my baggage would haunt us, follow me. But I never thought... I hoped it would all be okay.”
I could see the tide had turned and Celeste was going to start to blame herself now.
“Sweetheart, this isn’t your fault. It’s no one’s fault, really. It’s some, fucked-up twist of Fate. A lesson we needed to learn, a fire we had to walk through. I don’t know. But the only thing I need to know is if you’ll still love us when this is all settled?”
I stared at her, hoping, praying that these past few days hadn’t changed her mind about us.
She gasped for air as though she’d been holding her breath.
“Of course, I still love you! Loving you all has never been a problem, but after I heard Tayte say what he said, I felt so betrayed! So hurt. I couldn’t believe that after everything we’d been through...”
She stopped, gasping for air again and that’s when I grabbed her hands and made her look at me.
“That’s exactly where you should have stopped, turned around, and demanded an answer from Tayte. And if not from him, then me or Sam. You can’t just run away at the first hurdle, Celeste. That’s not what this relationship is about. There’s three of us to check on, and you can’t run because one of us pisses you off. That’s not fair to anyone.”
Celeste nodded and gulped.
I grabbed a glass of water and handed it to her.
“Yes. I know,” she said, once she’d taken a few sips from the glass.
“Good. Because we adore you. Every single, tiny part of you.”
She nodded and swallowed some more water.
I sighed, utterly exhausted.
I hadn’t slept properly in two days, and I couldn’t even reach out to my daughter because there was blood on my hands.
Quite literally.
“Excuse me while I go wash up a bit in your bathroom.”
I opened the door and ran water into the sink, wiping at my face, my hands, my arms.
“What happened with the bears? You didn’t tell me.”
I ducked my face under the water and washed away the grime of the morning.
Then I patted myself dry with one of those small, white hospital towels, then threw it on the floor, in the corner.
Sorry to the staff member who had to launder that one.
“Um...” I walked back into the room to watch Celeste swaddling up the baby, then holding her while she slept. “I don’t know, completely. We were winning when I left. But I needed to get Tayte to the hospital, so we’ll have to wait to find out from one of the other Alphas. Hopefully there weren’t many casualties on our side.”
She nodded, then put the baby into the crib beside her bed.
“Okay, but will they still be after us? Is Trevor...”
“Oh, no.” I kept forgetting she wasn’t there. “We killed Trevor. He’s gone. And a lot of the male bear shifters, too.”
Celeste’s eyes widened again and her skin turned even more pale.
“Well, that’s... great. I suppose.”
“Are you okay?”
I understood that she’d be feeling a combination of happiness and sorrow. After all, they had been her family for a very long time.
“Yes, I just... never thought I’d be happy that someone was dead.”
I almost laughed. But thought I might get slapped if I did.
Instead, I sat next to my mate and held her hand.
“I get that.”
“So, what do we do now?”
“We wait.”