Chapter 2
Two
Silas
The beta should always be the designated driver in high emotion situations. This is one of those moments where it really fucking sucks being the least run by my instincts.
I'm not immune to the horror in the back in any manner. Everything in me is screaming to climb back there and make sure Vivie is still breathing. The only difference between me and my alphas right now is the fact that I won't rip the steering wheel off and crash us into an oncoming car.
"How's she doing?!" I shout over my shoulder. I'm unwilling to take my gaze off the road. If the only thing I can do right now is get my omega and the other guy to the hospital, then I will damn well do it.
"Still the same," Jarek replies. "So is he."
If I weren't already frowning at the road with concentration, I would after his statement. I didn't ask about the new alpha, yet Jay included him without hesitation.
There's a slight bitterness coiling in my gut over the concept of Vivian claiming another alpha. Maybe bitter isn't the right term. I'm fucking terrified though. Three alphas, one beta. I'm further down the road of priority once again.
Just because I can control my emotions—"Fuck," I grunt, verbally cutting myself off from that negative bullshit.
Our designations don't mean anything in the grand scheme of things to Vivian. Hell, during her last heat she cried over me leaving the nest. I'm just as fucking important as the others, even if she has a third now.
"Few minutes," I call out, blasting through a yellow light. The doctor in the back grunts at the same time a loud thud rings out. "Careful back there!"
The grumbling and growling of Kade and Jarek in a tight space together with two strangers and their hurt omega doesn't bode well. But we've managed the thirty-five minute drive to the nearest hospital just fine. Well, everyone is still alive. That's the best we can do right now.
Whipping the van through the emergency lot, I throw it into park with as much gentleness as I can muster. Nurses are rushing out of the sliding glass doors as I dive into the back with my pack.
My eyes land on the alpha with the gunshot wound and slice through his face. I gulp audibly, fighting the urge to go over and check on him. Jarek's with him, holding the bandages in place to staunch the bleeding, but what shocks me is Jay on the bed with him.
"Doc said his shoulder needed to be elevated above his heart to slow the bleeding," Jarek whispers, face pale, clothes drenched in another man's blood.
"Fucking hell," I murmur. Before I can do anything else, the back door is thrown open by our doctor and nurses begin demanding shit I can't even understand.
I feel more than see Kade's entire body tense when someone grabs the end of Vivian's cot. They unlatch the wheels I didn't even realize it had and begin pulling her from the van.
"Kade—" I start to soothe his raging emotions when I'm blindsided by my own.
Suddenly having her pulled away from me feels like the worst possible thing in the entire fucking world.
"Vivie!" I gasp, lurching forward as they maneuver her bed to the concrete outside. Tumbling from the van after her, I rip my knee open, but the pain only fuels me. "Vivian!" My throat burns with the sheer volume of my desperate pleas.
She can't leave me. I drove her here. She's mine.
"Silas, wait!" Kade shouts on my heels as I sprint through the emergency room doors.
I watch in absolute horror and helplessness as Vivian disappears through the double doors at the end of a white hallway. "WAIT!" I scream as my heart thunders in my throat, making me feel like I might throw up.
The urge to vomit escalates when the doors slam shut and lock. "That's my omega!" Complete and utter fear sends my feet kicking at the door even long after I'm hauled back by a strong arm around my stomach.
"They can't do this! She needs us!"
All common sense has gone out the window, leaving panic and sorrow. The last thing I saw was her empty hand flopped over the side of the gurney. I need her! She needs me! How could they separate us?!
"Silas, calm down!" Kade snarls in my ear. Not only does his voice give me pause, but when he presses his teeth into the side of my throat, I freeze. "Breathe, my love. Breathe."
A chill works its way through my body as I suck in greedy breaths of air. With my alpha's arms banded tightly around me and his soothing timbre in my ear, my tunnel vision dissipates.
I realize there's a female and a male nurse standing a few feet away waiting for me to get my shit together. "I'm sorry," I croak and pat Kade's arms to let me go.
He doesn't; he just relaxes his hold. "You're staying right here."
"I'm sorry you couldn't follow your omega, sir.
I've been debriefed on the care she's already received.
After a few tests and scans from our doctors, you'll likely get to see her very soon," the woman says, her voice firm but sympathy shines in her gaze.
The male nurse hovers at her back, looking like he might murder me if I snap at her.
"Will she be okay?" I ask instead. Kade continues to hold me and kisses my temple.
"We will have more information shortly," the male nurse says gruffly and walks away. It's not long before some other nurse rushes up to us with a clipboard asking for our omega's information.
Kade guides us over to a cluster of chairs and nudges me until I sit my ass down. My hands are trembling so badly I can't get the first fucking letter of her name written, so it's easy to give my alpha the job.
My heart thunders rapidly in my chest. Exhaustion presses down on me, and nothing feels right. The past few days are catching up, and we're not at home where we can process properly. I wonder how Jarek?—
"Where's Jarek?!" I gasp, jumping to my feet, startled by his absence.
Kade doesn't glance up from the paperwork when he grabs my wrist and tugs me back down. "He was on the gurney with Riot keeping him elevated so he was wheeled back."
"Wait, what?! He got to go back with an alpha who isn't even our pack member? And I couldn't go with my omega?!" It's irrational. Jarek was holding the guy up.
"It was too risky to move them when Riot was still bleeding everywhere. They have no idea what the damage is. Taking Jarek back was the only smart option," Kade responds calmly.
"How are you so calm?!" I snap because the only other option is saying I don't give a fuck about this Riot guy. I want my damn alpha. Unable to lie right now, I turn my angsty energy on my pack lead.
Eyes shimmering with a layer of tears, Kade finally looks at me.
"I'm sitting here filling out a form about my mate's health history, while she's all alone getting a knife wound checked out.
I'm not fucking fine, and I sure as shit am not calm.
But my beta needed someone to ground him for once, and I needed to get my feelings under control so I could be what my pack needs. "
I open my mouth a few times, each with something different to say, but none of it comes out. Instead, I slump into my chair and try to make this easier on Kade. Sighing, I rub my forehead with my clammy palm and offer some appreciation. "Thank you, Alpha."
"Thank you, Silas." He seals his words with a kiss on my shoulder and goes back to filling out the forms.
Kade should be throwing chairs and threatening doctors for all the information he can possibly get, yet he sits here completely civilized and understanding because I needed to freak out.
What will Vivian think of our explosive feelings? I don't foresee these struggles going away anytime soon. Just the shift of her moving away from me sent me into a spiral. Will we be able to give her the same privacy and space we did before she was taken?
I don't think so. I just really fucking hope she wants us close too.