Chapter 5 - Crash
Alyssa's POV:
Pain, fear, and anxiety shot through me. What is going on? I struggled to wake up. Struggled to understand what was happening. Had I not died? Had I not slipped into the peacefulness of the afterlife? I knew I had, I felt it. So why was I now screaming on the inside; begging, hoping, praying someone would come and rescue me? It was never ending. Pain shot through me again causing my body to seize. I was aware, so painfully aware, but I could not wake up despite my best efforts.....wait, just like before, there it was again. Peace.... calm... safety.... darkness....
Alpha Brent's POV:
What felt like hours to get to my mate was mere minutes. I stepped around her mother to take my place back at the head of her bed.
"What is going on?!" I roared at the room full of medical staff. I noticed a defibrillator next to my mate’s bedside, paddles had been used...dread filled me...please, Goddess, I silently begged.
"Alpha?" the doctor hesitantly addressed me.
I nodded in her direction for her to continue.
"Luna crashed just a few minutes after our conversation in the hallway and-"
"You said she was going to be fine," I gritted my teeth together trying to keep my composure.
"Yes, Alpha, all of her lab work came back incredible. Better than expected I have no idea what happened. Minutes after you walked out of the building she began to have seizure-like activity and started to crash. We got her heart rate back, but as you can see it is extremely rapid, if we cannot slow this down, I'm afraid she will have a heart attack, we have maxed her out on meds..."
My attention shifted to the monitors.
I slowly lowered myself into the chair at her bedside as I faced her. Scared that I may cause things to worsen, I hesitantly grabbed her hand and kissed the back of it. I began to stroke lazy circles onto the back of her hand, praying silently for her healing.
"Alpha..."
My attention snapped back to the doctor. I held my breath, scared to hear more bad news.
"Her heart rate is going back down," she said, her voice full of awe at the sudden change.
I looked over at the monitor and sure enough. Her heart rate had gone from the high 190s down to 120 and then dropped again to 90 as it evened out.
"Alpha, it's you. That has to be why the female Gamma - "
"Luna," I dangerously growled...
"Yes, Alpha, I am so sorry. This must be why Luna was recovering so well. It's your bond. You really are her mate..." she breathed out.. .
I let it slide at the fact that she had somehow questioned my judgment. I could respect that this was a very odd situation with being mates with a woman who had already been mated, and marked. Was Anderson right? Could she feel me?
I looked over at my now wildly grinning beta..he was right twice in one day...I absolutely would never live this down.
Clearing her throat my mate's mother began to speak, "Alpha O'Connor?"
"It's Brent to you, Mr. and Mrs. James"
Smiling softly she continued, "Well, Brent, our daughter is clearly in very good hands. My husband and I need to get back to our granddaughter, Tenley, and -"
"Granddaughter?" I cut her off.
My mind slowly caught up as I began to realize that that must have been the child in the photo that my mate was holding on to. I knew this was a possibility. She had a mate before me, she is married. Why wouldn't they have a child? Of course, they did. Mates usually wasted no time in mating, marking, and having pups. It's how our kind ensured we did not go extinct. This did little to soften the blow. It just reminded me further that once she woke up, she could leave me, too… Just like Maci had.
"Yes, granddaughter," a male voice suddenly filled the room. I quickly turned to find Dalton had entered the room. He looked completely disheveled.
"Get out," I warned in a low growl. I had fought my wolf all day for control. I was beginning to grow wary and the shift was close.
"YOU are the one who needs to get out of MY mate’s room!" Dalton bellowed back.
"MINE!" My wolf surfaced at another male claiming our mate.
"What did you do?" The Gamma seethed.
"What have I done? Seriously? I show up to Wolf Moon Pack to find that my mate is alone and unconscious in a field, and you have the audacity to ask me, your Alpha of Alphas what I did?" I returned, causing Dalton to scowl at me.
"It doesn't even matter," he said with a shrug. "I cannot feel our bond anymore. She must be dead," he stated with an empty tone.
My canines began to elongate at his lack of compassion for the woman laying in the bed. I could taste the metallic blood on my tongue. The shift was close.
'Hold it together..' I commanded my wolf .
'He is saying she is dead, how the hell can you tell me to hold it together,' my wolf snapped back.
'Her parents are in this room. They have been through enough, STAND DOWN! ' My canines thankfully retreated .
'Sure, whatever..' he grumbled as he went and laid down in the back of my mind.
I turned my attention back to the worthless Gamma. "She is not dead. You can clearly see that on the monitors." I scoffed at his stupidity. How was this dude seriously a Gamma?
"Then you must have drugged her! WHAT DID YOU DO!?" He yelled loudly and my Beta had him pinned to the wall before anyone could react.
I stepped closer to the two men, "we both know it is not I, but you, who has done something."
I pressed closer, "and unless you want me to say the word and have my Beta rip you limb from limb, or you wish to tell me what you did, you need to get as far away from this room as you can. Do you understand me?"
He glared at me, "or what?"
I stepped impossibly closer, mere centimeters from his face, "or I will rip your throat out." I said just loud enough for the three of us to hear.
With a smirk, and what appeared to be a flash of fear, he complied and stepped toward the door, "we have a child together... she will stay with me simply for her. Bond or not. You'll see."
I couldn't even react because I knew to some degree this could be a possibility…
I turned back around to the wide stares of my mate’s parents.
"She won't stay with him," wildly shaking her head, my mate's mother said confidently and without hesitation.
"How are you so sure?" I wanted to believe her, but the Gamma's words had shot holes in my already weakening resolve.
"He did something to her. He has done so many things to her. There's no way she would've done this otherwise," her eyes filled with tears as she continued.
"She is a good girl," she choked out as she stared down at her sleeping daughter. "She has always had a good head on her shoulders. She went to university early at just 17 and studied to be a nurse. She's a wonderful mother,” she paused to stroke her cheek, "she never would've done this without him doing something to their bond," she stated matter of factly. Looking up at me she continued to speak, "as I said, Dalton was a horrible mate. The way he spoke to her was unlike anything I'd ever heard from a mate."
"She took it all," her father suddenly cut in. "She made excuses for his behavior and she truly believed they would settle in once he got used to being the Gamma...but they never really did."
I silently took in their words. Scratching at the 5 o'clock shadow that was beginning to form on my face. I know I said I would wait until she woke up to find answers, but as I stared at my sleeping mate, I wondered how long I'd be able to keep from searching for the answers myself. More than that, I wondered how long I could keep my wolf from shredding that good-for-nothing Gamma to pieces. I looked over at my Beta leaning against the door jam,
'Anderson'
'Yes, Alpha'
' Get me everything you can find on Gamma Pembrook'
'My pleasure'
Apparently not long...