Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
Rhen
Harlow fades in and out of consciousness. Raidon is on the phone with his mother, and I am on the phone with emergency services, calling for an ambulance. The medic is trying to explain what to do, but we aren’t doctors, and it is clear something has gone very wrong.
“Mom’s here,” Raidon shouts, opening the front door. Elaine rushes into the dining room, where Thane has placed Harlow on the table.
“How far away is the ambulance?” she panics, looking at me.
“Ten minutes out,” I tell her.
She goes over to Harlow and checks her before staggering back. She shakes her head, and Thane grabs her, shaking her.
“Elaine?” he snarls.
Blood soaks the table, so much that it drips onto the floor.
“I think it’s placental abruption,” Elaine says.
“No, we had her checked earlier, when she was asleep, Doc said she was fine,” Thane tells her. The pack doctor came out earlier. The baby was fine, so what she’s saying makes no sense.
“Let me out of this chair. I can fucking help!” Leo snarls, and Thane glares at him. What can he possibly do to help?
“Where’s Dad?” Raidon worries.
“Stuck in surgery. We need to get the baby out.”
I can tell Elaine is freaking out. She is a pathologist and medical practitioner, but she hasn’t actually practiced medicine in years, and she is definitely not a surgeon.
She hushes us, waving her arms to shut us up.
She tilts her head to the side, and I do the same.
I can hear the baby’s heartbeat, though it seems extremely fast.
“Baby is in distress, we … We need …” Her eyes dart around frantically.
Raidon grabs her arms, forcing her to look at him. “Mom! What do you need?”
“I have to get the baby out,” she whispers, though her face is deathly pale at the thought.
“Oh, for fuck's sake, untie me! If her placenta detached, we need to get the baby out before you lose them both!” Leo snarls, banging his feet on the ground and tugging on the chains.
“Harlow, I need you to stay awake for me,” Thane tells her, but her eyes flutter. Leon continues to pump her full of his blood.
“My baby,” she murmurs.
“Elaine, you know I can help,” Leo yells and Thane tells him to shut up. Leo is no doctor.
However, the moment Elaine’s eyes fall on him, she looks relieved. “Leo?” she asks before taking off into the living room. “Whose got the fucking key? Now!”
Raidon rummages through his pocket, tossing it to her.
“What are you doing?” Thane demands.
“We haven't got time for this,” Elaine says, frantically unlocking the chains while Leo unravels them.
“He was in medical school with me. He is a trained obstetric surgeon.”
“Huh?” I blurt, and so does Raidon.
“He lost his medical license. He was caught selling drugs.”
“Hurry up. I need towels and a scalpel,” Leo says.
“We don’t keep that shit here,” Thane snaps.
“Claws it is, then,” Leo says, shoving past us the moment Elaine undoes his hands.
“You’re not touching my fucking mate or our baby!” Thane shouts.
“If you want them to live, I will be,” Leo tells him as Elaine presses a hand to Thane’s chest.
“He can help. He was top of all his classes, worked with Charles for three years,” Elaine tells him, but Leo shoves passed, not giving a care for permission. He tears Harlow's shirt open.
“Hold her down, she’ll pass out quickly enough. And you,” he says, looking at Leon. “You need to be ready to feed her your blood.”
“Wait! You can’t just cut into her. She’s awake,” Raidon protests.
“Barely, and she’s fucking bleeding out. What she’ll remember will be brief,” Leo snarls at him. “Do you want them to die?”
Thane backs away, though he watches Leo like a hawk.
I look away, unable to watch as he cuts into her with his claws.
Instead, I focus on the baby's heartbeat, which is now starting to slow down and grow faint. I hear the sound of Harlow’s flesh tearing, hear her brief scream.
Leo is right, she passes out almost instantly.
I can hear Leon, continually biting his wrist, feeding her his blood. Seconds feel like hours as the smell of her blood fills the room.
“Stop, you’re healing her around my hands,” Leo says.
I hear more flesh tearing. The sounds will forever haunt me, the sloshing and scraping.
Raidon, I see, looks rather pale, like he may faint.
“As soon as I pull her out, Elaine, you need to get the placenta out, then hold her skin together, so he can heal her fast enough,” Leo says.
I can hear sirens, but they are faint, so I know they are still a ways off.
“Now!” Leo snaps at Elaine. I look over at the table and instantly regret it. Elaine is clearing out the placenta frantically, while Leo holds our daughter in his hands, sticking his fingers in her mouth to clear out the gunk.
My heart stops when he starts rubbing her back. She is floppy and unresponsive in his hands when, suddenly, she lets out an ear-piercing scream.
I exhale before my eyes go back to Harlow, who is deathly pale.
Her stomach is healing together, with the help of Leon’s blood.
I see Raidon is also feeding her his. She gasps, breathing hard, and she looks around frantically.
Leo slashes the cord, tying it in a knot.
Elaine places the placenta in a bowl, wiping Harlow down with some towels she retrieved.
“Lucky girl. If you were both human, you would probably be dead,” Leo says, wrapping our daughter in a towel.
Harlow whimpers, and we all kind of stand there, knowing the man Thane was about to kill is now holding our daughter in his hands.
Harlow whimpers again, her skin still pale as her hands grasp at the air, trembling.
Even looking half dead, her canines slip out.
We all stand there in horror, knowing with one twist, Leo could kill her.
Harlow’s eyes flicker. Shifting right now would be dangerous for her, but it is clear she is willing to risk it. He turns to look at her, and I see Thane tense and take a step toward him.
Our daughter screams, ear-piercing cries.
Her little lips quiver, and her face screws up.
Elaine, noticing us all frozen with our eyes on Leo, also tenses as she goes to move the bowl with the placenta and cord in it.
Elaine turns to look at Leo. He rocks our daughter’s toweled body in his hands, patting her bum.
“Shh, shh, it’s okay. I will give you to your mother. Is my ugly mug scaring you?” he coos, passing her to Harlow. I nearly faint from relief when Harlow’s shaking hands all but snatch her from him.
“Can I at least wash my hands before you kill me? I’d prefer not to die wearing your mate,” Leo asks.
Thane nods, watching him follow Elaine to the kitchen. I turn back to Harlow, and I see Raidon follow his mother and Leo.
As I move closer, Harlow tucks the towel under our daughter’s chin, looking down at her.
“Hello, Scarlett,” Harlow whispers, kissing our daughter’s head. Thane gasps, and I choke at the name she gave her, knowing how much Thane’s sister meant to him.
“Can someone please get me off this table?” Harlow groans, arching her back.
Thane doesn’t move, staring in shock, like he can’t believe both of them are still here. So I move, scooping my arms under her, and Harlow tucks baby Scarlett closer. Glancing down, I see bright silver eyes peering back at me, and a full head of light brown hair, matted in blood.
“I’ll remove the door,” Thane says, rushing off to the basement door. I hear the sirens grow louder and know they are coming up the driveway. That was the longest ten minutes of my life.