Chapter 541

Adella

The waiting room on the other side of the clinic was suffocatingly quiet. I sat on the plush velvet sofa, staring blankly at the medical intake form resting on my lap. Under the Reason for Visit section, my pen had trembled as I checked the box next to suspected pregnancy.

A wave of intense nausea washed over me, far more violent than the morning sickness I had experienced at the safe house.

It wasn’t just my body reacting to the pup. It was a strange, agonizing pull. Through the thin wall behind me, I could hear the low, rhythmic thrum of a heavy medical machine. With every mechanical beat, my broken mate-bond flared, sending sharp, jagged spikes of pain through my chest.

What is happening?

I needed water. I set the clipboard on the sofa and forced myself to stand, aiming for the dispenser in the corner. But the moment I was on my feet, the room violently tilted. The sterile smell of the clinic overwhelmed my senses.

My knees buckled. The floor rushed up to meet me, and my skull cracked against the hard tiles with a sickening thud. Blackness swallowed me whole.

Dallas

Thud.

The muffled sound through the wall hit me like a physical blow. It wasn’t just a noise—it was a violent tremor that ripped straight through the mate-bond.

Mate! Ragnar roared, a sound of pure, unadulterated terror echoing in my skull.

Duncan pressed a finger to his earpiece, his face draining of color. “Alpha—Adella Everett just collapsed in the waiting room next door.”

Logic vanished. Survival instinct evaporated. My Mate was hurt, and I was chained to a bed.

With a guttural roar, I ripped my arms upward. The thick tubes connecting me to the purification machine tore free from my flesh. Blood sprayed across the pristine white sheets, hot and fast.

“Alpha, no!” Duncan lunged forward, his hands reaching for my bleeding arms.

“Get off me!” I shoved him back with a surge of raw Lycan strength. The violent movement tore the remaining wires from my chest.

The machines around me erupted into a cacophony of shrill alarms. A blinding, white-hot agony exploded in my chest as the LVAD failed. My Lycan heart stuttered, seized, and simply stopped. The last thing I heard before the darkness took me was the frantic scream of the heart monitor flatlining.

Adella

I was floating in a chaotic sea of noise.

“Code Blue! We’re losing him! Move, move, move!” Dr. Evans’s voice barked through the haze.

I felt the jarring motion of a stretcher rolling rapidly down the clinic hallway. Beside me, the squeak of another set of wheels echoed in parallel.

Then a heavy, limp hand slipped off the edge of the adjacent stretcher. His knuckles brushed against mine.

Sparks.

A violent, beautiful jolt of electricity shot up my arm, piercing through the fog of my unconsciousness. Even in the dark, my soul recognized him. My fingers curled instinctively, locking tightly with his. His warm blood smeared across my pale skin, sealing the grip.

“Don’t separate them!” Dr. Evans shouted over the alarms.

The sharp ding of the elevator doors cut through the panic.