Chapter 3

VALERIA

Pain was my constant companion. Every breath and every heartbeat sent waves of agony through my body. The smell of the pack hospital mingled with the sharp scent of antiseptics was a reminder of how fragile my existence was. As I lay on the cold, hard bed, with my body broken and bruised, I still tried to fight for each moment of life.

“Please,” I whispered to the doctor who was hovering over me. My voice was barely more than a whisper, but I spoke anyway. “Please, call Reese. Tell him I need him.”

The doctor, who was a stern-faced man with graying hair, looked at me with pity. Then he shook his head slowly. “Alpha Reese has made his stance clear, Valeria. He said he doesn’t care if you live or die.”

The words hit me harder than any physical blow could. A sob choked my throat, but I choked it back, and my chest heaved with the effort. “Please,” I begged again as desperation pulled at my insides. “Just tell him I need him badly. Maybe he will come. Maybe…”

The doctor’s expression softened, but his voice remained firm. “I’m sorry, Valeria. I wish I could do more.”

Tears streamed down my face. Hot and bitter tears choked my throat as I contemplated my situation. The pain in my body was nothing compared to the agony in my heart. Reese, my mate, the one who was supposed to protect me, had turned his back on me completely. Even now, as I stood on the brink of life and death, he couldn’t find it in himself to care.

The hours blurred together, and it was filled with pain and fear. The contractions came fast and hard, and each one ripped through me with relentless force. I clenched my teeth as I fought against the pain, but it was a losing battle. I was losing strength, and my body was too weak to endure much longer.

Just then, a nurse rushed to my side. The urgency in her face was evident. “She’s going into labor,” she called out to the doctor. “We need to deliver the babies now.”

Panic rushed through me immediately. “No, it’s too soon,” I gasped. “They are surely not ready.”

When the doctor’s eyes met mine, there was a mix of concern and determination in them. “We don’t have a choice, Valeria. It’s now or never.”

That was when the room transformed into a flurry of activity. Nurses and doctors surrounded me, calling out instructions and reassurances. I felt a needle prick my arm, and a rush of cold passed through my body as the medication flowed into my veins. The pain dulled, but only a little. As I tried to maintain my consciousness, my mind was focused on one thing only: my children. I had to survive for them.

The contractions grew stronger, and each one was just like a wave crashing over me, and threatening to pull me under. When I screamed, the sound was raw and primal, and it echoed through the room. “Reese!” I cried out in a hoarse voice. “Please, Reese, I need you!”

But there was no response. There was only the steady, but relentless push of the doctors, the sterile lights glaring down at me, plus the pain and fear which were threatening to consume me totally.

Finally, with one last, agonizing effort, I felt a release. The first baby came into the world with a wail, its tiny voice piercing through my haze. A nurse immediately took the child away, and moments later, the second child came forth with a smaller and weaker cry that broke my heart.

“Are they okay?” I asked. My voice was barely a whisper, and the exhaustion of the just concluded ordeal shone through it. “Please, tell me they are okay.”

The doctor nodded, but at the same, his face was grim but hopeful. “They are premature, but they are fighters. We will do everything we can to make sure that they survive.”

Exhaustion pulled at me, dragging me down into darkness. As I slipped away, my last thought was of Reese and the children he would never know, and it made my heart ache with a pain deeper than any physical wound.

***

The first thing I noticed when I woke up was the deafening silence. The clean hospital room was a stark contrast to the chaos and pain of my labor. My body ached with a dull but persistent pain, and the agony that had torn through me before was now a distant memory. As I struggled to sit up, my heart pounded with a single but desperate question.

“Doctor,” I croaked. My voice was still weak and hoarse. “My children… are they… okay…?”

The doctor, who had been adjusting the machines around me, turned with a hesitant look in his eyes. His silence was louder than any answer he could have given, and immediately, a knot of dread tightened in my stomach.

“Please,” I begged in a broken voice. “Tell me they are okay. Tell me they are alive.”

The doctor’s expression softened, but his hesitation was obvious. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. As the silence stretched, my fear increased.

“They are… they are being taken care of,” he finally said in a cautious tone.

A sob escaped my lips then. “No,” I whispered as I shook my head in disbelief. “Please, no. Don’t tell me they are gone.”

Before the doctor could respond, the door to my room suddenly burst open. Reese was standing there, his face filled with fury and desperation. His eyes scanned the room quickly, as he searched for something… or someone. The absence of a baby’s cry hung in the air, the silence heavy and accusing.

“If anything should happen to the babies, kill the mother immediately!” Reese’s voice was a low, dangerous growl, and each word he said dripped with venom.

The doctor stiffened as his eyes moved between Reese and me. “Alpha, the children…”

“Don’t lie to me,” Reese interrupted. As he stepped closer, the anger in his eyes increased. “Where are they? Why can’t I hear them?”

As I stared at Reese, my heart broke again at the sight of his rage. “Reese,” I whispered, reaching out with a trembling hand. “Please, listen to me. Our children…”

“Enough!” Reese snapped, as his eyes locked onto mine with cold fury. “You have done enough, Valeria. You have caused me enough pain.”

“Alpha Reese,” the doctor started. His voice trembled as he spoke. “I have some difficult news.”

Reese’s eyes flashed with a kind of fury that I had never seen before. “What news?” he demanded in a low and dangerous voice.

The doctor took a deep breath, and he glanced at me briefly before meeting Reese’s gaze. “The babies… they didn’t make it. They were too premature, and therefore too fragile. I’m so sorry.”

The words hit me like a sledgehammer, knocking the breath from my lungs instantly. A wail of pure agony tore from my throat, but it was drowned out by Reese’s roar of fury. He turned on me then, and it was evident that his eyes were blazing with a murderous intent.

“This is your fault!” he screamed. His voice broke with rage and grief. “You killed them!”

I shook my head as I sobbed uncontrollably. “No, Reese, please! I loved them! I would never…”

But he wasn’t listening. In a blind fury, he grabbed a scalpel from the tray beside the bed. My heart stopped as I saw the blade glinting in the harsh fluorescent light. Reese’s hand trembled with the intensity of his emotions, and at the same time, his face showed the pain and hatred he was feeling.

“Reese, no!” I cried out. My voice was filled with desperation as I added, “Please, don’t do this!”

He raised the scalpel, and his eyes locked onto mine. Time seemed to slow, and it was just as if each second stretched into an eternity. The room was deathly silent, except for the ragged sound of my breathing and the pounding of my heart.

Just as Reese was about to strike, a scream pierced the air. “Stop!”