Chapter 6 The Fall
1036 Words
The injuries and now Mirage, I was breaking inside and now outside.
Just as my knees gave way, a firm hand caught my arm.
"What took you so long out here? Are you all right?" Liam's voice, usually so tender, sounded distant in my ears.
Through my tears, I turned to confront him about Mirage's condition, but Breanne's weak whimper cut through the air.
"Liam.” She whimpered weakly. “Please, help me,” she pleaded.
Liam stiffened as if struck. He released me immediately, like he was catching fire at just the mere touch of me.
I staggered from the sudden loss of assistance and contact from my mate, and watched in disbelief as his attention snapped to Breanne's crumpled form on the ground.
"Breanne!" His eyes reddened as he gathered her into his arms, cradling her close to her chest, "Oh my Goddess, what happened? How did this—?"
I watched as he gently wiped away the tears staining her cheek. His eyes began to mist up.
It was as though I were watching a live-action romance. The long-lost lover, dying in her beloved's arms. It would have been touching if it wasn't for the fact that that was my mate, holding another woman so tenderly while I stood five feet from them in significantly more pain.
"Claire couldn't handle her horse. When I offered to help her back up, she then turned it around and blamed me! When I tried to explain I wasn’t at fault, she set that wretched beast on me!" Breanne's tears fell like broken pearls.
Her voice grew faint as she added dramatically, "Liam, please, I can't feel my legs. What if I never walk again?"
Liam's expression darkened as he listened to Breanne’s version of events. He turned to me with a sudden coldness I had never seen before.
"Is this true?" He growled in anger, clutching Breanne closer to him protectively.
A searing pain tore through my abdomen before I could respond. I cried out at the suddenness of it, and clutched my stomach, gasping through clenched teeth as metallic bile rose in my throat.
Liam didn’t even flinch at the sight of my obvious pain before him.
"I'm taking Breanne to the hospital," he said coldly. "If you did this, Claire—" He left the threat hanging as he cradled Breanne closer.
I have never heard of an Alpha, or any rank member in my school studies or observations, threatening his mates and Luna over just a friend.
It was against Wolfen code and ethics, but I suppose that didn’t matter to Liam or the Sterling Moon pack. This was going to become a regular occurrence, I could already sense it.
I watched through blurred vision as Breanne gave one last performance.
"Liam, I—" Her eyelids fluttered shut with theatrical perfection.
"Bree-Bree! Stay with me! Please don’t leave me, baby. I’m here. Don’t you dare leave me!" Liam shouted, already running partially shifted into his wolf to allow himself to cradle her and use his Alpha wolf strength and speed at the same time.
Behind him, I collapsed with a thud that echoed across the field. I briefly saw Liam hesitate mid-stride—just for a second.
Regardless, he didn’t turn around at the sound of my collapse and shallow, laboured breaths. I watched as they continued to run away with Breanne in their arms, leaving me where I lay.
My heart broke, even though I had filed and decided to leave both Liam and this horrible pack; a small part of me still held onto a sliver of hope that Liam would see the path he was taking and how far it was from us.
But he didn’t, and that was when everything went dark for me.
*****
When I regained consciousness, the sterile glare of surgical lights assaulted my vision. Cold metal instruments clinked nearby as my legs were positioned apart. I tried to speak, but the drugs held me paralyzed.
The doctors' voices floated above me like ghosts. I could sense the movements around me, but I was awake, unable to move, feel, or speak. It was a surreal experience, but oddly familiar to my life since I had mated with the Sterling family. Nothing more than an ornament on the wall to all, including my mate.
"Such a shame—two months along. Who goes horseback riding when they're pregnant?"
"The fall detached the embryo completely. Must have been quite the impact. She is lucky to be alive."
"Without a wolf, another hour, and she wouldn’t have been."
"That man who brought her in—was that her husband? He was colder than a block of ice, but as Handsome as the Devil himself. Can’t say much about their mateship part, he simply paid the bill and left without a word."
"Enough chatter. Let’s finish this up before she hemorrhages."
Each medical term floating to my ears—pregnancy, embryo, hemorrhage, dilation and curettage—pierced my drugged haze like silver blades to the heart. The one that stuck out the most was broken. I knew they were talking about my hand, but it was so much deeper than that.
I felt broken.
I lost my pup. Until recently, I would have loved to have Liam and my first pup. Everything about us seemed happy and together, but now, it seemed symbolic to lose the pups I never knew I had.
I was losing a mate I should never have had to fight this hard to keep. Everything was perfect until I saw it was all a smoke screen and not meant to be.
Just like this pup. False hope.
I struggled against the numbness, but my body refused to obey.
Something sharp scraped inside me, painless but violating. The crushing weight of realization dragged me under before I could scream, I was once again enveloped by empty darkness.
"Claire ... Claire ..."
Time lost all meaning. A distant voice called my name while someone shook my arm.
With monumental effort, I forced my eyes open. Once again, the antiseptic glare of hospital lights assaulted my vision—I was in a hospital room.
- Writer
