Eli.
The search party doesn't find Alex, so I call off the search and post scouts on the road overnight. When all is said and done, I will find him myself. That's what I hope. Truthfully, the odds of him being alive are non-existant at this point. I find myself surprised at how many tears I have left to shed as making that decision to give up on him tears me apart all over again. If that isn't the worst of it, Samantha's machines begin to ring and beep uncontrollably and I know something is wrong. Especially when the group of doctors, led by Rameriz comes rushing in. They spill into the room and push me away from her.
"Samantha!" I grab a doctor by the back of his cloak and fling him to the side.
"Alpha!" Rameriz shouts for me to stop. My hands fall to my sides, and I stand there wide-eyed as this never-ending nightmare continues to unfold before me. The bed is lowered, and Rameriz checks the montitors before suddenly ripping apart Samantha's gown. Her breasts are exposed to everyone, and I roar.
"Get back, Alpha! Myocardial infarction! Get the Defibrillator!" She shouts to the others across from her.
The machine changes in sound, and I stare at the flat line that runs across the monitor until Rameriz begins compressions on my mate. Then she is all I can look at. They pull out a small machine and slap two patches on her chest, one right above her right breast, the other on her left side near her ribs. A sudden jolt causes Samanthas chest to violently rise and fall, followed by Rameriez pumping into her chest again, performing CPR. My body melts to the ground, and I find myself battling to stay awake. A sharp pain is coursing through my body and my wolf howls and whimpers.
"The mate bond is breaking!" He moans in pain.
I grip at my chest, trying to stop my hearts erratic pounding, but nothing seems to help. The tears that sting my eyes give no relief to my affliction. At some point among the chaos, I am dragged out of the room by Ethan and my mother. My mother wraps her arms around me tightly as I struggle for air.
"It's ok, it'll pass." She cries directly into my ear.
"Deep breaths." Ethan encourages sternly.
"No!" I cry out shaking my mother off of me and attempting to stand.
My body crashes back onto the floor, and I lay there in agony.
"It's ok." My mother kneels beside me and strokes my head.
"No!" I object, " Don't, you make it seem like she's already dead!"
Suddenly, the pain stops. As abruptly as it started, it stopped. I sit up and look to my mother, shocked and confused. Her eyes grow sad, and she looks away. I then look up at my brother, who also, for the first time in his nineteen years of life, can't look at me. I scramble to my feet, my mother following close behind, and run back into the room. A numbness overcomes me, and I can't hear a thing but my heart pounding in my ears.As I enter, the doctors move aside to clear a path to Samantha. I watch as Rameriz covers her up tenderly until the white blanket lays just below her chin. She looks over at me and gives me a tired and worried smile.
"She's ok, for now." I read her lips. She's ok...for now?
I scan the room and look at the heart monitor. The sound of it's beeping pushing through the deafness and calming my hearbeat to its rhythm. My eyes float back to Samantha. My body acts on auto pilot, and I stride across the room. Without a second thought, I turn Samantha's head to the side and bite down into her neck just long enough for the change to be able to take effect. I pull away from her, and just as I am about to lick and seal my mark on her neck, Rameriz stops me. Her small hands gentley pull me away, and I turn to look at her.
"Leave her with at least that choice." She speaks softly.
I pull away completely, and Rameriz immediately starts to bandage Samantha's neck. An odd calmness falls over me as I stare at my present packmates and their gaping mouths. My mother is among the group, her hand over her mouth. From the entrance, my brother shakes his head in disapproval before disappearing down the hall.
"Everyone, you are dismissed." Rameriz speaks.
All the doctors leave the room, but my mother stands glued to her spot. She watches silently as Rameriz explains the rugged transformation Samantha would endore as her body begins the change.
"She will experience fever, seizures, vomiting, severe skin irritation, headaches, and pain in her bones."
I flinch at her warnings.
"Anything else I should worry about?"
"Rare cases bleeding from the eyes, nose, and ears."
"Rare, how rare?"
"Good news is she probably won't feel it in her state." she continued despite my question. "Hopefully, the only discomfort she feels will be her body healing abnormally faster than she's used to."
"Hopefully?" My mother finally croaks. Her eyes play between both of our faces. "And if she dies?"
Rameriz doesn't speak.
"This is just the beginning, son. It was all fine and dandy for your brother's mate at first, too." She hisses.
"This is different. Let's stay positive." Ramirez buts in.
"You better hope it is for his sake and yours!" My mother yells, pointing at me and then Rameriz.
She growls and stomps out of the room, but not before looking over at Samantha almost sympitatically. She doesn't seem to like her, but she is still my mate, so she is clearly worried.
My brother turned for the worse after his mate's death, with his regret eatting him alive. He has also been under heavy restrictions by the council. He isn't allowed to run his pack freely and needs approval from the council for almost every decision he makes. He can't even make renivations to his packlands without their confirmation. The only thing he can do freely is probably wipe his ass and even then, they'd probably judge him on how many wipes it takes. It is no way to live, and it is a constant reminder of what he'd done. He is unable to move on or even grieve properly. He has pushed everyone away as well. I haven't seen him since her passing. Well, I never really attempted, too. I felt he needed the space and that eventually, he would come back around like before. My mother, on the other hand, went to see him daily, even when he never spoke a word to her. She sat with him, made him meals, and even tucked him in at night. All until she began getting stopped at the gate by his warriors saying the Alpha had requested all visitors be turned away, including her. He never came back around. We spoke occasionally during Alpha meetings, but that was that. Even then, it wasn't like talking to my brother. That's probably what Ethan meant earlier. She's afraid I will turn like him. My brother is a shell. He died when his mate did.