The Alpha And His Abused Mate (#Wattys2016)

You Can Go I'll Be Okay.

A year and a half later 

River had been in the pack infirmary, for a couple of weeks now. Everyone knew that his time was coming to an end, and nobody was okay with that, but him. He was still laughing and joking as if he wasn't sick. I on the other hand was crying every night in the small chair next to his bed after he went to sleep. Jonathan and Finn had been taking care of Ezra, at night so I could stay with River. 

"Hey, baby? Why don't you take a shower?" River stated from his bedridden state. I shook my head. 

"No. You know I'm not gonna leave." 

"C'mon, your starting to smell." I contemplated smelling or taking a quick shower, and in the end, taking a shower won. 

"I'll be back in ten minutes, fifteen at the most." I gave him a kiss on the forehead and made my way out of the infirmary. 

River's POV: 

Ellie had left a couple of minutes ago. I had made her leave, not because she smelled bad, but because I did not want her to see what was about to happen.   

'Xander?' I thought. It had been starting to get harder and harder for me to contact him since both of us were getting weaker by the day. 

'Yeah?' 

'I don't think I can keep on going like this. It hurts. I've been holding on for her, but it hurts so bad.'

'I know.' 

'Then what do we do?' I asked. 

'We let go.' Xander whispered.
Ellie's POV:

When I got back to the infirmary ten minutes later, everyone was very quiet. I felt like everyone's eyes were on me. A feeling of dread hit me hard at that moment. I ran into River's room, only to find that there was a circle of people standing around his bed. 

"Mark?" I asked as my voice cracked. All the extra bodies exited the room which left just Mark and me. 

"A few minutes after you left, River went into cardiac arrest. We tried to restart his heart, but there was nothing else we could do. The only thing keeping him alive is the ventilator." I shook my head and let out a sob. I turned and looked at River's still body. 

I sat in the same seat, that I was in a mere twenty minutes ago when the man in front of me was telling me that I desperately needed a shower. 

I pulled out my phone and called Jillian. Over the past year and a half, River had told Alex about their 'adoption' and had grown pretty close to Jillian and William. I knew that she would want to know, that River was gone.

"Ellie! I didn't think I'd hear from you today." Jillian's happy voice floated through the phone.

"Jillian, I need you to come down to the territory, as soon as possible."  

"Why? Has something happened?" I nodded, but then realized she couldn't see me.

"River's gone..."

"Oh, dear. I'll be there soon." Jillian trembled, and then she hung up. I called Alex next, that was the phone call I dreaded the most. He and Morgan were on their honeymoon, and I didn't want to interrupt that. 

I got the same response from Alex as I did Jillian. There was crying and then he promised me that he would be home as soon as possible. 

A knock sounded from the door and I wiped my lone tear and then turned to face whoever it was. 

"Luna? I have something for you." Caden spoke.  

"What is it?" I questioned. 

"River told me to give it to you if something happened to him." In his hands, he held a crinkled envelope. Slowly Caden walked over to me and placed it in my lap.

I let out a shaky breath, and opened the envelope. It was a letter written in River's scribbly handwriting.

'This letter is gonna make you cry, and I'm sorry about that. When I wrote it I was trying to make it funny, but then I realized that when you read this I was going to be dead, and you weren't going to want to laugh.
When I found out that I only had a year to live, I didn't think about me I thought about you, and what you were going to have to go through. I'm sorry that I'm making you hurt, I'm so damn sorry.
I'm supposed to be there for you, as a mate, as your best friend, and I can't do that now.
Since I'm gone, our bond will break and you'll be able to have a second chance mate. And I'm okay with that because I don't want you to mope around and be sad that I got cancer and died, I want you to be happy. As much as it hurts me to say this, I want you to give our child a sibling,' "He already does." I whispered. I was seven weeks pregnant, today. I had planned on telling him when I got back, but now I guess it doesn't really matter. 'But most of all I want you to know that I love you, and I always will.'

A few minutes after I was done reading the letter, Mark came in.

"Ellie, it's time." He commented. I knew what he was talking about. It was time to say my final goodbye to River. 

Mark unhooked all the wires and detached all the tubes he was connected to, and then slowly took out the tube that was connected to the ventilator. River let out one final breath and then he was gone.
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Okay okay so I know you all hate me, I hate me to. But if y'all want an epilogue than comment below.  I love y'all all so so much! 💕
    xoxoswaldo