Amara's POV-a few hours later
I must have fallen asleep at some point because I'm abruptly woken up by violent crashes and yelling. I shoot up in bed, my hopes soaring.
"Get up," Damon says, approaching me; I hesitate. I would be stupid to try and fight my way out of this; I'm way too weak. I jump when my door crashes open, and Samirah runs in.
"He's down; the back hall is our only way out. A female demon and a male wolf are guarding the door. We have to go now; Silas will be coming here any minute," she says to Damon as she runs over to me and jerks me out of bed.
I stagger, my head getting light. No! I just need to stay here, bide time, it won't take them long to get here! She steadies me before she looks at Damon.
"Can you carry her?" she says. I step back just as she looks at me.
"Amara, we're going to get you out of here; if you want to go home, you must listen to us. You'll be too slow if you try to run; either let Damon carry you or get on my back. Silas is coming here now." Samirah says, more urgent than before, crouching down.
I know in my gut she's telling the truth, so I get on her back. They bolt, the speed making me cling to her tighter. Nausea and dizziness hit me like a sack of bricks, but I bite my cheeks and tuck my head into her shoulder.
Just when I think I'm better, we abruptly stop, and Samirah lets go of her support on my legs. I keep hold of her neck as I stand, but white fuzzy spots dance in my vision, and I'm sweating.
"You take one arm and support her weight; I'll take the other. The wolf at least won't attack if we're holding her up; we're taking a chance with the demon, though," Damon says
My ears start ringing as they walk me out of the door, I can only see blurred colors and white light at this point, and my head feels too heavy for my neck to carry. I must drop my weight because a whispered 'fuck' followed by a growl brings me back to partial awareness, then I'm lifted by a pair of slender cold arms. I desperately cling to my consciousness as I teeter on the edge. But the ringing at least goes away so I can hear everything.
"Give her to us now, and we'll make your deaths quick," I hear Seth snarl. Seth!
I panic, but my body cannot move; my limbs feel heavy. I open my mouth, trying to speak.
"No. They help." I manage to grunt out, it sounds garbled, but they must hear it because Seth stops growling
"My name is Samirah; this is Damon. We're the leaders of the resistance against Silas. We will hand her over, but you must hear our case." I hear Samirah speak
Seth growls, the sound getting closer.
"There is no time for arguing; we need to get her to the hospital." Aylin snarls, the sound right next to me just as we're all sucked into blackness, and I can't hold on any longer.
Roman's POV
"I've got her! Get to the pack hospital NOW," Seth booms through my mind.
I can't even process my emotions as I immediately drop the worthless vampire I just killed and portal into the hospital check-in.
"Alpha! This way!" the nurse, Katrina, beckons me. I follow her to the entrance of a large room, the only one in the area with a bed right in the middle and a window. The sign next to the door reads 'Trauma Bay 1'
"You can watch and listen through the window Alpha, but please let the medical team work on her. I'm going to be at the check-in desk if there's anything you need," Katrina says softly.
I think I nod at her as my eyes instantly go to the people crowded around the bed; I can tell they're working urgently. My heart sinks. What did those vampires do to her?
"She hasn't eaten anything in the 8 days since she's been captured-she was only fed spoiled food and water. She's severely dehydrated and has rapidly lost weight," comes a voice I don't recognize
Since I've been Alpha, there has yet to come a moment where I froze instead of taking charge of the situation. That is before now. But right here, right now, I'm frozen. All I can do is watch as two doctors and 5 nurses surround her, blocking my view of her.
"Is that everything they need to know?" I hear Seth snap
"No, you can restrain me in the chair if you must! I've been with her every day. I will go to the cells willingly once she's stabilized," the voice snaps again.
I slowly avert my gaze to find two unknown vampires, Aylin, and Seth, all standing in the corner of the room.
"Seth, escort him to the cells while I deal with this one" I hear Aylin snarl as she takes the vampire's advice, pushing her into a chair and restraining her with her powers.
I can't focus on them right now or what the fuck two unknown vampires are doing in my territory. I turn back to the crowd surrounding my mate. They're all saying things I don't understand
"Page OB and bring the ultrasound in! And I want her typed and crossed for 2 units."
"IV is in, hanging D5LR wide open now. I'll get a second line."
"BP is low, 75/43 with tachycardia in the 140s, satting at 93%."
"Pushing 10 of ephedrine now and putting her in Trendelenburg"
"Get the nonrebreather on her!"
Another doctor and nurse run in, an aid behind them pushing an ultrasound machine. A few people at the table step out of the way to let them at her as the aid hands the doctor the ultrasound probe.
"Fetal hearts are good, a little tachycardiac, but that's expected. Please get her off her back and tilt her to the left side."
Finally, a few people move, and I see her. I almost fall to my knees at the sight. She's so, so pale, her lips dry and cracked; their color almost matches her skin tone. Her cheeks are sunken in, deep purple and blue under her right eye, and her left is swollen and black. I can see her hip bones jutting out along with her collarbones, but her pregnant belly sticks out. Even Adonis is silent in my head as we watch them work. They all work swiftly, a few exiting the room, one of them being the doctor that ran in with the ultrasound. I can't remember her name.
"Hi, Alpha, I'm Dr. Crowen. I'm with obstetrics. I did an ultrasound, and the baby looked good. The heart rate was on the higher side, but that's not abnormal, given Luna's current state. I could see the baby moving and quickly looked at the placenta and saw no pockets of blood behind it, which is a good thing. The rest of the medical team is finishing up with her, and once she's settled, I'll come back down and do a more official ultrasound. My nurse, Alia, collected some basic blood work and a test to ensure there was no trauma to the placenta. Overall, I'm reassured by everything I have seen up to this point. Do you have any questions?"
It was then I realized Armaros was standing next to me; when the hell he appeared, I don't know. I couldn't process anything she just said outside of the baby being okay, so hopefully, he could understand her.
"No, we don't have any questions right now. Thank you, doctor," he says, and the doctor smiles before excusing herself.
We don't speak; we just wait for the other doctors to come out and talk to us. After what feels like forever, everyone except one doctor, one nurse, the Queen, and the vampire woman remain. The nurse pulls a blanket over Amara before she comes out.
"Hello, Alpha, my name is Jess; I'll be taking care of the Luna today. You can come in if you're ready," she says
Armaros and I walk in; I stand at the foot of Amara's bed, looking at her. She has a little more color to her now, and she doesn't have the oxygen mask on anymore. Then, the doctor steps forward to speak.
"Alpha, King, Queen, I'm Dr. Arch. Luna Amara is currently stable. We have her hooked up to IV fluids and a cardiac monitor. We also made sure to give her something for pain. When she came in, she was severely dehydrated. Other than her left eye, I don't see any evidence of further trauma. However, I would like her to go for an MRI to ensure I'm not missing anything. The MRI won't harm the baby, but it will allow me to make sure she's stable internally. We sent off some blood work which should be back any minute; we'll likely need to correct some electrolytes with medicine through her IV. She passed out due to dehydration and lack of food, but I suspect she'll wake up in a few hours." he says
"But... she's okay?" I finally managed to speak
"As far as I can tell, yes. The MRI will ensure that. If you're okay with having that done, I'll have her picked up in about 10 minutes."
"Yes, please do whatever you need to do," I sputter.
"Alright, Alpha, please don't hesitate to ask any questions you may have," he says before he leaves the room. We're left with just Jess now. She smiles
"I know that was a lot of information and very overwhelming. I'll leave you guys alone for a few minutes. You can hold her hand and touch her." she says before exiting the room.
"Wait!" the vampire woman says. Jess stops
"She's been continuously dosed with a suppressant and sedative. I have the ingredients if an antidote can be made-"
"I have the antidote," Armaros butts in as he hands Jess a prefilled syringe. She immediately injects it into Amara's arm and says she'll update the doctor.
Finally, my legs move, and I walk to her side and drop to my knees as I take her hand in both of mine and lean my head into them. She's real, she's okay, and our baby is okay.
"Leave," I say to everyone else.
I just needed a minute alone with her before they took her again. No one protests as they all walk out. Aylin lingers, shutting the blinds on the window before she walks out wordlessly.
I lace my fingers through her limp ones, taking my other hand and brushing her hair out of her face. She would probably want it out of her face entirely. I don't have an extra hair tie on me, so I take mine out of my hair and pull her hair into a bun. Then, I kiss her forehead before pulling the blanket over her shoulders and tucking it under her chin.
The bruise under her eye has already faded to a yellow, so I hope the antidote is kicking in. We had no idea how long it would take to work.
I sigh in relief and return to my knees, gently setting my head on her lap. I breathe in her scent, thanking Selene for bringing her back to me. Not even a minute later, I hear a groan, and my head shoots up. I watch her eyebrows scrunch, and she brings both hands to her head before she rubs her eyes.
She opens her eyes, locking them with mine. I watch as her disorientation clears and is replaced by realization; then, she grabs my face with both hands and smashes her lips on mine. I cover her hands with mine as I kiss her back, savoring this moment.
"Hey, be careful. You're not exactly in your prime right now." I say, pulling away slightly; I take her face and wipe away her tears as she does the same to me. Yeah, I'm man enough to admit I'm fucking crying; I don't care.
"You're real," she says, and I nod.
I get into bed with her and pull her to me. We both cling to each other for dear life, sitting in silence for a moment. In the silence, I hear all three of our heartbeats. Hers is still a little faster than usual, and I don't have any idea how fast the baby's is supposed to be, but it's faster than hers.
"How long have I been out?" she says after a minute.
"Not very long; you've been here for probably an hour," I tell her.
"What about Damon and Samirah?" she says; the two vampires, I assume
"The vampires?" she nods.
"As far as I know, Seth took one to the cells, and the other was on Aylin's leash."
"They got me out; Samirah, the woman, cared for me the entire time. She...she made sure Silas didn't kill the baby or me today," she says
"Nothing will happen to them in the cells; I just want to hear their stories and go from there. If they protected you, then we'll protect them." I tell her, and she whimpers an 'okay' before burying her head in the crook of my neck and inhaling.
We lay like that for a few more minutes until there's a knock on the door, and two people walk in.
"We're here to transport Luna Amara to MRI," one says, and I nod, getting out of the stretcher. I, again, thank the Goddess. She's back as they wheel her out of the room, and everyone else comes back in.