He glanced at Elaine again, whispering so softly that Marcus almost didn’t catch it. “Hold on, little one.
You’re safe now.”
“The doctor is waiting,” Marcus said after a moment. “He’ll have everything ready as soon as we arrive.
Darius reached back, brushing a stray strand of hair from Elaine’s face. She didn’t move, didn’t flinch.
“Elaine,” he murmured. “We’re here now, in my pack. You’re safe. I’ll take you to the hospital and have you checked, all right? Just… stay with me.”
No answer, Just the shallow rise and fall of her chest.
When they arrived, Darius himself lifted her from the car, his arms cradling her as though she were the most fragile thing in the world. The pack doctor, Dr. Grey, met them at the entrance, bowing respectfully.
“This way, Alpha,” he said, quickly leading them down the hall. He opened a door to a private room, the air inside already prepared with medical equipment.
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“Alpha, may we have the room to examine her properly?” Dr. Grey asked, his tone both professional and cautious.
“Yes,” Darius said after a beat, though every fiber of him resisted. With deliberate slowness, he laid Elaine on the bed and stepped back. “Take care of her, Doctor. She’s… she’s been through enough.”
He left the room and sank into a chair in the waiting hall. His mind should have been on the pack-on the decisions piling up during his week-long absence. Borders to secure, alliances to maintain, disputes to settle. All the weight of an Alpha waited for him in his office. Yet none of it mattered.
Not now.
Because Elaine was lying behind that door, drifting further and further away.
He raked a hand through his hair in frustration. What was she to him? Not his mate. His wolf had felt no bond, no spark of fated connection. And yet… from the moment he met her, he had been drawn to her pain, to her loneliness.
It was infuriating. He shouldn’t care this much. And still, he couldn’t walk away.
The door opened at last, and Dr. Grey stepped out, his expression grave.
“Alpha,” he said softly.
Darius shot to his feet. “Doctor, what’s wrong with her? Why won’t she wake?”
The physician hesitated. “That is what concerns me, Alpha. Her body is weak, yes, but that is not the greatest danger. Neither she nor her wolf are responding to treatment. It is as if… they have both lost the will to live.”
Darius’s chest tightened painfully.
“What happened to her, Alpha?” Dr. Grey pressed, his voice careful, almost reluctant. “Without understanding the trauma she endured, I cannot treat her properly.”
For a long moment, Darius said nothing. He wasn’t supposed to share Elaine’s suffering without her consent. But if keeping silent meant losing her completely… then he had no choice.
“Her fated mate rejected her,” he finally said, voice low and edged with fury. “Not only that, he chose her own sister instead. Marked her in front of Elaine. The pain of betrayal caused her to lose her pup.”
Dr. Grey froze, his face paling.
“By the Moon… that is…” His voice trailed off, words failing him. At last he shook his head. “No wonder her soul has withdrawn.
No wonder her wolf has gone silent. That kind of betrayal… it cuts deeper than any wound.”
Darius’s hands clenched at his sides, his wolf snarling within.
The doctor looked back toward the room.
“There is… another matter, Alpha,” he said slowly.
“Mom, what are you doing here?”
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Darius’s voice was low, controlled, but the sight of his mother waiting in his office tugged at him. After speaking with Dr. Grey about Elaine, he had only wanted a moment of solitude to gather his thoughts. Instead, the familiar figure of his mother, Seline-the previous Luna-sat gracefully in the chair across from his desk, her hands folded neatly in her lap, her eyes sharp with worry.
“I was informed you were back but went straight to the hospital,” she said, her voice calm but threaded with unease. “I asked Marcus, but he is not saying anything. What is going on, Darius?”
He let out a long breath, forcing his shoulders to ease. “Nothing is wrong, Mom. We have a new pack member who needed immediate medical attention. That’s why I went straight to the hospital. I wanted her looked at right away.”
Her eyes narrowed slightly. “Her? Who is she? A new pack member? But you just went to Silverblade Pack the mating ceremony of their future alpha and luna.”
Darius hesitated, already anticipating where this was going. His mother’s intuition had always been sharp, sharper than most gave her credit for. Before he could form a reply, a firm knock sounded on the door, and without waiting for permission, it opened.
Darius’s jaw tightened.
“Enter,” he said flatly, though the intruder had already stepped in.
His father, Blaine, the previous Alpha, filled the doorway with his broad frame.
The air shifted instantly, authority radiating from the older man out of sheer habit, though this was no longer his domain.
Darius leaned back in his chair, exhaling sharply.
“This is my office now,” Darius reminded, his tone edged with steel. “You can’t just come and go as you please.”
His father only lifted a brow, unmoved. His mother, however, brushed off Darius’s rebuke and leaned forward again, her focus unshaken.
“Who is she?” she pressed. “This new member you rushed to the hospital for.”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.