“Get Theodore now!” I roared as we pushed into the clinic’s doors. Everything was ready for Azalea and Damien upon our arrival. Damien had the foresight to make sure that transport was arranged for Azalea and Missy to extract them from the field hospital that was built. With some quick adjustments, we were able to get Azalea and Damien out of there. Langston took command of things to clean up and get the wounded out.

“Liam!” I heard Lily scream. Her eyes were locked on the stretcher holding Damien as it was pushed past her.

“Lily,” I said, my voice choking. I had to tell her I got him hurt. We had always come back from every fight we were in relatively unharmed but not this time. I rushed over to her, grabbing her before she could chase after her mate.

“Let me go!” she screamed.

“Lily, you can’t help him right now!”

“What did he do for you? Why is he not talking?” She was jumping and kicking around in my arms, desperately trying to get free of my grasp.

“Lily, please calm down!” I begged.

“Liam, what is wrong with my mate?” her shouts were devolving into strangled sobs. Her movements lost force as she started to crumble. She was feeling it; the pain was plaguing her bond with Damien. “Damien….” she cried.

I sank down to the floor, still clutching her. She grabbed her chest, and her breaths were heaving. I knew her pain. I was feeling it every second Azalea wasn’t okay. “Lily, he was bitten.” My words tasted like acid. My best friend, my Beta, the man who was always there to help clean up my mess. I got him hurt because I couldn’t protect my mate and my pack.

“How could you?” Lily sobbed. “You’re supposed to keep him safe! He’s your best friend.”

“I’m sorry,” I said.

–

Lily sat in a chair with her head in her hands. Her sobs were quiet, but I knew she was still crying. I stood, leaning against a wall with my arms crossed over my chest in an attempt to keep myself still. It had been over an hour since Damien, Azalea, and the baby were taken back into the clinic. Azalea and Damien needed serious medical attention while they wanted to run tests on my pup. I sent Missy and Maddox to the packhouse, telling them to shower and eat. Missy refused to let anyone check her until Azalea and the baby were okay. She seemed fine and wanted to be with Maddox, so I didn’t push the issue.

Austin came in earlier to tell me that Felix and my father called to check-in, but I couldn’t talk to them right now.

Missy and Maddox entered the clinic waiting room holding hands. Her eyes swept over Lily first before landing on me. “Dad,” she said softly. She came over to me, dropping Maddox’s hand and hugging my midsection. I hugged her back. “Any word yet?” My daughter still looked tired and thin, but her hair was wet, and she smelled clean.

“Nothing yet,” I said softly. She held on to me a moment longer, lingering. She let go and went back to Maddox’s side. He looked better too. Missy wore an oversized sweater, so I couldn’t see if there was a mate mark on her yet, but I didn’t think so. Her scent hadn’t changed yet, although I could smell Maddox on her.

Maddox pulled her over to one of the chairs, and they both sat down, waiting like Lily and me. I closed my eyes, reminding myself to be patient, that my uncle wouldn’t let anything bad happen to them.

What seemed like hours later, someone emerged from the back of the clinic holding the baby. Missy shot up and rushed over to her. The nurse smiled as she passed the baby over. “Alpha, Mrs. Hale, would you like to come back?”

Lily and I both bolted to attention at her words. Lily practically ran past her, ready to get to Damien. I followed the woman back, trying to keep myself calm. Missy gave me a passing glance. “We’ll take care of the baby. Get Mom,” she linked.

When we go to the back, Damien and Lily were in the same room, with machines hooked up to their bodies. Time seemed to stand still as we stopped in front of that little window. My uncle joined us.

“They are both in comas,” he said quietly. Lily suppressed another sob as her hand came to her mouth. We both watched our mates through the room’s window.

“Damien was bitten multiple times during the battle. Unfortunately, we don’t know by who he was bitten, so we don’t know what effect it will have on him. With Theodore’s help, we were able to extract some venom from his system. We drained a large volume of b***d and transfused him with clean b***d. But I cannot say when he will wake up or what side effects he will face.” Lily looked green. My chest was tight, not just for my mate but for my best friend and Lily.

“You can go in and be with him,” my uncle told her. She nodded her head before she pushed the door open and went to Damien’s side. I watched as she grabbed his limp hand in hers before dropping her face to his chest and sobbing harder than ever. We couldn’t hear her cries from outside the room, but I could feel them.

“And Azalea?” I asked.

“She lost a lot of b***d. The circumstances of her labor were far from ideal. There was a lot of damage when you got her to us,” he said sadly.

“Will she wake up?” I croaked.

“We are hopeful, but that is up to her. We have done everything we can to fix her physically. If she does wake up, she will have a long healing process in front of her. We can only monitor and hope for now,” he said. He rested his hand on my shoulder as I clenched my fists at my side. “I’m sorry, nephew.” We stood like that for a moment, my eyes glued to my mate lying in the hospital bed. She looked so small and fragile. Her usually pale skin was almost translucent, her hair a dull halo around her head.

“Sit with her. Your proximity can only help. I have released the pup, but I want to see her every other day for some follow-ups for the next couple of weeks. Your mate is incredible, Liam; your baby is seemingly perfectly healthy. Maybe having you and the baby close will stir Azalea awake.”

All I could do was nod my head. I was rooted to the spot. My chest felt like it was ripping, shredding from the inside. I got her back, but I could still lose her. My uncle left me standing there, staring into the room.

After a while, I willed myself to move. I entered the room that smelled like sterilized air, not like Azalea, or Damien, or even Lily. I came to Azalea’s side and took her cold hand in mine. Her fingers didn’t even flinch. I knelt beside the bed, ignoring the chair altogether.

“I’m so sorry, Azalea,” I whispered. “This is all my fault. I should have found Warwick and ended him before any of this could have happened. I should have listened to my dad and sent you and the kids away. I took too long to find you.” The words felt raw coming from my mouth. Everything hurt. I leaned my head down over our hands.

“Please wake up. Please wake up and be okay so I can make up for this,” I begged. “Please don’t leave me. Azalea, I can’t survive it. You have to wake up, baby.” My voice was barely audible.

Hot tears fell from my eyes and landed on her cold hands. “You have to come back. Our kids need you, baby. Our daughter is so perfect. She looks just like you; she’s got your hair and freckles. She is so small and perfect, just like you, Azalea. You can’t leave us.”

I didn’t even know what I was saying anymore. All I could do was beg for her to come back to me. I needed her and Damien by my side. I wouldn’t be even ten percent of the Alpha I am supposed to be without them.

Missy

Maddox and I sat in the waiting room. I held my baby sister gently in my arms. Lily and Liam went back to their mates. I didn’t know if I would even see my dad again tonight.

“What is her name?” Maddox asked me.

“I don’t know,” I said, knitting my eyebrows. “I don’t think Lea and Liam ever picked a name.”

“What would you name her?” Maddox asked me. He sat in the chair next to me with his arm resting gently around me. His face was over my shoulder, looking down at my baby sister.

“I am not sure,” I said honestly. “How do you even name a baby?”

“My mom told me that her and my dad fought for her entire pregnancy over my and my sister’s names. She said as soon as we were born, she just knew what name suited us both when she looked into our eyes,” Maddox said gently.

The baby was asleep in her blanket. The nurses had cleaned her up since we arrived. I could see a soft, white onesie peeking out of the blanket. She had milky skin like Lea, and there was a small splattering of red freckles over her nose. She had wisps of red curls on the top of her head.

“I should probably ask my dad what her name is,” I said.

“Maybe you can just pick something to call her for now,” Maddox said. “She is your baby sister. You have Junior and Little L; maybe you can give her a nickname.”

“I feel like she needs a real name before a nickname.” We were both quiet for a second. Finally, I had to ask him. “Maddox, you don’t want to have pups right away, right?”Content rights belong to .

He let out a breathy laugh. “Miss, we haven’t even finished high school. I just rescued you from a battlefield. Pups are the furthest thing from my mind right now,” he said before planting a soft k**s on the side of my neck. I shivered a bit at his touch but was relieved by his answer. “Let’s get over the hurdle of mating and marking before anything else.”

“So, what happens now?” I asked him.

“I don’t know. The acting Alpha is hurt, and your dad doesn’t seem like he is fit to take back over for the moment,” Maddox said. I sighed and leaned back into him a bit.

“Let’s just wait for Liam. We can watch her right here.”

–

I nodded off in Maddox’s arms while holding the baby. I woke to Maddox whispering in my ear, “Hey, Missy. Sweetheart, wake up.” I stirred and quickly realized I was still holding my sister. “Don’t panic. I didn’t let you drop her.”

“I didn’t mean to fall asleep, sorry,” I said, embarrassed.

“It’s alright. After everything, I am sure your body needs the rest. The nurse just brought me this, though,” he said as he held up a bottle of off-white liquid. “The baby needs to eat even if she isn’t asking for it.”

“Okay, so do we wake her up?” I asked. He didn’t have to answer, though, because the nurse came back with a pillow and some burp cloths.

“She had some food while we were checking her over, but she should be eating every few hours,” the nurse instructed.

“Okay,” I said. “Should someone go get my dad?” I helped Lea with Leo when he was a baby but not when he was less than a day old. I felt a bit nervous.

“Let him stay with his mate for now,” the nurse said gently. She helped reposition me to hold the baby and feed her. We jostled her gently until her little eyes started to blink open. For the first time, I saw how brilliantly green they were. She was like a carbon copy of Lea. We put the bottle to her lips, and after some coaxing, she began to suck gently. The nurse watched for a minute as she closed her eyes but continued to suck.

“She needs to eat at least half that bottle. We would be happiest if you can get her to eat all of it,” she told us. I just nodded, watching the baby closely.

“Do you know how to burp her?”

“Um, yeah, I think I remember,” I said.

“I’m just a shout away if you need any help,” the nurse said before leaving us alone again. Maddox watched me feed my baby sister. “If Liam stays with Lea, what do we do with her?” I asked him.

“Did they prepare a nursery?”

“Um, I don’t know. Maybe? I am sure we have things leftover from Junior and Leo, though,” I said. There had to be a basinet somewhere in the packhouse. I know Lea had some clothes washed and folded in a basket in her closet. She never really did the nesting thing pregnant women do, but I suspected that might have been partly due to being told not to walk anywhere.

“Why don’t we take her back to the packhouse and take care of her tonight? We can bring her here in the morning and let your dad spend tonight with your mom,” Maddox suggested. The thought made me nervous. I was admittedly feeling tired already and knew newborns woke up every couple of hours. “I’ll help take care of her. You can get some sleep,” Maddox said, reading my thoughts. “She doesn’t seem like a very fussy baby anyway.”

I smiled at him over my shoulder. “We can both take care of her,” I said. He gave me a half-smile before leaning forward and kissing me lightly.

The baby drank the whole bottle of formula and burped easily for us. When she was done, she was sleeping soundly again. Maddox took the bottle, pillows, and burp cloths to the back, finding the nurse that brought them to us. She prepared a bag for him and sent him back out with everything we would need for the night.

When he came back out carrying the green diaper bag with yellow giraffes on it, I couldn’t help but giggle. He helped me stand without moving the baby around too much, and we headed to the packhouse for the night.

–

“Yea, I’ll send some pictures to you as soon as we hang up,” I assured my grandmother. When she called the day after we got home, I talked to her because Liam was still glued to Lea’s bedside. Now I was the one who always answered their calls. “Okay. I’ll talk to Dad and have him call Grandpa. Promise.”

We finally got off the phone, and Maddox looked up at me from his spot on the bed. He had just finished feeding Azly while I spoke with Felix and my grandmother. We had been home for a week now, but there was still no clear consensus on them coming home.

I smiled at Maddox as he gently played with Azly’s little ginger curls. We had been primarily taking care of her. Liam barely left the clinic. Lacey was helping us as well, but the baby fever was strong with her, and she would break down in tears after a couple of hours because she missed Felix so much.

We named her as well. Azly. We couldn’t keep referring to her as the baby, although Sean had taken to calling us the princesses Blackfur. I hoped Liam and Lea liked her name; she was definitely too young to know it yet, though. I couldn’t explain how I knew what to call her. I was feeding her one morning, and it just came into my mind.

Austin knocked on the door. He was acting Alpha for the moment because Liam didn’t seem to be able to make any decisions. “What’s the word?” he asked me. I sighed.

“Felix wants to come back, but that could be mate motivated. I know he is calling Lacey almost daily, and she is slowly getting worse. My grandfather thinks they should stay away until we find Warwick again,” I explained.

“Well, there has still been no sign of the vampires coming back to his estate. Theodore hasn’t checked back in for a few days now either,” Austin said. I bit my l*p, and Maddox looked up at us, also worried.

“Anything new from Doctor Ron?” he asked. Austin shook his head. We were all desperately waiting for any change to Damien and Lea. No one could explain why Lea was still asleep, and no one knew what to expect from Damien. All we could do was wait.

“Maddox, can I talk to you for a sec?” Austin asked him. I looked in between them questioningly. A look was passing between them, and I wasn’t sure what was going on.

“Hey now, I am helping run this pack! Whatever you two have to talk about, spill!” I demanded. Maddox had a grim look while Austin looked nervous. Austin swallowed before answering me, “Vlad wants to see you. He is still locked up because no decision has been made about his punishment.”

I froze. His name had not been so much as uttered since we got back. I saw his face in my nightmares a few times. I always woke up sweating, heart racing and freaking out. Maddox would wake up instantly, hug me close, and calm me down.

“No,” Maddox said simply. “She isn’t going to see him.”

I snapped out of my frozen state. “Wait a second!” I told him. “You can’t make that decision for me!”

“Like hell you are going to the prison to see the one responsible for your family being torn apart!” Maddox almost yelled at me. His eyes were dark.

“I am going to let you two talk,” Austin edged out awkwardly.

“Maddox, you can’t tell me what to do!”

“You aren’t going down there, Missy! He is directly responsible for those bastards taking you!”

I narrowed my eyes at him. I didn’t disagree, but I wasn’t going to let him just order me around. “There is no discussion about this. You are not going to see Vlad. End of story.” He stood up and took Azly to her little bassinet in the corner of my room. He tucked her in and turned on the little mobile before storming out of the room. I threw up my arms in frustration.

–

Maddox and I sat at Lea’s desk eating dinner. We didn’t talk about our fight earlier, so things were a little tense. Azly was sleeping soundly in the little bouncer we put in here. This is where Maddox and I were doing our share of the pack duties. Austin wouldn’t go in Liam’s office, and it was still mostly in shambles anyway.

I idly watched Azly as I picked at my food. She was an eerily perfect baby. She never fussed or cried even when she was wet or hungry. We could care for her on a schedule, and she would just go along with it. She would eat until the bottle was gone and then sleep. We had to wake her to feed her most of the time.

“I’m sorry I yelled at you,” Maddox finally said, pulling my attention to him.

“It’s alright,” I said, even though I was still upset at his reaction.

“Missy, he told us everything. For two years, he gave information to that vampire, and you were a target. You can’t go down there and give him the pleasure of talking to you,” Maddox confessed.

I set my utensils down and grabbed his hand. “If you don’t want me to see him, then ask me not to. Don’t command me, Maddox. I am your mate, but I don’t have to listen to your word like law.”

“I know; I am sorry. I don’t want to boss you around. I just see red with him, sweetheart,” he said.

“I am not sure I could face him right now, anyway,” I told him. “But it has to be my choice. We have to have a conversation, okay?”

“Alright,” he agreed.

Austin rushed into the room. “You guys, come quick,” he said.

“What’s going on?” Maddox asked quickly.

“We just got a message from Warwick,” he said. My eyes went wide. Abigail rushed into the room behind him.

“Give me the baby,” she said quickly. She scooped up Azly so Maddox and I could follow Austin. When we reached the bottom of the stairs, heading outside, Lily burst through the front door.

“MISSY!” she called quickly. I spun around and looked at her.

“Come quickly! Azalea’s awake!”