CHAPTER 10:PUSHED TO THE EDGE 

Lucian's POV 

"Clear the bed! Get the oxygen ready!" Doctor Evans screamed as the heavy double doors of the medical wing slammed open.

I didn't let the nurses touch her. I carried Hazel straight into the trauma room myself, my boots leaving wet, bloody tracks across the white linoleum floor. My arms were locked tight around her small body, shaking so hard I could barely stand straight.

"Alpha, please step back," Doctor Evans urged, his hands hovering over Hazel's pale, bloody form as I gently laid her down on the high hospital bed. "We need room to cut away her clothes and inspect the deep wounds."

"I am not leaving her," I growled, my wolf roaring under my skin. The thought of stepping even three feet away from her made my chest tighten until I couldn't breathe. Two years. Two whole years of living in hell, believing her bones were rotting in some dark ditch. I was never letting go again.

"Lucian, let them work," a soft, trembling voice came from behind me.

I spun around.

Kayla was standing in the doorway of the treatment room. Her face was as white as a sheet, her dark eyes wide and full of an emotion I couldn't even name. She looked tiny standing under the harsh fluorescent lights, her hair still damp from the rain outside.

"Get out," I said, my voice cold and sharp as a broken blade.

Kayla froze. She blinked, looking at me as if I had just struck her across the face. "Lucian, I just... I want to know if she's going to be okay. The pack needs to know—"

"I don't give a damn about the pack right now!" I yelled, my Alpha voice echoing off the sterile walls, making the nurses flinch. "I said get out! All of you, give us space!"

Kayla took a slow step backward into the hallway. Her lips parted slightly, but no sound came out. She just stared at me, her eyes dimming like a candle burning out in the dark. Then, without another word, she turned and walked out, letting the heavy door swing shut between us.

I turned my back on the door and grabbed Hazel’s hand. Her skin was freezing, dry and rough from months of surviving in the wild. I pulled her small fingers up to my lips, pressing kiss after kiss against her knuckles, ignoring the smell of disinfectant and blood around us.

~~~~

Hours bled into the night.

The medical team worked in hushed, nervous whispers. They cleaned the deep bite marks on her legs, stitched up the torn skin across her ribs, and hooked up IV lines to pump liquids into her dehydrated body. Through it all, I sat on the small metal stool beside her bed, holding her hand, watching the shallow rise and fall of her chest.

Around three in the morning, the door opened quietly.

 Cole stepped inside, carrying a thick binder of emergency reports. He looked exhausted, his hair messy and his uniform wrinkled.

"Lucian," he whispered, taking care not to wake the sleeping woman on the bed. "We have a massive situation. The border guards are panicked. The rumor that Hazel has returned is spreading through the pack like wildfire. The elders are waiting in your office, and the Silvermoon delegation wants confirmation before they sign the morning treaties."

I didn't even turn my head to look at him. My eyes remained glued to Hazel's face, watching every slight twitch of her eyebrows.

"Tell them to wait," I murmured flatly.

Cole took a deep breath, his voice rising in frustration. "They can't wait, Lucian! The entire southern perimeter is wide open because half the guards left their posts to come to the clinic courtyard! Kayla is down in the war room right now trying to hold the elders back, but she can't do it alone! You need to step out there and take control!"

A dark wave of anger rushed through my blood. I slowly let go of Hazel's hand, stood up, and faced my Beta.

"I don't care about the treaties, Cole," I said, stepping close enough that he could feel the terrifying heat of my wolf.

 "I don't care about the elders, and I don't care about the perimeter. Hazel is breathing. She is alive. Nothing else in this world matters to me right now. Do you understand?"

Cole stared at me in disbelief. "You're abandoning your duties? After everything Kayla did to rebuild this territory over the last ten months?"

"Kayla is fine!" I snapped, my fists clenching at my sides. "She is strong, she is capable, and she isn't lying in a hospital bed half-dead! Leave me alone, Cole. If you open this door again without my permission, I will strip you of your rank."

Cole swallowed hard, his jaw working as he fought back whatever words he wanted to say. He looked at Hazel, then looked at me, his eyes full of disappointment.

"Understood, Alpha," he whispered bitterly, turning around and exiting the room.

When the door opened, I caught a brief glimpse of the hallway outside.

Kayla was still there.

She was sitting alone on a hard wooden bench across from the glass window, wrapped tightly in her coat. Her legs were pulled up against her chest, her head resting against the cold stone wall. She looked so quiet, so isolated, like a shadow that didn't belong in the light.

For a single second, a sharp pang of guilt stabbed through my gut. I remembered the way she had worked until her fingers bled to keep my pack safe. I remembered the quiet way she had looked at me over dinner, asking for nothing more than a little kindness.

But then Hazel let out a small, painful groan behind me, and the guilt vanished as fast as it had come.

Kayla was a business arrangement. A contract signed on paper. Hazel was my soul.

---

By five in the morning, Doctor Evans came back into the room, checking the heart monitor and reading the latest blood charts.

"Her vital signs are stabilizing, Alpha," Doctor Evans said softly, adjusting the IV drip. "Her wolf is slowly healing the internal damage. But her spirit is extremely fragile. She has been through severe trauma and starvation."

"When will she wake up?" I asked, my voice raspy from lack of sleep.

"Sometime today," the doctor replied. "But when she does, she will be terrified and disoriented. She needs familiar surroundings, Alpha. She needs her home, her scent, and her own bed if she is going to make a full recovery. Putting her in a cold guest room or keeping her in this clinic will only trigger her panic."

His words hit me like a bucket of ice water.

Her own bed.

The master bedroom on the top floor. The massive suite with the balcony overlooking the eastern mountains. The room where Hazel and I had built our lives before she disappeared.

The room where Kayla had been sleeping for the past ten months.

I stood up, my heart pounding heavily against my ribs. The conflict inside me raged for a split second, but the sight of Hazel's bruised, pale face wiped away any doubt lingering in my mind. I couldn't put Hazel in a small guest room. I couldn't treat her like a stranger in the house where she used to be queen.

I turned around and walked toward the clinic door.

I pushed the heavy door open and stepped out into the quiet, dimly lit hallway.

Kayla was still sitting on the wooden bench. She raised her head slowly, her dark, tired eyes lifting to meet mine. She looked exhausted, dark circles bruised under her eyes, her lips pale and dry. She stood up slowly, smoothing down her coat, waiting for me to speak.

I stopped a few feet away from her. The silence between us felt heavy, thick with a cold, terrifying truth that neither of us could avoid anymore.

I looked straight into her eyes, keeping my face as hard and emotionless as stone.

"Kayla," I said, my voice low and flat "Go upstairs and move all your things out of the master bedroom. Hazel is coming home.”