CHAPTER 4: Blue Moon Mercy

Alisha's POV

My baby girl was fighting alone, and I couldn't reach her.

I heard footsteps running toward my room. I couldn't breathe, couldn't move.

The silence from the NICU stretched into eternity.

Val still held me. His grip was firm yet gentle.

Keeping me from tearing myself apart trying to reach Ella.

Dr. Raymond burst through my doorway.

Her face was carefully neutral. Not smiling or devastated. Just controlled.

My heart stopped.

"Ella?" I whispered.

"Is she alive?"

"She's alive," Dr. Raymond said quickly.

I nearly collapsed with relief.

"We stabilized her."

"The cardiac event was her heart trying to compensate for the defect."

"It's more serious than we initially thought."

More serious. Those words sank like stones.

"How serious?"

Dr. Raymond's jaw tightened.

"She needs surgery."

"Soon."

"Within the next seventy-two hours."

Seventy-two hours.

Three days.

"Can you do it here?" I asked.

"We have an excellent cardiac team," Dr. Raymond said.

"But the surgery is complex."

She paused.

"Expensive."

The word hung in the air. I had no money. No pack support, Nothing.

"How much?" I forced out.

"The surgery alone is two hundred thousand."

"That doesn't include hospital stay, medications, or follow-up care."

"We're looking at close to half a million total."

Half a million dollars.

I had forty-seven dollars in my purse.

"I'll figure it out," I said. But my voice cracked.

Val stepped forward.

"No, you won't."

I looked up. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me." His voice was firm. "It's covered."

"The surgery. The hospital stay. All of it."

My mouth opened, closed.

"You can't..."

"I can, and I am."

"But why?" I stared at him.

"You don't even know me."

"I know enough."

Val pulled the chair beside my bed.

He sat and leaned forward.

"You were rejected while pregnant."

"Banished during labor."

"Drove yourself until you crashed."

"Still fought to protect your children."

He held my gaze.

"That's the kind of person worth protecting."

Tears burned my eyes.

"I can't pay you back."

"I'm not asking you to."

"Then what do you want?"

Val's expression softened.

"For you and your children to be safe."

"For Ella to survive, for you to heal."

He paused.

"That's all."

"Why?" I whispered.

"Why are you really helping me?"

Val was quiet for a moment.

His eyes were distant.

"I lost my mate five years ago."

"Cancer."

His voice was gentle and sad.

"I watched her suffer. Felt helpless."

He looked at me.

"I won't stand by and watch another mother suffer when I have the power to help."

Understanding clicked into place.

"I'm sorry," I said softly.

"For your loss."

"And I'm sorry for yours."

His eyes held mine.

"Even if the bond isn't severed, rejection is a kind of death."

He understood viscerally.

"Thank you," I whispered.

Dr. Raymond cleared her throat.

"Alisha, there's something else."

My stomach dropped.

"What?"

"The cardiac event caused some stress."

"We need to monitor Ella very closely for the next forty-eight hours."

"Any sign of another event, we move up the surgery."

"Even if it means operating today."

Today. My hours-old daughter is going under the knife.

"Can I see her?" I asked.

"Of course."

Dr. Raymond nodded.

"I'll have a nurse bring a wheelchair."

After they left, I was alone.

The mate bond pulsed, distant and damaged. But there, Joshua was eight miles away.

A soft knock at the door.

A young nurse entered with a wheelchair. Kind eyes.

"Ready?" she asked gently.

I nodded.

Getting into it hurt.

The incision pulled with every movement.

Fire shot through my abdomen. But I didn't care. They wheeled me to the NICU first.

Ella lay in her incubator, so small,

so fragile.

Wires and tubes covered her tiny body. Machines breathing for her.

Monitoring and keeping her alive.

"She's stable?" I asked.

The nurse checked the monitors.

"For now."

"For now isn't good enough."

"It's all we have, honey."

Her voice was kind but honest.

I touched Ella's hand through the porthole.

"Hi, baby girl," I whispered.

Her fingers wrapped around my pinky. Impossibly small but strong.

"Mama's here."

"I won't leave you."

"You're going to be okay."

Ella's grip tightened slightly,

like she heard me and was holding on.

"That's my girl," I said.

Tears streaming.

"Fighter, just like your mama."

The nurse touched my shoulder.

"Want to see your son?"

I nodded, couldn't speak. She wheeled me to the nursery.

Alexander was in a bassinet near the window. Wrapped in a blue blanket.

Dark hair. Joshua's features mixed with mine. Perfect and healthy.

"Can I hold him?" I asked.

"Of course."

They brought him out and placed him carefully in my arms. He was warm.

"Hi, baby," I whispered.

"I'm your mama."

Alexander's eyes opened briefly. Unfocused newborn blue. Then closed again.

My heart swelled.

"Would you like to try nursing?" the nurse asked.

I nodded.

She helped me adjust Alexander. When he latched on, something in my chest eased.

This was what it should have been like. Peaceful and full of love instead of trauma.

"You're a natural," the nurse said softly.

"Their father doesn't know they exist yet."

The words came out before I could stop them.

The nurse was quiet for a moment.

"That's your choice to make."

"He's their father," I said.

"He's also the man who rejected you in labor."

Just fact, no judgment.

I looked down at Alexander. "He can wait," I said finally.

"Right now, they come first."

The nurse nodded.

"That's fair."

Alexander finished nursing and drifted back to sleep.

They took him back to the nursery. The nurse wheeled me back to my room.

"Get some rest," she said.

"Ella's surgery is in three days."

After she left, I stared at the ceiling. Three days. Seventy-two hours. Then my daughter would go under the knife.

My phone buzzed on the bedside table.

I frowned.

Who would be calling this late?

I reached for it, an unknown number. My thumb hovered over the screen.

Something told me not to answer. But what if it was about Ella?

I answered.

"Hello?"

Silence.

Then heavy deliberate breathing.

"Hello?" I said again.

My voice is sharper.

"Who is this?"

More silence.

Then a low, cold laugh.

"Answer me!"

A male voice finally spoke.

"Such beautiful children."

My blood turned to ice.

"How did you..."

"Twins are so rare." The voice continued. Ignoring my question.

"So precious."

He paused.

"So fragile."

My hand started shaking.

"Who are you?"

"Does Joshua know yet?"

My breath caught.

He knew Joshua's name.

"About his perfect little babies?"

"Stay away from them!"

"It would be a shame if something happened to them."

"Tell me who you are!" I demanded.

"Before he even gets to meet them."

My voice rose, "I'm calling security..."

"Tell them the debt will be paid."

"In blood."

"What debt?" I shouted.

But the line went dead. I stared at the phone.

My hands were trembling; someone had just threatened my babies.

Someone who knew I had twins. Someone who knew Joshua's name.

I pressed the call button for the nurse's station.

Once, twice, three times, no answer. Panic surged through me.

I tried to get out of bed, but the incision screamed in protest.

I didn't care. I had to get to the NICU to see and make sure my babies were safe.

My legs wouldn't hold me. I grabbed the IV pole and used it for support.

I took one step, then another. Pain exploded through my abdomen.

The hallway was empty. My vision blurred. "Where is everyone?" I gasped.

"Help!" I called out.

"Someone help me!"

Footsteps running, a nurse appeared around the corner.

"Mrs. Davis! You shouldn't be out of bed!"

"My babies," I gasped.

"Someone just called, threatened them."

"What did they say?"

"That something would happen to them!"

I grabbed her arm. "That the debt would be paid in blood!"

"Please." My voice broke. "Take me to the NICU."

The nurse's face went pale.

"I need to get security..."

"No time!" I cut her off. "My babies are in danger!"

She hesitated, then nodded.

"Let me get a wheelchair."

She turned to run, then I heard it from the direction of the NICU. An alarm different from the cardiac monitors. This was a security breach protocol.

"No," I whispered.

The nurse's eyes went wide. "Stay here!"

She sprinted toward the alarm.

I tried to follow, but my legs gave out, and I collapsed against the wall, sliding down.

"No, please..."

The alarm kept shrieking.

Voices shouting and many footsteps running too fast. Something was very wrong.

I crawled, dragging myself forward. The IV pole clattered behind me.

Blood seeping through my gown, the incision tearing. I didn't care.

I had to reach them, I had to protect them.

Val appeared at the end of the hallway.

"Alisha!" He screamed and ran toward me.

"The babies," I gasped.

"Someone's after the babies."

His face went hard.

"Stay here."

"No..."

But he was already running, gone. I was alone in the hallway. Bleeding and helpless.

The alarm was still shrieking. And I was too far away to save them.

I tried to crawl forward, but my arms gave out.

Blood pooled beneath me, the incision torn completely open.

My vision blurred, and darkness crept in at the edges.

Stay with me!" I faintly heard a nurse's voice. Hands on me, lifting.

"She's hemorrhaging!"

"Get her to surgery!"

"Now!"

I tried to fight, to speak, but couldn't.