CHAPTER 6: HATE

ELENA'S POV,

The red stained my palms.

It was Molly's blood. My angel's blood, all over my blouse. She was in my arms, but didn't move once she stopped vomiting. I tried calling her name again and again while screaming for help, but she didn't respond. Her eyes were open, and I could hear her heartbeat getting faint. 

“HELP!” I screamed once again, and the nurses and her doctor rushed into the room. 

“Luna! What?!” The doctor saw Molly in my arms, and his face turned pale. “We have to get her to the emergency room.”

One of the nurses pulled me down the bed while the other two took it out of the room. My head was spinning, and my ears were still ringing; everything sounded distant. I had no idea what was happening. I didn't understand what they were saying, but I knew I had to be with her. 

They rushed her away from the room, pushing her bed down the hallway. I followed blindly, stumbling after them like a madwoman. The fear was clutching my heart, and only the worst came to my mind. I prayed to the Moon Goddess to help my angel, but I could feel the lights getting farther away from me. 

“Please! Please save her! You have to save her, it's an order,” I screamed, grabbing the arm of the nurse closest to me. “She's just a baby. My baby.”

“We will do our best, Luna. For now, you've to stay outside.” The others took her inside the emergency room while he stayed with me. 

“No, no, no, no…” I-I can't leave my baby right now. She needs me in there, she's alone and afraid. “Please… save my baby.” 

I fell to the ground, staring at the cold metal door. 

“I have to go inside to help them, please take care of yourself, Luna.” He rushed inside, shutting the door on my face before two female nurses came, and helped me stand. 

“Take a seat on the chair, Luna,” one of them said as they led me toward the waiting chairs.

I sat down and waited while listening to the chaos inside, the buzz of machines, the shouts of commands. I tried to stop my wolf hearing because I didn't want to hear the hopelessness in their voices, but I couldn't. It was like a punishment or torture for some past mistakes. 

I didn't know what to do, so I reached out again.

‘Julian.’

‘Julian, Molly is very sick. Please come!’

I was met with Silence, even after several tries. He didn't respond, I couldn't feel him on the other side. Yet, I didn't give up, I kept trying to connect to him. I wanted her to see him at least once before anything happened. Seeing him was her only wish. 

‘Julian, please. Please answer. It's Molly. You've got to come back for her.’

Once again, nothing; I didn't feel any connection. It was as if he were blocking the link. I pulled out my phone and dialed his number because that was the only option. I wiped my tears and called his number once, twice, ten times, twenty times.

He didn't answer. 

And just then, the sounds behind the emergency room door quieted. In my heart, I already knew what had happened; I felt it even before the door opened and her doctor came out. Tears were already falling down my face, and I sensed a small crowd gathering around me. 

The doctor didn’t speak a word. He just looked at me. There were tears in his eyes. 

“No... no. No, please,” I whispered, standing slowly. “You are lying! You don't understand… she's my world.” 

He bowed his head. “We did everything we could, Luna. I'm so sorry. I hope the Goddess gives you strength.”

“She is waiting for you inside,” the nurse from before said when he came out. “You can see her.”

I barely heard the words because I moved past him into the room and saw her. My beautiful daughter.

She was lying on the hospital bed, lifeless, like a rag doll. Her little chest was no longer rising, and her eyes were closed—her lashes resting gently on her pale cheeks. She looked like she was sleeping, like she might wake up anytime and ask me again if Daddy was coming.

He never came, and she died waiting for him. 

I reached for her, feeling a vacuum in my chest when I lifted her body into my arms. She was still warm. I was begging the Goddess to wake her up, to give back the life that was stolen, but no one heard my prayers. 

I held her and rocked her in my arms like I used to when she was a child. 

And when she didn't move once again, that's when it settled over me. She wasn't waking up anymore. She was gone, forever. The light of my life was gone, and now there was only darkness left behind, nothing more. 

“MOLLY! MY BABY!” I screamed, letting the pain consume me. 

I was sure the whole hospital heard me crying. They knew I had lost my daughter, and the Alpha wasn't there for his family. The nurses came and asked me to give her body so that they could wash her before the final rites. However, I was not ready to leave her yet, I wanted to hold her a little longer. 

He left knowing what I meant, and I sobbed until I couldn't breathe, until I couldn’t see, until my voice was gone.

“I'm so sorry,” I whispered into her ear. “I'm so, so sorry, my angel. Mommy tried. Mommy tried so hard to help you.”

It hadn't been enough, my tries weren't enough because I couldn't even fulfill her last wish. Julian never came to see her, and she died waiting for him. Waiting for the man who promised to love and protect us. The man who once looked me in the eyes and told me our daughter was his whole world.

Yet, he didn’t even answer the phone.

I kissed her forehead one last time, feeling her skin getting cold under my touch, and I wrapped her tightly in the blanket the nurse handed me. I was holding her as if I could somehow take back time and bring her back.

I looked at the door and the people standing around it and realized how much his absence was speaking. He should have been there, mourning with me. Begging for forgiveness from her, and losing his mind over our daughter's departure. But he never came for her, and a hollow silence filled my chest, swallowing every scream, every tear, every hope I once had for our family.

This was the moment I understood that I was alone. Molly was gone, and so was the small part of me that still believed in him. I held my daughter, the light of my life, and let the hatred take root where the love once was. 

I hated Julian more than anything else.