Chapter 5. I’m F*cked

Selena was frozen for about five to ten seconds before her mind snapped her back to reality.

“Lily…” she whispered to herself as she rushed out of the office, chasing after Elijah. Her blood was rushing and her heart was pounding so hard she could barely breathe.

Elijah entered a room and she followed him in. That was when she saw her little sister. Lily was convulsing, her entire body shaking violently and her fingers stiff. Before Selena could even process it, Lily suddenly went still and the monitor beside her flatlined, a long, piercing sound filling the room.

“Oh my god!” her mother cried when the woman ran in and saw what was happening.

“Get them out of here!” one of the nurses shouted, but Elijah raised his hand to stop her.

“No, they can stay. Just keep them back.” His voice was calm but urgent as he took control of the room. Before Selena knew it, he had grabbed something from the nearby tray. A nurse poured a white liquid onto it, and Elijah rubbed his hands together before shouting, “Clear!”

Everyone stepped back and he shocked Lily.

The machine continued to scream. Nothing changed. “Charge it to…” he said, his voice blending into the chaos, “Clear!” The nurses stepped back again, and he shocked her once more. “She’s in V-fib!”

Selena felt detached from her own body as she watched everything happen in front of her. Her little sister’s heart had stopped. She was dead. They were fighting to bring her back, but from the way things looked, Selena could tell that nothing was going to be fine.

And this destroyed her.

She turned and walked out, the sounds of her mother’s wailing and the chaos in the room fading into the distance.

Once outside, she collapsed into one of the seats in the waiting area, her eyes blankly fixed on the wall. Her heart was pounding and each breath she took felt too loud in her ears.

It was like time had slowed, and not in a good way.

Breathing was getting harder. The longer she sat there, the worse it became. She needed to leave. She felt like she was suffocating, like she was dying.

Selena stood, but her head spun. The world tilted, blurred, and steadied just enough for her to move.

She walked away from the waiting room, her chest heavy, her body trembling. The cold had crept into her bones, making her shake as her breath came out in shallow gasps.

She needed to get away from her mother’s cries. They tore her heart apart. She needed to get away from that haunting, constant sound of the flatline echoing from Lily’s room.

She needed to escape the sight of nurses rushing frantically, the smell of antiseptic, and the bond that tied her to Elijah and all its pain.

She just needed to get away from it all.

Outside the building, she broke into a run. And once she started, she couldn’t stop. Her legs carried her faster and faster until she shifted into her wolf mid-run.

The forest blurred around her as her heart weighed heavier than a thousand stones. She ran without thinking, without feeling, her only goal was to escape the unbearable ache inside her chest.

She wanted everything to go quiet. She wanted peace. She wanted to stop existing, even just for a few minutes.

The wind whipped through her fur, her heart raced, her mind empty but full of pain all at once.

Then, in a single blink, everything changed.

She hadn’t seen the car coming. One moment she was running, the next she collided with the speeding vehicle, her body thrown violently across the road. Agonizing pain shot through every bone and muscle.

She couldn’t move. Her vision darkened at the edges. After what felt like forever, her eyes fluttered open and she saw a man crouched beside her.

She was no longer in her wolf form. Naked and trembling, she felt a blanket being draped over her. Her gaze stayed locked on him, her lips parting but no words coming out.

His face was blurry. His mouth moved, but she couldn’t hear him. Then, slowly, her vision began to clear, and that was when she realized who he was.

It was him. The Alpha of the pack.

This was the first time she had seen him in person. But why was he helping her? Was it fate? A coincidence? Or had he been the one who hit her with the car?

“I’m so sorry,” he said, his voice breaking through the ringing in her ears. “I’m going to make sure you’re okay. I promise you that.”

Selena wanted to speak, but the pain intensified, spreading through her chest and limbs. Her vision blurred again, her hearing fading until everything went dark.

She was swallowed by unconsciousness, with no idea if she was dying or if she would survive.

When she finally woke up, she was in a bed. Someone was sitting beside her. The pain was still there, but it had dulled just enough for her to move.

“Selena Crawford,” the man said, standing from his seat. “I’ve learned everything about you, and…”

“Lily…” Selena sat up suddenly, her heart pounding. “How is she?”

“It’s your little sister you’re worried about?” His tone darkened. “You attempted to kill the Alpha of the pack while he was driving, and you’re worried about Lily? Dear, your entire life is about to be ruined. And I will personally make sure of it.”