Chapter 5_Drax Pov

The hospital smelled like antiseptic and death. I hated it here but Doctor Raymond insisted I couldn't skip my monthly checkups anymore.

"Your vitals are stable." Raymond looked up from his tablet. "But the tremors are getting worse."

I flexed my hand and felt the familiar weakness spreading through my fingers. The illness that had plagued me since birth. The thing that made me less than what I should be.

"I'm managing."

"You're deteriorating." Raymond set down the tablet. "We need to discuss alternative treatments."

"We've discussed everything. Nothing works."

"There's always hope."

I stood because this conversation was going nowhere.

"If that's all Doctor."

"Drax wait." Raymond moved to block the door. "I know you don't like being here but your health matters."

"I'll be back next month."

I walked out before he could argue.

The hospital corridor was busy with nurses and patients. I kept my head down and my presence suppressed. Most people didn't recognize me when I wasn't actively projecting authority.

I preferred it that way.

I was almost to the exit when I saw her through the glass doors.

A woman lying in the street, she was not moving.

Blood pooling around her.

I pushed through the doors and ran. My legs felt weak but I forced them to work. A car had stopped nearby. The driver was on his phone looking panicked.

I reached her and dropped to my knees.

Her face was pale. Too pale. But I recognized it immediately even though I hadn't seen her in years.

Eloise.

Eloise from college. The girl who'd challenged every argument I made in class. The one who'd rolled her eyes at me whenever I spoke. The one I'd told myself I hated even though I couldn't stop thinking about her.

She was pregnant and bleeding.

"Did you hit her?" I looked at the driver.

"She fell into the road. I tried to stop but…" His voice was shaking.

I pressed my fingers to her neck. Her pulse was weak but there.

Then something hit me like lightning to the chest.

The mate bond.

It snapped into place so hard I had to brace myself against the pavement. My wolf surged inside me for the first time in months. Not the weak restless thing I'd gotten used to. This was power. Raw and undeniable.

She was mine.

After all these years. After telling myself I was better off alone. After watching her get married from a distance.

She was my mate.

I touched her face and her skin was cold.

"Eloise." I said her name and my voice came out rough. "Stay with me."

She didn't respond.

Sirens wailed in the distance getting closer.

My wolf was going insane inside me. Demanding I protect her. Demanding I claim her. Demanding I make whoever hurt her pay.

But she was unconscious and bleeding and pregnant with another man's child.

The ambulance pulled up and paramedics jumped out.

"Sir we need you to step back."

I didn't want to move. Every instinct told me to stay close to her.

But I forced myself to stand and let them work.

They checked her vitals. Put an oxygen mask on her face, lifted her onto a stretcher.

"She's in premature labor." One paramedic said to the other. "BP is dropping. We need to move now."

They loaded her into the ambulance.

"Wait." I grabbed the door before they could close it. "Which hospital?"

"St Mary's. Sir you can't…"

"I'm coming with you."

"Family only."

"I'm her…" I stopped. What was I? Nothing to her. A stranger from her past who she probably didn't even remember. "I found her. I'm not leaving her alone."

The paramedic looked at his partner who shrugged.

"Fine. But stay out of our way."

I climbed in and sat on the small bench. They closed the doors and the siren started.

The paramedic worked over Eloise. Checking monitors. Adjusting the IV. Talking into his radio about her condition.

I watched her face. Pale and still. Blood on her clothes. Her hand resting on her swollen stomach.

The mate bond pulled at me. Demanded I touch her. Comfort her. Do something.

But I kept my hands to myself and just watched.

"How far along is she?" I asked.

"Looks like eight months. Maybe a little less." The paramedic frowned at the monitor. "Baby's heartbeat is weak. This doesn't look good."

My chest tightened.

"She'll be okay though. Both of them."

He didn't answer. Just kept working.

The ambulance took a sharp turn and I braced myself against the wall. We were close to the hospital now. I could see it through the small window.

"We're losing the baby's heartbeat." The paramedic's voice was urgent. "Call ahead. Tell them we need an OR ready."

The other one grabbed his radio.

I looked at Eloise and felt helpless. Completely useless.

My mate was dying and I couldn't do anything except sit here and watch.

The ambulance pulled into the emergency bay. The doors flew open and more medical staff appeared.

"Pregnant female. Twenty four years old. Hit by a car. Premature labor with placental abruption suspected." The paramedic rattled off information as they wheeled her out.

I followed behind them.

"Sir you need to stay in the waiting area." A nurse tried to stop me.

"No."

"Sir—"

"I'm not leaving her." I let some of my alpha presence slip through. Enough to make the nurse step back. "Find Doctor Raymond. Tell him Drax Bez needs him immediately."

The nurse's eyes widened.

"Yes sir."

She ran off and I followed Eloise's stretcher through the emergency doors.

Doctors and nurses swarmed around her. Someone cut away her bloody clothes. Someone else hooked up more monitors.

"BP is critical."

"Fetal heartbeat is almost gone."

"Get her to OR three now."

They rushed her down the hallway and through double doors marked Surgery.

A different nurse stopped me at the entrance.

"You can't go past this point."

I wanted to argue. Wanted to push past her and stay with Eloise.

But I forced myself to stop.

Doctor Raymond appeared looking confused.

"Drax? What's going on? I thought you left."

"The woman they just brought in. Eloise Vale." I kept my voice steady even though my wolf was tearing me apart inside. "I want your best surgical team on her case. I want hourly updates and I want her moved to a private room after surgery."

Raymond's confusion deepened.

"Do you know her?"

"That doesn't matter. Just do it."

"Drax I can't just reassign staff without—"

"Yes you can. And you will." I met his eyes. "She doesn't die. Understand?"

Something in my expression must have convinced him because he nodded.

"I'll make sure she gets the best care."

"And the baby?"

Raymond's face fell slightly.

"We'll do everything we can."

He disappeared through the surgery doors.

I stood there in the hallway staring at those doors.

My mate was on the other side fighting for her life. Fighting for her baby's life.

And there was nothing I could do except wait.

Eloise was my mate. She was married to one of my sub alphas.

She was pregnant with his child.

And she had no idea I existed beyond a few arguments in a college classroom five years ago.