Chapter 4

Elena POV

The pain wasn't just a sensation; it was a predator, tearing me apart from the inside out.

"Don't push yet!" the young intern stammered, his hands shaking violently as he adjusted the screaming monitors. "The doctor... the doctor is coming."

"They aren't coming," I gritted out, the salt of sweat and tears stinging my eyes. "They're with her."

The door banged open. I surged with a pathetic flicker of hope, thinking maybe, just maybe, Damien had remembered me.

But it was just the Beta, Marcus. He looked ill at ease, holding a clipboard like a shield against the scene before him.

"The Alpha needs you to sign this," he said, studiously avoiding my gaze. "It's a liability waiver for the medical procedure. Since... since resources are split."

I laughed. It was a wet, ragged sound that scraped my throat. "Liability? I'm dying, and he's worried about a lawsuit?"

"He's worried about the heir," Marcus mumbled, his voice barely audible over the hum of the machines.

"Which one?" I spat.

Marcus didn't answer. He just held out the clipboard, his jaw tight.

I grabbed the pen. My hand was shaking so hard I could barely maintain my grip. But I didn't sign the waiver. Instead, I reached into my bag, which had been carelessly thrown onto the chair beside the bed.

I pulled out the envelope. The one I had prepared weeks ago.

"Give this to him," I gasped, shoving the envelope at Marcus.

"What is it?"

"The end," I whispered.

Another contraction hit, and my vision went white. Through the haze, I heard the commotion outside in the hallway-a sound that shattered my remaining heart.

"It's a boy!" someone cheered. "Victoria has a healthy boy!"

The sound of applause. Joy. Celebration.

While I lay in a cold room, bleeding onto industrial hospital sheets.

"Marcus," I grabbed the Beta's arm, my nails digging into his skin hard enough to draw blood. "Get a witness. Now."

He looked at me, really looked at me, and I saw the conflict warring with pity in his eyes. Finally, his wolf yielded. He nodded and pulled a terrified nurse forward.

"I, Elena Sterling, declare my bond with Alpha Damien severed," I rasped, the ancient words tasting like ash in my mouth. "I reject his protection. I reject his name. I reject his heart."

The air in the room seemed to snap audibly. A physical pressure released from my chest, leaving a gaping, hollow hole behind.

I signed the document. Elena Sterling. Not Luna. Not wife. Just me.

"It takes seven days to finalize," Marcus said quietly, taking the paper with trembling fingers. "You know the law."

"I won't be here in seven days," I said.

The intern shouted, "BP is crashing! She's hemorrhaging!"

The world started to go dark at the edges. The sounds of the celebration down the hall faded into a dull, mocking buzz.

I saw Damien in my mind's eye. Not the cold Alpha, but the man who once put a jacket over my shoulders by the lake. He had touched my hair then. He had smiled.

Why didn't you love me? I asked the ghost of him.

Then the darkness swallowed me whole.

When I woke up, the room was silent. The storm had passed.

I was alive.

But I felt lighter. Emptier.

I looked at the nurse. She was wiping blood from the floor.

"My baby?" I asked, my voice a broken whisper.

She stopped wiping. She didn't turn around.

"Beta Marcus took care of everything," she said. Her voice was flat, professional, detached.

I closed my eyes.

"Damien?" I asked.

"He's with the new heir," she said.

I nodded against the pillow.

"Good," I whispered. "Because he doesn't have a wife anymore."

I reached for the phone on the bedside table. My fingers were numb, but I dialed the number I had memorized a lifetime ago.

"Dad," I said when the line clicked open.

Silence stretched for a heartbeat before I finished.

"Come get me."