Kieran:
I had never waited so desperately to hear the sound of a door opening as much as I did in that moment.
The doors of the emergency room swung outward, and the attending doctor stepped into the hallway, his mask pulled down, his expression grave.
My stomach dropped instantly. The air around us seemed to thicken, and I could hear Oscar's sharp inhale, Draven's boots scraping against the floor as he surged forward, and River's aura pressing down on all of us like a thundercloud about to break.
The doctor's eyes flicked between us, wary, as though he knew one wrong word might cost him his life. "Alpha," he addressed River first, his voice steady but heavy. "We need to move her. The contractions have started… the baby is on the way."
For a second, I didn't breathe.
Contractions. Baby.
My knees almost gave out under me, and I found myself gripping the back of a waiting chair in the hallway just to keep standing.
