“She’s going to be okay,” I assured her. I wanted to believe that she was going to pull through this.
“I hope so,” she replied softly, wiping her tears away. I pulled her to her feet and hugged her. There were so many of us who loved and cared for Keri. She couldn’t die on us. We needed her.
“Um,” I heard Cade say from behind me, and I released Scarlett. There was a warning in his gaze. Cade was really possessive over Scarlett—friend or not, he didn’t like anyone else touching her.
Scarlett looked to her mate and he stepped forward. He took her face in his hands and brushed the remaining tears away with his thumbs.
“She will pull through,” he told her, trying to ease her fear, and he wrapped his arms around her.
Watching the two of them together made the pain in my chest worsen. There was nothing I wouldn’t give to be able to hold Keri in my arms like I watched Cade hold Scarlett. I turned back to Keri and took a deep breath as I pulled up the chair and sat down.
Holding her hand in mine gave me a moment of peace. Scarlett left with Cade and I was left alone with my mate. I wasn’t sure if she could hear me but I wanted to tell her how much we needed her to come back to us, to me.
“Hi, baby,” I started and cleared my throat as my eyes scanned her face. I wanted her to say something back but there was nothing.
“I’m angry that you fought Richard… but, as an alpha, I understand and… I would have done the same. You have always been so guarded and careful not to let anyone close so they wouldn’t be able to hurt you,” I began to say. “But you have no idea how many hearts you’ve crept into and how many people you’ve affected.”
I paused for a moment.
“I love you, so much. But there are so many people who are scared you won’t wake up, baby.” I swallowed hard, trying to contain my own emotion. “You had a hard and lonely life but you’ll never be alone again. Your entire pack is waiting outside the medical center. They need you to wake up. I need you to wake up.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Blake
Time slowed down as one minute ticked into two. One hour became two and one day passed into another. Three days passed, but she never woke up and the hope I was hanging on to began slipping away. I tried to stay positive but it was really hard with no improvement in her condition.
Kyle was also feeling the hopelessness of the situation and it was hard to sit across from him in Keri’s hospital room, seeing the resignation on his face. It was harder each day to sit by her side and hold her hand, telling her how much she meant to me. I gave her so many reasons why she needed to wake up but it made no difference.
I had no idea if she could hear me but I hoped that if she felt the love that I felt for her, it would give her the strength to wake up. The steady beeping from the medical equipment echoed in the room, reminding me that she was depending on machines to keep her alive.
After the second day, I’d told Scarlett and Cade that they could leave, but Cade had shaken his head and Scarlett had pretended I hadn’t said anything.
“We aren’t going anywhere,” Cade had told me. “You need us.”
He’d been right. He knew me better than I knew myself. I couldn’t concentrate on anything other than Keri and the fear that was growing that despite everything being done we were going to lose her.
I appreciated that they had stayed to help because they helped Curtis with the running of day-to-day tasks of the pack, which allowed Curtis and I the time to give Keri our full attention. I never wanted Keri to be alone in case she woke up, so if I wasn’t with her, Kyle was.
Curtis had been keeping a close eye on Keri and even though he was doing everything he could, she remained the same. He couldn’t give us the miracle we were all praying for. He was under a tremendous amount of pressure and the fact that he cared about her made him push himself to do everything he could.
I was sitting with Keri with her hand to my lips as I watched her silently. Curtis walked in and I glanced at him.
The look on his face filled me with dread. It was bad news.
“What?” I asked, feeling anxious as I stood up. I could tell that whatever he was going to tell me was something I wouldn’t want to hear. I continued to hold Keri’s hand as I faced him. The calming touch of our connection kept me calm even with the swirl of negative emotions building up inside of me.
Curtis pressed his lips together. It was like he was struggling to find the right words to tell me what he needed to.
“Just spit it out,” I demanded. Even if it wasn’t something I wanted to hear, I was impatient to know.
“Every day that she remains unresponsive…her odds of waking up decrease,” he explained. The sadness in his eyes told me volumes. He didn’t think she was going to wake up.
“She has to wake up,” I said, wanting to believe the words I’d just spoken. Curtis shook his head.
“We have to face the reality that she isn’t,” he said with such a finality it felt like my heart had been ripped from my chest. I was left breathless and struggling to breathe as his words sank in. “I know it’s a lot to take in but she wouldn’t want to be kept alive like this,” Curtis said and his voice broke slightly on the last word.
I shook my head when I realized what he was saying.
