“There we go!” she announced.
I laughed in disbelief that I’d somehow survived the ordeal. But something else happened in that split second—and two deliveries happened at once.
The baby began crying when Milly cleaned the mouth and nasal passages.
Something snapped inside me—a connection severed. My vision blurred, and all the sounds muffled until I wentcompletely deaf. I gripped the chair, my heart skipping around in my chest.
“I’m dizzy,” I mumbled before collapsing onto the floor.
“Milly!” Hope shrieked.
“Take the baby.”
Hope clutched the wrapped-up infant while Milly turned me over.
“Joy? Joy!” Milly pressed her fingers to my neck and then straightened my body out. “Alpha! Get in here!”
I watched in confusion as she turned me onto my back. Tak burst into the room, and his gleeful smile turned into a shocked grimace when he saw her pumping my chest.
I’m not in my body. What’s happening to me? Please no!
The pack filed in, their eyes wide as they stared at Milly while she continued chest compressions.
Salem rushed past them, assessed the situation, and ran out, knocking Lakota over in the process.
“You can’t leave me!” I shouted at him, but my complaints fell on deaf ears.
Kneeling beside my body, I touched my chest as if that might pull my spirit back inside.
Atticus was there. “Let me help.”
“Your blood can’t restart a heart,” she snapped.
I cried invisible tears.
Salem burst into the room with something in his hand and sat on the other side of my unconscious body. “Move her gown. Hurry!”
While Milly continued compressions, Tak reached behind my neck and untied the gown. He gave it a yank and pulled it down to my waist, and I was suddenly embarrassed to be on display in my final moments. I didn’t want to be remembered this way.
After sticking two patches to my chest and side, Salem shouted, “Clear!”
Milly leaned away as he delivered the shock.
“It didn’t work,” Atticus said, the desperation in his voice cutting through me like a knife. He crouched at my feet with his hands over his mouth.
Milly continued chest compressions.
“Please, please!” I cried, looking up at my pack. “I’m not ready to die.”
Melody clutched Lakota. “This can’t be happening.”
Archer cursed under his breath while consoling Cecilia, who—unable to watch—buried her face in his chest.
Virgil patted Archer’s shoulder. “It’s gonna be okay.”
“Clear!”
The device administered another shock of electricity.
