“Hello, little one,” I whisper. Swallowing, I hold him to Em. She tries to raise her arms and fails, and Leah lets out a sob as she carefully lifts her cousins’ arms so I can settle our son against his chest.
“Nash,” she whispers softly. “So… beautiful…”
“Nik.” Max stands beside me, his arms drenched in my wife’s blood.
“We have to take her to the hospital,” he forces out. I recoil.
“We can’t,” I hiss. “The Compound—”
“She’s dying, brother,” Max’s voice breaks, and I stagger. He grabs my arm to hold me up, leaving a bloody handprint on my sleeve.
“She needs more help than I can give her here. We have to go now.”
Leah cries out behind me, and I spin to see her sweep our son out of Emery’s arms. My mates arms and legs jerk, her body twisting on the bed like a puppet.
“Em,” I shout. “Emery!”
Max shouts instructions behind me as Bastien and Luc burst through the doors, their faces painted with horror. He climbs on the bed, pushing down on her chest and giving her oxygen, but it’s no good.
All I can do is watch.
As the forever we were promised disappears like smoke.
As my wife’s beautiful eyes turn glassy and blank.
As my Emery dies in front of me.
* * *
“Nikolai!”
Bastien is shaking me, his gaze concerned. I push him away. “I’m all right,” I say hoarsely. “What are we doing?”
Max looks at me, his expression understanding.
“Ezra agrees with me that this isn’t physical. He believes – and so do I – that Ava’s experiencing a severe PTSD episode. She could very well be aware of what’s happening around her, but we don’t know.”
Luc beckons him impatiently. “So how do we help her?”
Max hesitates. “We have to build her a nest.”
A nest.
My mind pulls me back to Emery, gathering blankets and shirts and taking over the basement of our house.
“A what?” Bastien asks dumbfoundedly.
“It’s an omega thing.” They all look at me with varying degrees of concern and confusion, and I ignore them as I focus on Ava. Turning, I take in the bare wooden walls, the open spaces, the lack of anything especially soft.
“She needs to feel cared for, by us,” I whisper, and Max nods.
There’s a lump of lead inside my chest. I don’t know if I can do this.
Bastien looks between us, his jaw clenched. “I really fucked this up, didn’t I? Telling her to have some space, away from us?”
Max shakes his head. “You didn’t know, Bas. That would have been the right move for anyone else. It’s not your fault.”
“Right, then.” Luc stands up, carefully balancing Ava in his arms. She’s so still and silent. He glances down at her and pulls her closer before he looks up.
