"She's unconscious," Leo said through gritted teeth, his hands clenching into fists at his sides, his whole body trembling with the effort of holding himself back from doing something he'd regret. "She can't consent. You're asking us to?—"
"I'm asking you to save her life," Mercer replied, not unkindly, his voice softening just slightly around the edges. "I understand the ethical concerns. I do. But the alternative is watching her slip away over the next few hours while her heart gives out. Her body will respond to the knotting regardless of her conscious state. It may even bring her back to awareness faster than anything else we could try."
He packed up his bag with efficient movements, leaving a few vials on the bedside table. "Sedatives, if you need them. And stimulants, in case her heart rate drops too low during the process. I'd recommend having someone monitor her vitals throughout." He paused at the door, looking back at us with something that might have been sympathy, his weathered face softening for just a moment. "I know this isn't the choice you wanted to make. But it's the only choice that gives her a chance."
Then he was gone, and we were alone with the weight of what he'd said. The silence stretched between us, thick and suffocating, pressing down on my shoulders like a physical weight. Ava's breathing filled the room, shallow and labored, a constant reminder of how little time we had.
"I'll do it." The words came from my own mouth before I'd consciously decided to speak them. My brothers' heads snapped toward me, their eyes wide with varying degrees of shock and protest.
"Mason—" Leo started, his voice sharp with warning, his pale eyes blazing with something between fury and fear.
"I'm the head Alpha of this pack," I said, cutting him off, my voice steady even as my hands trembled at my sides. I forced myself to meet each of their eyes in turn, Leo's furious, Caleb's anguished, Ethan's calculating. "This is my responsibility. My decision. If there's blame to be carried for this, it falls on me. Not any of you."
"That's bullshit," Leo snarled, surging to his feet, his hands clenched into fists that shook with barely contained rage. "We're all here. We all agreed to?—"
"You didn't agree to anything," I interrupted firmly, stepping forward to grip his shoulder, forcing him to meet my eyes. "You argued against it. You tried to find another way. When she wakes up — and she will wake up, you can tell her that. You can tell her you fought for her, that you didn't want this." I swallowed hard,my throat tight with emotion I couldn't afford to show. "But someone has to do it, Leo. Someone has to make the call. And I'm the head Alpha. That's what that means. I carry the weight so you don't have to."
Leo stared at me, his chest heaving, his eyes bright with unshed tears he'd never admit to. For a long moment, I thought he'd argue more, thought he'd fight me on this until Ava's heart gave out and it was too late. Then his shoulders slumped, the fight draining out of him all at once. "I hate this," he said, his voice rough and broken, cracking on the words like glass shattering. "I hate everything about this."
"I know," I said softly, squeezing his shoulder before letting go. "I do too."
"Mason." Caleb's voice drew my attention, soft and wounded, his pale eyes swimming with tears as he looked up at me from where he still cradled Ava against his chest. His arms tightened around her unconsciously, protective and desperate all at once. "Are you sure? I could— if you don't want to?—"
"I'm sure," I said, moving toward the nest, each step feeling like I was walking through water, heavy and slow and inevitable. I knelt beside him, reaching out to brush a strand of hair from Ava's pale face, my fingers trembling against her cool skin. "She's my responsibility, Caleb. She's all of ours, but I'm the head Alpha. This falls on me."
Ethan was already moving, repositioning himself with his tablet in hand, his gray eyes fixed on the screen with desperate focus. "I'll monitor her vitals throughout," he said, his voice tight and controlled, hiding his emotions behind clinical efficiency the way he always did. "Heart rate, oxygen levels, stress hormones. If anything goes wrong?—"
"It won't," I said, with a certainty I didn't feel. "It can't." We rearranged ourselves around the nest, each of us taking our positions like soldiers preparing for battle. Leo settled at herhead, his fingers threading through her hair with a gentleness that belied the fury still simmering in his eyes. Caleb pressed against her side, his hand wrapped around hers, his lips moving in what might have been a prayer. Ethan sat cross-legged at the edge of the nest, his tablet balanced on his knee, his eyes flicking between the screen and Ava's face.
I moved between her legs, my hands shaking as I pushed aside the blankets.
She was wearing one of Caleb's shirts, we'd dressed her in it hours ago, desperate to surround her with pack scent, and nothing else. The shirt had ridden up around her hips, exposing the pale expanse of her thighs, the dark curls at the apex of her legs. She looked vulnerable. Fragile. Completely at our mercy. My Alpha roared with possessive need, and I shoved the instinct down ruthlessly. This wasn't about want. This wasn't about desire. This was about saving her life.
"I'm sorry," I whispered, leaning down to press my lips to her forehead, breathing in her sour, sick scent and trying to remember what she smelled like when she was happy. Honey and wildflowers. Safety and home. "I'm so sorry, Ava. Forgive me."
I freed myself from my pants with trembling hands, my cock hardening despite the circumstances, my body responding to the proximity of my Omega even as my mind recoiled from what I was about to do. I positioned myself at her entrance, feeling the heat of her against the tip of my length, and had to close my eyes against the wave of self-loathing that crashed over me.
Then I pushed inside. She was tight around me, her body resisting the intrusion even in unconsciousness, and I had to go slow, easing in inch by inch with a patience that bordered on torture. My jaw clenched so hard my teeth ached, my whole body trembling with the effort of holding back, of being gentle,of treating her like the precious thing she was even as I violated the trust she'd placed in us.
"Her heart rate is climbing," Ethan said quietly, his voice strained but steady, an anchor in the storm of guilt and desperation. "Stress hormones are starting to drop. It's... it's working, Mason."
I nodded, not trusting myself to speak, and began to move. I kept my thrusts slow and shallow, my hands braced on either side of her hips, my eyes fixed on her face for any sign of distress. She remained still and pale beneath me, her breathing shallow but steadier than before, her body accepting what her mind couldn't consent to.
"That's it," Ethan murmured, his fingers flying across his tablet as he tracked her vitals. "Oxygen levels are improving. Heart rhythm is stabilizing. Keep going."
I closed my eyes and let my body take over, falling into a rhythm that was mechanical, methodical, stripped of any pleasure or passion. This was medicine. This was necessity. This was the hardest thing I'd ever done. Through the bond, I felt my brothers' emotions swirling around me like a storm. Leo's fury and helplessness. Caleb's anguish and desperate hope. Ethan's clinical detachment barely masking his fear. And beneath it all, faint but growing stronger, Ava's presence stirring like someone waking from a deep sleep.
"She's reaching for us," Caleb breathed, his eyes going wide, his hand tightening around hers. "Through the bond. She's reaching."
I felt it too, a flutter in my chest, weak but unmistakable, like a hand grasping for a lifeline. My Alpha latched onto that feeling with desperate relief, and I picked up my pace just slightly, my knot beginning to swell at the base of my cock.
"Mason," Leo said, his voice rough with something I couldn't identify. His eyes were fixed on Ava's face, his fingers still stroking through her hair. "Her eyes. I think she's?—"
Her eyelids fluttered. I froze, my heart slamming against my ribs, my knot half-swollen and catching on her entrance. "Ava?"
Another flutter. A soft sound, barely a breath, more whimper than word. And then, slowly, impossibly, her eyes opened. They were glassy and unfocused, swimming with confusion and the remnants of unconsciousness. She blinked once, twice, her brow furrowing as she tried to make sense of what she was seeing, the ceiling of the nest room, blurred shapes hovering over her, sensations she couldn't quite place. Her lips parted, but no sound came out, just a ragged breath that caught in her throat.
"Ava." Leo's voice was rough, cracked with relief, his fingers still stroking through her hair. "Ava, can you hear us?" Her eyes drifted toward the sound, unfocused and slow, like she was moving through water. She tried to speak again, but it came out as a croak, her throat too dry, her body too weak. Then her gaze moved downward, following the strange sensations in her body, and I watched the moment she realized.
