They worked methodically while contractions tore through me like waves ripping my body apart. My consciousness grew hazier. I could barely make out what they were saying.
The delivery was difficult. Without a mate present, without pheromones to soothe me, an Omega's body instinctively resisted. I could hear Novella howling inside me. She needed Elias, the man who would never come.
"Heart rate dropping!" A nurse's voice turned sharp.
"No choice. Prep for C-section!" the doctor ordered calmly.
A scalpel sliced through my skin. My soul seemed to float out of my body. The smell of blood grew overwhelming, suffocating.
"Waaah—"
Suddenly, a baby's piercing cry rang out. Like a trumpet blast, it injected life back into my fading spirit.
The baby! My baby was born!
Let me see my baby!
I screamed the words in my mind, but the doctors and nurses ignored me completely. They passed the infant among themselves, celebrating. "It's a boy! A healthy baby boy!"
"Quick, notify Mr. Alfred!"
Someone picked up the baby and headed for the door. One nurse glanced at me, then asked the doctor nearby, "She's hemorrhaging badly. Should we give her a transfusion?"
"No need." The doctor stitching my abdomen didn't even look up. "Mr. Alfred said the child is all that matters. The mother can be disposed of early if circumstances allow. Get the baby to the nursery first and arrange proper care. As for her?—"
The doctor's gaze lingered on me for less than a second before he snipped the last suture. "Her task is complete. This is all we can do. She's on her own now."
They left me there. Everyone walked out with the baby.
The lights switched off one by one. Footsteps faded into the distance. The final door clicked shut, echoing in my ears.
My wound was still bleeding. Warm liquid dripped from the edge of the operating table onto the floor.Drip. Drip. Drip.My body temperature was dropping. Cold crept from my fingertips, spreading through my entire body.
Death had never felt so close.
So this was how it ended.
I had given birth, completed my "task," and now I was being discarded like a used tool.
How pathetic. I had thought I could negotiate with Alfred. But that cunning old wolf had probably never intended to let a lowly-blooded Omega like me leave alive.
But I didn't want to die.
The will to survive surged through me. Instinct flooded my limbs with sudden strength. I rolled off the operating table and crashed to the floor. The wound tore open. The pain nearly knocked me unconscious. I sucked in a sharp breath, clung to awareness, then crawled across the floor like a dying animal, leaving a long trail of blood behind me.
The operating room door wasn't locked.
The hallway outside was empty.
All the medical staff had gone to tend to the precious heir. No one cared about me anymore. I had finally gotten my "freedom."
Drawing on memory, I used the wall to pull myself upright. Step by agonizing step, I made it to a doctor's office on the same floor. I found some basic bandages and wrapped my woundhaphazardly to slow the bleeding. Then I found a phone that could call outside.
Pain blurred my thoughts. My fingers moved on pure instinct as I dialed. Halfway through the number, I realized I wasn't calling emergency services or the police.
I was calling Elias.
The number was carved so deep into my heart I could never forget it. The most familiar string of digits I knew.
