Chapter 78 The Alpha In Charge
Eric’s POV
The city was waking up when we arrived; lights flickering on, streets still half-asleep. I hated that the world kept moving while she lay silent in my arms.
She wasn’t breathing right. Too shallow. Too weak. “Drive faster,” I roared, though the driver was already pushing the limit. My voice didn’t sound like mine. It sounded hollow and broken. The convoy of black SUVs slid to a violent stop in front of the Pack’s biggest hospital. Before anyone could open a door for me, I was already out, holding her close, her head tucked under my chin like I could protect her from death itself.
People were waiting. Too many of them. Doctors. Nurses. A man in a suit I recognized as the hospital head. “Alpha Eric,” he said quickly, almost bowing. “Everything is prepared. The surgeons are ready.”
“Move,” I said. Hands reached for her. I stepped past them.
Murmurs followed us down the hall, shoes squeaking on the polished floor, fear thick in the air. They knew better than to touch her without my permission. Inside the operating room corridor, I finally slowed.
I placed her on the table myself. My hands shook when I pulled back.
She looked fragile. Not like the woman who stood up to monsters. Not like the one who jumped without thinking.
I leaned down, resting my forehead against hers for a second too long. “Stay,” I whispered. “You don’t get to leave me.” I straightened and faced the surgeon. “She lives,” I said simply. “That’s the only outcome I accept.”
The surgeon nodded, pale. “We’ll do everything we can.”
“That won’t be enough,” I replied coldly. “Do more.“The doors shut between us. The red light came on. I stood there for a moment, staring at it, before my legs finally gave out. I dropped into a chair, my hands clasped together like a prayer I didn’t believe in anymore.
Minutes passed. Or hours. I couldn’t tell. Footsteps approached.
Bella. She looked nothing like the woman I’d last seen, her face swollen from crying, her body wrapped in borrowed clothes. She stopped a few steps away from me. “Eric…” her voice trembled. “Is she..?”
I didn’t look at her. “I warned you,” I said quietly.
Bella broke. “I know,” she sobbed. “I was blind. I thought he loved me. I thought I could fix him. I almost got us killed…” She dropped to the floor, crying into her hands.
I didn’t even realize Bella was crying until I heard the muffled sobs. I turned my eyes on her, cold and sharp. “She shouldn’t have saved you,” I said, each word cutting like steel. “You should’ve been the one on that table… bleeding out. Not her.” Her body froze. Then she sank, shaking, onto the floor, hiding her face in her hands.
Footsteps thundered down the hallway. My parents came running, panic written on their faces.
“Bella! Baby, are you hurt?” Mother cried, scooping her up. Bella clung to her, sobbing, but I didn’t flinch.
“And what did you just say to your sister?” the former Alpha barked at me, veins standing out on his neck. “You wish she was on that table instead? That’s your blood! How could you even…”
I didn’t answer. Let them yell. Let them feel a fraction of the fear I’d felt holding Elena in my arms, watching life almost leave her because of Bella. Her mother’s hands inspected Bella’s scraped arms, torn clothes. “Look at you! How could you be so reckless? Where are the nurses? Eric, why did you let this happen to your pregnant sister?”
I ignored them. My eyes stayed on the ER doors. Elena’s life was all that mattered. The doors swung open abruptly. A doctor emerged, scrubbed in blood, face pale. “How is she?” I demanded, stepping forward. My voice was low, a quiet growl that made him flinch.
“She’s… critical, Alpha,” he said. “We’ve lost a lot of blood. We’re doing everything we can, but…”
Bella’s mother’s voice cut through the tension. “Doctor! Check her immediately! She’s the Silver Crest Pack’s heiress. Her life comes first!”
Bella’s whisper was barely audible. “Mom… Elena’s worse off… she’s still in surgery…”
Mother snapped, venom in her tone. “Look at you! Scraped, bleeding, barely standing. You will be treated! Now!”
I growled low in my throat, a sound that carried through the hallway.
“GUARDS!” I barked. Immediately, rifles rose, leveled at the former Alpha and Luna. They froze. My authority was absolute.
“What…are you insane?!” the old Alpha shouted. “Pointing guns at your family? How dare you?”
“I take orders from the CURRENT Alpha,” Nova said sharply, unmoving.
I ignored them. My gaze snapped back to the doctor. “Use every resource,” I said quietly, my voice colder than ice. “Every hand. Every tool. Every doctor on the continent. You will not let her die. Is that understood?”
“Y-yes, Alpha!” The doctor’s voice trembled as he dashed back inside.
The old Alpha slammed his cane on the floor, splintering a faint crack into the air. “How could you! I gave you this Pack to lead! Not to waste resources on some… some ordinary woman! Stop this at once!”
I looked at him, and a humorless, icy laugh slipped out. “Father… you’ve forgotten something. You have no power here. No one in this pack answers to you anymore.”
“You dare speak to me like that?!” he roared. “I am the former Alpha!”
I let his words hang in the air like steel.
