Broken Bonds

Chapter 15: Life

Huxley's POV:

Blood

So much blood

It's running down her thighs and I can't seem to staunch the flow. I'm yelling for help. I can't seem to think beyond this red substance.

Ellie is slowly backing away. Afraid this is her fault, afraid of what I will do to her, what the alpha will do to her. I'm linking my brother, I don't know what to do.

I place my hand on her stomach. I don't feel little Posy's constant movements. I think I might throw up. Have I failed her already? My connection to Bee is fuzzy, like her life is slipping through my fingers.

Life.

I wonder if I will be able to spend it with her now. I wonder if little Posy will be with me.

I barely register when Nox arrives. He's not alone. He has Griffin wth him. When they see the blood they freeze.

Nox is the first to take action. He's checking her pulse and yelling for Griffin to call the midwife from a close-by pack.

He tries to take her from me, but I hold her body close and follow as he directs me to the clinic. I lay her in a bed and hope against hope that she will be able to get up from it, that this isn't where she will take her last breath.

I sit in the chair beside her. I want to guard her, hold her hand, support her. I try to immerse myself in her scent, but the iron scent of her blood is too overpowering. I don't want to smell this. I want to smell her clean lavender scent.

I don't know how long I sit by her side when the midwife walks in, but I can see the worried look on her face as she checks vitals.

She isn't saying anything except to give orders to Nox and Griffin. She's checking between her thighs now, running her hands over her stomach.

"Are you her mate?" Her voice is direct.

"Yes."

"Can you feel her connection?"

"It's fuzzy..." I don't want to voice this. I don't want to give life to the fears that are growing inside me.

The women doesn't say anything after that. I see her setting things up and I seem to let time pass me by.

My honey bee is in danger, my Mariposa is in danger. I can't say that I care more for one than the other. This child may not have my genes imbedded in her DNA, but she's mine. I won't allow her to think otherwise.

My honey bee, she has been in so much pain over the past few years and even before that. I overlooked it and only thought of myself as I nearly drank myself to death on multiple occasions.

Death

I wonder if that is what's to come to them both. I wonder if I ultimately caused this, if I stressed her to this point. I wonder if I have been a bad mate to her for the short amount of time that it's been. I wonder if she knows how much I love her, how much I love little Posy already.

I don't want to think anymore. I beg Nox to find me some liqueur, but he refuses. I beg Griffin too, but he won't defy Nox.

Her hand is cold, or is it mine? I can't tell. I feel like I did before we decided to try, an outsider, someone barely clinging to life.

I want to sleep through this, but I don't want to miss a thing. I don't want to waste away the time we may have left, even if she is unconscious for the duration of it.

The women is sweating as she gives Bee a shot of something in her spine. I can tell she is nervous. She has scalpels, among other instruments, sitting on a stand nearby.

I don't watch as she commences a procedure that I'm sure she hasn't performed many times. I don't think beyond the slow heartbeat I can surely feel through our bond.

Thump

Thump

Thump

"She isn't breathing!" The women is yelling, but she doesn't mean Bee.

I look over.

A pale blue face greets me. A tiny creature that isn't breathing. My daughter.

I panic. I let go of the hand. I rush. I move. I take this tiny form and I try.

I can't let her die. I can't let little Posy pass on.

Bee has tought me CPR, but I have never used it on a baby. The women tries to help me, but I need her to help Bee.

"I will worry over this one. You need to worry about my mate." It's a seething, rude and uncalled for tone, but I don't care.

I press gently, but firmly on this little ones chest in intervals. I breath into her tiny blue lips, filling her lungs. I do this over and over again until life is breathed in.

I almost cry when I hear the first noises fall from her tiny mouth. Her color starts to turn a light pink and I am relieved.

I try to tune out the yelling on the other side of the room. I try to focus on this life before me because I know that's what Bee would want. I know she's alive. I know she is. I can feel that much.

I care for this pup. My pup. I clean her. I wrap her up in fuzzy warm blankets and I hold her in my arms, this little life.

I am so focused on the child, on Posy, that I don't even notice as Nox pulls us both into his arms.

"I'm so sorry Hux." He's crying. I don't know why.

I look over to my other life, to my mate.

Her lips are blue.