Enslaved by the Alpha

Chapter 18

It's hard to see her lying there, medically declared dead, but I'd much rather see her peaceful features than ones twisted and tightened in pain. I think it's knowing that she's gone is what's making this impossible for me to bear. Otherwise, I believe seeing her lie there wouldn't be so hard. Maybe if I hadn't witnessed her flatline, it'd have been easier. And though I know there's only three ways to permanently kill a vampire, it was still such a devastating sight.

"Lay her on her stomach! We can't risk the stake puncturing her heart," Doctor Jamison told me. I obeyed, not allowing my pride and jealously to be the reason I lost my mate.

"Check her vitals," he ordered his colleagues.

I saw her back lift up and down with her fast, shallow breaths and heard the wheezes following every exhale. Her lips were parted to help her breathe, her eyebrows were knitted, and her glassy eyes held so much pain. Occasional whimpers and winces left her and I withheld the urge to rush by her side, knowing I can't risk messing up Jamison's concentration. It destroyed me seeing her like this and I wanted nothing more than to take her place. I've never felt completely helpless before now, and I never want to feel it again.

"Her pulse is extremely high, I'm reading seventy bpm," the woman next to him read aloud.

"The resting pulse for a vampire should be at zero, anything between one and thirty comes alongside any emotions they may feel, some stronger than others. She's overheating herself by panicking, if she doesn't relax her heartbeat may very well cause movement in the stake and she'll kill herself."

My chest tightened and I looked at Jamison, repressing the urge to threaten him to do his damn job and save her. I knew he was working slower than normal because he's only ever helped werewolves. She's his first new patient and I could sense the fear he contained—the fear of fucking up and killing her, right in front of me especially.

"Retracting now," he announced, grabbing onto the stake with one hand and massaging the scabbed skin sticking to the wood until it broke apart, instant blood pooling up and trickling down her back.

My wolf paced restlessly and I remained tense, standing off to the side watching her face continue to contort in pain.

Jamison slowly began pulling it out, massaging all around the wound to keep her skin from attempting to heal to it. Until suddenly, she began choking, blood spewing from her mouth and she tried to gasped for air, unable to do so. I felt the color drain from my face and he glanced up as though he knew I'd react negatively.

When I went to intervene, he stopped me in my tracks. "Alpha, respectfully, stay back. By removing this stake, it unplugged the holes it created in her left lung and there's blood filling it, which is drowning her. We—"

"Stop! You're going to kill her!" I growled, my wolf feral for control. Jamison paused.

"I'd be killing her if I left the stake in. A vampire only truly dies from decapitation, a stake to the heart, or a high dosage of vervain. Between a stake and her drowning, she'll only come back from one. Are you hearing me, sir?" He replied, keeping his hands in place until given confirmation as for which one I want him to do.

I hated choosing between watching her die and watching her die, and I knew if I wanted her to be okay, I'd have to. I wasn't even certain I actually believed him. But in this circumstance, I wasn't really given much of a choice.