Jessica came in, grabbing the blood bags out of the refrigerator and putting them on the warmer. We had pre-staged the C-section kit for just this event. Tearing the cover off and grabbing the scalpel, I made the first incision. She screamed in pain, begging me to save her baby, then passed out due to the blood loss as I reached inside her to remove her son. Clamping the umbilical cord twice, I cut between it and handed the tiny baby to Jessica.
It was a mess in there, blood was everywhere, bubbling up out of her abdomen and soaking the sheets. I knew I was too late.
I performed an emergency hysterectomy after clamping the arteries, which slowed the bleeding but didn’t stop it. I had directed Charles to put the heart monitor on her while I worked, and the pulse was dropping fast. Her heart was weak, and I heard it stop as the monitor alarmed.
“Start compressions,” I yelled at Charles. He started to do CPR as I grabbed two blood bags and hung them, hooking them to the large-bore needles I had inserted. Her heart had stopped because of low blood volume, I had to try and get more in. I gently squeezed the bags to force it in faster. When they were in, I tried three times to shock her into rhythm without success.
Like a broken record, it didn’t work. I tried for another round after injecting adrenalin, five minutes more and nothing changed. I pulled Charles back, he was exhausted and crying. “Time of death, 0932.” I stripped off the bloody gloves and went over to where Jessica was trying to get the tiny infant to breathe.
The incubator was warm, and huge for the tiny baby that weighed about a pound. His lungs hadn’t developed enough yet; Jessica was using a bag ventilator to try and force air in, but he didn’t have the strength in his chest to force the air back out. His skin was bluing, Jessica was crying, and eventually I had to call him as well. “Time of death, 0941.” I took a small blanket and wrapped him up, placing him on his mother’s chest. “Come on, we have to clean her up before he gets here.”
I knew he would be breaking every speed limit to get back here, and I knew he felt his mate bond break when she died. Charles pulled me aside. “Vivian, you need to leave NOW.”
“I still have to clean up and…”
“Listen to me. You need to get dressed, grab a bag and your purse, hop in your truck and leave in the next five minutes or you could end up dead.” He grabbed my arm, pulling me towards the door as I scrambled to keep my feet.
“Why?”
“Because he’s coming back here, and he’s in a rage. If he turns his rage on you, he’ll kill you in a second and there is nothing I can do to stop him.” We left the building and started running back to the Pack House. “You have to hurry, if he decides to order us to hold you, we’ll have to comply.”
I raced up the stairs to my room; quickly pulling on jeans, socks, boots and a blouse and sweater, I went to the safe. Pulling out my cash, bank cards and other valuables, I put them in a suitcase Charlie had gotten out of my closet. I shoved some clothes in there, then he zipped it up while I put my coat and gloves on. He carried it as I ran back outside to my Ranger; I opened the door and he put it on the passenger side seat as I started it up. “Good luck, Doc. Drive somewhere safe, call me once a week or so and I’ll let you know when it is safe to return. Stay away from any Pack areas, you aren’t safe and you won’t have his protection.”
“Aren’t you going to send someone with me?”
“Can’t, the Alpha could order him to kill you or bring you back. Get out of here.”
“Take care of Jessica,” I said. He slammed the door closed as I put it in reverse. I wasn’t going to take his warning lightly, I had to keep in the back of my mind that I wasn’t even a part of this Pack. He was right, and I was kicking myself for not thinking about what would happen if I had failed. I just got lucky, if he wasn’t heading for the bank this morning, I could be dead now. It wouldn’t take much for an Alpha like him to kill a wolf like me.
I fought off tears as I tried to focus on driving. The roads were slippery, but I made it to the main highway without incident. I hadn’t gone five miles when I saw the Alpha’s car, moving at close to a hundred miles an hour, heading past me the opposite way. I felt terrible for him, but I wasn’t going to die at his hand. I’d done everything I could.
I drove south for Duluth, thinking about where I could go. I couldn’t work in the clinics, I’d be too close to the Pack. I didn’t have privileges at the Duluth hospital, and my parent’s Pack was too obvious a place to go. I couldn’t go anywhere werewolves might be at all; one sniff and I’d be kidnapped, raped or force mated.
I stopped for gas in Duluth, pulling a business card out of the pocket of my purse. I smiled, they had been calling me on a regular basis, begging me to visit them. I couldn’t tell them that I was effectively under house arrest, though. I started south for White Bear Lake, just north of St. Paul, where the Northwoods Riders had their clubhouse.
Viper and his boys would protect me from anyone.