Chapter 15 Emergency (Brynn POV)
The paramedics arrived in four minutes that felt like hours.
They burst into the room with practiced efficiency, equipment in hand, asking rapid-fire questions while they worked. Jaxon stepped back, giving them space, while Harper rattled off information age, medications, medical history she somehow knew from her Keeper files.
I just held my grandmother's hand and tried not to fall apart.
"We're taking her to Mercy General," one paramedic said, loading the gurney. "It's about fifteen minutes from here."
"I'm coming with you." I stood, still gripping my grandmother's hand.
"Family only in the ambulance, miss. You can follow in your own vehicle."
"I don't have a car"
"Then meet us there. We need to go now."
They wheeled her out, and I tried to follow, but Harper caught my arm.
"B, you can't leave campus. Your medical watch"
"I don't care about medical watch! That's my grandmother!"
"And if you violate the terms, they'll expel you. Then you'll have no resources, no protection, and nowhere to go when the full moon hits." She gripped my shoulders. "Let me handle this. I'll get you there legally."
"How?"
"I don't know yet, but"
"I can do it." Jaxon was already on his phone, typing quickly. "Give me two minutes."
He stepped into the hallway, and I heard his voice authoritative, commanding, using that Alpha tone that made people listen. Harper kept me in the room, probably worried I'd bolt and run after the ambulance anyway.
Jaxon returned ninety seconds later. "Done. You have a temporary medical exemption for family emergency. Valid for twelve hours."
"How did you"
"I called my father's assistant. She has connections with the Dean's office." He showed me his phone screen an official email from Dean Whitmore's secretary granting emergency leave. "It's legitimate. You won't be penalized for leaving campus."
I should have questioned why the Steelclaw Alpha's assistant would help me. Should have wondered what strings Jaxon just pulled and what it would cost. But my grandmother was in an ambulance heading to the hospital, and nothing else mattered.
"Thank you," I managed.
"Come on. My car's in the student lot."
We rushed across campus, Harper jogging beside us. Students stared as we passed the three of us running like something was chasing us but I didn't care about rumors anymore.
Jaxon's car was a sleek black sedan that probably cost more than my entire scholarship. He unlocked it remotely, and we piled in me in the passenger seat, Harper in back.
He drove fast but controlled, navigating campus roads with the same predatory precision he used for everything else. Within minutes we were on the main highway, following the route the ambulance had taken.
"She's going to be okay," Harper said from the backseat. "Heart attacks are scary, but she's strong. She'll pull through."
I couldn't respond. My throat was too tight, my hands shaking in my lap.
Jaxon's hand found mine, squeezing gently before returning to the wheel. The contact was brief but grounding a reminder I wasn't alone even if it felt like my world was crumbling.
Mercy General appeared ahead, a sprawling complex of buildings lit against the darkening sky. Jaxon pulled into the emergency room parking lot and we rushed inside.
The ER was chaos crying children, people with injuries, the harsh fluorescent lighting that made everyone look half-dead. I pushed through to the reception desk.
"Margaret Calloway," I said breathlessly. "She came in by ambulance. Heart attack."
The receptionist typed on her computer, her expression professionally neutral. "Are you family?"
"Her granddaughter."
"She's being evaluated now. If you'll take a seat in the waiting area, someone will update you when we have more information."
"Can I see her?"
"Not while they're working on her, honey. Best thing you can do is wait and let the doctors help her."
I wanted to argue. Wanted to demand access, to see for myself that she was alive. But Jaxon gently guided me away from the desk toward the waiting area.
We found seats in the corner, as far from the TV and other people as possible. Harper got coffee from the vending machine that none of us drank. And we waited.
Ten minutes passed. Twenty. Thirty.
Every time a doctor emerged, I tensed, hoping for news. But they called other names, delivered other updates, while we sat in limbo.
"I should have seen the signs," I said finally, breaking the silence. "She was stressed. Pale. I thought it was just worry, but"
"This isn't your fault," Harper said firmly.
"Isn't it? She came here because of me. Had a heart attack because she was trying to protect me from the blood debt." I looked at Jaxon. "From your father."
He didn't flinch from the accusation. "Yes."
"Why are you helping me?" The question I'd been avoiding since this started. "Your father killed my mother. Your pack has legal claim over me. Every instinct should be telling you to report me, bring me in, collect on the debt. So why aren't you?"
Jaxon was quiet for a long moment, staring at his hands. "I recognized what you were during the assembly. The moment your suppressants broke and your scent hit the air, I knew you were Bloodrose."
"And you didn't report it."
"No."
"Why not?"
He looked up, and his amber eyes held something raw and vulnerable I'd never seen before. "Because the mate bond snapped into place the second I recognized you. And I realized the girl I'd been watching, the one I'd felt drawn to since that first collision in the hallway, wasn't just any Bloodrose. She was mine."
The words hung between us. Harper made a small sound but didn't interrupt.
"I don't know what that means yet," Jaxon continued. "I don't know if mate bonds are real destiny or just biological imperative. I don't know if loving someone can override two hundred years of blood debt and pack loyalty. But I knew in that moment that I couldn't let them take you. Couldn't report you to my father. Couldn't be responsible for your death or enslavement."
"So you've been lying to your Alpha." The words weren't an accusation, just a statement of fact.
"Yes. Every day since the assembly." He leaned forward, elbows on his knees. "I told him I was monitoring the Bloodrose situation at school. That the Council was investigating and I'd keep him informed. But I've been feeding him false information, making it seem like the discovered Bloodrose is somewhere else, buying time."
"How long until he realizes you're lying?"
"I don't know. My father's suspicious by nature, but he trusts me. Trusts that pack loyalty will always win." A bitter smile crossed his face. "He doesn't know about the mate bond. If he did, he'd remove me from the situation immediately."
"Because mate bonds complicate things."
"Because mate bonds can supersede Alpha commands in certain circumstances. And my father can't afford to have his heir compromised by biological loyalty to a Bloodrose." Jaxon met my gaze. "If he finds out, he'll either force me to reject the bond which could break both of us or he'll eliminate you before the bond fully solidifies."
"How do you reject a mate bond?" Harper asked quietly.
"Ritual magic. Painful, dangerous, and not always successful. But it can be done." He looked away. "My father had to do it once. When he was young, before he became Alpha. His mate was from a rival pack, and his father my grandfather ordered him to reject her for political reasons."
"What happened to her?"
"She died. The bond rejection killed her." His voice was flat, emotionless. "My father survived but he's never been the same. Cold. Ruthless. Unable to form emotional connections. The pack whispers that rejecting his mate broke something fundamental in him."
I processed this, fitting pieces together. "So if you reject our bond to satisfy your father, I die and you become... what? A copy of him?"
"Probably." He finally looked at me again. "Which is why I'm trying to find a third option. One where you survive, I keep my soul, and we don't start a war that kills everyone we care about."
"You're asking a lot from fate," Harper observed.
"I'm asking a lot from all of us." Jaxon stood, pacing the small waiting area. "But the alternative is accepting that Brynn either dies or spends ten years as my father's servant. And I can't accept that."
"Even if it means betraying your pack?"
"Even then."
A doctor emerged through the double doors, scanning the waiting room. "Family of Margaret Calloway?"
I shot to my feet. "That's me. I'm her granddaughter."
The doctor approached, her expression professionally compassionate. "I'm Dr. Singh. Your grandmother is stable. She suffered a myocardial infarction a heart attack but we were able to restore normal rhythm. She's conscious and asking for you."
Relief flooded through me so intensely I almost collapsed. "Can I see her?"
"In a moment. First, I need to discuss her treatment plan." Dr. Singh gestured for us to sit. "The heart attack was caused by a blockage in her coronary artery. We need to perform surgery an angioplasty to open the artery and prevent future incidents."
"When?"
"Ideally within the next few hours. We have an opening in the surgical schedule for tonight." She pulled out a tablet. "But I need to contact her next of kin for consent. The emergency contact form lists her son-in-law, Thomas Calloway. Is he available?"
The name hit like a slap. "Thomas Calloway is my father."
"Yes, he's listed as her primary emergency contact and medical power of attorney." Dr. Singh pulled up the form. "Do you know how to reach him?"
"I" I looked at Harper helplessly. "I haven't talked to him in twelve years. I don't even know where he is."
"The contact information here shows a cell phone number and an address in Washington, D.C." She showed me the screen. "Should I try calling him?"
My father. In D.C. Working for the Werewolf Council. About to find out that his daughter the one he'd abandoned to protect was at a hospital with his mother-in-law who'd just had a heart attack.
"Yes," I said, because what other choice did I have? "Call him."
Dr. Singh stepped away to make the call, her voice too low to hear. I watched through the glass partition as she spoke, saw her nod, saw her glance back at me with an expression I couldn't read.
She returned a few minutes later. "I spoke with Mr. Calloway. He's catching the next flight out. Should arrive by morning."
"Did he" I swallowed hard. "Did he ask about me?"
"He asked if you were safe. I told him you were here and uninjured." A pause. "He seemed very relieved."
Relieved. My father, who'd been gone for twelve years, was relieved I was safe.
"Your grandmother is in recovery room three," Dr. Singh continued. "She can have visitors for a few minutes, but she needs rest before surgery. Follow me."
We followed her through the double doors, down a corridor that smelled of antiseptic and fear. She stopped outside a room where my grandmother lay in a hospital bed, connected to monitors and IVs.
"Five minutes," Dr. Singh said. "She needs to conserve her strength."
I entered alone, leaving Jaxon and Harper in the hallway. My grandmother's eyes opened when she heard my footsteps.
"Brynn." Her voice was weak but present. "You shouldn't have come. Your medical watch"
"Is handled. Jaxon got me permission." I took her hand, careful of the IV. "They're doing surgery tonight. You're going to be fine."
"They called your father."
"I know."
"He'll come here. You'll have to face him." Her grip tightened slightly. "Are you ready for that?"
"I don't know. But I don't have a choice." I sat in the chair beside her bed. "Just focus on getting better. Everything else can wait."
"It can't wait. The full moon is in two days"
"And you'll be recovering from surgery. Let me worry about the full moon. You just worry about surviving this."
She studied my face with tired eyes. "You've grown strong. Your mother would be proud."
"She'd be proud of you too. For protecting me all these years."
"I failed you. The Steelclaws found you anyway."
"But I'm still alive. Still fighting. That's not failure." I squeezed her hand gently. "Rest now. I'll be here when you wake up."
Her eyes drifted closed, and within moments her breathing evened into sleep. I sat there watching her, this woman who'd sacrificed everything to keep me hidden, now lying broken because the stress finally became too much.
A nurse entered, checking monitors and adjusting IVs. "We're taking her to pre-op in a few minutes. You should say goodbye for now."
I leaned down, pressing a kiss to my grandmother's forehead. "I love you," I whispered. "Come back to me."
Then I left the room before I started crying in front of strangers.
Jaxon and Harper waited in the hallway. One look at my face and Harper pulled me into a hug.
"She's going to make it," Harper murmured. "She's tough. She'll pull through."
"My father's coming." The words came out muffled against her shoulder. "He'll be here by morning."
"Then we'll deal with that when it happens," Jaxon said. "For now, let's get you somewhere you can rest. The waiting room chairs are terrible for sleeping."
"I'm not leaving until after her surgery."
"Then we wait." He settled into one of the hallway chairs. "All of us."
Harper pulled me down to sit beside her, and we waited as they wheeled my grandmother toward the operating rooms. Waited as the hours crawled by and the hospital settled into the quiet rhythm of night. Waited as somewhere out there, my father caught a plane to come see the daughter he'd abandoned twelve years ago.
And in two days, the full moon would rise whether I was ready or not.