Everything hurt. The metallic taste of blood filled my mouth as darkness pulled at me. I tried to open my eyes, but my body refused to obey. Voices swirled around me, distant and muffled, like I was underwater.
Someone was crying. Nonna. I knew that sound anywhere.
The last thing I remembered clearly was the glint of silver. The gun. The Alpha King standing in my line of fire. My body moving before my brain could catch up. Then the burning pain that tore through my chest and the way the world tilted sideways.
I saved him. I actually saved Jack Hudson's life.
Cold air hit my face. We were moving. The ambulance, probably. I could hear the siren wailing somewhere above me. I wanted to tell Nonna I was okay, that she should stop crying, but my tongue felt too heavy.
Time blurred. Bright lights burned through my closed eyelids. Hands touched me, moved me. Someone cut away my clothes. The pain in my chest exploded into white-hot agony, and I wanted to scream, but nothing came out.
"Her vitals are dropping." A male voice, urgent.
"Get her to the operating theatre. Now."
More movement. The ceiling tiles passed overhead in a dizzying pattern. Then nothing.
When awareness crept back, I could not move or speak. But I could hear. Voices filtered through the fog in my mind.
"The news is everywhere. Every pack in the kingdom saw the security footage." That was John, the Beta. His voice was tight with worry. "Social media is exploding. They are calling her a hero."
"I do not care what they are calling her." Jack's voice cut through the air like a blade. "Is she alive?"
"She is in surgery. Richard is working on her now."
I tried to process that. Surgery. Right. I had been shot. The bullet had been meant for Jack, but I pushed him aside. How stupid. How incredibly stupid.
Why did I do that?
"This is your fault." Nonna. Her voice was raw from crying, sharp with fury. "Aurora is dying because of you, Jack Hudson. Because you are the Alpha King, and everyone wants you dead."
"Nonna, stop." John again, trying to mediate.
"No. He needs to hear this. You took her son. You used your power and your status to steal Cody from her without permission. You treated her like she was nothing. Like she did not matter. And now she is in that operating room bleeding out because of you."
Silence. Heavy and suffocating.
"You are right." Jack's voice was so quiet I almost missed it. "You are absolutely right."
I wanted to tell them to stop fighting. That it was not Jack's fault. That I chose to step in front of that bullet. But my body would not cooperate. The darkness pulled at me again.
When I surfaced next, someone was holding my hand. The touch was warm, gentle. I focused on it, used it to anchor myself.
"The surgery cannot continue." A new voice. Clinical. Professional. "She has lost too much blood. We need at least three pints before we can proceed."
"How long does she have?" Nonna asked. Her voice cracked on the last word.
"Minutes. Maybe less."
No. No, I was not ready to die. Not like this. Not before I held Cody again.
"I have the same blood type." That was Richard. The royal pack doctor. "I will donate. Take as much as you need."
"Richard, you cannot. You need to operate on her."
"Then someone else will operate. Take my blood. Save her life."
Footsteps. Movement. The hand holding mine disappeared, and I wanted to cry out at the loss.
Time fractured again. I floated in the dark, unable to tell if seconds or hours passed. Pain radiated from my chest with each shallow breath I managed to take.
"Is it enough?" Nonna. Still there. Still waiting.
"The transfusion is complete. We are going back in."
Relief flooded through me. Or maybe that was the blood. Richard's blood, flowing through my veins, giving me a chance.
The darkness pulled harder this time. I did not fight it. I let it drag me under, trusting that Richard would put me back together.
But before I went completely under, I heard Jack speak. His voice was rough, broken in a way I had never heard before.
"If she dies, I will never forgive myself. John, if she dies, I do not know what I will do."
The vulnerability in those words shocked me more than the bullet had. The Alpha King, the most powerful wolf in the kingdom, was afraid. Of losing me.
"She is not going to die." John's response was firm. Confident. "Aurora is strong. She will survive this."
"She saved my life." Jack's voice dropped to barely a whisper. "She pushed me aside and took that bullet. For me. After everything I did to her, she saved me."
"That is who she is. That is who she has always been."
Nonna made a sound somewhere between a sob and a growl. "She is too good for you. She has always been too good for you."
No one argued with her.
The surgical lights blazed above me again. Masked faces hovered in my vision. I could smell the antiseptic, the blood, the fear.
"We are losing her." Someone shouted the words. Urgent. Panicked.
Hands pressed against my chest. Pain exploded through me, sharper than anything I had ever felt. My back arched off the table.
"Again. Clear."
Another jolt of electricity shot through my body. My heart stuttered, trying to remember its rhythm.
"Come on, Aurora. Fight."
I wanted to fight. I wanted to survive. But I was so tired. So incredibly tired.
"One more time."
The electricity hit again. This time, something in my chest caught. A flutter. Then a beat. Then another.
"We have her back. She is stabilized."
Relief swept through the room like a wave. I felt it even through the fog of unconsciousness.
"Get that bullet out and close her up. Fast."
I tried to hold on, to stay aware, but the darkness was too strong. It wrapped around me like a blanket, pulling me deeper. The last thing I heard was Richard's voice, tight with emotion.
"I cannot watch this. I cannot stand here and watch her die."
But I was not dying. Not anymore. I was fighting. For Cody. For myself. Maybe even for the broken Alpha King waiting outside, drowning in guilt.
The darkness claimed me completely, and I let it. Because somewhere deep inside, I knew I would wake up. I had to.
Too many people were counting on me to survive.