Beauty in the Beast

**Nick’s POV**

It had been two weeks since Derek’s magic herbs didn’t heal Emma. My stay in the hospital has been taking a toll on me mentally and physically. I was about a week away from turning the pack over to Daniel and locking the doors to Emma’s room so we could both die in peace. My wolf wouldn’t let me give up; he was the only thing keeping me going. I got up from my usual chair and slid myself into the bed with Emma, making sure I wasn’t disrupting any of her machines. I stroked her cheek and felt tears begin to well up in my eyes.

“Come back to me, little wolf.” I begged. “I need you.” As much as I wanted her to answer me, the only sound that filled the room was the beeping of her machines keeping her alive. Maybe her father was right. Maybe I was only holding her back from finding peace? No, I couldn’t think like that. Emma’s a fighter, she wouldn’t want to be given up on so easily. I buried my face in her neck and let the tears fall. I was losing my mate.

I woke in her bed, a small framed nurse trying not to disturb me as she changed Emma’s bandage.

“Sorry.” I sat up. “I’ll get out of your way.”

“You’re fine, Alpha. Stay with our Luna.” She smiled sweetly at me, but I knew she felt sorry for me. At this point, the whole pack did. They mourned the loss of their leaders while Daniel did his best to keep things together. I rubbed the back of my neck and then my face. I needed a shower, I felt like shit, I could only imagine how badly I looked.

“I’m getting a shower.” I stated as I pointed to the bathroom right off the room. “Don’t let anyone in while I’m gone.”

“Of course, sir.” The nurse nodded. I no longer left Emma alone with anyone but staff. I couldn’t trust David anymore and clearly Derek was a lunatic with his magic herbs from the East. I showered so fast I barely remembered getting undressed. I was so worried about Emma being without me that I couldn’t relax in the steam. I quickly dressed in clothing Daniel keeps me stocked with and returned to my chair next to my mate. I turned to the glass doors as Dr. Morris entered the room. I put my attention back on Emma, ignoring the doctor and her bad news she kept delivering me.

“Nick, I want to discuss some options with you.” She pulled a chair up and set it across from me. I finally looked up at her. “Emma has been here for six weeks now.” She stated that like I didn’t know how long it has been. “She’s showing no signs of improvement.” There was that bad news again. “I have two options for you.” I continued to stare at her blankly, knowing whatever her options were, I wouldn’t like them. “We can take Emma off the machines and hope she recovers. Or we can keep her hooked up forever and hope she recovers that way.” Exactly what I thought, I didn’t like either of them.

“If we keep her hooked up, she could recover enough to have another surgery to get the wolfsbane from her system?”

“In theory. But Nick, you must understand that if she hasn’t shown signs of improvement in the last six weeks, the idea of her recovering is fading fast.”

“And if we take her off the machines?”

“Her body is very weak. The wolfbane is still in her blood and without the machines helping her breathe and keeping her heart rate normal, she will likely die without them.”

“So, I either let her die, or keep her on your equipment in a coma forever?”

“I’m sorry Nick, but those are your options.” She said she was sorry, but her face was blank. She had no emotions to her words. I wonder how many times she had to tell families that their loved one didn’t make it? I wonder how many times it took before she became numb?

“I can’t—”

“It’s okay, Nick, take your time.” She stood up and pushed the chair back to its original home. “Take as much time as you need.” She left me alone with Emma and I wanted to scream, my wolf wanted to howl.

“Emma—” I took her hand in mine. “Tell me what to do. Please, Emma, just tell me how to fix this.” Her hand was limp in mine. I started to feel as though I was holding a shell of my mate. Was Emma even still in there?

I moved her hair behind her ear and noticed something black. I touched her earlobe and it was wet and sticky. Black ooze was spilling from her ear just as it had been from her wound. The infection was slowly killing her, and I had no way of stopping it. I stood up and got a paper towel damp from the sink. I went to wipe her ear when I noticed the black ooze was now dripping from her nose. I set the paper towel down and reached across her for the button on her bed to call a nurse. The machines behind us began chirping a warning. I pressed the button again. Emma’s body twitched as the blackness leaked from the tube in her mouth. She was dying. I ran to the door and screamed for Dr. Morris. She came running down the hall with nurses behind her, but by the time she got to the room all the machines were screaming in alarm. Emma’s body was seizing as she tried to vomit the ooze with the tube in her mouth.

“Nick, you need to go!” Dr. Morris lowered Emma’s body, so she was flat, but I ignored her. “I need a defibrillator and push Epi now!” The nurses were rushing around her as she tried to work on Emma. “Nick, go! Now!” She screamed to me again, but I couldn’t move. The monitor went flat, and Emma’s body limped. “Dammit Nick, get out of here!” She shocked Emma’s body and the monitored beeped with a glimmer or hope, but quickly fell flat again. She slammed a needle into Emma’s chest and the monitor beeped once more, only to flat out. Dr. Morris backed off and the nurses stopped rushing. The only sound that filled the room was the flatline. My Emma was gone.