Beauty in the Beast

I felt a pair of warm hands wrap around me and pull me from Derek’s body. I stood to my feet, but my legs were numb, and I couldn’t hear anything. Nick’s hands cupped my cheeks and forced me to look into his eyes. Suddenly, my surroundings became clear and the noise was deafening. Explosions were going off all around us, debris was falling from above and I knew we didn’t have much time before the whole bunker collapsed on top of us. I grabbed Nick’s hand and ran towards the only way I knew, we had to get to that stairwell again.

Once we got to the giant hole in the ceiling, Nick picked me up and I grabbed what was left of the stairs to pull myself up. Once I was in the stairwell, I laid to the ground and reached my hand down to Nick to help pull him back up into the stairs to safety. We jogged up the stairs to the ground level where we could escape, but it looked nothing like it did the first time Daniel and I made our break for it. The walls were covered in a thick layer of smoke that filled the air. Various parts of the building were blown to pieces and I could barely see the doors to our exit.

“Nick!” I screamed as a beam came barreling from the ceiling. I jumped into action and pushed him out of the way, taking the brunt of the beam to my chest. I fell to the ground, finding it hard to breath, but Nick pulled me to my feet.

“Emma!” Nick had a grip on my shoulders, trying to desperately to find a wound on me.

“I’m fine, we have to go.” In all honestly, I had no idea if I was fine, but I knew neither one of us would be if we didn’t get out of this building. We dodged debris and another explosion until we exited the building, but I didn’t feel any safer outside. It was evident that bombs had been planted around the building as well, so one could explode right beside us at any moment. The willow tree was the only thing on my mind as I ran. My lungs felt like they were going to explode, and my chest was on fire, but I couldn’t stop.

I was so happy to see the large number of wolves standing by the willow tree, our safety meeting spot. Daniel was holding Alex in comfort and suddenly more emotions than I wanted to feel crashed over me, taking me to my knees. Nick knelt in front of me and wrapped his arms around me body.

“We’re going back to the pack, it’s over. It’s all over.” He picked me up and carried me the rest of the way to the car. I don’t know what that beam did to me, but with every breath I took it felt like an elephant was on my chest and I couldn’t fill my lungs. He slid me into the back seat of the car and sat with me while Daniel got in the driver side and Alex in the passenger side. I could smell the blood from Nick’s shoulder wound as I leaned on him, but it didn’t bother me. I was just glad we made it out alive.

“What are we going to do about Emmett and Roland?” I asked in a hushed voice. We didn’t have their bodies to take to their families for a proper burial.

“I’ll take care of it.” He answered as he stroked my hair softly. “Their families will know their deaths were avenged and there is no need for closure. We’ll have a ceremony and they’ll have stones for their loved ones to visit, like your moms.” I nodded and closed my eyes; I was utterly exhausted.

When I woke, Nick was taking me out of the car.

“Where are we?” I asked sleepily.

“The clinic.” He said as he carried me towards a building. “I want everyone to be checked out before we go home.” I nodded and leaned my head against his chest. He took me and a nurse escorted us into an exam room I’ve come to know well. Even though I missed my last exam, I spent many weeks in rooms just like this with Dr. Morris. Nick laid me on the table and took a seat in one of the chairs by the table. Dr. Morris didn’t take long to knock on the door and invite herself in, but this time she brought Claire and a cute little blonde with her. She was younger than Dr. Morris, but older than Claire. I’ve seen her around the hospital, but never inside the clinic before.

“Emma, this is Dr. Stephanie, she’s been working closely with me the last few months. Is it alright if she helps with your exam?” I agreed, but I couldn’t help but eye Claire as she assembled a blood test kit. She was sneaky, and rubbed me the wrong way, but I let her do her job and take my blood. “Straight to the lab, I want it rushed.”

“Yes ma’am.” Claire gave her a nod and rushed out of the room.

“Emma, we’re going to do some x-rays on you, make sure nothing is broken. We’ll do a few more tests as well, but I’d like you to stop me if you get uncomfortable.”

“Okay.” I looked over at Nick, who was staring at me blankly.

“You don’t have to stay.” I interrupted his thoughts and he blinked at me back into focus.

“I’m fine right here, little wolf.” He gave my hand a gentle squeeze.

“You should get your shoulder stitched up and check on the other Omegas.” I argued.

“I’m going to ask you to leave the room while we do the x-rays anyway, if you’d like to come back in a little while to check on her, that would be fine.” Dr. Stephanie spoke up, and I thought Nick would tell her politely to go to hell, but instead he agreed with her.

“I’ll be back as soon as you’re done.” He leaned down and kissed my lips before leaving me alone with the two doctors.

“I get two doctors?” I finally broke the silence after Nick left. “Isn’t that special treatment?” I joked.

“You are special, Emma.” Dr. Morris said. “Your blood is unlike any blood I’ve ever seen.” Why was this news to me? She’s been taking my blood since I woke up from my six-week coma and she’s just now telling me that my blood was affected?

“How so?” I asked.

“Your platelets are completely discolored, but that doesn’t seem to affect the way they present themselves outside of your body. Your healing is remarkably fast even for a werewolf. I’ve only just begun studying it and I have to say, I don’t quite understand everything at the moment.”

“So, that’s where you come in?” I ask Dr. Stephanie.

“Dr. Stephanie is training to one day take over for me. I won’t live forever, you know.” Dr. Morris pulled my shirt up and began pressing on my abdomen. I sucked in a breath and winced at the pressure. “Does that hurt?” She asked.

“Yeah.” I didn’t remember anything hitting me so low, but with everything my body has gone through these last few days, it was certainly possible.

“Your blood pressure is pretty low.” Dr. Stephanie noted. “I’m worried about internal bleeding.” Dr. Morris nodded.

“That’s a good concern.” She added. “I’m also concerned with your breathing.”

“I took a pretty good hit to the chest.” I explained.

“I’d like to take you over to the hospital so we can do better tests on you.”

“Will you let Nick know where to find me?”

“Of course.” Dr. Morris picked up her clipboard and began scribbling her notes like she always does. “Dr. Stephanie, could you page the hospital and let them know you’re coming? And go ahead and take her over while I check on the other Omegas.”

I waited for Dr. Stephanie to pull up the wheelchair she was using to take me to the hospital. As much as I didn’t like the thought of looking weak, I had no energy left to fight it. She took me over and straight into a new exam room, but this one was colder. No pictures were hung on the wall about awkward STIs and more machines were in the corner of the room.

“So, how long have you been here?” I asked as we waited for the CT machine to become available.

“I started my residency here about ten years ago.” Dr. Stephanie answered.

“So, you were here when the explosion hit the law building?”

“I was.” She nodded. “I treated a few victims.” She said ‘a few’ like there were more than a handful of people to make it out alive. I can count on one hand the number of wolves who survived that explosion. At least now I knew who was responsible for those deaths. “Are you ready?” She asked as she put her phone away. I nodded and she wheeled me down another hall to lay in a machine that would tell her all the things wrong with my body.

It felt like hours since Nick first brought me to the clinic, but I know it had barely been an hour. Everything was rushed for me because Dr. Morris thought that I was special, and no one questioned special treatment for the Luna. If only they knew I was a freak on the inside and that was the real reason for her concern with me. Dr. Morris entered my room, but this time she was alone.

“Emma, I have all of your test results.” She said. I’ve never seen her like this before. She’s always so matte-of-fact and professional, this time she looked sad.

“So, what’s wrong with me?” I asked.

“You have a few broken ribs and a collapsed lung.” She took a seat on the chair beside my bed.

“Okay, so how do fix that? Will I heal on my own?”

“Would you like me to call Nick?” She ignored my question and asked one of her own.

“No, he’ll find me when he’s done checking in on the pack.” I was beginning to become more confused.

“That’s not the only thing we found, Emma.” She put down her chart and gave me her full attention. “You have low HCG levels in your blood.”

“HCG levels?” I’ve heard of that before. Why did I know what that meant? Oh, Moon Goddess… “I’m pregnant?” I felt the blood rush out of my body, and I felt like I was going to throw up.

“Emma—” She took my hand and I held my breath. What in the hell was I going to do? “With levels this low, it does mean you’re pregnant, but—” She paused and gave me another saddened look. “I’m afraid it seems as though you’re having a miscarriage.” I stared blankly at her, not knowing what to say or do. “Would you like me to call Nick for you?” She asked again.

“No.” I shook my head, my eyes glazing over.

“Emma, I’m going to need to take you to surgery to correct your lung and remove the fetus.” I gasped at the word. “Emma, please let me call Nick for you.”

“No.” I shook my head again. “I can’t tell him yet.” I haven’t even had time to wrap my head around being pregnant for two seconds before I learned the baby wasn’t there anymore. How could I explain this to Nick when I couldn’t even make it feel real to myself? “Please just fix me so I can go home.” I felt the tears in my eyes, but I didn’t let them fall. Dr. Morris left me alone to get the OR ready for me and I took my alone time to cry out the pain.

I woke from surgery back in the clinic with Nick sitting on the edge of my bed. Hoping it was all a dream, I closed my eyes again and pictured myself back in my own home. In my plan bedroom with no decorations and a full closet of fancy clothes I would never wear again. I opened my eyes and ran a finger across Nick’s hip and he instantly turned to me and smiled.

“You’re awake.” He said.

“I am.” I noticed he was in a clean shirt and he looked like he took a shower.

“Doc said you should take it easy the next few days while your lung heals up.” So, she didn’t tell him about the pregnancy? I didn’t know why that was a surprise to me, doctor-patient confidentiality and all.

“Does that mean you’ll be making dinner?” I asked with a smile. He chuckled.

“Maybe we’ll get take-out.” He leaned in and kissed my forehead.

“Is it over, Nick?” I whispered. “Do we have peace now?” He smiled at me again, but I knew what it meant.

“I’m assuming that once Stefan finds out his son is dead; he’s going to be asking questions.” Questions like who killed him.

“And if he finds out what happened?”

“He won’t find out, Emma.” Nick said. “No one knows what happened. He died in the explosion; it was Jackson’s fault.” But it wasn’t. I killed Derek and if Stefan found out that I was the one who tore his heart from his chest then Stefan would come for me and my pack. From this moment on, I had to let that secret die with Nick and I, no one could know what happened to Derek or else my fantasy of a peaceful life would be gone. I’ve uncovered every mystery I set out to uncover and then some. My mother finally got the justice I’d been searching for and now I could live my life with my mate in peace.

The End