Defying the Lycan King (Kira and Derek) novel Chapter 132

Chapter 132: The Cost of Mercy

Derek paced the hospital corridor like a caged animal. His hair stood in wild disarray, and someone had thrust a pair of jeans and a shirt at him earlier. He had not bothered to button the shirt; it hung open over his chest as he moved. His face was a map of everything he was feeling; worry, guilt, regret, none of it hidden, none of it managed.

Kai leaned against the wall with his ankles crossed and his hands buried in his trouser pockets, his white shirt streaked with dirt from his struggle with his cousin, his blonde hair still dishevelled from the ordeal. He watched Derek pace without comment.

Declan sat on the bench opposite, arms folded, eyes tracking Derek’s every back-and-forth movement.

They had been standing outside the emergency ward for what felt like a very long time.

"This is all my fault," Derek muttered. It was not the first time he had said it. It was closer to the hundredth.

Neither Kai nor Declan responded. They had tried, more than once, to tell him that what Ruby did was Ruby’s doing and not his. He had not heard them any of those times, and he was not going to hear them now. So they let it sit.

The emergency ward door swung open, and Dr Adah stepped out. Derek crossed to her before she had fully cleared the doorway, and she took a small, startled step back.

"Tell me something," he said.

Dr Adah composed herself and offered him a calm, steady look. "You don’t need to worry, Your Grace. She is stable. She suffered a concussion with some bruising and lacerations, but she is not in any danger. She should regain consciousness any time from now."

The breath Derek released was slow and unsteady, like something that had been held too long. He looked at the doctor and waited.

She continued. "She will need a great deal of rest to recover properly. Ideally, I would keep her here for that period, under observation, but we can discuss the details once she is awake."

Derek nodded. Then, because he could not hold it back any longer, he asked the question that had been sitting at the front of his mind since Declan had carried her out of the house.

"What about the pup?"

Dr Adah’s brow creased. "Pup?"

"She was pregnant," Derek said. The certainty in his voice was already faltering. "Wasn’t she?"

The doctor looked at him for a moment with something quiet and careful in her expression. Then she shook her head. "I’m afraid not, Your Grace. That was one of the first things we checked. There is no pregnancy."

The strength seemed to leave him all at once. He pressed both palms over his face and exhaled, long and slow.

He didn’t know what he felt. Relief, maybe, that Kira would not wake up to that particular loss on top of everything else. But underneath it, something else entirely. He had been so certain. He had built so much around that certainty. And none of it had been real.

He stood there with his hands over his face and said nothing.

"Can we go in and see her?" Kai asked quietly.

"Of course," Dr Adah replied, already turning away to give them privacy.

***

The VIP room was very quiet. Just the steady beeping of the machines beside the bed, marking time.

Derek sat in the chair closest to her, his hand wrapped around hers. Her fingers were cold. He held them anyway, his eyes moving over her face, taking in what the fall had left behind.

Discolouration along her temple. A gash cutting through one eyebrow. A split in her lower lip that made something tighten painfully in his chest every time he looked at it. He wished he could take it from her. He would have taken all of it without hesitation.

Kai stood by the window, quiet for once, his hands still in his pockets. Declan had positioned himself by the door, arms folded, saying nothing.

"Has anyone heard anything about Ruby?" Derek asked. He did not look away from Kira’s face.

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