Ex-Mate Wants Me Back (Seraphina and Mortimer) novel Chapter 30

Chapter 30

Mortimer’s POV

“Yeah. Thanks.”

I nodded to the doctor and tried to shift my weight. The second I moved, a wave of numbness and sharp aches shot up from the soles of my feet.

I couldn’t help but flinch. This level of physical strain was annoying even for an Alpha.

It got me thinking—if just standing here like a statue was making my legs give out, what was it like for Seraphina?

Before the surgery, she was already redlining from stress. Then she spent hours pouring every drop of her focus and wolf-soul

energy into that table.

How much did she actually have left in the tank?

The thought of her running on empty, completely drained and alone, made my chest feel like it was packed with wet cotton. I couldn’t breathe.

I turned to leave the gallery, and Vivian, who’d been nodding off in her chair, jumped up and scrambled to keep pace. “Morty? Where are you going?”

I didn’t answer. I didn’t even bother to rein in the cold, jagged aura leaking off me. I headed straight for the OR doors.

The red light finally flicked off.

The heavy pressurized doors slid open, and there she was.

The second she looked up, our eyes locked.

I froze. I had a thousand things I wanted to say, but the words died in my throat when I saw her face. She was white as a sheet.

She looked at me, then flicked a glance at Vivian hovering behind my shoulder. She pulled her mask down.

Those eyes-the ones that usually burned with a stubborn fire-were just hollow. Empty, Exhausted.

“Surgery was a success, but he’s not out of the woods. We’re worried about complications. He’s going to the ICU,” she said. Her voice was shredded, but she kept it clinical. Cold.

I stared at her trembling lashes, my mouth opening to say… something. But she shut me down before I could even start, like she was putting up a riot shield. “Dr. Weasley will handle the paperwork and the briefing. If you have questiops, ask him. I’m going to the on-call room.”

She walked away with zero hesitation. She didn’t even give me a window to release a soothing scent.

I started to go after her, but right then, they wheeled Rolf out on the gurney.

“Rolf!” Vivian wailed, throwing herself toward the bed.

Watching her fall apart meant I had to stay. I shoved the frantic, caged-animal panic back down and stopped.

“Are you the family?” Dr. Weasley asked, holding a clipboard.

“Yes. We are,” Vivian blurted out, looking at me for backup.

I hesitated for a heartbeat.

In this hospital, in front of her coworkers, I found myself craving that title-the right to stand officially by her side.

But things were moving too fast. I didn’t correct him. “Just give me the rundown,” I said.

Chapter, 28

+15 Bonus

Once the papers were signed and Rolf was settled, I turned to Vivian. “It’s late. Go home. The driver’s waiting. You can’t get into the ICU anyway.”

“What about you?” she asked, her eyes narrowing. That sweet omega scent turned sharp and stinging with her anxiety.

“I’ve got things to do,” I said, thumbing my wedding ring. I wasn’t even looking at her.

After she left, I planned to hit the cafeteria to grab something for Seraphina. She needed to eat.

But I hadn’t even taken a step when Barton let out a jagged agonizing howl from deep inside the mating bond.

My heart bottomed out. A wave of raw, borrowed weakness slammed into me through the link

Remembering how ghost-white she’d looked, I stopped thinking. I broke into a jog, following that invisible pull toward the surgical on-call room.

The door was cracked open. I knocked twice. Silence.

I pushed it open and felt my breath hitch.

She was curled up in a chair, her head lolling to the side at a painful-looking angle. She looked so small against the back of the chair, like she was made of glass and already half-broken.

I stepped inside, moving as quiet as I could. Even in her sleep, her brow was knotted tight.

I leaned down, and my Alpha hearing became a curse. I caught the faint, broken whispers coming from her lips. She was shaking.

“Help… help me…”

“Mortimer, save me… I’m so scared…”

It hit me like a lightning strike. My blood turned to ice.

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