Page 51 of Silver Sanctuary (The Silver Springs #3)

Faster, Mae.

Run faster!

The rain poured down, stinging against her sensitive skin.

But she hadn’t even thought to grab an umbrella before she darted from her car toward the hospital, her face a ruddy mess from the nonstop sobbing she’d done while driving from Silver Springs to Dallas.

Fucking trauma hospital over an hour away.

She was honestly surprised she made it in one piece.

There was no doubt in her mind she should have listened to Hawk and waited for Gunner, or Nash, or Gage to drive her, but her heart wouldn’t even consider it.

Truly incredible, too, because it felt like it was barely beating in her chest. She could freak out later.

For now, she had to be calm. She needed to be levelheaded.

All that mattered was getting to him. Making sure he was still…

Making sure Stone was still alive.

God, she couldn’t stop thinking about the alternative.

The things she’d said to him in the darkness of those early hours that morning.

The things he’d said to her. The way they’d left things.

The way he’d shattered her heart so completely she couldn’t take a breath without her chest feeling like it might explode.

Fuck him. How dare he rip everything apart like that and then go and get himself shot? Shot! In the middle of the fucking night. In the middle of the fucking street. Who the fuck would be trying to kill him? Was it random? Or had they known it was Stone?

Her mind wouldn’t stop running through all the questions, over and over again. It was making her dizzy, and nauseous, but Mae didn’t have time to deal with what her body was going through. Her heart was pushing her to get to him.

The rain stopped its assault on her skin as she stepped under the large awning indicating she’d reached the entrance for the Emergency Room. She slipped her phone out of her back pocket.

Still no update from Hawk.

She was going to wring her brother’s neck for being the absolute worst communicator in an emergency.

Fuck. Mae swept back her hair, the drenched tendrils itching her face before moving off her skin.

She walked through the automatic doors, the scent of antiseptic assaulting her nose almost as quickly as the burn of the fluorescent lights seared her eyes.

A scan of the room showed a line of people waiting in front of a desk.

She wanted to barge her way in front of everyone.

Didn’t they know her soulmate was somewhere in that hospital fighting for his life?

Didn’t they know the way things had been left between Mae and Stone was the beginning of a tragedy.

Not the love story they deserved, but one that would haunt her for the rest of her life if he didn’t come out the other side…

“I hate you! I hate that you’ve done this to us.”

The venom she’d screamed at him earlier was etched painfully in her throat. Mae coughed, trying to clear out the memories that made her stomach ache—of a night she wished she could do over.

“I will never forgive you for breaking my heart like this. I am a fucking strong woman and I let you break me!”

NO! Mae bit down hard on the inside of her cheek. There was no point in revisiting those thoughts. Hawk found Stone. She had to believe help got there in time…

“Next!”

Finally!

“How can I help you?” A woman in bright blue scrubs asked from behind the counter.

“I’m looking for information on Stone Lawson. He was life-flighted here. Gunshot wounds, but I don’t know anything else.”

The woman didn’t even glance her way. No reassurance. No emotion. Nothing. “Your name?”

“Mae—uh, Michaela Morgan. My brother Hawk came in with him, but I don’t see him waiting for me here.”

“And your relationship to Mr. Lawson?”

Wife! Say you’re his wife… or his fiancée… they aren’t going to let you see him unless you lie. So lie. Lie and make sure he’s okay!

“I’m his girlfriend.”

Ex-girlfriend. That was the way Stone had wanted it to be.

The woman finally looked away from her computer, not an ounce of compassion in her eyes. Shit. She should have lied.

“I’m sorry. If you are not the next of kin, then I can’t give you any information on him. You’ll need to speak with whomever is Mr. Lawson’s family.”

“Are you fuck?—”

“Mae!” Her brother’s voice slammed into her before she even saw him.

The noise of the busy emergency room faded away.

Her body turned, but even blinking felt like it lasted for hours.

Her eyes bounced to a few random people, some with clipboards filling out paperwork, others holding conversations with the people next to them. And then, her eyes landed on Hawk.

The truth was written all over his face.

She’d never seen her brother so pale, so worried.

So completely consumed with pain that he didn’t crack a smile at her or try to make her laugh.

She faintly registered the fact that he was in scrubs.

There must have been so much blood. Blood that would have stained his clothes and his skin as he did everything he could to help save Stone.

Somewhere behind her, the strangest high pitched whine started. The eerie noise was otherworldly, and it worked its way down deep into her heart.

Hawk was three steps away from her when the room started spinning.

Two steps away when the whine stopped and was replaced with a pain-drenched sob as it tore free from her throat.

One step away when she started falling.

Mae collapsed into her brother’s arms. He didn’t speak, he didn’t try to tell her the worst of her fears weren’t true, he just held her.

And she knew. The truth soaked into her bones, and the world around her faded away.

“Breathe, Mae. I need you to not fall apart right now. So, just take a couple of deep breaths and pull it together.”

“Tell me he’s okay. Tell me he made it!” she screamed into his chest, not caring that the emergency room had fallen to a hush while other people watched her come apart.

“Shh. He’s in surgery. I don’t have any more information than that. But he’s here. The doctors have him now.”

“W-what hap-pened?” Her chest burned.

“I’ll tell you what I know, but we have to go upstairs. I was just coming to see if anyone was waiting down here.” His head swiveled around the room. “You came by yourself? ”

“Y-yes.”

“Damn it, Mae. I told you to wait for someone else. You shouldn’t have driven?—”

“You think I-I’m waiting after you t-tell me he died in your arms?”

Hawk shook his head. “I don’t fucking like that you didn’t listen to me. But I understand. We need to go upstairs. There’s a private conference room I was able to get for us.”

“What about everyone e-else?” She wiped at her eyes while her brother helped her stand. God, her legs were shaking. How the hell would she even be able to get upstairs?

“I’ll send out a text. You good? Want to sit for a minute before we go?”

“No. We should go. What if they’re looking for you to give an update about him?”

“Okay. Let’s go.”

Minutes melted into hours that were filled with her friends moving all around her in a pattern she couldn’t make sense of.

She was offered water, or coffee, or something to eat, at least once every five minutes.

While it should have been comforting, everything about her body felt like it was one sudden movement away from crumbling to ash.

Time started dragging on, until the sun was high in the sky and Sebastian and Emma had joined the group.

Mae just kept thinking, over and over and over, that everyone was there now, so the doctors could come give them an update.

But nothing came as the hands on the clock kept spinning around and around.

Finally, after the second sandwich of the day had been shoved in her hands and promptly put down on the table beside her, a man in dark blue scrubs stepped into the private waiting room. “Excuse me, I’m looking for the next of kin for Stone Lawson?”

“That’s me. I’m his health care proxy,” Gunner said as he cleared his throat, standing to offer his outstretched hand to the doctor. Sebastian walked to the front of the group as well, shaking the doctor’s hand in turn. Mae must have given Hawk a confused look because he leaned over to her.

“The other guys legally designated Sebastian and Gunner as their health care proxies when we moved here. I have you, so I didn’t need to do that. But this way, if family wasn’t able to get here fast, and something bad happened where medical decisions needed to be made, they could legally step in.”

She didn’t know whether to feel comforted by his whispered words or not, but she was grateful that Gunner would keep a level head and not make any rash decisions if Stone’s care was left up to him.

“How is he?” Gunner’s question sat in the still, quiet air as the seconds passed. Mae watched the doctor remove his scrub cap, and run his fingers through his hair.

And then she saw it, the moment he steeled himself to tell them all the news. The second the doctor’s eyes filled with compassion, looking around at the room filled with people who loved Stone. And then, those eyes landed on her.

Mae stood, her whole body trembling as she walked to stand next to Gunner. She saw the truth written so clearly on the doctor’s face, but she still needed to hear him say the words.

“Just tell us. Please. Is he alive?”