Page 7

HAVEN

Lock hesitates, then nods, his professional demeanor slipping just enough to reveal his own distress. He lets out a long exhale, his shoulders slumping and his eyes drooping with clear anguish. “Livvy, while one of the strongest women I know…” He pauses, taking a moment to compose himself. “She’s suffered extreme trauma. Multiple deep lacerations, severed digit, significant internal bleeding, and shock.”

His eyes fall to the floor, his hand sweeping through his blond hair in frustration. “We’ve done everything possible to repair the damage, especially to her liver, but…” He pauses again, genuine pain crossing his features as his eyes slowly lift upward to meet Alpha’s again. “At this point, it’s just a wait and see how her liver responds to what I was able to do in there.” He pauses, flaring his nostrils. “Whoever stabbed her knew exactly where and how to cause maximum damage to her internal organs. They were absolutely sending a message.”

Alpha stands frozen, his breath catching in his throat. His eyes, wide and unblinking, flicker between disbelief and something darker, something shattering. His jaw clenches so tightly that I hear his teeth grinding. But that does nothing to stop the tremor in his fingers, the way his hands curl into fists like he’s trying to hold himself together. His chest rises and falls in uneven bursts, and when he finally exhales, it’s a ragged, half-breath, half a broken sound. Rage burns beneath the surface, the tension in his body coiled and ready to snap, but the grief is just as raw, pooling in the hollows beneath his eyes.

Suddenly, Poppy turns into his side, her shoulders shaking with silent sobs. The fear from his daughter seems to snap him from his red haze as he glances down at her. His shoulders slump, and he pulls Poppy closer to him. “It’s gonna be okay, Poppy,” he reassures her, his eyes flicking back to Lock. “Right, doc?” he practically begs.

My heart breaks for the man I love and my stepdaughter. Seeing their world being torn apart in front of me, knowing I could have prevented Livvy from being this badly injured if I had just called for backup.

“She’s conscious,” Lock adds, his voice growing softer. “And asking for you. We’ve given her medication for the pain, and she’s lucid. I suggest you spend this time with her.” He hesitates, but I can see he has more to say, so I dip my head at him, urging him to continue, “While she’s awake,” he states softly.

Alpha clenches his eyes shut, letting out a groan like he can’t believe this is happening. My heart is still beating so fast in my chest that I can’t think straight.

But I have to.

I need to be strong,

For Alpha and Poppy right now.

Clearing my throat, I take a step forward. “Can we go see her now?” I manage to ask when it becomes clear Alpha can’t form words.

Lock simply nods. “Follow me. Just family for now,” he adds, glancing at the rest of the club standing like sentinels throughout the waiting room.

Loki steps forward. “We’re all family here, doc. But we’ll wait.” He places a hand on Alpha’s shoulder. “Take care of your old ladies, Pres. We got your back. Whatever you need.”

Alpha acknowledges him with a nod before we follow Dr. Rhodes down a sterile hallway that seems to stretch endlessly before us. With each step, I feel the weight of my promise to Livvy growing heavier.

Take care of them.

And I will.

Whatever it takes.

Lock stops outside a room at the end of the corridor. “She’s heavily medicated for her pain, so she may drift in and out. She may also be unaware of the things she says.” He hesitates, then adds in a lower voice, “I’ve ordered the nurses to give you privacy. So, stay as long as you like.” He steps aside, allowing us to enter. But just as Alpha is about to step through the door, he grabs Alpha’s arm, stopping him. Lock’s mouth is right next to Alpha’s ear, but I’m close enough to hear.

“I know what happened to her is because of you. Because of the club. If it were up to me, I would’ve called the police already. But Livvy gave us strict instructions to let you handle this.”

I swallow hard, watching Alpha’s jaw tighten. Seeing Lock come at him like this—but Alpha lets him continue, “Because I trust Livvy. Because I adore her. And because I know she put her faith in you, Alpha, I’m going to do the same. We both fell for her. So make sure you do the right thing here.” His eyes close and then open. “You make whoever did this pay. I don’t want to know the details. I just want to know that when it’s done, justice was carried out, for Livvy.”

My eyes begin to well, and I can’t fight how my lips turn up in the corner when I watch Lock fight for Livvy.

This man will be really good for her.

Alpha glares at Lock, trying to figure something out, and then slowly, he brings his hand up. Lock stares at it and then slides his hand into Alpha’s, the two men shaking once. “You have my word.”

Lock gently taps Alpha on the back, his eyes shifting to Livvy in the bed inside the room. Lock nods once. “I’ll give you guys some time. I’ll be by in a little while to check on her.”

Alpha dips his head in acknowledgment. “Thank you. For being there for her. For making her happy. To be fair, though, she never told us about you and her.”

Lock weakly smiles, letting out a soft exhale. “I know. That’s my fault. Having the president of a biker club as an ex-husband was a little emasculating. I save lives. You, on the other hand—” Lock immediately stops talking, his eyes widening as he realizes what he was going to say.

Alpha grips his shoulder, forcing a weak smile. “I get it! I’m the bad guy. But there’s a reason our marriage didn’t work, Rhodes. Livvy never wanted the bad guy. Not really.” He glances inside Livvy’s room, seeing her lying in her bed and machines all around her. Then he looks back at Lock. “Nah, Livvy was never cut out for this life I pulled her into. She gave me something so fucking precious in our daughter, Poppy. But Livvy was always going to be better off with a good guy. Someone like you, Rhodes. You should never have hidden that happiness from us. No matter how long it’s been going on for.”

Lock glances over at Livvy, a longing expression crossing his features, his eyes glistening with unshed tears as he tries to remain stoic in front of us. “We celebrated our one-year anniversary the night before last.”

My entire body slumps as I gnaw on my bottom lip. “Jesus, Lock. I’m so, so sorry,” I whisper.

Alpha scrunches his face as if this news equally shocks and saddens him. “I-I honestly had no idea.”

Lock tilts his head toward Livvy’s room. “You should sit with her. Talk to her. Let her know you’re here. It’ll be a comfort for her.”

Alpha grips Lock’s arm before he turns to leave. “You should be here too.”

Lock exhales and hesitates, his eyes transfixed on Livvy. “I want to. More than anything. But there are other patients out there who need me too. And I know Livvy. She wouldn’t want me in here sitting beside her and neglecting patients. Even though every fucking part of me is desperate to stay. She’d hate me for it.”

Alpha snorts out a laugh. “Damn, you really are a good guy.”

Lock sighs. “Sometimes it’s hard being the good guy, especially in moments like these.” His eyes linger on Livvy for a few moments longer. His bottom lip trembles, and then his eyes meet mine. “I’m going to send someone to come take a look over you too. We don’t need that shoulder getting an infection,” he states, takes one last look at Livvy, then turns and heads back out down the corridor.

I reach out, placing my hand on Alpha’s back to support him while the three of us make our way toward Livvy’s room. It’s dim, the only light coming from various monitors that beep and flash in rhythm with Livvy’s failing body. She looks impossibly small amid the tangle of tubes and wires, her skin almost translucent against the pristine white sheets.

Poppy freezes in the doorway, a small sound of distress escaping her lips. Alpha gently urges her forward, his own movements wooden, as if his body is operating on autopilot while his mind refuses to process what’s happening.

I hang back slightly, giving them space as they approach the bed. Livvy’s eyes flutter open at their presence, focusing with effort.

My breath catches seeing her awake.

Thank God!

A slow smile crosses Livvy’s lips when she spots Poppy across the room. “My beautiful girl,” she whispers, attempting to raise her uninjured hand. “Come here.”

Poppy hesitantly moves to the bedside, taking her mother’s hand carefully as if afraid she might shatter it with her touch. “Mom-my,” she chokes out, her voice breaking on that single word, tears streaming freely now. “Please don’t leave me. Not again. I just got you back. We became a family.” The raw desperation in her voice fills the sterile room, making the machines’ steady beeping seem obscene in contrast to her pain.

Livvy’s breathing is slow, and her movements match her breathing as she carefully reaches up and caresses Poppy’s face. “You know… I never told you, but when you came back to us, and I saw what you had become, how much you’d grown,” Livvy’s eyes meet mine, even just for a brief moment, then they dart back to her daughter’s. “I’m so proud of you, Poppy,” Livvy tells her, each word visibly costing her strength she doesn’t have to spare. “So proud of the strong, brave young lady you’ve become. My little bird who flew back to me.” Her fingers tremble as she brushes Poppy’s hair from her tear-streaked face. “I love you more than anything in this world. More than my own life.”

Alpha stands frozen at the foot of the bed, his knuckles white where they grip the railing. The stoic club president is gone, replaced by a man watching his world collapse in slow motion for a second time.

Livvy’s gaze shifts to him. “Stone,” she says softly, her eyes filling with tears as she takes in the devastation on his face. “I’m sorry.”

He moves then, coming to stand beside Poppy. “Don’t,” he says roughly. “Don’t you dare apologize. This is on me. I should h-have…” His voice breaks, and he pauses, taking a moment to compose himself. “I should have protected you. You didn’t want to be a part of this life, and my shit dragged you back into it.”

Livvy clenches her eyes shut tight. “You always protected me,” she whispers. “Even after everything. You never stopped being my protector.” She struggles to catch her breath, and each word is clearly an effort. “Some things you just don’t see coming.”

Alpha’s hands ball into fists by his side. “That’s my point, Liv. My job as President is to be three steps ahead of our enemies so I can protect my club. Protect its members. Protect my fucking family. This shit shouldn’t be happening, not to you. Not to you, Livvy. You got out, you shouldn’t fucking be in that motherfucking bed injured right now!” He spins, grabbing the nearest thing, which happens to be a bunch of flowers that I can only assume the staff has brought in, and he hurtles them across the room, letting out an almighty groan as he does.

The flowers burst apart when they launch through the air, then smash with a thud into the window. Water splashes against the windowpane, then drops into a messy puddle on the floor. Poppy jumps with the sudden aggressive outburst as I hang my head with guilt flowing through me.

Alpha’s breathing is short, sharp bursts as he begins pacing at the end of Livvy’s bed. His fingers race through his hair in obvious frustration. He’s pulling at the tips, he’s so worked up.

“Alpha,” Livvy whispers, but he continues his frantic pacing.

He snaps back to face her, his eyes filled with hurt. “Why didn’t you tell me about Lock?” he growls out the words so deep, so aggressively, that it’s almost unintelligible. But Livvy doesn’t miss it. In fact, she smiles and lets out a small laugh, followed by a slight cough, which then causes Alpha to stop his pacing, staring at her like she is the most fragile thing in the world.

Livvy catches her breath. “Oh, I don’t know…” Her eyes fixate on Alpha. “Maybe because you’re a hothead, and your best friend is a tech genius. The last thing I wanted was for you and Loki to go on some side quest tangent thing, thinking you’re protecting me from the big bad doctor.” She exhales while I try to fight back my smile because, Lord knows, she’s right. “I love you, Stone. I love how you want to make sure everyone is perfect enough for the people in your life, but… you can be a little much sometimes to outsiders. To people who don’t know and understand you and the club. I didn’t want to ruin a good thing, and Lock, he’s a good thing.”

Alpha’s head hangs low, then he moves around to the edge of Livvy’s bed, reaching out for her hand. “I’m so fucking sorry that I was an asshole of a husband to you. That I let myself drown after the Cartel took Poppy. I wasn’t there for you. I should have been the kind of man who let you know you could have brought another man by the club and introduced him to us.” He sniffs back his emotion. “I’ll never forgive myself for that, Liv.”

She weakly smiles, her good hand lifting and pressing lightly on the middle of his chest. “There’s nothing to forgive, Stone. Everything worked out how it was meant to…” She stops to catch her breath as Alpha rests his hand atop hers. “Everything at the club is about community, and I love that environment. But I think what I have with Lock is something for me, you know? I wasn’t keeping him a secret as such, just keeping him for me.”

A wave of understanding flows over me while I watch Alpha, who is still trying to decipher her meaning. So, I step in. “Because once Lock is introduced to the club, the guys will start vetting him, and then they will want to start hanging out with him when they see how cool he is. Then, when they both start going to the club, he will be hanging out with the guys instead of her because that’s what guys do, right? I get it. Makes complete sense.”

Alpha raises his brow, rubbing the back of his neck. “You thought the club would steal your boyfriend from you?” he asks.

Livvy frowns, grimacing with pain as she tries to shift a little on the bed.

Poppy instantly fluffs her pillows for her mother. “Here, I’ve got you,” Poppy offers.

Livvy’s eyes flood with tears as she glances up at her daughter, then she exhales with a nod. “If you look to history, Alpha, the club has taken things from me,” she simply states, then slides her hand into Poppy’s.

Well, you can’t really argue with her on that fact.

Technically, the club was the reason Livvy lost Poppy. First to the Cartel, then again when Poppy wanted to live with Alpha and me instead of Livvy.

Alpha groans, scrubbing at his face, and begins pacing again. He lets out a long exhale, moving to an oversized chair in the corner of the room, and drops down into it with a huff. Then his head lifts slowly, his haunted eyes locking back onto Livvy’s. “I’m going to find who did this. I swear to you. I’ll make them pay for every single drop of your blood,” he vows, his voice thick with promise.

A ghost of a smile touches her lips. “I know you will.” Her eyes drift to me as I stand at the edge of her room. “Haven, can you come here?”

Rolling my shoulders, I approach the bed, my chest tight with unshed tears.

She reaches for my hand with trembling fingers. “Thank you,” she whispers. “For saving me. For getting me out of there.”

My insides squeeze with regret. “I’m sorry I couldn’t do more,” I tell her, guilt crushing my chest. “I should have been faster, stronger—”

“No,” she interrupts with surprising firmness. “You risked everything for me. Now, I need you to promise me something.” I nod, unable to speak past the lump in my throat as she gestures for me to lean in closer to her, which I do. “Keep them safe,” she whispers as if she isn’t going to make it through this. “You’re stronger than all of us. They need that strength now.” Her gaze intensifies despite her clearly weakening demeanor. “And don’t let this destroy Alpha. He’ll want vengeance, but don’t let him lose himself to it or fall back into old patterns like drinking. Poppy needs her father.”

My breath catches, but all I can do right now is make sure that Livvy feels comfortable. There’s no way she isn’t pulling through this, so this is all a moot point anyway. But to ease her anxiety, I will tell her anything she needs to hear. “I p-promise,” I manage, my voice breaking. “But you can keep him in line yourself when you recover fully. I need you standing beside me at my wedding to the asshole, Liv,” I tell her.

Livvy chuckles, causing her to cough. Her eyes close briefly, pain washing over her features. The monitors beep a warning as her vitals fluctuate.

“Mom?” Poppy’s voice rises in panic. “Mommy!”