“I don’t want to fight with you either, baby. But you need to live. I’ve been half-alive without you, Olivia.
I love you, woman. Don’t you dare leaveme! ”
She opened one eye. “Are you sorry for pushing me away, leaving me when I needed you the most?”
“Yes, damn it. It was the stupidest thing I’ve ever done.”
She smiled and whispered, “I forgive you.”
Garrick never heard the sirens as they approached. All he could hear was the echo of her words as hot bitter tears of regret streamed down his face.
Epilogue
He hated hospitals. Thank the moon one of his pack members was a doctor and was discreet.
The senior members of his pack were in the waiting room with him. As he paced back and forth like a caged animal, they looked on with masks of worry and concern.
No one was as concerned as he was.
They had been in the hospital for twelve hours now and had received only sporadic news from various nurses coming in and out of the waiting room. A nurse had come out and told him to be patient, that he would be able to see her before too long.
Olivia. Even now, her name sent shivers up and down his spine. He’d be lost without her. To Garrick, there would be no point in going on if she weren’t with him.
Tommy tapped him on the shoulder. He had a steaming cup of coffee in his hand. “Have some coffee, mate.”
“I don’t want any f**king coffee. I want to know what’s going on.”
“You have to mellow out, Garrick. She’ll be all right.”
“Do you know that for sure, Tommy?”
He knew he was being ridiculous and unruly, but he didn’t care. If anything happened to Olivia, he would go ballistic, and anyone in his way would get hurt.
Tommy backed off, taking his coffee elsewhere, and collapsed in a seat beside Laura. She put her arm around him in reassurance.
Garrick snorted and looked away just as the doors to the operating rooms opened and the doctor wearily stepped out. He rubbed a shaky hand over his face as Garrick pounced on him.
“What’s the word, Doc?”
The doctor put a hand on Garrick’s shoulder and squeezed. “It’s a boy and a girl.”
Garrick let out a howl of delight. “I have a son and a daughter!”
Tommy, Smith, Puck, Laura, and the others of his main council circled him, patting him on the back in congratulations.
The doctor laughed when Garrick picked him up and spun him around. He set the poor man down and laughed.
“How’s Olivia?”
“She’s fine. The C-section went very well. I think she was more worried about you, after she banned you from the room. She knew you wouldn’t be able to handle seeing any more of her blood.”
Tears of joy washed down his face. He had a son and a daughter; beautiful, wonderful twins. And his beautiful and perfect wife was safe and well. Two years ago, he’d been very close to losing her. The silver bullet that could have ended her life had passed through her body, missing any vital organs. The silver hadn’t had a chance to dissolve in her system.
While he had pored out his guts to her, thinking he had lost her, she had known she was going to live.
He had forgotten that she’d been an EMT for many years. The woman was amazing.Even more so now.
“Can I see them?”
The doctor patted him on the back.“Absolutely.”
As they passed through the surgical doors, the doctor put his arm around Garrick. “I should warn you, though.”
“What?”
“She said that if you ever come near her again, she’d rip off your balls.”
Garrick laughed. Oh, yeah, she was amazing, all right.