Chapter 31: Save me 2
ÉTIENNE
Her footsteps retreated at a run. I kept working. Compressions and breaths in the rhythm I’d practiced until my arms burned and sweat dripped into my eyes.
"Don’t fucking go, Margo." I slammed my palm against her chest between compression sets. The impact made a wet sound. "You don’t get an easy way out. Live. Live. Live."
My hands found their position again. I pushed down hard enough that something in her chest gave a small crack. Panic spiked through me, but I couldn’t stop. Couldn’t let up even for a second.
One more breath. I sealed my mouth over hers and forced air into lungs that refused to draw it in.
Then I drew back and slammed my fist against her sternum one final time.
She convulsed. Her whole body jerked like I’d hit her with electricity. Water erupted from her mouth in a gush that splattered across the tile. She turned her head to the side and coughed. Violent, wet sounds that meant her lungs were trying to clear themselves.
Relief hit me so hard my vision went white at the edges. I sagged forward, catching myself with one hand against the floor while I watched her struggle to breathe.
More water came up. She coughed and gasped, each breath a victory even though they sounded painful and wrong.
Her eyes opened slowly. Glazed and unfocused at first. They drifted across the ceiling before finding my face. Recognition flickered in those depths, followed by something that looked almost like wonder.
"You heard me."
Her voice came out rough and broken. Barely louder than a whisper. But I heard every word with perfect clarity.
Her hand lifted from the floor. Shaking and weak, but determined. Her fingers reached for my face, stretching toward the scars she’d stared at earlier with such horror.
The touch landed gently against my ruined cheek. Warm despite everything. Her thumb traced a line along the ridge of damaged tissue while her eyes stayed locked on mine.
The moment suspended itself between us. Fragile and strange. I couldn’t move. Couldn’t pull away even though every instinct screamed that this was wrong. That I wasn’t supposed to care if she lived or died. Worse... let her touch me this way.
But I did not hate it. I did not hate this.
"What happened?" My voice came out rougher than intended.
"Someone..." Her eyes started to drift closed. The word trailed off into nothing as consciousness slipped away from her again.
Her hand dropped from my face and hit the tile with a soft thud.
Panic flared bright and immediate. I pressed my fingers against her throat, searching for the pulse I’d felt before. It came steadily now. Stronger than it had been. Her chest rose and fell in a rhythm that looked almost normal.
She’d just fainted. Her body was shutting down to recover from whatever the hell had just happened.
I slid my arms under her knees and shoulders, lifting her off the cold bathroom floor. Water dripped from her hair and skin, leaving a trail across the tile as I carried her toward the bedroom.
Footsteps and urgent voices echoed in the hallway outside, with multiple people rushing by. The healers Séverine summoned were likely accompanied by half the night staff, alerted by the commotion.
They appeared in the doorway just as I crossed the threshold from bathroom to bedroom. Three healers in their practical robes, followed by two guards carrying a stretcher between them. All of them stopped short when they saw me holding Margaux’s naked, dripping body against my chest.
Laurent pushed through the crowd. My Beta’s eyes went wide when he took in the scene. "What happened?"
I didn’t answer immediately. My attention went to Séverine, who stood near the ruined door with her arms wrapped around herself. Her face had gone pale. She stared at the stretcher like she couldn’t quite process what she was seeing.
The healers moved into action without waiting for explanations. They spread a blanket across the stretcher and gestured for me to lay Margaux down. I lowered her as gently as I could manage. The fabric covered her immediately, preserving what dignity remained.
Straps went around her body. Secure but not tight enough to restrict breathing. One of the healers pressed a stethoscope against her chest and listened intently while another checked her pupils with a small light.
"Her pulse is steady," the first healer announced. "Her breathing is also stabilized. Probable drowning victim, but she’s responsive to stimuli."
They lifted the stretcher in practiced movements and started toward the door. I watched them go, tracking every step until they disappeared around the corner and the sound of the wheels faded down the hallway.
Laurent moved closer. "Alpha Theo, what happened?"
My eyes went to the camera mounted in the corner of the room. Small and unobtrusive, placed there for security reasons I’d insisted on when I’d taken over this wing. The red light blinked steadily, indicating it had been recording the entire time.
I turned back to Laurent and met his eyes. "Get me the feed from that camera." The words came out cold and certain. "I want to review it."
He nodded once, already reaching for his phone.
"I have reason to believe someone tried to kill her."
The statement landed heavily in the room. Séverine’s head snapped toward me, her eyes going wide. Laurent’s jaw tightened, his expression shifting into something harder and more dangerous.
"I’ll have it within the hour." Laurent turned on his heel and headed for the door, already barking orders into his phone at whoever answered on the other end.
Séverine hadn’t moved. She still stood near the destroyed doorframe with that same shell-shocked expression, like the world had tilted sideways and she couldn’t find her balance.
I walked toward the bathroom. Water covered the floor in puddles that reflected the overhead lights. The tub still held most of its contents, the surface disturbed only by the ripples from where I’d pulled Margaux out.
Had someone held her under? The thought crystallized with almost absolute certainty. She hadn’t slipped. Neither had she fallen asleep and drowned by accident. Someone or something had pushed her down and kept her there until her lungs filled with water.
The question was who. And more importantly, why would anyone in my own territory try to kill my mate on our wedding night?
I stared at the water, trying to make sense of what had just happened.
I tried to reconcile the panic I’d felt when I thought she was dying with the hatred I was supposed to feel for everything she represented.
The bond hummed quietly now. Margaux’s consciousness had retreated into whatever healing sleep her body needed. But I could still feel her there on the other end of the connection. Alive and breathing.
Relief shouldn’t have been my dominant emotion.
But somehow, it was.