“Is she going to be okay?” Emlyn asks anxiously, and I realize she’s still worried for Annie.
“We should take her to the hospital,” I say. “She should see a doctor.”
Emlyn frowns. “Do you know one?”
“There’s a hospital a few miles from here,” I say. “I didn’t take her before because we didn’t have time to get there, but we should try to get her there now.”
“Seriously? A real hospital?”
“It belongs to my pack.”
“You said you didn’t have a pack.”
“I’ll explain later,” I say. “But can you help me get her there?”
Emlyn looks up. Her man is returning. His arms are empty.
“Nate,” she says, “we can help, can’t we?”
“We really need to get to Paul’s,” Nate says.
“But we can do this first,” she says. “I’m going to help Annie and Milo.”
“All right, all right,” Nate says. “I’m in.”
Chapter 36
EMLYN
NatecarriesAnnie.Shegives in to that easily enough, curls up in his arms and rests her head on his shoulder. I guess she’s past the point of resisting anything that’s done to her. It’s hard for me to imagine allowing a man I’d just met to pick me up and carry me—I’m not sure I’d even let Nate do it right now—but I can’t imagine what Annie must be feeling.
At least she’s going to live. Milo seems pretty sure of that.
I think about my own mother. About how excited she was when my new brother or sister began to grow inside her. About how the rest of the pack started treating her like royalty. And then, one day, it was all gone, and thenshewas gone, and I was an annoyance nobody really wanted. The little daughter of the woman everyone who had pinned their hopes on—the one who had failed.
It was so rare for a pregnancy to go as long as hers did.
No one told me how great the risks were. I didn’t know I might lose her until I already had.
So I have to kind of love Milo for stepping in to save this woman he doesn’t even know.
“This hospital you’re taking us to,” Nate says. “How come I’ve never heard of it? I’ve heard of every organization run by rogues in this town.”
“Because it’s not run by rogues,” Milo said. “It’s run by the pack I should have belonged to.”
“Should have? You mean you didn’t?”
“It was my mother’s pack,” he says. “But I didn’t grow up with them.”
“Why?”
“Personal reasons,” Milo says tightly.
“You’re part Moon Caster,” I say.
He looks at me. “What gave you that idea?”
“Am I wrong?” I’m willing to concede the possibility that I might be. I’m guessing based on the things I saw when Annie delivered. When things were particularly hard for her, he would close his eyes and tip his head back slightly, as if he was drawing strength from somewhere I couldn’t see. If Nate had done that, I would have thought he was just taking a moment to collect himself. But when Milo did it, it actually did seem to help Annie along.