Nicholas’s POV

She went completely limp.

Just like that, her fragile body collapsed entirely.

My heart abruptly stopped in my chest. It didn’t just skip a beat. It completely, totally stopped.

"Irina!" I roared.

I caught her instantly. My massive arms wrapped tightly around her small waist before she could even hit the cold hardwood floor. She was incredibly light. Too light. She felt exactly like a broken, empty porcelain doll in my desperate arms.

Her head rolled weakly against my solid chest. Her dark, beautiful eyes were completely closed. Her face was terrifyingly pale, entirely drained of all life and color. She looked exactly like a ghost.

"Irina! Wake up!" I shook her gently.

Nothing. Not even a single flutter of her incredibly long, dark eyelashes.

Absolute panic suddenly exploded inside my chest. It was a cold, lethal terror that I had never felt in my entire life. It instantly froze the hot blood running heavily through my veins. It forcefully grabbed me by the throat and squeezed extremely tight.

"Guards!" I bellowed at the absolute top of my lungs. My thunderous voice violently shook the heavy crystal chandeliers above us. "Get the fucking doctor! Now!"

Across the dark room, in his custom wooden crib, Luka let out a soft, sleepy whimper. He shifted under his blue blanket, deeply disturbed by my deafening roar. But I couldn’t even focus on my own son right now. My entire absolute world was currently completely unconscious in my arms.

Heavy combat boots instantly pounded against the marble hallway outside. The heavy bedroom doors violently slammed open. Two massive, heavily armed guards rushed into the suite. They had their assault rifles raised, expecting a brutal assassination attempt. But they immediately froze in their tracks when they saw their Alpha King kneeling on the floor, frantically holding his mate.

"I said get the doctor!" I snarled. My fangs were fully elongated. The violent, feral beast inside me was fiercely clawing at the surface. "If he isn’t here in exactly one minute, I will personally rip your fucking heads off!"

"Yes, Alpha!" The huge guards turned and sprinted desperately down the long, dark hall.

I scooped Irina completely up into my arms. I pressed her entirely against my chest and practically ran to the massive, custom-made bed. I laid her down incredibly gently against the dark silk sheets. She looked completely swallowed by the massive mattress. I frantically brushed the messy dark hair out of her pale, clammy face.

Her breathing was incredibly shallow. It was barely even there.

"Come on, little bird," I whispered wildly. My massive hands were actually shaking. The untouchable Alpha King was actually trembling. "Open your eyes. Please. Just look at me."

She didn’t move an inch. The sweet, intoxicating scent of vanilla and fear that usually surrounded her was completely muted. It was heavily fading. It was fading away into absolute nothingness, rapidly replaced by the terrifying, cold scent of sickness.

I dropped heavily to my knees right beside the bed. I grabbed her tiny, freezing hand and pressed it fiercely against my mouth. I rubbed her cold knuckles desperately against my lips, frantically trying to warm her up.

I couldn’t breathe. My massive lungs felt completely crushed under a million tons of concrete.

I didn’t understand this at all. I didn’t understand my own violent, completely chaotic emotions.

Months ago, when I first discovered she had run away from me, I was consumed by pure, unfiltered, absolute rage. My wolf had completely lost his damn mind. I had violently torn my own massive office completely apart. I had smashed expensive antique desks into tiny, jagged splinters. I had ordered my lethal men to turn the entire city upside down and violently burn it to the ground if they had to.

Back then, I only felt blinding anger. I only wanted absolute control. I was a brutal dictator who had simply lost his favorite possession. I wanted to drag her back to the compound by sheer force. I wanted to wrap my massive hands tightly around her fragile neck and roar directly into her terrified face. I wanted to punish her severely for daring to leave the Alpha King.

But right now?

Looking at her lying so completely still on my bed? Watching her small chest barely rise and fall?

There was absolutely no anger left inside me. There was only absolute, blinding, mind-numbing terror.

I was utterly terrified.

I was the most lethal, powerful man in the entire criminal underworld. I ruled forty-two ruthless mafia families with a completely iron fist. I had slaughtered hundreds of dangerous men without breaking a single drop of sweat. I feared absolutely nothing and no one. I was a vicious monster forged in blood and extreme violence.

But right now, staring helplessly at Irina’s pale face, I was completely reduced to a frightened, desperate mess. I was entirely terrified of losing her.

If her fragile heart stopped beating tonight, my absolute world would completely end. If she didn’t wake up, I would violently tear my own damn heart out of my chest with my bare hands. I couldn’t survive in this dark, bloody world without her warm light. I absolutely needed her. I needed her incredibly quiet voice. I needed her sweet, calming scent. I even needed her screaming at me, crying, fighting me, begging to go to school—as long as she was alive. I just needed her alive.

The heavy bedroom doors violently banged open again.

Dr. Harrison frantically rushed into the massive room. The older pack doctor was completely out of breath. He carried his heavy black medical bag tightly against his chest. Three heavily armed guards trailed anxiously behind him, their faces incredibly pale.

"Out! All of you, get the fuck out!" I roared at the guards, pointing a massive, trembling finger at the door.

The guards instantly retreated. The heavy mahogany doors quickly slammed shut with a deafening thud.

Dr. Harrison practically sprinted to the side of the bed. He was pale and sweating profusely. He knew the Mad King’s entirely lethal reputation better than anyone. He knew that if he failed to save my mate tonight, he wouldn’t leave this room alive. I would slaughter him right here on the carpet.

"Step back, Alpha. Please," Dr. Harrison stammered nervously. He was already frantically pulling a silver stethoscope out of his black bag.

I didn’t want to let go of her tiny hand. I wanted to hold onto her forever. But I forced my rigid body to step back.

I backed away and instantly started to pace violently at the foot of the massive bed. I was a completely caged, starving beast. My heavy boots thudded relentlessly against the hardwood floor. *Thud. Thud. Thud.* I watched his every single move with intense, entirely lethal focus.

Dr. Harrison carefully checked her pulse. He frowned deeply. He quickly flashed a small, bright penlight into her unmoving eyes. He pressed his stethoscope to her chest, listening incredibly carefully to her fragile, rapid heartbeat. He then moved his trembling hands down, gently pressing on her stomach. He pressed a bit harder on her lower abdomen.

Suddenly, the older doctor completely froze.

His hands abruptly stopped moving. His eyes went incredibly wide behind his thick glasses.

The entire huge room instantly plunged into an absolutely dead, suffocating silence.

The heavy grandfather clock ticked incredibly loudly in the dark corner. *Tick. Tick. Tick.*

Dr. Harrison didn’t say a single word. He just stared blankly at Irina’s pale face. A heavy, cold drop of nervous sweat rolled slowly down his wrinkled cheek. He swallowed incredibly hard. His throat bobbed frantically under his perfectly pressed white collar.

The suffocating, heavy silence stretched on for five agonizing seconds.

Then ten seconds.

My patience completely, violently snapped. The raging, protective beast inside me violently kicked the cage doors completely open.

"What is it?!" I demanded loudly. My voice was a dark, totally lethal rumble that visibly shook the large glass windows.

Dr. Harrison violently flinched, but he still didn’t speak. He looked absolutely terrified. He slowly pulled his stethoscope off his ears. His old, wrinkled hands were shaking uncontrollably.

"I asked you a fucking question!" I bellowed.

I completely closed the distance between us in one massive, predatory stride. I lunged heavily forward. I violently grabbed the front of Dr. Harrison’s pristine white medical coat with both of my massive, heavily scarred fists.

I lifted him completely off the hardwood floor.

The older man choked in sheer, absolute terror. His feet wildly kicked the empty air. His black medical bag dropped heavily to the ground. It completely spilled expensive metal medical tools perfectly across the fluffy rug.

"Alpha!" he gasped out weakly, frantically clawing at my rigid, muscular arms.

"What the fuck is wrong with her?!" I roared violently right into his terrified face. My bright golden Alpha eyes blazed with lethal, entirely unchecked fury. My sharp fangs were completely bared, dripping with hot saliva. "Why did she pass out?! If you don’t speak right now, I will rip your fucking throat out!"

"A-Alpha, p-please!" Dr. Harrison choked out desperately. His face was turning incredibly red from the sudden lack of oxygen.

"Tell me!" I shook his body violently. The absolute sheer force of my brutal anger made the entire room physically shake. "Tell me exactly what is wrong with my mate!"

Dr. Harrison squeezed his eyes tightly shut behind his glasses. He took a desperate, shallow, gasping breath.

"Miss Irina..." he stammered, his voice trembling heavily with absolute, undeniable shock. "Miss Irina... seems to be pregnant again."