Everything around the young Alpha turned spacey and buoyant as his clan appeared to be moving in slow motion. Panic erupted, and Ryder's heartbeat elevated. Unable to speak or move, he found himself barely able to breathe. Frozen like the snow beneath his folded legs, he remained still while holding Victoria's unconscious body. His foggy eyes never left Victoria and the detained little ones in her womb. Blood rushed to his head, and a ringing pulsated in his ears as he heard the flutters of life slowly diminish from Victoria's heartbeat. Inwardly, he panicked, but he still found himself unable to act quickly.
"Ryder!"
Upon hearing the clamorous voices shouting his name, Ryder snapped back to reality, finally able to breathe.
"What is wrong with you?" his advisor practically yelled in his face, shaking his shoulders violently to snap him out of his fog.
Without anticipating it, Ryder shoved his friend away with a forceful push, causing him to stumble back.
"Get the man out of the vehicle now! Stop messing around when you know what needs to be done!" Ryder barked, growling ferociously at everyone.
Taken aback as to why their Alpha had suddenly reprimanded them, the friend Ryder had shoved away wanted to argue, but he decided to hold his tongue. Instead, he watched in bewilderment at the way Ryder delicately dressed the young woman in his coat to keep her warm. Very rapidly, Victoria's heart rate grew fainter than it had been a second ago. At a slow rate, everyone realized she was dying in Ryder's arms. To ward off the freezing cold, Ryder snuggled Victoria closer and used his body heat to prevent her from dying in the brumal temperatures.
"Stop watching me!" Ryder growled viciously at his best friend. "Do what you're told!"
Startled by Ryder's unexpected outburst, the friend he had yelled at took a step back, yet this didn't deter him from examining Ryder's bizarre behavior, which he deemed to be impetuous. With the way he cradled her in his arms, Ryder was acting as if Victoria was his and his alone, and his friend just couldn't comprehend the reasoning behind it. If Ryder fancies Victoria, Kai will surely detain him. He doubted even Levi, Ryder's father, could protect him from Kai's wrath.
As Ryder protectively shielded Victoria in his arms, his other friends couldn't fathom what had gotten under his skin. Never once had he shouted at them or acted aggressively hostile like this before. The fact that Alpha Kai was Victoria's destined mate only added to their confusion.
Before Ryder would snap at them again, another group worked on extracting the large tree branch from the Professor's abdomen. Blood intensely tainted the air with a coppery scent as two vampires gingerly removed the branch from the shattered windshield, causing fresh blood to seep from the Professor's abdominal wounds. Another vampire quickly yanked the driver's seat door from its hinges upon seeing the blood. Rapid in his deft movements, he shed his coat as fast as he could get the length of his arms out of it to assist the injured man.
"He's losing too much blood!" the guardian-ranked vampire shouted, pressing Hank's wound with his jacket to staunch the bleeding.
Amidst the unfolding chaos surrounding Hank, Ryder's tone surprisingly softened to a mere whisper as he peered up at his advisor, whom he had yelled at and shoved away a moment ago, "Hold her for me, please."
Cautiously, to avoid triggering Ryder's unstable mood swings, the advisor knelt and took Victoria into his arms from Ryder, ensuring she stayed warm. Meanwhile, as the guardian continued applying pressure to Hank's wound, several more vampires worked to free Hank from his entrapment inside the vehicle, where the steering wheel had pinned his legs down. Working in tandem, they struggled to extricate Hank's legs while Ryder unzipped a pocket that opened into the Collin-owned hospital where Zoey worked.
Several minutes later, while Ryder concentrated on stabilizing the pocket, Hank was successfully pulled out of the vehicle. Two vampires carefully laid him on the snow to stabilize him, as his wound continued gushing heavy amounts of blood. The sight of so much blood caused a handful of vampires to instinctively back away, hissing. That urge to feed became too unbearable for them to simply tame down their instincts, which didn't go unnoticed by their Alpha.
Torn between two difficult decisions, Ryder faced a critical choice between life and death. At the moment, Hank is suffering significant blood loss, and Victoria is on the verge of freezing to death. Adding to the pressure, Ryder sensed the uneasiness among some of his friends as they struggled to contain themselves from feasting on the unconscious humans.
With no more time left to ponder, Ryder quickly made a decision. "Grab Hank!" he barked, issuing orders to his advisors.
Not wasting any more time than they already had, two of Ryder's advisors lifted Hank and carefully carried him over.
"One of you needs to go with him," Ryder insisted, sensing their confusion, which was written on their faces.
As far as they knew, only one being could travel through the pocket.
"I can handle it," he reassured them, though he was growing increasingly agitated by their delay to act quickly.
Little did they know that Ryder had pushed his limits the last time he used his gift, when he helped Kai send a message through a dimensional world. In doing so, he had unlocked the ability to allow two beings to travel through the pocket just once. No more than this one chance was given to either save Hank or Victoria; it is all his strength could endure from the amount of exertion and energy it took to open a single pocket.
While helping to hold Hank upright on his feet, the other advisor tried to protest Ryder's insane idea, but his words were cut short, "But—"
"Hurry up!" Ryder edgily barked. "Someone take Hank to Zoey!"
Without inciting a further argument, the advisor lifted Hank over his shoulder and immediately leaped inside the pocket.
Pain coursed through every inch of his muscles, causing Ryder to gnash his fangs as he zipped the pocket shut. After it sealed, he hunched over his knees, huffing and puffing until the pain gradually subsided.
A comforting hand lightly touched Ryder's shoulder, and his friend asked, "Are you alright?"
Instead of answering, Ryder straightened his posture and pushed his friend's hand away, growing a bit edgy. "Someone fetch the minion," he sort of hissed with a growl, though his tone lacked some aggression.
Ryder carried Victoria while a guardian carried Darlene out of the woods. An ambulance arrived once they reached the edge of the road. Two older vampires from Chester's clan opened the back doors and hopped out of the ambulance.
"You may go," advised one of the older vampires. "We appreciate your help and will take it from here."
Reluctant about that idea, Ryder tightened his grip on Victoria, unwilling to let the vampire take her without him tagging along.
"I'll go with you!" Ryder stubbornly insisted, jumping into the ambulance with Victoria in his arms.
Both vampires from Chester's clan stood there, blinking as if they were processing what had just happened, and looked to Ryder's advisors for an answer.
Embarrassed by their Alpha's behavior, they nonchalantly shrugged their shoulders, pretending they didn't have a clue, which was partly true. With no time left to dwell on Ryder's obnoxious behavior, one of the older vampires took Darlene and loaded her inside the ambulance.
Once Victoria was secured in one bed and Darlene in another nearby, the ambulance sped down the road, while Ryder's clan shifted into wolves and dashed into the woods to meet them at the hospital.