“You’re just in time, Dad,” Alverez says without looking to my ol’ man.
Moving to me, Blaze grabs hold of my hand and gives it a squeeze. Neither of us need words between us. He wouldn’t be here now if Matthew wasn’t okay.
“Alright, Raven, give me one last big push,” Alverez informs me.
Doing as he says, I push as hard as I can and it’s as if a huge pressure is taken away at the same time a loud wailing cry fills the room.
“It’s a boy,” Alverez states, putting Blaze’s and my son on my chest.
Blaze leans down pressing a kiss to the top of my head. “You did good, Little Bird. He’s beautiful,” he murmurs, placing a hand against Mark’s back.
Glancing at our son’s face a smile crosses my face. “Hey, little guy, you look so much like your daddy already,” I whisper, pressing a kiss to his forehead as the dizziness grows more apparent.
“Raven, I need you to hand the baby to one of the nurses,” Alverez commands, gently yet firmly.
“What? Why?” Blaze demands, even in the haze of my mind the words seem harsh.
“He needs to be cleaned up but I need him out of the way and you to step back away from Raven,” Alverez orders.
A nurse comes up to the side of the bed across from Blaze, at that moment I wish Harlow were here. I don’t like the fact a stranger I don’t know is touching my son as she cradles him to her chest.
“Go with him,” I say weakly. My eyes grow heavy and my head slumps to the side.
“Her heart rate’s dropping,” Alverez states loudly. “We need to get her to the OR now.”
Commotion stirs around me yet I’m unable to focus on what’s going on.
Blaze’s voice penetrates the fuzz. “You better not leave me, Little Bird. You can’t when we have our boys to take care of. They need their momma,” he states, sounding as if he were in pain.
The heaviness of it hurts. A wave of desperation rolls from him slamming through me like a bat connecting with a baseball as I realize what’s happening.
Please don’t take me from him. Or my boys.
Alverez
I knew something was wrong besides smoke inhalation upon arrival. Raven never looked as pale as she did when she was rolled into the Labor and Delivery Unit. As my friend, it kills me to see her like this.
Worse as her doctor, I feel responsible for anything that could happen to her.
As her heart rate dropped, I knew I made the wrong call by not taking her in for an emergency cesarean. Something’s happening to her and it wasn’t anything to do with her bleeding out. Delivery went well. No, it was something else and I needed to get her into the OR and out of Blaze’s reach so that I could figure it out. If he’s in the room with her it’s going to make my job more difficult. He’s even more protective of Raven than Tracker is of Victoria.
I’ve known both women for years now and I’m not ready to lose one of them. I was a godfather to Victoria’s son, my significant other, Raul, is Matthew’s and we’re supposedly both supposed to be the godfathers for the newest addition.
“Take care of her,” Blaze commands.
“I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure she gets through this,” I confirm and immediately follow the nurses, sending a prayer as I do so that Raven makes it through whatever’s going on and that Blaze doesn’t lose his soulmate.
Chapter Four
Blaze
It takes everything in my power to keep my knees from collapsing underneath me as Alverez and the team of nurses wheel Raven away from me yet again.
“Sir, if you would like you can come with your son to the nursery,” the older nurse holding Mark says.
There’s nothing else I can do right now. Raul came in and is taking care of Matthew for me while being watched over by my brothers. After the ordeal with the house going up in flames, I’m not about to take any chances. Not by a long shot.
Nodding I follow the nurse into the nursery where she puts a bracelet around his ankle. She then turns around and asks for my wrist. “You’ll need this to be able to come in here and be with him,” she says. I’m allowed a few more moments in there with him before being asked to leave the nursery while they take care of a couple things for him.
Leaving, I go out to the waiting room to give an update. My emotions are all over the place and I’m not sure how I feel right now besides numb to the thought of possibly losing my ol’ lady.
I’m bombarded nearly the moment I’m through the doors.
“How is she?”
“The baby okay?”
Question after question is thrown at me and I’m unable to speak a single word.
“What’s going on with my sister?” I lift my head to meet the voice of the man it belongs to. My brother-in-law, Pitch Black. I’m surprised to see him here but at the same time glad for it.
Clearing my throat, I run a hand through my hair. “Mark’s great. They’re doing some stuff with him now, a bath or something,” I mutter, closing my eyes. “Raven.” The words refuse to come out of my mouth.
“She okay?” Pitch Black asks.
I open my gaze in order to meet his gaze. “I don’t know. Alverez took her to the OR due to her heart rate dropping.”
“Shit, this is what Mamma meant by being here for Raven,” Pitch Black mutters, placing his hands on his hips while lowering his head with a slight shake.
“What happened?” This time it’s Tyres, Pitch Black’s VP, to ask. “We went by your place. Firemen were gathered around, and smoke was filtering through the open-door space.”
“Someone blew up our house,” I
