"Do it," Richard said from the doorway, his voice carrying an Alpha command despite his weakened state.
The medical team worked swiftly while the delegation waited in uncomfortable silence in an adjacent room. Someone had brought coffee, but no one touched it. The cups sat cooling on a table between them like a mockery of hospitality.
Maya sat hunched in a chair, Ethan standing behind her, his hand on her shoulder. She hadn't stopped crying since they'd left the estate.
"She's really not coming back," Maya whispered. "Is she?"
"No," Ethan said, and the finality in his voice made her flinch. "She's not."
"But she's our family. She's my sister. How can she just... abandon us?"
"The same way you abandoned her when she needed you most," Ethan said quietly, and regretted it immediately when Maya's breath hitched with a fresh sob.
But it was true. They'd all failed Dakota in different ways. And now they were paying the price.
