Chapter 140

Deric POV

The hospital room smelled antiseptic and monitor beeps continuously.

I stood at the foot of my father’s bed, staring at the gaunt shell of a man who’d once been the fiercest Alpha I knew. His breathing came in shallow rasps, his chest rising and falling like each breath was a war he was losing.

The pack doctor’s words echoed in my head—“He doesn’t have long, Deric. Be here for him. He needs his son.”

I clenched my fists at my sides, jaw tight as I forced myself to stay. Carlton had helped the way he could but my father’s situation didn’t seem to be getting better, so I took him back to the pack’s hospital.

But in everything my heart wasn’t in this room. It was out there, with her. With Ava.

I’d called. I’d messaged. I’d waited. And nothing. N