Don’t Poke the Luna Chapter 236

Ryder’s POV

"What the fuck?" I raised my rifle immediately, my finger on the trigger as I stared at the crumpled forms. Blood was everywhere—too much blood. One figure was clearly dead—blood seeped from his shattered skull and limbs, his body twisted into an unnatural position with visible bone fractures beneath the skin, his clothes torn and stained with dirt and gore. The other...

"Xena!" The name tore from my throat like a battle cry.

She was unconscious, lying on top of the other body. Her left arm was twisted at an impossible angle, clearly broken, and her left hand was completely gone. Blood covered her entire body, each wound making my heart shatter into smaller pieces.

My heart hammered against my ribs as I dropped my rifle and rushed toward her.

"Alpha, wait!" Novak shouted behind me. "It could be a trap!"

But I didn't care. Nothing else mattered except getting to her. I skidded to my knees beside her broken body, my hands hovering over her injuries, afraid to touch her and cause more pain.

"Xena? Baby, can you hear me?" My voice cracked with desperation. She remained unconscious. My heart sank to the bottom of my chest.

Novak's urgent voice came from above as he frantically called for a medical helicopter on his radio. "This is Boneash Pack requesting immediate medical evacuation! We have critical injuries, coordinates..."

I placed my trembling hand beneath her nose to check for breathing, then pressed my ear to her chest listening for a heartbeat. Relief flooded through me—she was alive. I looked up at Novak desperately. "How long until the helicopter gets here?"

"Thirty minutes," Novak replied, still holding his radio.

I slammed my fist into the ground in rage. I was terrified Xena couldn't survive thirty minutes in her current condition. Panic clawed at my chest as I watched the shallow rise and fall of her blood-soaked chest. The words kept spilling from my lips like a prayer: "I can't let Xena die. I can't let Xena die."

The distant sounds of gunfire and explosions grew louder, mixed with screams of agony that cut through me like knives.

I racked my brain trying to think of how to save Xena. I pulled out my phone from my pocket, only to find the screen completely shattered and unable to turn on. "FUCK!" I cursed violently.

Novak was clearly shocked by my frantic emotional state. He asked respectfully, "Alpha, what's wrong?"

I didn't look at him, still gazing heartbroken at Xena. I just showed him my broken phone before angrily hurling it away. "FUCK!" I roared in fury. The next second, Novak was already holding his phone out to me. I was stunned, looking at him in surprise. He gave me a gentle smile.

I frantically grabbed his phone, opening the map app to search for nearby hospitals. To my relief, there was a pack hospital just two miles away. I thought of the car at the entrance—I would drive Xena to the hospital myself. I pocketed the phone and prepared to lift Xena into my arms to carry her to the car.

"Alpha! This person might be Alpha Wiley!" Novak called out in shock.

I was already holding Xena, but I turned back in shock to look at the corpse on the ground. "Preserve the body and then go support Logan. I'm taking Luna to the hospital!" I ran toward the car carrying Xena.

Every step felt like an eternity as I cradled her broken body against my chest. Her blood soaked through my shirt, warm and sticky, each drop a reminder of how close I was to losing her forever. My wolf howled in anguish, demanding I run faster, demanding I save our mate.

I carefully placed Xena in the back seat, then rushed to the driver's seat. I started driving while pulling out the phone to check the route to the community hospital. "You have to hang in there, babe," I murmured anxiously.

As we neared the hospital, the radio crackled with Logan's voice, and I could hear his urgency: "Novak told me what happened. Are you almost there?"

I had to throw the phone onto the passenger seat and pull out my radio from my pocket. "I'm almost there. How are things on your end?"

Logan's tone relaxed slightly. "The drones are taken care of. We're preparing to assault the building."

I let out a long breath. For me right now, losing anyone would be devastating. "Copy that," I replied again.

I drove straight to the hospital entrance and stopped, carefully lifting Xena into my arms and running toward the building.

"Help! I need help!" I shouted as I burst through the emergency room doors, Xena's limp form cradled against my chest.

The sterile smell of disinfectant hit my nostrils as chaos erupted around us. A nurse at the reception desk took one look at Xena's condition and immediately hit an emergency button. Within seconds, medical staff swarmed us.

"What happened?" A doctor in scrubs demanded as they wheeled a gurney toward us.

"She was in an explosion," I said, gently laying Xena on the stretcher. "She's been unconscious, lost a lot of blood. Her left hand is gone, left arm is broken."

The medical team moved with practiced efficiency, checking her vitals as they rushed her toward the trauma bay. "Sir, you'll need to wait here," a nurse said, trying to guide me away.

"No!" I growled. "I'm not leaving her!"

"Sir, please. We need space to work. You can help her most by letting us do our jobs."

The doors to the trauma bay swung shut, separating me from Xena. I stood frozen in the hallway, my hands still stained with her blood, feeling more helpless than I'd ever felt in my life.

Through the small window, I watched as they cut away her torn clothes, revealing the full extent of her injuries. Multiple doctors worked simultaneously—one checking her breathing, another starting an IV, a third examining her severed hand. The steady beep of monitors filled the air, punctuated by urgent medical commands.

"BP is dropping fast!"

"We need to get her to surgery now!"

"Type and cross for ten units of blood!"

My legs gave out and I slumped against the wall, sliding down until I was sitting on the cold linoleum floor. Every fiber of my being wanted to burst through those doors, to hold her hand, to somehow transfer my strength to her broken body. But all I could do was watch through that tiny window as strangers fought to save the woman who meant everything to me.

Minutes felt like hours. The radio on my belt crackled with updates from the compound, but I couldn't process the words. Logan's voice, Novak's reports—it all faded to background noise. Nothing mattered except the monitors showing Xena's vital signs.

A surgeon emerged, his scrubs already bloodied. "Are you family?"

"I'm her mate," I said, struggling to stand.

"She's stable for now, but we need to operate immediately. The blood loss is severe, and we need to clean the wound where her hand was severed. There's also internal bleeding we need to address."

"Will she..." I couldn't finish the question.

"We're going to do everything we can," he said solemnly. "But I won't lie to you—the next few hours are critical."

As they wheeled her toward the operating room, I caught a glimpse of her pale face through the small window of the doors. "I love you," I whispered, pressing my palm against the glass. "Fight, Xena. Please fight."

The doors closed again, and I was alone in the hallway with nothing but the sound of my own ragged breathing.