Lena's POV
The blood did not stop.
I folded several layers of paper towel into my underwear, washed my hands, and called Dr. Arden. The call went straight to voicemail. I left a message with my location, then tried Carter.
He answered after the third ring. The roar of warm-ups filled the line.
"Make it quick," he said.
I gripped the sink with my free hand. "I'm bleeding. Dr. Arden said this could become an emergency. I need someone to take me to the hospital."
A whistle shrieked in the background. Carter lowered his voice. "Where are you?"
"The staff restroom near the visiting medical storage room."
"Why are you wandering around after you were told to rest?"
"Thorne ordered me to sort the incident files. Carter, listen to me. The baby—"
A crash exploded through the phone, followed by frantic voices.
"Sienna can't breathe," someone shouted.
Carter swore. "I have to go."
"Call arena medical first. Tell them I'm hemorrhaging."
The line went dead.
For one second, I stared at my own reflection. My skin looked almost translucent beneath the restroom lights. The mate mark under my collarbone pulsed once, a warning from a bond that should have carried my fear directly to him.
Either Carter felt it and ignored me, or he had trained himself not to feel me at all.
I opened the stall and tried the emergency number posted beside the sink. My fingers slipped twice before I completed the call. The dispatcher asked me to remain where I was, but the restroom sat behind a coded staff door. I needed to reach the main corridor before I collapsed.
The first cramp stopped me halfway across the room. I bent over the counter until the shaking eased, then forced one foot in front of the other.
The corridor outside had erupted into chaos.
Carter ran toward me carrying Sienna. She wore half her hockey gear, her shoulder pads unfastened and her face pressed against his neck. Coaches and equipment staff followed them toward the Vipers' medical suite.
He slowed when he saw me.
My gray skirt was soaked at the center. Blood ran in a thin line down my calf and pooled above the edge of my shoe.
Carter's eyes flashed gold. His wolf recognized the scent even if the man refused to accept what it meant.
"Help me," I said.
Sienna clutched his jersey. "My chest is burning. I can't feel my hand."
"Put her on the nearest gurney and call the emergency physician," I told him. "Then stay with me until the ambulance arrives."
His gaze moved from the blood on my clothes to my face. Fear broke through for a fraction of a second.
Then Sienna made a choking sound.
"She has a history of lunar nerve collapse," Carter said, as if explaining his choice to himself. "Her heart could stop."
"Her vitals were stable before we left Portland. Mine are not."
"You walked here. You called me. You are conscious."
"I am losing our child."
The words struck him. His grip tightened around Sienna, but he did not move toward me.
"Did you hurt yourself to force this?" he asked.
I could not understand the question. "What?"
"You knew she might have another episode. You knew I would be responsible for her on game night. Did you make yourself bleed so I would leave her?"
The last fragile piece of my marriage broke without a sound.
"You think I would injure our baby for your attention?"
"I think you've been desperate since Sienna came back."
Another contraction folded me against the wall. I caught the handrail before I fell.
"Carter," I whispered. "Choose carefully. You will have to live with what happens next."
Sienna whimpered his name.
He turned away.
"Arena medical is inside," he said over his shoulder. "Stop making this harder than it has to be."
He carried her through the double doors and let them close between us.
My knees gave out.
I landed on the cold floor, one arm wrapped around my stomach. The distant crowd began chanting the Frosthawks' name. Somewhere beyond the wall, Carter was preparing to lead his team onto the ice.
Footsteps pounded toward me.
Two Vipers medics dropped beside me. One pressed gloved fingers to my neck while the other called for an obstetric response.
"Stay with me, Doctor," the older medic said. "How far along are you?"
"Six weeks. Recent blood donation. Threatened loss."
His expression sharpened. "Who cleared you to travel?"
"No one."
They lifted me onto a gurney. As the ceiling lights blurred above me, my phone vibrated in my hand. The game feed had started automatically. Carter's face filled the screen during the captain introduction.
I shut it off.
At Harborview, the emergency team moved quickly. Fluids. Ultrasound. Medication. Questions I answered from very far away.
The physician finally turned the monitor away from me.
"Lena, I'm sorry," she said. "There is no cardiac activity, and the bleeding is continuing. We need to complete the miscarriage to protect you from further blood loss."
I nodded once. I had already known in the arena corridor, when Carter's back disappeared through those doors.
The procedure ended before the game did.
Near midnight, Carter entered my recovery room in his suit, his collar open and his hair damp from the postgame press conference. He stopped when he saw the empty ultrasound screen and the transfusion line in my arm.
"Lena."
I looked at the scoreboard notification glowing on his phone. "You won."
He flinched. "I didn't know it was this bad."
"I told you I was hemorrhaging."
"Sienna's oxygen level dropped. The medical staff said—"
"Her oxygen level recovered before you reached the treatment room. You still stayed for the first period."
His silence answered me.
He approached the bed with both hands open. "We can try again. When you're stronger, I'll find specialists. I'll fix this."
"You cannot fix a child you chose not to save."
I took the papers the Alpha Council liaison had brought while I was in recovery and placed them on the blanket between us. The heading read Emergency Petition for Mate-Bond Dissolution.
Carter stared at it. "No."
I removed my wedding ring. Dried blood marked the inside of the band. I set it on the signature line.
"The legal divorce can follow. Sign the bond release now."
His eyes burned gold. "You are grieving. You don't know what you're asking."
"I know exactly what I am ending."
"I will not release you."
The door opened behind him.
"You may not have a choice," said Kaelen Rowan, the League's senior ethics arbiter and the Alpha Council's appointed bond judge.
He entered carrying a sealed silver folder.
"Under emergency mate-protection law," Kaelen said, "Lena Hart has the right to sever this bond tonight."
