<h4>Chapter 410: Chapter 410 Need To Be Prepared</h4>


    When Addison disappeared and Zion was losing his sanity piece by piece, Levi was the only one he could trust to hold him together. Levi was quiet, steady, reliable... and he had carried far more weight than he ever demanded credit for.


    So now, looking at him lying weak and pale inside that room, Zion felt a suffocating guilt coiling in his chest. He owed his Beta far more than he ever realized.


    "Zion... I want to be by Levi’s side. Is that possible?" Addison asked softly. Her lips trembled, her face scrunching up as though she were seconds away from crying. The sight alone made Zion panic.


    He nodded immediately, even though he wasn’t sure the doctors would allow it. The ICU needed to remain sterile, and Levi couldn’t risk even the slightest infection, or his condition might worsen.


    But then Zion remembered their unusual mate-bond, the strange, powerful connection they shared even without marks.


    He understood why Addison was insisting. She didn’t just want to <i>see</i> Levi; she wanted to help him in the only way she could.


    So Zion pushed aside his hesitation.


    "Alright, I’ll call the doctors. You stay here and wait for me, okay?" Zion said gently. He set Addison down and crouched to slip her slippers onto her feet. She didn’t even seem to notice; her eyes were locked on Levi’s fragile, motionless form behind the ss.


    Seeing her so consumed with worry, Zion exhaled heavily and turned away, heading down the corridor.


    When he reached the doctors’ office, he knocked. A voice from inside invited him in. The moment he opened the door, he wasn’t surprised to find several doctors gathered around the table, because he could hear their voices carried all the way down the hall. They were discussing Levi’s condition and the subsequent treatment n they needed to follow.


    Only then did Zion truly grasp howplicated Levi’s situation was.


    Because of Greg’s ambush and the silver dagger that had struck dangerously close to his heart, Levi had narrowly avoided fatal a damage. But the de had still torn through major veins near his heart, leaving him in critical condition. Tonight would be crucial. The doctors weren’t certain he would pull through.


    As Zion listened, his stomach dropped, the weight of their words pressing heavily against his chest.


    "So what do you mean by that?" Zion asked, his voice low as his expression darkened, an oppressive aura rolling off him. He remembered all too well that Addison had only just recovered; if something happened to Levi now, when she was already drowning in guilt, it would destroy her.


    If Levi didn’t make it through... she wouldn’t just be heartbroken. Her health could spiral, her body weaken, just like the werewolves whose partners died and were consumed by grief, some following their mates to the afterlife, others left so broken they barely survived.


    He had seen it before. His own mother was proof of how devastating that kind of loss could be.


    And with Addison and the three of them’s unusual mate-bond connection, the consequences would be even more severe. The thought alone made his chest tighten in fear of what might happen to her if Levi truly slipped away.


    "Alpha Zion, we won’t sugarcoat our words," the doctor began, his tone grave. "The reason we struggled so much in the operating room saving Beta Levi was because stitching the veins connected to his heart was extremely difficult. In fact, it’s already a miracle he’s alive at this point. Damage of this severity could have killed anyone."


    "If a major vein connected to the heart is severed, the flow of blood to the heart and throughout the body ispromised. The heart can’t do its job, leading to cardiac failure or cardiac arrest. Beta Levi nearly went into cardiac arrest. Perhaps it was his sheer will to survive,bined with his indomitable spirit, that has kept him hanging on until now."


    "But... if his wolf fails to aid his body in healing before the day ends..." The doctor’s voice paused slightly, but the message was clear without him needing to finish it. Zion understood perfectly that he and Addison needed to be prepared for the possibility that Levi might not make it if his wolf couldn’t repair the damage in time.


    "But earlier you said Levi’s condition was better than expected... so I thought—" Zion began, then paused, running a hand through his hair. He had just told Addison that Levi’s condition had stabilized, that all they needed was for the Wolfsbane to leave his system so his wolf could start aiding his recovery. Scars would remain, yes, but his life wasn’t in immediate danger.


    And now, the doctors were telling him something different?


    Zion’s chest tightened. What did they expect from him now? Had there been a misdiagnosis earlier, or had Levi’s condition deteriorated without anyone noticing? The questions churned in his mind, each one heavier than thest.


    "We did," the lead doctor admitted, his expression grave, "but earlier we were being optimistic. At that point, all we needed was to wait for the Wolfsbane to leave Beta Levi’s system so his wolf could start aiding his recovery. Once that happens, he should return to full health."


    "However, after reviewing his data more closely, we have to prepare for the worst. How many hours until the Wolfsbane is fully washed from his system? Three... four... during that time, anything could happen. As doctors, we must be ready for anyplications that might arise. That’s why we’re informing you now."


    He wasn’t trying to scare Zion, but treating Levi like a human meant being prepared for every possible risk, and even the doctors couldn’t ignore the potential dangers.


    Hearing all of this, Zion felt as if he’d been punched in the gut. For a moment, he even forgot why he hade in the first ce. His head buzzed as he left the doctor’s office, their words repeating over and over like a broken record in his mind.


    Meanwhile, Addison felt an almost irresistible pull the moment Zion stepped out. It tugged her toward the ICU, toward Levi. She didn’t fully understand it, but she sensed it was the mate bond drawing her closer, maybe it was to keep her matepany, to let him feel her presence, and perhaps, in some way, help him recover faster.


    The pull was so strong she barely had time to think. Her body moved as if it had a mind of its own. She stepped into the ICU, and the faint hiss of oxygen escaping from the tank greeted her ears. Through the haze of her concern, she saw him, Levi, pale and still, looking as though he were in a deepa.


    "Levi..." Addison whispered softly, her voice trembling as it carried through the quiet room. No one answered. She bit her lip and edged closer,pletely absorbed in his fragile form.


    She even forgot that she wasn’t supposed to be here. Every step she took could put Levi at risk. She hadn’t sterilized herself, hadn’t changed into protective clothing, and her clothes were still the dusty ones she had worn during her journey back to Golden Hue Pack.


    Any of it could introduce an infection, and in his condition, that could be deadly. Her heart pounded as guilt and fear mingled with her desperate need to be near him that she forgot this crucial part.