48. (JO POV)

(JO POV)

Drifting in a void of darkness, I was caught between consciousness and something else entirely. It was as if I were floating in an endless, dark sea, occasionally brushed by echoes of the familiar. Voices, distant yet distinct, pierced the silence around me, their words reaching me through the fog that clouded my mind.

I experienced fleeting glimpses of the room around me in this strange limbo. How, I couldn't fathom, my eyes remained firmly shut.

There was a peculiar comfort that came each time I felt Dane's lips firmly against my neck. This sensation grounded me and tethered me to a reality I was struggling to grasp. I longed to voice how much his presence soothed me, but my body refused to cooperate, leaving me trapped within myself.

Magness's firm and authoritative voice cut through the haze. "Relax. We have medical equipment for that. She's doing fine."

Dane's response was filled with a stubborn adherence to the old ways. "I know, but feeling her pulse myself... it's r