Chapter 26 Recovery
Kade spent three more days in bed before Margaret would let him stand for more than ten minutes.
He hated it. Being weak, being dependent. Having pack members see their Alpha unable to walk without help, but Sage wouldn’t let him push too hard.
“You almost died,” she said for the tenth time. “You need to heal properly.”
“I am healing, look.” He lifted his arm above his head. “No pain.”
“That is a lie, I can feel it through the bond.” She pushed his arm back down gently. “Stop being stubborn.”
They were in the bedroom at the penthouse. Sage had insisted they go home once Kade could travel. Said he would recover better in familiar surroundings.
She was right but he wouldn’t admit it.
“What is happening with David?” he asked. Changing the subject.
“Still in the cells. Waiting for your decision.” Sage sat on the bed beside him. “He gave us names. Five Alphas from other packs who were working with the elder. All of them traditional, all opposed to half-bloods.”
“We need to contact the council and report them.”
“Already done, Victoria is investigating.” Sage handed him water. “But that is not your problem right now, your problem is healing.”
“The pack…”
“Is fine, Cole and I have been handling things. Everyone understands you need time.” She touched his face. “Stop worrying and rest.”
He wanted to argue but exhaustion was pulling at him. The wounds were healing but slowly, too slowly.
“Tell me what I missed,” he said.
So she did. How she addressed the pack the day after the fight. How she interviewed David and got the names. How twenty of his remaining wolves had asked to join Seattle pack pending Kade’s approval.
“You have been busy,” he said.
“Someone had to be.” She smiled. “The pack needed leadership, you taught me that.”
“I didn’t teach you anything, you figured it out yourself.”
“Maybe but I watched you, I learned from you.” She lay down beside him. “We are a team now. When you are down, I step up. When I’m down, you step up.”
“That is how it should be.”
They were quiet for a moment. Then Kade spoke. “I was scared.”
“When?”
“During the fight. When Grey got me down.” He stared at the ceiling. “I thought I was going to die, to leave you alone, to leave the pack without an Alpha.”
“But you didn’t.”
“Because you saved me with the transfusion, with the bond.” He turned to look at her. “Margaret said you almost died keeping me alive, you pushed yourself too far.”
“I did what I had to do.”
“You could have let me go. Saved yourself.”
“Never.” She said it with such certainty. “If you die, I die. That is how the mate bond works and how I want it to work.”
He pulled her closer. “I don’t deserve you.”
“Probably not.” She kissed him. “But you are stuck with me anyway.”
They held each other and Kade felt the bond settle. Complete. Unbreakable.
“I’m going to accept David’s offer,” he said after a while. “Let him and his wolves join us.”
“You’re sure?”
“He made mistakes but he is trying to make them right and we could use the numbers.” Kade shifted trying to get comfortable. “Plus it sends a message. That we accept wolves who want to change, that we don’t hold grudges forever.”
“The pack might not like it.”
“The pack will deal with it. I’m Alpha. My decision is final.”
Sage smiled. “There is the stubborn man I mated.”
Over the next week Kade slowly regained his strength, Margaret had him doing physical therapy, light exercises that wouldn’t tear his healing wounds.
Sage helped him by counting reps, catching him when his legs gave out and encouraging him when he got frustrated.
“Again,” she said. “Ten more steps.”
“I can’t…”
“You can, I have seen you fight twenty wolves. You can walk ten steps.”
He made it eight before collapsing. She caught him and helped him back to bed.
“Better,” she said. “Yesterday you made it six.”
“This is humiliating.”
“This is healing.” She wiped sweat from his forehead. “Be patient.”
“I have never been good at patience.”
“I noticed.”
That night after Sage fell asleep, Kade got out of bed carefully. His legs were steadier now, not perfect but better.
He made it to the living room, to the window overlooking the city.
The lights stretched out for miles. His territory. His pack.
He had almost lost it all.
Almost lost Sage, almost lost his life, almost left his pack without leadership during their most vulnerable time.
But he hadn’t, because Sage had fought for him, saved him, stepped up when he couldn’t.
She was everything an Alpha female should be. Strong, compassionate, willing to sacrifice for the pack.
And she was his.
“Can’t sleep?” Sage’s voice came from behind him. She’d woken up.
“Just thinking.”
“About what?”
“About how lucky I am.” He turned to face her. “About how close I came to losing everything.”
She came to stand beside him wrapped in a blanket. Beautiful even half-asleep.
“But you didn’t lose anything,” she said. “We won. We survived.”
“This time but there will be more fights. More enemies.” He took her hand. “I can’t guarantee I will always come back.”
“Then don’t go alone. We fight together from now on. No more splitting up. No more bait plans.” She leaned against him. “We are stronger together.”
“Yes we are.”
They stood at the window watching the city until Sage yawned.
“Bed,” Kade said. “You are exhausted.”
“So are you.”
“I will come in a minute.”
But she pulled him back to the bedroom. “Now, the city will still be there tomorrow.”
He let her lead him, let her tuck him into bed like he was a child and let her curl up against him.
“I love you,” he said into the darkness.
“I love you too.” Her voice was already drowsy. “Now sleep. Tomorrow we deal with David and the council and everything else. Tonight we rest.”
She was right.
Tomorrow will bring new challenges, new problems to solve but tonight they were safe. Alive. Together.
Kade closed his eyes and let himself drift off with Sage’s heartbeat steady against his chest and the mate bond warm between them.