Chapter 104 Kaden's POV
Elara collapsed into my arms.
One second she was stepping out of the vehicle, pale and exhausted but upright. The next she was dead weight, unconscious, her body going completely limp.
"Elara!" I caught her before she hit the ground, my heart stopping.
"Damian! Get over here now!"
He was already running, his medical bag in hand. "Get her inside! To the medical wing! Move!"
I carried her at a sprint, the guards clearing a path. Her head lolled against my chest, her skin was too cold and covered in angry red mosquito bites.
"What happened?" I demanded.
"What's wrong with her?"
"I don't know yet just get her to the examination room!"
We burst through the medical wing doors. I laid Elara on the examination table as gently as I could despite my shaking hands.
Damian immediately started checking her vitals blood pressure and heart rate temperature.
"She's hypothermic," He said. "And the dehydrated pulse is weak. When did she last eat or drink?"
"I don't know you were with her!"
"She refused food during the drive. Said she felt too sick to eat."
Damian was moving fast, hooking up an IV, wrapping warming blankets around her. "Her body temperature is dangerously low.
Combined with the stress and dehydration, her system just shut down."
"Is the baby okay?"
"I'm checking that now."
He pulled out the ultrasound equipment and placed the sensor on Elara's stomach. The sound of the baby's heartbeat filled the room fast but steady.
"The baby's alive," Damian said.
"Heartbeat is strong but Elara's body is in distress. If we don't warm her up and get fluids in her, this could become critical very fast."
"Then do it! Do whatever you need to do!"
"I am doing it! What I need is for you to get out of my way and let me work!"
"I'm not leaving her-"
"You are leaving! Right now! Before you make this worse!"
Damian's voice was rising, anger bleeding through his professional calm. "This is your fault! All of it!"
I went very still. "What did you say?"
"You heard me, this is your fault. If you hadn't panicked and demanded she come back immediately, we could have returned in daylight.”
“Could have had time to properly check the vehicles before leaving. But no you had to have her back right now because of some ghost sighting that probably meant nothing!"
A growl rumbled in my chest. "That shadow meant everything. It meant someone in my pack is still working with Erebus-"
"And that's worth risking Elara's life? Worth forcing her to spend the night in the freezing woods while pregnant?" Damian's hands were shaking as he adjusted the IV.
"She was bitten by hundreds of mosquitoes. I couldn't sleep because of the cold. The baby was kicking violently all night because Elara's stress levels were through the roof. All of that could have been avoided if you had just waited one more day!"
"I was protecting her-"
"You were controlling her! Again! Just like you always do!"
Damian turned to face me fully. "You can't help yourself, can you? You say you're protecting her but really you're just making sure she does exactly what you want when you want it.
“And now look at her! Collapsed! Hypothermic! Because you couldn't wait twelve more hours!"
I lunged for him.
My wolf was in control before I could think. I grabbed Damian by the front of his shirt and slammed him against the wall.
"You don't get to blame me for keeping my mate safe! You don't get to question my judgment when it comes to protecting what's mine!"
"She's not a possession! She's a person! A person who needs medical care right now instead of watching you prove how dominant you are!"
I raised my fist, ready to make him pay for every word. Strong hands grabbed me from behind. Ethan. Pulling me back with all his strength.
"Enough! Both of you!" Ethan forced himself between us.
"You're acting like children fighting over a toy instead of adults trying to save someone's life!"
"He started it-” Damian began.
"I don't care who started it! Elara is unconscious on that table and you two are brawling!"
Ethan looked at Damian. "You focus on treating her, that's your job, do it."
Then he turned to me. "And you get out of this room before you make things worse."
"I'm not leaving her-"
"Yes, you are because if you stay, you and Damian are going to kill each other and Elara needs him alive."
Ethan's voice was firm. "I will stay here and watch over her. And I'll call you the second there's any change but you need to leave."
I looked at Elara, still unconscious, still too pale. Still covered in those awful mosquito bites.
I had done this by demanding she return immediately. By prioritizing my fears over her wellbeing.
Maybe Damian was right.
I left the medical wing before I could do more damage.
For the next several hours, I tried to lose myself in pack business anything to distract from the guilt eating me alive.
I reviewed border patrol reports. Signed off on supply orders met with the head of security about increasing defenses.
But all I could think about was Elara lying unconscious in the medical wing. Around midday, Xavier appeared at my office door.
"I heard what happened," he said. "How is she?"
"Still unconscious. Damian says her vitals are stabilizing but she hasn't woken up yet."
"I'm sorry." Xavier entered and sat across from my desk. "That must be terrifying."
"It is and it's my fault."
"How is it your fault that the vehicle broke down?"
"Because I demanded she come back immediately instead of waiting because I let my fear control my decisions."
I ran my hand through my hair. "Damian's right. I keep saying I'm protecting her but really I'm just controlling her and now she's paying the price for my inability to trust anyone else with her safety."
Xavier was quiet for a moment. "You love her fear comes with that territory."
"Fear doesn't excuse hurting the person you love."
"No…It doesn't." He paused.
"But it does explain that you've lost people before. Your mother, your sister, your father are in grief. Of course you're terrified of losing Elara too."
"That doesn't make it okay."
"No. But it makes it understandable." Xavier leaned back.
"Have you considered that maybe the problem isn't your fear? Maybe it's that you're facing all of this alone.”
“You're trying to protect Elara, run the pack, deal with Erebus threats, manage political pressure from the elders all by yourself. No Alpha can handle that much without breaking under the pressure."
"I have Ethan-"
"Who's your Beta and does what you tell him to do? That's not the same as having a true partner, someone who challenges your decisions, someone who shares the burden."