Chapter 164 Damian’s POV
I woke up to the sound of someone moving around my tent.
For a moment, I thought I was dying that this was the end. The darkness finally consumed me completely.
Then I opened my eyes and saw Kira.
She was organizing my belongings and folding clothes. Arranging medical supplies moving quietly like she didn't want to wake me.
"What are you doing?" My voice came out hoarse, weak.
She jumped, startled. "You are awake. I was just... you've been so sick. I thought I'd help organize things. Make it easier for you to find what you need."
I tried to sit up and pain spread through my chest where the black veins were spreading. "I don't need your help."
"You clearly do look at this place. It's a mess-"
"Then leave it a mess. It's my tent, my mess." I coughed and tasted blood. "I didn't ask you to mother me."
"I'm not mothering you I'm trying to help-"
"I don't want your help, I don't want you here. Just leave me alone."
Hurt flashed across her face but she didn't leave. Instead, she moved closer.
"You are dying you need someone to take care of you-"
"I'm a doctor, I can take care of myself."
"Can you? Because from what I have seen, you're barely eating, barely sleeping. You won't let anyone examine you or try to help you are just giving up."
"What else am I supposed to do? There is no cure, the curse is killing me, it just prolongs the suffering."
"So you are going to lie here and wait to die? That's your plan?"
"That is reality, sometimes there are no good options. Sometimes you just have to accept what is coming."
She looked like she wanted to argue more. But the tent flap opened before she could.
Elara entered, carrying a bowl of soup and a water bottle. She saw Kira and gave her a grateful smile.
"Thank you for staying with him. I will take over now."
Kira nodded and left reluctantly, casting one last look at me before disappearing.
Elara sat beside my cot and held out the soup. "You need to eat."
"I'm not hungry."
"I don't care what you are eating anyway." She lifted a spoonful to my lips. "Open."
"Elara-"
"Don't make me force-feed you because I will. I have no shame about it."
I opened my mouth and let her feed me. The soup was warm. It actually tasted good despite my lack of appetite.
She fed me slowly, patiently tears kept forming in her eyes but she blinked them away quickly. Trying to stay strong trying not to let me see how much this was affecting her.
"You don't have to do this," I said between spoonfuls. "You have Adrian to take care of a mate who needs you a pack that is falling apart. You shouldn't be wasting time on me."
"You are not a waste of time, you are my friend." Her voice cracked slightly. "And friends take care of each other."
"Even when there's no point? Even when they're already dead, just waiting for their body to catch up?"
"Especially then."
I laughed, which turned into a coughing fit. More blood, more black substance coming up.
Elara grabbed a cloth and wiped my mouth gently. "Does it hurt?"
"Constantly like someone's pouring acid through my veins."
"There has to be something we can do some way to slow it down-"
"There isn't. I have tried everything, every medication. Every treatment. Nothing works against a curse this old. This is powerful."
I looked at her seriously. "You need to accept that I'm dying, Elara makes peace with it because I have."
"I refuse."
"Refusing doesn't change reality."
"It changes how I face reality." She set down the soup bowl and took my hand.
"You don't get to give up while I'm still fighting for you."
"You are fighting a battle you can't win."
"Story of my life." She smiled through her tears. "Didn't stop me before won't stop me now."
I squeezed her hand weakly. "You're impossible."
"I learned from the best you never gave up on me. Not when I had no memory, not when I was pregnant and terrified. Not when I almost died giving birth you fought for me every single time so now I fight for you."
"That's different, you had something to live for. Adrian, Kaden, a future."
"And you have things to live for too you just won't admit it."
"Like what?"
"Like seeing me punch Elder Miriam for suggesting we use my baby as bait. Like watching Kaden try to cook and burn everything. Like meeting the woman who is going to love you the way you deserve to be loved."
"There is no woman there, just you and you're not mine to love."
"There could be If you would stop being so stubborn and let people in."
I knew who she was talking about. Kira, the woman who had been following me around despite my constant rejection.
"She doesn't want me, she wants the idea of me being the wounded doctor she can fix."
"You are an idiot if you really believe that." Elara stood. "Rest now I will check on you in a few hours."
She left, taking the soup bowl with her.
I lay there staring at the tent ceiling, feeling the darkness spread a little further through my chest.
The rest of the day passed in a blur of pain and exhaustion.
Kira kept appearing to bring water, adjusting my blankets. Sitting quietly in the corner reading medical texts like she could find a cure if she just researched hard enough.
"You don't have to stay," I told her every time.
"I know." she would reply never leaving.
I snapped at her, told her to go away and said cruel things designed to drive her off.
She just absorbed my anger like it was nothing and kept coming back.
"Why?" I finally asked. "Why do you keep helping me when I'm such an ass to you?"