Chapter 18 Kaden's POV
I stayed.
Damian had given me five minutes, but I couldn't leave. I pulled a chair to the corner of the infirmary and sat there, watching as he worked on Elara through the night.
He changed her IV bags three times and checked her vitals every thirty minutes. Adjusted the monitors. His movements were careful, practiced, and something else gentle, almost tender.
"Her fever is down.” He said after the third hour, more to himself than to me.
"That's good, the antibiotics are working."
I said nothing, just watched.
Watched as he brushed a strand of hair from her forehead. Watched as he pulled the blanket higher over her shoulders watched as he checked the bandage on her head with a touch so gentle it made my chest ache.
He cared about her. I could see it in every movement, every glance. This stranger cared about my mate more than I had allowed myself to.
The guilt was crushing and it sat on my chest like a physical weight, making it hard to breathe. Every time I looked at Elara's bruised face, every time I thought about what she'd gone through, I wanted to break something. I wanted to find the rogues who'd hurt her and tear them apart with my bare hands.
But most of all, I wanted to go back in time and undo everything. Take back the rejection, keep her safe, do anything except what I had actually done.
"You should rest," Damian said without looking at me.
"You have been sitting there for hours."
"I'm fine."
"You are torturing yourself that won't help her."
He was right, but I couldn't leave. "The baby," I said quietly. "Is the baby really okay?"
Damian finally looked at me. "Her hormone levels are stable. No signs of bleeding or cramping right now. But she's malnourished and dehydrated, which puts stress on the pregnancy. The next forty-eight hours are critical."
Forty-eight hours two days to know if my child would survive.
"What can I do?" I asked.
"Nothing, just let me work and stay out of the way."
The door opened and Ethan walked in carrying two cups of coffee. He handed one to Damian and brought the other to me.
"Drink." He ordered.
I took it but didn't drink, just held the warm cup in my hands.
Ethan sat down beside me. "The council is asking questions they want to know what's happening."
"Tell them I'm handling it."
"Kaden, you are not handling anything. You are sitting in a chair staring at an unconscious woman. Let me help tell you what you need."
I looked at my beta, my best friend. "I need to fix this. I need to make this right and I don't know how."
"Start by taking care of yourself so you can be there for her when she wakes up. You're no good to anyone like this." He paused.
"I will handle the council meetings, the patrol reports, and the daily operations. You focus on this on her, on figuring out what comes next."
"What comes next?" I let out a bitter laugh.
"She doesn't even remember me, Ethan. She's carrying my baby and she doesn't know who I am."
"Then you remind her you show her who you are, you earn back what you lost."
I wanted to believe him and wanted to believe that I could fix this. But every time I closed my eyes, I saw her face that morning. The pain in her eyes when I had spoken those words.
"I rejected her." I said quietly.
"The morning after we were together she was lying in my bed and I told her it was a mistake. I rejected the mate bond before she had even healed from our mating."
Ethan was silent for a moment. "Why?"
"I don't know, I panicked , the bond felt too strong, too overwhelming. I convinced myself I was making the right choice."
I pressed my hands to my face. "I was an idiot."
"Yes, you were," Ethan said bluntly.
"But you can't change that now. All you can do is try to make it right."
The night wore on Damian continued his vigil, checking and rechecking everything. I watched him work, watched the way he touched her with such care, and something dark stirred in my chest.
My wolf didn't like it. I didn't like another man caring for our mate, being close to her.
‘She doesn't remember us.’ I told him. ‘We have no right to be jealous.’
‘She's still ours.’ He growled back. ‘Still carrying our child, still our mate.’
Around three in the morning, I finally spoke again. "Why are you doing this?"
Damian looked up from checking Elara's pulse. "Doing what?"
"Taking care of her like this you could have just dropped her off at the border and left. But you are here, you've barely left her side."
He was quiet for a long moment. "She was half-dead when I found her. Beaten, bleeding, left in the rain like garbage. And you know what she was doing? Even unconscious, even dying, she was curled around her stomach. Trying to protect the baby she didn't even know she was carrying."
He looked at me directly.
"She's been through hell, she has no memory, no one she remembers. Someone needs to make sure she's okay. And since you clearly failed at that job, I'm doing it."
The words stung because they were true.
"Thank you." I said quietly.
"For saving her, for bringing her here for everything."
Damian nodded but didn't respond.
As dawn broke, painting the sky outside pink and gold, I heard it. A soft sound, a small gasp.
I was on my feet before I could think.
Elara's eyes were moving beneath her closed lids. Her fingers twitched. Her breathing changed.
"She is waking up," Damian said, moving to her side immediately.
My heart pounded so hard I thought my ribs might crack. This was when she was waking up. I'd see her eyes open, hear her voice.
Would she remember? Would she know me?
Her eyelids fluttered once, twice, then slowly opened.
Those eyes, the ones I had seen, looked at me with trust, with shyness, with pain blinking slowly in the early morning light.
"Elara?" Damian's voice was gentle.
"Can you hear me?"
She turned her head slightly toward him and nodded, just barely.
"You are in the Blue Moon Pack medical facility. You are safe, do you remember what happened?"
She stared at him for a moment, then shook her head.
"That's alright don't try to force it how do you feel?"
"Tired.” She whispered.
Her voice was hoarse, barely audible. "My head hurts."
"I know you have a concussion, the pain will fade with time."
He checked the monitor beside her. "Your vitals look good, that's excellent."
She closed her eyes briefly, then opened them again. Her gaze drifted past Damian and landed on me.
I froze every muscle in my body locked as she looked at me.
Please, I thought. Please remember. Please know me.
"Who is that?" She asked Damian, her voice uncertain.
The question hit me like a physical blow.
Who is that? Not Kaden or the Alpha or even I know him from somewhere Just who is that.
"That's Kaden Xandros," Damian said carefully.
"He's the Alpha of this pack."
She looked at me for a long moment, her brow furrowed slightly like she was trying to remember something trying and failing.
"I don't know him.” She said finally, turning back to Damian.
And there it was the truth I had been told but hadn't fully believed until this moment.
To her, I was a complete stranger.
I stood there, unable to speak, unable to move, as the full weight of what I'd lost crashed down on me.