Chapter 85 Elara's POV
I spent the next three days taking care of Damian.
It started simply enough bringing him meals, making sure he took his medication, checking his temperature. But it became more than that. Sitting with him while he slept. Reading to him when he was awake but too weak to do anything else. Making sure he wasn't alone.
He'd done the same for me when I had amnesia. When I was broken and lost and had no one else. Now it was my turn to return that kindness.
"You don't have to do this," He said on the second day, his voice still rough from fever.
"I know… I want to."
"You should be resting your leg-"
"Is healing fine, you said so yourself?" I adjusted his pillows.
"Stop trying to take care of everyone else and let someone take care of you for once."
He smiled weakly. "You sound like me."
"I learned from the best."
The third afternoon, Xavier knocked on Damian's door.
I had been reading aloud from a medical journal…Damian's choice, naturally when the knock interrupted.
"Come in," I called.
Xavier entered, carrying a small package. "I heard Damian was ill. I brought-"
He didn't get to finish.
Damian sat up so fast I thought he might fall out of bed. His eyes flashed amber and a low growl rumbled from his chest.
"Get out," Damian said, his voice barely human.
"I just wanted to check on you-"
"I said get out!"
The growl intensified. Damian's hands were gripping the sheets so hard they were tearing. His wolf was right there, pushing to shift.
"Damian, calm down," I said firmly, putting myself between him and Xavier.
"You are too weak to shift, you will hurt yourself."
"I don't care… I want him gone."
Xavier looked pained but not surprised. "I understand I will leave the package here."
He set it on the table near the door. "It is a fever reducer from our pack's healer. They are more effective than standard medication."
"I don't want anything from you."
"I know but I'm leaving them anyway." Xavier looked at me. "Make sure he takes them. Please."
He left before Damian could say anything else. I turned to Damian, who was still trembling with barely suppressed rage.
"You need to breathe," I said. "You are going to make yourself worse."
"He shouldn't have come here."
"He was trying to help."
"I don't want his help. I don't want anything from him."
"Why? What did he do that was so terrible you can't even be in the same room with him?"
Damian's eyes met mine for a moment, I thought he might actually tell me.
Then he looked away. "It's not something I can explain."
"Can't or won't?"
"Both."
By the fourth day, Damian was clearly better. His fever was gone, his color had returned. He was moving around his room without dizziness.
But he kept insisting he was still too weak to work. Kept asking me to stay to read to him to sit with him.
And I realized what he was doing.
"You are faking it," I said that evening, setting down the book I had been reading.
"What?"
"You are better than you have been since yesterday. But you're pretending to still be sick."
His expression shifted. Guilt flickering across his features. "Elara-"
"Why? Why fake being sick when you clearly need to get back to work?"
He was quiet for a long moment. "Because this is the only time you're just... here. Not as my patient, not because you need medical care. Just because you want to be."
The honesty in his voice made my chest ache.
"Damian-"
"I know it's selfish. I know you have other things to do. But I like having you here. Like talking to you without it being about injuries or medications or pregnancy symptoms."
He looked down at his hands. "I like pretending, just for a few days, that you're here because you care about me, not because I'm your doctor."
"I do care about you, you are my friend."
"Friend." He said the word like it hurt. "Right. Friend."
There was something in his tone, something sad and resigned that I didn't fully understand.
"I should go," I said quietly.
"Give you space to actually recover."
"You are right. I'm sorry for keeping you here under false pretenses."
"Damian-"
"It's fine really. Thank you for taking care of me."
I left his room feeling like I'd just hurt someone without meaning to.
Over the next week, my leg healed enough that I could walk normally. Still some pain, but manageable no more wheelchair no more crutches.
I should have felt free instead, I felt more trapped than ever.
Because while I had been focused on nursing Damian, everything else had shifted.
"She's everywhere," Kara told me one morning, her expression troubled.
"Selena, she is organizing the celebration, obviously. But she is also suddenly involved in everything else. Council meetings border patrol schedules. Pack business that has nothing to do with party planning."
"How is she getting access to all that?"
"Through Kaden he has been so busy lately…between the Erebus threat and preparing for the celebration….that Selena's been helping him.”
“Sitting in on meetings offering suggestions. Making herself indispensable."
"And Kaden is allowing this?"
"I don't think he notices he is exhausted and stressed and she's making his life easier by handling things. So he lets her."
Kara paused. "But pack members are noticing. They're starting to talk about how she's always at his side. How she looks like Luna already. How she's the capable one while you're..."
"While I'm what?"
"While you are the injured omega who can't handle the pressures of being an Alpha's mate."
The words stung because I knew they were true. While I'd been hiding in rooms and nursing Damian, Selena had been positioning herself exactly where she wanted to be.
At Kaden's side.
"I need to see him," I said. "I need to talk to Kaden about this."
"He's in back-to-back meetings all day. Selena's been managing his schedule. If you want time with him, you'll have to go through her."
Of course I would.