Chapter 61
Consciousness returned slowly, like swimming up from murky depths. My eyelids felt impossibly heavy as I struggled to open them, squinting against the unfamiliar brightness. Where was I?
The ceiling above me wasn't the one from my bedroom, or any room I recognized. Panic fluttered in my chest as I tried to piece together my fragmented memories.
"Easy now," a gentle female voice said from somewhere to my right. "You're safe."
I turned my head—even that small movement sent pain shooting through my skull—and found a middle-aged woman with kind eyes watching me. Her hands were folded neatly in her lap, and she wore the traditional healer's pendant of Crescent Valley Pack.
"Where am I?" My voice came out as a hoarse whisper.
"Crescent Valley's healing sanctuary," she explained, rising to pour water from a crystal pitcher. "You've been unconscious for three days. Your injuries were quite severe, but you're stabilizing now."
Three days? The last thing I remembered was... fire. Pain. Kane's voice calling my name through smoke and chaos.
Testing my limbs, I attempted to push myself upright. Immediate, searing pain tore through my right leg, forcing a cry from my lips before I could suppress it.
Rapid footsteps approached, and suddenly Kane was there, filling the doorway with his powerful presence. He looked exhausted, with several days' worth of stubble darkening his jaw and shadows beneath his eyes that spoke of sleepless nights. His clothes were rumpled as if he'd been wearing them for days.
"You're awake," he said, relief washing over his features before he quickly schooled his expression back to careful neutrality.
"Don't try to move," the healer instructed, returning to my side. "Your injuries are extensive and will require significant time to heal properly, even with our advanced methods."
As if summoned by our voices, an older woman entered—clearly the head healer based on her more elaborate pendant. She conducted a thorough examination, her experienced hands gentle but methodical.
"Multiple fractures, significant internal bleeding, and a severe concussion," she explained, her voice matter-of-fact but not unkind. "Your leg required extensive reconstruction. The bones were shattered."
She continued her assessment, explaining the various treatments they'd administered while I was unconscious. "We've used silver-infused binding agents to accelerate healing in the bone, but even with werewolf regeneration, complete recovery will take time."
Fragmented images flashed through my mind—the car sliding toward the cliff edge, the excruciating impact, flames licking at the dashboard, and Kane's face appearing through smoke and chaos.
"Raymond," I murmured, the name rising unbidden to my lips.
Kane's expression darkened immediately. "He's sent messengers demanding your return," he said, his voice tight with barely controlled anger. "Three times now."
"You've refused them?"
"Of course I have," Kane replied, his jaw tightening. "He abandoned you to die. He loses the right to demand anything."
The bluntness of his statement should have hurt, but strangely, it didn't. If anything, it felt like confirmation of what I already knew deep inside.
"Alpha Marcus and Luna Elena?" I asked, suddenly remembering they had been there too.
"They survived the attack and have returned to Blood Moon territory," Kane explained. "Raymond insisted they return immediately to 'maintain pack stability' in your absence."
"There were rogues," I said, trying to piece together my fragmented memories. "They attacked the convoy."
Kane nodded. "A coordinated ambush. Too organized to be random rogues. Someone planned it."
The healers excused themselves, leaving Kane and me alone. He moved to the window, staring out at the sanctuary grounds, his posture rigid with tension.
"You shouldn't have had to rescue me," I said quietly. "Raymond should have—"
"Don't," Kane interrupted, turning to face me. "Don't make excuses for him. I saw him make his choice, Aurora. He saw your car sliding toward disaster and he chose Giana."
His words struck with the force of truth. Raymond had chosen Giana over me, even knowing I would likely die. The reality of it settled into my bones with surprising clarity.
Later that day, a formal message arrived from Raymond. I recognized the official Blood Moon seal immediately. Kane hesitated before handing it to me, his reluctance obvious.
The message was brief and cold: "Luna Aurora, your immediate return is requested to fulfill your duties to Blood Moon Pack. Your extended absence is causing unnecessary complications. Appropriate transportation will be arranged at your convenience."
Not a single word about my injuries. Nothing about the crash or his choice to abandon me. Just clinical reminder of my responsibilities.
I folded the message carefully and placed it on the bedside table. Where once such coldness would have left me devastated, now I felt oddly detached.
"The mate bond," I said that evening when Kane and I were alone. "It feels different."
"Different how?" he asked, helping me take a sip of water, his hand unexpectedly gentle as he supported my head.
"Like a radio signal fading out," I explained, reaching up to touch the mark on my neck that had caused me so much pain. "I feel... disconnected from him."
Kane's expression grew thoughtful. "Severe trauma or betrayal can damage mate bonds," he said carefully. "It's unusual but not unprecedented."
"Is that why the pain is less?" I asked. For months, the mate bond had tortured me whenever Raymond was with Giana. Now, that agony had diminished to a dull ache.
"Possibly. The sacred texts mention rare cases of bonds weakening after profound betrayal."
I noticed then the bandages covering Kane's hands and arms—burns that he must have sustained pulling me from the wreckage. Evidence of his sacrifice written on his skin.
"Why did you come after me?" I asked, the question that had been hovering in my mind since I'd awakened. "Why risk everything when Raymond wouldn't?"
Kane grew very still, his eyes meeting mine with an intensity that made my breath catch. For once, the mask of casual indifference he typically wore was completely absent.
"Because I couldn't bear a world without you in it," he said finally, the raw honesty in his voice leaving me speechless.
Neither of us seemed to know what to say after that confession. The silence between us felt charged with unspoken emotions, possibilities we weren't ready to name.
That night, I woke screaming from a nightmare about the crash—flames surrounding me, Raymond's face as he turned away, the terrifying sensation of freefall.
Kane appeared instantly at my bedside, still wearing the clothes he'd had on earlier. He must have been sleeping in the chair outside my door.
"I'm here," he said, taking my hand in his. "You're safe."
Something broke inside me then—the wall I'd built to contain my emotions crumbling all at once. Sobs tore from my throat as Kane gathered me carefully against his chest, mindful of my injuries.
"He left me to die," I whispered, finally giving voice to the truth. "He saw the car sliding and he chose her."
"I know," Kane murmured, his arms tightening fractionally around me. "I know."
He held me until the storm passed, his steady heartbeat beneath my ear grounding me in reality. Even after my tears subsided, he didn't let go, his hand gently stroking my hair as my breathing evened out.
As I drifted back toward sleep, still anchored by Kane's hand holding mine, I realized this was the first time since the crash that I truly believed I might be okay. Not today, not tomorrow, but someday.
The mate bond with Raymond might be fading, but something else was taking its place—something I wasn't yet ready to name, but couldn't deny existed.
Kane remained beside me throughout the night, a silent guardian keeping the nightmares at bay, his fingers intertwined with mine even as sleep claimed us both.
