Chapter 78

Cara’s POV

I watch my daughter’s chest rise and fall in a slow and steady rhythm, sleep finally taking a firm and well-deserved hold on her. My head is spinning with complicated emotions.

This isn’t the first time Mia has asked me to give her a Daddy. I know her little heart yearns for a father… yearns to be like all the other kids who have two parents.

I so greatly want to be able to grant her wish. As a mother, I want to give my daughter everything her heart desires.

Bedford had just asked me to marry him, but there's no way I could let someone like him be the father of my child. If there's a quickest and most fitting solution to this... it might just be Alaric.

But Alaric, but this…This is such a complex, indescribably tenuous situation… How could I begin to explain that to my six-year-old daughter?

I can’t, because she could never understand.

So here I sit, lost in thought at her bedside, watching her sleep.

There’s a knock at the door. Maybe it’s one of the nurses coming to tend to Mia.

“Come in,” I say quickly.

My breath catches in my chest when I see Alaric enter the room, closing the door behind him.

He has a paper in his hand. “Dr. Marlow had to step away for a moment, but some of Mia’s test results came back. She wanted me to show this to you, and she’ll come back later to discuss it further.”

Alaric furrowed his brow, looking genuinely worried about Mia. "She smells... disoriented..."

I reach for the paper, and see lots of charts and tables, numbers and symbols that only make sense to me thanks to all of our routine trips to this hospital. I realize how much I’ve learned during all of the visits.

I study the paper, deciphering the information. It appears that Mia has temporarily stabilized, but we still aren’t any closer to curing her underlying condition.

There are still plenty more questions with no answers.

“Is everything okay?” Alaric asks me, his force so low he almost sounds hoarse. “With Mia?”

I nod, not tearing my eyes away from the paper. At least Mia is safe for now… Until the next time she has to shift into wolf form…

I make several mental notes about the test results, questions to be asked when Dr. Marlow comes back later.

Alaric clears his throat, looking at me with those light blue eyes. “I heard about your friend, Ruby. She mentioned that she’s leaving Pack BloodyMoon?”

I nod, “Yes. She’s been offered a spot at the Illari Medical School. They have specialists there who understand quite a bit more than we do about Mia’s condition.”

Alaric nods back at me. “That’s wonderful. Please give her my congratulations for securing a spot at such a prestigious institution.”

“I will,” I say simply.

Alaric leans down to sit in the seat next to me. He looks at Mia, watching her sleep just as I had been doing for the last hour or so.

We sit like this in silence, keeping vigil at our daughter’s bedside. But only one of us knows that she’s OUR daughter.

Finally, Alaric speaks. “I just… Well, I don’t understand…” He speaks slowly, seemingly choosing his words very carefully. Like he’s trying to be… delicate?

Alaric… delicate? I never thought I’d see the day.

I raise an eyebrow at him, unsure at what he’s getting at.

“Any man would be lucky to have Mia… and you…” his deep voice trails off quietly.

I blink at him, unsure how to respond. I’m flattered by his words, but I don’t understand where he’s going with this. I don’t even understand what he’s still doing here by Mia’s bedside.

“Cara, you must know that you deserve better. You both deserve better,” Alaric says.

I look back to Mia, to my daughter resting peacefully, not trusting myself to say anything back to Alaric.

“Why isn’t he here? Your husband?” Alaric is speaking a bit faster now.

"You shouldn't be asking this." That's all I could reply to him.

“He should be here!” Alaric widen his eyes, his tone ting with anger..“You shouldn’t have to go through all of this alone, not when he could be here to support you. To support both of you!”

He raised his hand and grasped my shoulder. With his scorching warmth.

I’m forced to face him, staring directly into his eyes. He’s clearly angry.

"Tell me, Cara, why did you choose that bastard?" Alaric roare. "What’s the point of marrying a guy who isn’t there when his wife and daughter need him?!"

In that moment, I’m forced to face Alaric, our eyes locked with each other.

...After six years, I clearly see myself in his beautiful blue eyes.

His words, his actions, his warmth, give me an illusion—

It’s obvious that Alaric also notices the rather close distance between us. He falls silent, then awkwardly clears his throat and gently loosens his grip on my shoulder.

"I... I'm sorry, Cara."

"...It's fine." That’s all I can say in reply.

I am hesitant to even try to guess what his words really meant.

In the hospital room smelling of disinfectant, my daughter sleeps in the bed, while her father and I stand by her side.

My poor little Mia, who just made a wish to me, said she "wants a father"...

It’s like we’re stuck in a stand off. Like we don’t want to be caught staring at each other, not wanting to maintain eye contact for too long.

When I finally catch his gaze, I see something behind his eyes.

There’s a frown resting on his lips, but it’s like his anger and frustration have transformed as the minutes tick by.

He’s holding it back from me, not wanting to be vulnerable. But it’s there. I can almost see how he’s fighting against it within himself. Like he doesn’t want to show me whatever it is he’s feeling…

Clearly he cares for me, right? For us. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be here right now. He wouldn’t be taking time away from his busy Alpha King schedule to check up on Mia unless…

Unless he felt…

Love?

No…

It couldn’t be.

Could it?

I examine the facts. He’s here in this hospital, isn’t he? Keeping watch at my daughter’s bedside. A daughter that he doesn’t even realize is his own flesh and blood.

As far as Alaric knows, he’s here out of a deep concern for another man’s child. And why would he do that?

I have to bite my lip, physically holding the question inside my mouth. But I want to ask it. It’s like the question is boiling up inside of me, gnawing away, trying to get out.

But I can’t go down this road, not after so many years. Not after all we’d been through…

Can I?

I study him, my eyes going from his strong, angled jawline… up to the perfectly straight line of his nose… to his piercing cool blue eyes… his ruffled black hair…

This man I’ve spent so many years of my life worried about, thinking about…

All those years ago… We were so young back then… And now, so much has changed. I’VE changed.

And apparently so has he.

I take a deep breath, preparing myself for what I realize is inevitable.

We’ve been circling this moment for so long… It feels as though we’ve always been destined to end up here, in this room, with Mia, just waiting for me to ask this one question.

I breathe in again and take my time breathing out.

“Alaric…” I start to say.

Alaric looks at me with a confused look, clearly understanding that I’m gearing up for something, even if he doesn’t know what it is yet.

This is the last bit of courage I give myself.

To fight for this relationship. To fight for my child's father.

I close my eyes and breathe once more. When I open my green eyes again, I’m ready.

I will not run away from this.

“Alaric,” I say, myself surprised to hear how steady and confident my voice sounds.

“Do you...love me?”