AMELIA’S P.O.V

I ended up in front of the hospital. I took a detour home first and I made him lunch. I wasn’t sure if he had eaten but if I had to guess, I would have said no. Kaden tended to have a one track mind in the sense that once something became the object of his focus, it would take a lot to drag him away from it. Right now, his focus was Nadine and nothing else mattered for better or for worse.


I stopped in front of the desk where a new and unfamiliar nurse stood. “I want to see Nadine.”

“Are you family?” she asked and I hesitated. “Are you a friend or a relative? I am under clear instructions not to allow anyone into her room that isn’t any of the above.”

“Actually, I want to see the Alpha but he is in Nadine’s room.”


She scoffed. “Do you know how many people want to see the Alpha, girl? You are better off making an appointment at the office but he doesn’t make time out for groupies. I hear he has a girl now so maybe try a new target. The beta might be a good one.”

My cheeks heated. “I’m not here for that. I am the-”


“Amelia?” I turned to see Dr. Brown passing by in a pair of scrubs. She held a clipboard in her hand. “What are you doing here? IS it Kaden?”

I nodded. “I just wanted to drop something off for him.”

She smiled softly. “Of course, please go in. You don’t have to do the usual check in.” She turned to the nurse by the counter. “This is Amelia, she is the Alpha’s mate. You can just let her walk in whenever she wants.”

Her eyes widened to the point of saucers and she opened her mouth presumably to apologize but I waved her off. It was an honest mistake and she was just doing her job. She looked absolutely mortified and I wanted to stay back and assure her that I didn’t hold any grudges but Dr. Brown had taken me by the hand and was pulling me over to Nadine’s room.

Nadine was still out cold on the bed with so many wires poking out of her. Kaden was seated in front of her and he didn’t even notice when we walked in. It wasn’t until I got close enough to place my hand on his shoulder that he recognized my presence. He turned to me and my heart cracked when I saw how he looked. There were bags under his eyes like he hadn’t slept and he looked exhausted.

“Hey,” I began slowly as I took the seat next to him. “I brought some lunch for you. I wasn’t sure if you had eaten anything in a while. You also didn’t come home last night or the night before that.”

“I’m just waiting for her to wake up,” even his voice was a bit hoarse as if he hadn’t used it in a while. “Thank you for the lunch. You can just put it on the table and I will get to it later.”

“I was wondering if maybe we could eat together. I haven’t had lunch either and I figured it would be a good way for us to bond, you know. I haven’t seen you properly in two days and I just missed you.”

He let out a sigh that sounded tired and a little exasperated. “I’m not hungry right now but you can start eating if you want.”

“Is it that you don’t realize or care that I want to spend time with you?” I asked and he went silent. “I went through all this effort to do this for us and you are dismissing me like it was nothing.”

“Amelia, please, that wasn’t what I was doing and this is a hospital, you’re being loud.”

He didn’t realize what he had said until after and he reached out for me but I stood to my feet. I placed the cooler of food on the table next to him. “I’m done with all of this, honestly. I won’t sit here and let you do this to me again. I am tired of this, Kaden.”

He muttered a small curse under his breath and pulled me into his arms. I tried to push him off but he held me close and wiped the tears that I didn’t even realize had spilled onto my cheeks. He pressed a soft kiss to my forehead and I couldn’t help but just melt into his embrace.

“I am so sorry. I didn’t realize that I was hurting you like this. I just want to find out the truth, Amelia. Fuck, if this were you and there was something that was so close and yet so far away from your reach, wouldn’t you want to know?” I didn’t answer. “You also know very well that I would support you. I would be the first person cheering by your side. All that I ask is that you do the same for me.”

“I am doing the same. I have been supportive since the first moment but you are not making it easy for me, Kaden. You haven’t left here in days. You have been by the side of a strange woman. How do you think that looks? Everyone is whispering about it. Everyone thinks that you are going to leave me.”

“You know I won’t.”

“No, I don’t,” I admitted quietly. “I have never seen you like this about another person and I don’t know how to feel about it.”

“Amelia,” he began but I cut him off.

“I need to leave. I have some work to do at home. Are you going to come back tonight?”

“I’ll try my best.”

“I want an answer, Kaden, that isn’t an answer.”

“I don’t know, Amelia, that is the honest truth. I am trying my best, I don’t want to lie to you.”

“Okay,” I said finally. “I’ll see you at home.”

I left the hospital after that with my head bent low. It felt like I was doing the walk of shame. I waited and waited for him to return but he never did and once again, I fell asleep in the cold and empty house.

I was up as early as four a.m. and no matter what I did, I couldn’t go back to sleep. I knew that it was as a result of Kaden not being in the house. I tried sleeping with one of his shirts but his scent had faded from it and it just didn’t have the same effect as having him by my side. As soon as it was four thirty and the sun had risen a bit, I decided to walk to the training grounds. I hadn’t been there in a while because of everything that had been going on but I figured it was as good a time as any to start up again.

The roads were quiet and deserted. I didn’t see a single car on my way there. I had expected to be the only person there but I saw the trainer. He was busy setting up and when he saw me, he nearly jumped. He had his hand over his heart and he burst out laughing.

“You nearly scared me out of my socks. What are you doing here this early? Did you mix up the time? Training doesn’t start until another thirty minutes or more.”

“I know, I just wanted to clear my head so I took a walk. I am sorry if I am in your way. I could walk around for a while,”

“No, it’s fine,” he waved me off. “I usually do some stretching while I wait. You can join me if you want.”

I thanked him and he brought out an extra mat for me. He was nothing like Ronald in his mode of training but he was fun. He was funny and he tried to make me laugh the entire time. I couldn’t remember the last time I had laughed that much during training. We had to stop our stretching once the other teenagers showed up and I wanted to disappear especially when they started staring at me. It seemed like they also had heard the news.

The trainer noticed my discomfort because he asked me to spar with him. He made an excuse about me being bigger than the others but I knew that it was because he just wanted to save me from them, the wink he shot me after was proof of that. I was able to concentrate on my sparring and training and by the time it was over, I was so grateful to him that I waited behind.

“Thank you, for today,” I told him. “You have no idea how much this helped. I truly am grateful.”

“It is my job to make sure that all my students are getting the best experience even if it means saving them from each other,” he smiled. “I just hope you’re able to get over what is bothering you, Amelia.”

I was stunned. “You know my name?”

“I know the names of all of my students. It helps me identify them easily and note their strengths and weaknesses.”

“I feel bad now because I don’t know yours.”

His eyes sparkled with amusement. “Feel free to call me Ian. Can you help me with some of these? It’s okay if you don’t want to but seeing as we are the last two here I was hoping you could lend a hand.”

“Of course, you don’t even have to ask.”

We worked in silence and I was briefly relieved that I wouldn’t have to take the long and lonely walk back just yet. He led me to a red pick-up truck that looked like it belonged fifty years prior and we piled the equipment in the back. Once we were done, he tapped the back of the truck almost affectionately.

“Thanks for the help, Amelia, you truly are sent by the goddess,” all I could do was smile and waved him off. “You said that you walked here right? If it is okay with you then maybe I could give you a drive back. It just seems unfair that I would take your help and not pay you back.”

“You don’t have to pay me back, it was nothing.”

“It’s fine, maybe we could stop for coffee on the way.”

My eyes widened and my cheeks heated when I realized that maybe he was flirting with me. “I can’t, I have to be back home soon. I think I’ll just take a walk. Kaden’s place isn’t too far.”

“The Alpha?” he asked and I nodded. “He lives a while away from here. Let me take you, it isn’t a hassle.”

The fact that he hadn’t blanched after I mentioned Kaden led me to believe that maybe I was overreacting in the first place. It was possible that he was just being friendly. I thought about it for a second and then made my way to the passenger side.

“Well, if you insist.”