AMELIA’S P.O.V

The drive to the hospital was quiet. I could feel Caleb and Clara’s eyes on me. They held varying degrees of pity and worry but I couldn’t even look at them. The moment we arrived at the hospital, I was out of the car. They tried to follow me but I ignored them and heads straight for Dr. Brown’s office. None of the nurses tried to stop me, they all recognized me easily from all the times I had been here with Kaden. I felt their watchful and curious gazes but I ignored it.


Without knocking, I pushed open the door. Dr. Brown was furious to say the least but as soon as she saw me, all fight deflated from her. “Are you alright?”

I nodded. “I need you to check and ensure nothing is broken. Then I also need you to make sure no one comes into my room tonight, I want to be alone.”

“Amelia-”


“Can you do it or not?” I snapped. I knew she was not the reason for everything that happened but I was on a tight fuse already and she was making it worse by not answering. “I don’t need you to tell me anything and I don’t need you to ask me any questions. I just need you to do as I said.”

“It is hospital protocol that when someone comes in with injuries like yours, we call the guards in case there was abuse. At least, let me call the Alpha.”


I could tell that she was trying to choose her words carefully but I didn’t have the time or patience. “Do you want to call the Alpha and have his own guards take him in for abuse because if you do then you might as well do it right now but know that I am not going to sit here for it. Check me now or I will walk out of here. It is your choice.”

She stared at me for a beat before sighing and gesturing for me to come with her. She led me to the private rooms and thankfully, she didn’t put me in the same one that she put Natasha. I was silent as she went through the tests. My throat burned and it hurt to speak but other than that, I felt fine if we ignored the raging emotions coursing through my body.

“Nothing is broken,” Dr. Brown said after a tumultuous few minutes. “You just need to rest and take some fluids. I will keep some water by the side of the bed. I would also prefer if you didn’t try to speak.”

I just nodded and turned away from her. I didn’t particularly feel like speaking anyway and the millions of questions in her eyes only further solidified my thoughts. She wouldn’t understand, no one would and I had no interest in trying to explain.

“Amelia,” she began slowly and I stilled. “If you want me to call someone, I can. He might be the Alpha but there are still people that can put him in-”

“You can leave now,” I cut her off and I felt her displeasure.

“What happened to you-”

“You have no idea what happened to me,” I spat. “You have no fucking clue and until you do, you are not qualified to speak on it. Get the hell out of my hospital room, now.”

She frowned but said nothing else and simply walked out. It was only when she had shut the door behind her that I finally crawled up into a ball on the bed. The enormity of what had happened finally dawned on me and I let out a sigh of frustration. I just wanted things to be over but even I knew that this was just the beginning.

I had managed to fall asleep sometime during the night and was awoken by yelling as my door flew open. Of all the people I was expecting to walk into my room, I didn’t expect Kaden’s mother. For the first time in forever, she looked like a mess. Her hair was in a messy bun and she was in what looked like a pajama set.

“What the hell is going on?” she yelled and I saw Dr. brown and Kaden trying to hold her back but she ignored them. “Explain to me why the doctor is threatening to have my son reported for abuse and why he is sleeping outside the hospital on the floor like an animal.”

“Mother,” Kaden began but she brushed him off and turned to me.

“I gave you all the answers you wanted because you said you would help him. How is this helping him? How is framing him for something that he didn’t do going to-”

“I did,” Kaden cut her off and she fell silent. “Mother please, you do not want to do this in public. Amelia isn’t lying, she has every right to report me if she wants because I did choke her- twice. Look, I didn’t do it intentionally and I know that sounds like shit but it is the truth. I slept out here because she asked for no visitors and I didn’t want to be away from her. if anyone is the victim here, it is her.”

To her credit, she looked embarrassed. She couldn’t even be bothered to look me in the eye. I watched as her cheeks tinged a light pink and she turned to leave. I wasn’t sure why but that infuriated me.

“Aren’t you going to apologize?” I asked. I still had not gotten my voice back completely. “You came in here screaming profanities at me when you thought I was wrong. Now that you know I am right do you not think you should apologize?”

“Now you are just being dramatic,” she tried to wave it off but I was not having it.

“You are a self righteous bitch, do you know that?” I spat and her eyes widened in shock. “You have done nothing but hate on me since I got here. I didn’t ask to be your son’s mate, I didn’t ask for any of this. I have tried to be kind but you have treated me like dirt. When this whole issue happened, I thought we were finally getting somewhere but it seems you were just having fun and using me for your own selfish gains.”

“Amelia, you are out of line.”

“No, you are out of line!” I didn’t care that I was making a scene. “Your son might let you get away with talking shit to me but I will not let that happen. I don’t want to see you near me, I don’t want to hear you, I don’t even want to fucking smell you because if you do, I swear to the goddess I will burn this whole pack to the ground with us in it.”

My chest was heaving by the time I was done speaking and I saw something akin to pride in Kaden’s eyes. His mother turned to him with a silent question in her eyes- asking him to talk to me- but he said nothing. In that moment, he made his choice and I could tell it pissed her off because she huffed and turned on her feet before stomping away. Once she was gone, it was like I could finally breathe again and all the tension in my shoulders bled out.

“I am sorry for what happened,” Dr. Brown said. “I should never have informed her. I just-”

“Please leave, you have done enough for today,” she swallowed and turned on her heels. “On your way, please process my discharge papers. I am done with hospitals.”

I could tell she didn’t agree, but she nodded and walked away leaving me alone with Kaden. I wasn’t sure how to handle being alone with him. I wasn’t upset with him over what had happened but that did not mean that I was happy with it either. It was my choice to return and although he did not mean to hurt me, he still did and it was not something I could just forget.

He made his way into the room and gently closed the door behind him. “Amelia.”

“You shouldn’t be here,” I interrupted him and he frowned. “You should leave, Kaden.”

“I will, but not before I tell you how fucking sorry I am. I don’t think words will be enough but you know, you know that I would never hurt you on purpose. You know that I would rather die than be the reason you are hurt.”

“I know,” I admitted and he looked stunned but it was the truth. “I want us to move past this but when I close my eyes, I see your hands around my throat. When I zone out for even a second, I am back there, in that field, dying in your arms.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I know, but I cannot live in that house knowing it happened there. I cannot stay there knowing that she was there and that is where it all fell to shit.”

“Then don’t. I have another property, I was building us a house before all of this happened. I just- it will take some time to complete it but I will and we can-”

“Kaden, you’re not hearing me,” I stopped him. “I cannot be in the same house with you knowing that there is no one else there who can stop you if- I don’t know how deep her workings go and I don’t think that I can take that chance.”

He sighed. I could see that he was hurt by my words and it was never my intention to hurt him but I needed to be sure that we were on the same page.

“If I am going to give us a chance- another chance- then we need to do it right. I cannot just pretend like nothing happened. I cannot just pretend like you didn’t toss me aside like yesterday’s trash. So much went on while you were being controlled by her and I cannot forget it.”

“I know,” he moved closer to me and gently grabbed my hand in his. “Just tell me that you are not giving up on us. Tell me that we have a chance still, that is all I need to know.”

“You’re my mate,” I said simply. “Of course we have a chance.”

“Good,” he placed a kiss on the back of my hand. “I will do everything in my power to make sure that I do not ruin that chance. I swear it to you.”