KADEN’S P.O.V

I knew the minute I left Amelia that I shouldn’t have but I just couldn’t force my legs to move back towards her. There was so much that I wanted to tell her but how could I? The minute my memories started to come back on their own, I knew I was screwed. How did I tell the woman I called my mate that the woman lying on the bed was my true mate? I couldn’t remember everything but I could clearly remember the day that we met.


She stood out in the sea of people. I locked eyes with her and I immediately knew. There were no words, no arguments, I just saw her and she smiled at me and I knew I was a goner. She gave me a wink and she ran off. I chased after her into the night and that was as much as I could remember. I still didn’t know what caused me to leave or caused her to leave. I couldn’t help but wonder if my mother had something to do with it.

“What is the update?” I asked as soon as I walked into the room.

Dr. Brown was hovering over Nadine as she barked orders to the other nurses in the room. I watched with rapt attention not understanding half a word she was saying but just looking to be sure that nothing was wrong with Nadine and that she wasn’t doing anything she shouldn’t. it took five agonizing minutes of me standing there dumbly before she spoke.


“I caught some brain activity and her eyes fluttered a little,” she explained. Her words sounded strained as if she were forcing herself to get them out. I crossed my arms over my chest and leveled her with the darkest look that I could muster.

“Is there a reason that you look like you are being hurt, Dr. Brown?” I asked and she shook her head but her lips were pursed. I knew she had issues with this but that didn’t mean, she was allowed to air them. I kept my eyes on her as I spoke. “Get out of here, everyone.”


They wasted no time in grabbing their stuff and walking out in a single file. I waited until the last of them had walked out before I took slow and deliberate steps towards Dr. Brown. She tried to remain brave but after a while, she had to take a step back and look away from my piercing gaze.

“I will only say this once so listen up clearly. I don’t care what reservations you have about this, it is none of your concern. If you had done your work the right way in the beginning, then I would never have needed to stay in this hospital for this long. You chose to connive with my mother into deceiving me and you have no one to blame but yourself.”

“Of course, Alpha,” she bowed low. “The patient will be awake soon. I reckon within the next twenty four hours.”

She turned on her heels and I waited until her hand had touched the knob before I responded. “Her name is Nadine. Be sure to address her properly, next time.”

She stilled and I could feel the shock emanating from her. I half expected her to give a response but instead, she just nodded and slipped out. Once she was gone, I let out an exasperated breath and ran my fingers through my hair. It had been such a long day and it was obvious that it wasn’t letting up anytime soon. As much as I wanted to be home, I needed to be here when Nadine woke up.

I felt my wolf shuffle anxiously in my mind. He hated being away from Amelia. He didn’t even want to entertain the concept of Nadine which I found hypocritical considering the fact that she was also our mate.

He whined again and I rolled my eyes. “Shut up, please. This is already uncomfortable as it is, do not make this any worse. I have enough shit from everyone.”

“What are you doing here, Kaden?” he asked sounding frustrated. “You walked away from our mate to hear about a girl in a coma.” I started to speak but he cut me off. “I don’t care if she was our mate first, Amelia is our mate now. We made a promise to her and we should be with her. We owe her that much.”

“Amelia is fine, she can handle herself,.” I waved him off. “Nadine is in a coma. She needs us more right now than Amelia does. Don’t you want to know what happened?”

“Honestly, no,” I was stunned. I knew he wasn’t happy about this but I didn’t know it was this bad. “If finding out comes at the risk of losing Amelia then it isn’t worth it and you should realize that.”

“We aren’t losing anyone.”

“Really? Look around Kaden,” he paused for dramatic effect. “There is no one in this room but you. You are alone with a girl you barely even know. I don’t know about you but that is a sure sign that you are losing everyone.”

He put up a wall between us before I could respond and that was it. it was infuriating to say the least and I wanted to get the last word in but that wall was not budging at all. He had always been stubborn but I didn’t realize it was this bad. Amelia was fine, right?

His words rang in my head and sent me down a spiral. I tried to ignore it at first but it got too much and I cursed. I grabbed my phone from the bedside table. It wasn’t charged but it still had some battery life. Before I could talk myself out of it, I called Caleb.

I knew Clara wouldn’t pick and despite being upset with me, Caleb was my brother first. He answered on the fifth ring and he did not sound pleased. “Is there something that I can help you with, Alpha?”

“Not you too,” I groaned but he said nothing. “Come on, Caleb, I need your help. This isn’t a joking matter.”

“I wasn’t joking. You have been acting more like a stereotypical Alpha than like Kaden so I figured I would address you as such because the Kaden I know wouldn’t be at that hospital right now.”

“Look,” I tried to keep the annoyance out of my voice. “I didn’t call you to be lectured by you. You can either keep you snarky comments to yourself and help me or I can find someone else.”

He was silent for a second. I never spoke to him like that, ever and even if I did, he knew I meant no harm but today, I did. I thought he wasn’t going to help and was about to hang up when he finally spoke.

“This better be good,” he mumbled and I heard some shuffling as he presumably took a seat. “What do you need?”

“I need you to check on Amelia for me,” there was no response and I checked the phone to be sure I hadn’t accidentally hung up. “Did you hear what I said or should I repeat it?”

“Why do you need me to look for her? Why can’t you do it?”

“Are you going to help me or not?”

He groaned. “Fine, where is she?”

I hesitated before speaking. “I don’t know.”

There was a pause and then loud laughter. It was so loud that I had to pull the phone away from my ear. Caleb was officially insane because nothing I said was a joke but he didn’t seem to mind. He laughed for a full minute and a half before finally calming down.

”Since when do you not know the whereabouts of your own mate?” he mused with a disappointed click of his tongue. “What the hell happened to you, Kaden? This isn’t the man that I know.”

“I am not interested in a lecture from you, Caleb. Do what I asked and report back to me as soon as possible.”

I cut the call before he could say anything else and resisted the urge to pitch the phone at the nearby wall. I hated how everyone was speaking to me like they were disappointed in me. Who did they think they were? I was a damn good Alpha and a good mate. This was just a momentary setback. I couldn’t leave Nadine alone and they should have been able to understand that yet somehow they didn’t.

I tried to calm my breathing but nothing seemed to be working and I let out a roar of frustration. I glanced over at Nadine lying immobile on the bed and knew I needed some space so I took a walk into the parking lot. Everyone knew to stay out of my way and despite the fact that it was raining, I stood out there in the middle of the rain and just breathed.

It smelled a lot better outside than inside the fucking hospital. I had been in there for so long that I could have sworn my nostrils would never get rid of the smell of antiseptic and bleach.

I stood there for far longer than necessary and I was completely drenched by the time I decided to walk back inside. The nurses tried to speak to me but I held up a hand to stop them. I knew exactly where to go in order to get cleaned. The private room where Nadine was staying had a bathroom and I had packed some extra clothes and toiletries. I made my way inside and took a warm shower before changing into cleaner clothes. I felt better than before although I was still on edge. It was going to take some time to calm down.

I was in the middle of zipping up my pants when my phone rang and I picked it up before looking at the caller name. The next words I heard chilled me. “Amelia isn’t at the house and she isn’t answering her mind link.”

“What the fuck do you mean?” I growled. “Where could she be?”

“I don’t know, she isn’t my mate or my responsibility.”

I swore and hung up. Where could she have gone and why didn’t she go straight home? I was in the middle of leaving when I heard a groan from behind me. I stilled and turned to find Nadine stirring on the bed. Her eyes began to flutter and I watched as they slowly opened up. She looked tired and disoriented. I didn’t even realized when I pulled my phone out from my pocket and dialed Caleb back.

“Find Amelia,” I told him. “Do everything you can to ensure she gets back home safe.” I didn’t wait for him to respond before I hung up and made my way over to Nadine. “Nadine?”

She looked up at me and awareness settled. “Kaden.”