Chapter 8: Everything He Refused to See

Selene was awake when Kane returned to the healer's ward.

Her eyes opened slowly when he entered, but there was no happiness in them. Only exhaustion.

"You found out," she whispered.

Kane stopped beside the door.

He had imagined apologizing all the way there. Every version sounded useless now.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Selene smiled faintly. "Because then everything I did seven years ago would have been for nothing."

"Everything you did was based on a lie my mother forced on you."

"I still chose it."

"You were eighteen and dying."

"So were you supposed to sit beside my bed and watch?"

"Yes!"

The answer came so quickly that Selene blinked.

Kane's eyes reddened.

"If that was what I chose, yes. I would have stayed. I would have carried you to every healer in every territory. I would have gone north later. Or never. I don't care."

Selene looked away.

"But I cared."

Kane's anger collapsed.

"I wanted you to become Alpha," she continued. "I wanted there to be a version of the world where at least one of us got everything we dreamed about."

"And was this your dream?"

His gaze fell to the silver lines beneath her skin.

Selene said nothing.

Kane moved closer but stopped before touching her.

"At the tavern..."

His voice failed.

Selene closed her eyes.

"Don't."

"I pushed you."

"I know."

"I left you bleeding."

"I know."

"I believed Vivra without even asking you."

"Kane."

"How can you tell your mother not to blame me?"

Selene finally looked at him.

"Because I didn't come back into your life expecting kindness."

That sentence destroyed whatever remained of his composure.

Kane lowered himself beside the bed.

"You should have expected it from me."

She gave him a sad smile.

"The Kane I knew would have given it without being asked."

He bowed his head.

There was no defense against that.

A healer entered carrying a tray of medicine. Kane stood aside while Selene swallowed two bitter-looking mixtures.

"How much time?" Kane asked.

Selene's fingers tightened around the blanket.

The healer looked at her for permission.

She nodded.

"The poisoning has reached her heart and nervous system. Three months was the optimistic estimate before today's trauma."

Kane went pale.

"Before today?"

"Her condition deteriorated after the head injury and shock."

"How much time now?"

"We don't know."

Kane gripped the back of a chair.

"There has to be treatment."

"There were treatments. She has undergone nearly all of them."

Selene quietly added, "That's what the scars are from."

Kane remembered mocking her wheelchair.

Can't even walk anymore?

He wanted to tear the memory out of his own head.

"Find another healer," he said. "Find ten. Send riders to every pack. Contact the Northern Stronghold."

Selene sighed.

"Kane, don't turn my last days into another war."

"Then tell me what to do."

She looked at him for a long moment.

"Let me go home."

He stared at her.

"That's what you want?"

"I want my own bed. I want my mother. I want to sit under the old oak when I'm strong enough. I don't want to die smelling medicine."

The word die made his wolf howl.

But Kane nodded.

"Okay."

He arranged everything himself.

When it was time to move Selene, he approached the bed and hesitated.

"Can I carry you?"

Seven years ago, he would never have asked.

Selene noticed too.

After a moment, she nodded.

Kane lifted her carefully.

She weighed even less than he remembered from the previous day.

This time, when he placed her in the wheelchair, he didn't reach for wipes.

Instead, his hand remained around hers for one extra second.

Selene looked down at their joined hands.

Then she gently pulled hers away.