52

POV - Kallen
“We are going to have to force her to shift if it gets worse,” my brother’s voice was grim as his gaze flicked over her trembling form. Kai-Lea lay motionless, drenched in cold sweat, her chest rising and falling in shallow, uneven breaths.
“Maybe not.” My voice was firmer than I felt. “Just let her rest. We’ll see when she wakes.” I tried to keep my tone steady, tried to fight back the gnawing fear eating at me. She just needs time. I wasn’t ready to accept that we might have to force her wolf to the surface. That kind of strain could break her, especially after what she’d already been through.
Dad nodded. His eyes heavy with unspoken worry. Stuart and I lifted Kai-Lea together, cradling her limp body between us as we carried her to her room. She felt fragile, her skin cold to the touch despite the feverish heat radiating from her. A reminder of just how much she’d been fighting—of the unseen battles raging inside her mind.
As we laid her down on the bed, I brushed a damp strand of hair away from her face, my heart clenching at the sight of her closed eyes, the furrow in her brow as though she was still trapped in some waking nightmare. ‘Please, let her sleep peacefully.’ I asked the Moon Goddess even knowing it is likely a false hope. Her body might be resting, but her mind… her mind was haunted. The things she'd endured, the things we saw... they would continue to torment her long after tonight.
“We need her to feel safe,” I murmured, mostly to myself. But it was true. If she woke up still feeling cornered by the horrors she’d been through, if she didn’t trust us to protect her, we’d lose her. Maybe not physically, but emotionally, mentally, she’d shut down.
“I know.” My dad’s voice was softer now, his rough hand resting on my shoulder as he glanced from me to Stuart, who stood silent at the foot of the bed. “We’ll leave you three for a little while. Maybe some space will do her good.” He moved to the door, pulling it almost closed but leaving it ajar as he always did—a sign of trust but also a quiet promise that he wasn’t far away if we needed him.
I sank down on the edge of the bed, my hand still gripping Kai-Lea’s, even though she lay unresponsive beside me. Stuart stood rigid, arms crossed, his jaw tight. He hadn’t said a word since we brought her in here, but I could feel the anger radiating off him like heat waves. His wolf was just below the surface, itching to tear something—or someone—apart. It was like he was watching her die on him all over again.
I couldn’t blame him. The images were still seared into my mind, too. What they’d done to her… what we saw through her memories when she was thrashing, panicking… it made me want to rage, too.
'Stuart,' I reached out through the bond, not wanting to speak out loud and disturb her. 'Was it just me, or did she show us what they did to her?'
The silence stretched between us, thick and suffocating. Stuart’s gaze snapped up to meet mine, his blue eyes dark, glowing with fury. 'She did,' he replied, his voice a low growl in my head. 'She showed us everything.' His fists clenched at his sides; his entire body taut as if he was holding himself back from shifting right there in the room.
My wolf stirred in response to his anger, but I forced him down, keeping my composure for Kai-Lea’s sake. 'I want that BITCH in a cell,' Stuart snarled, his voice laced with venom. It wasn’t surprising. He’d been like this ever since the attack, itching to hunt down those responsible.
'I know,' I replied, my thoughts heavy with the same rage. The urge to rip through the people who did this to her, to make them feel even a fraction of the pain they’d inflicted on her, was overwhelming. But right now, none of that mattered. What mattered was keeping her safe. Revenge could wait.
'I wish we have met her sooner,' he spat, guilt flashing through the bond. 'We should have investigated them sooner. We would’ve known something was wrong—'
'Don’t,' I cut him off, my voice sharper than I intended. 'This isn’t your fault. It’s not mine either. Thinking about her almost dying and tying into all that she had gone through isn’t helpful to anyone.' I could see the blame swirling in his eyes, the way his fists trembled as if he was clinging to the thought that he could have done something, anything, to stop what happened. I hated seeing him like this, blaming himself when we were both helpless to prevent it. They’d kept her hidden, isolated, torturing her in ways we couldn’t have imagined. Not until she broke, and the truth poured out like poison through our bond.
'She’s strong,' I reminded him, and maybe myself too. 'She’ll come back from this.'
'I don’t know,' he muttered, shaking his head as he turned his gaze to her. His eyes softened as they landed on her fragile form. 'She’s been through so much already. How much more can she take?'
The truth was, I didn’t know either. Every scar on her body told a story—of pain, survival, endurance. But how much more could she endure before something finally broke? Even knowing that some of the many scars were now gone from us mating and marking with her. I squeezed her hand gently, wishing I could take some of that burden from her, wishing I could shield her from the darkness clawing at her mind.
'I feel it too,' I confessed after a long pause. 'The bond… it’s weaker. She’s slipping away from us.' Fearing what we were shown coming to pass.
Stuart’s head snapped up, his eyes wide, fear mixing with the anger that had been simmering beneath the surface. 'You felt it?'
I nodded, my throat tightening as I forced myself to admit what we both already knew. 'Yeah. It’s faint, but it’s there. We have to build it back to what it was. Or something even better.' The bond was fragile, fraying at the edges, like a thread being pulled too tight, threatening to snap.
'We can’t lose her,' Stuart whispered, his voice so low I barely heard him. But the desperation in his tone echoed through me, wrapping around my heart like a vice. ‘We couldn’t lose her.’
'We won’t,' I said, though I wasn’t sure if I believed my own words. But I had to. I had to believe that we could pull her back from the brink, that our bond could survive this. 'We just need to give her time. And when she’s ready, we’ll be here for her. All of us.'
The room fell into a heavy silence again, only the sound of her shallow breathing breaking through the stillness. I leaned my head back against the bedpost, closing my eyes for a moment, trying to push away the lingering images of what we’d seen. The screams, the blood, the way they broke her down, piece by piece, until there was almost nothing left. No, not almost. She’s still here. She’s still fighting.
Stuart moved beside me, his large hand resting on her other side, his touch gentle despite the raw power coiling beneath his skin. We stayed like that, both of us holding onto her, hoping that our presence would be enough to anchor her back to reality, back to us.