Chapter 23
Kas's POV
I peek in through the little window of the hospital room. I can see James hooked up to machines, sleeping
peacefully. A strong pang of guilt courses through me when I see there are bandages around his neck. Delilah is
curled up in the chair that's pulled up to the side of the bed. She is holding his hand through the railing of the bed.
"You can't talk to her from the hallway, Kas,” Bronx whispers in my ear from behind me, "I'll wait here until you're
ready. Just mind link me.”
I nod, then take a deep breath. I quietly open the door and step inside the room. I close it behind me and take a
step into the room. Delilah's breath hitches in her sleep, but she doesn't wake up.
I take slow deliberate steps until I am next to the chair. I squat down and put my hand on her forearm.
“Delilah?" I whisper, “Wake up, please.”
Her brow furrows as her eyes flutter open. Her deep sapphire blue eyes take a moment for her to recognize my
face, but when she does, they immediately turn royal blue. She gasps and throws her arms tightly around me.
“Kas,” she sobs in a loud whisper, “I was so worried about you! Are you okay?"
“Oh, Delilah, I'm fine now. I-I'm so sorry. I don't know what came over me. You know I would never do this on
purpose, right?” I finally stop trying to hold back my tears. This is my best friend. I can be myself with her, “I
thought you would hate me. I didn't think you would want to see me.”
She pulls me back from her embrace and holds me by the shoulders with her long, spindly fingers. Her eyes and
nose are red and puffy from crying, but she looks relieved that I am there, "Kas, I could never hate you. Never. I
know whatever happened must have been an accident. This is not you. Whatever happened yesterday, that was
not you. I'm sure of it."
I breathe the enormous sigh as I feel the vice around my heart loosen just a little. I will never understand the mind
of a pacifist, but I am grateful at this moment that my best friend is one. 1
“Delilah, when James wakes up, we can talk more about what happened, but I have a couple of questions. Bronx
needs information that could be related to my kidnapping or maybe one of my past lives.”
"I will help in any way I can. What do you need to know?” She looks at me attentively.
"Have you ever heard of a woman named Cora? Probably a witch or at least someone who can perform gray or
dark magic that can manipulate a person's mind. Bronx thinks she is part of a group called the Feral. Have you ever
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heard of a coven or a group that goes by that name?”
Delilah looks like she is racking her brain, trying to remember anything about either of the names. She finally
shakes her head negatively.
“No, I definitely don't remember either of those. I can ask my mother when she gets here tomorrow.”
"Oh! Lady Camille is coming here?” I feel my eyebrows rise in surprise.
"Well, she was planning on coming to see me for a low key visit anyway, but with everything going on, yeah. Beta
Lenora and I thought it would be for the best for her to be here for a while. I hope you don't mind," she looks at me
apologetically, "We don't know how she can help exactly, yet, but knowing her, she will have some sort of helpful
advice.”
“I would love to see her. In fact, Bronx thinks maybe I was influenced by magic and that is what could have caused
me to...” my voice trails off as I look over to the bed and see sleeping James laying there.
Delilah uses her fingertips to pull my chin so I am looking back at her, "We're going to figure out what is going on
here, Kas. We are all in this together.”
I smile weakly at her and nod, “Delilah, Bronx and I would like to speak to James. D-Do you think he is in any shape
to talk with us?”
“Um, well, he will definitely be able to listen, but yesterday, he was having a little trouble with his voice. The doctor
said something about his vocal chords. We are hoping his wolf helped heal it overnight. I used some of my healing
magic, but we both know it isn't the same as when you do it. We will know more when he wakes up, I guess.” 1
“Okay, do you want to see if you can rouse him? I can step out and get Bronx to give you some privacy." 2
"Yeah, give me five minutes,” she smiles, "Kas, I'm so glad to see you. I have missed you so much. I have so much
to tell you once we wake James up."
I give Delilah a little peck on the cheek and step out of the room so she can wake her mate up.
Bronx stands up from a chair in the hall and steps up to me. He brushes some tears from my eyes, “Well, how did it
go? You're crying and smiling. I don't know what to do with that.”
"She isn't mad. She is waking James up now to make sure he is okay speaking with us. The doctor said there is a
problem with his vocal chords, so we don't know if he will be able to speak right now," It is sinking in that no matter
how many people try to reassure me, this is my fault.
“Bronx, do you think he will let me finish healing him?" 1
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“I'm not a mind reader, Baby. You'll just have to ask him and find out,” he rubs my back.
I hear the door open. Delilah peeks her head out, “You can come in now."
Bronx sees the hesitation on my face, takes my hand, and leads me into the room. James is sitting up in the bed, his
short sable hair is ruffed up and his eyes are looking much more alert than I remember from yesterday. He tries to
mess with the bandages on his neck, but Delilah steps up and stops him, whispering about, waiting for the doctor.
When she convinces him to stop, she sits in the chair next to the bed.
"James,” Bronx tips his head and regards him. He tips his head in return, then holds his hand out toward me.
I look at Bronx, then back at James, confused.
"I think you're being paged, Luna,” Bronx says quietly as he lets go of my hand.
I step up to the bed and take James's hand. He pulls me, urging me onto the bed next to him. I carefully climb up
being careful to avoid the wires they hooked him up to.
"James, I-I'm -” he covers my mouth with his hand until he is sure I will not finish whatever it was I was going to say,
then he takes both my hands in his and places my palms on his neck. He nods and closes his eyes, showing he
wants me to heal him.
The vice around my heart is completely removed now, “Alright Lex, time to get to work.” “You got it, Kas. Let's
finish what we started,” she says confidently.
I carefully peel back the bandages from around James's neck. There are still some gashes that are not fully healed
and bright red marks in the areas that were healed. You can see clearly defined scars developing on the healed
skin.
"I'm going to make this right, James," I say, trying to bolster his confidence.
He gives a quick nod and closes his eyes again. My hands carefully themselves against his throat and I begin to
concentrate. I send as much of my essence as I can into him, blurring the lines of who he is and who I am. I
manipulate the muscles and tissue to fuse and repair itself. Pushing positive energy in to help regeneration. I see
down to the molecular level, making sure there is no sign of infection before I pull myself back into my body. When I
open my eyes and look at him, he looks a little shocked. 1
“How do you feel?” I ask. Personally, with everything that has happened the past couple of days, I feel spent and
kind of weak, but I will be fine after a little rest. Helping James is too important to think about me right now.
He clears his throat and tries to speak, “Thirsty,” his voice is gravely and scratchy. Delilah gives a gigantic smile and
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gives him a cup of water.
Once he has had enough to drink, he puts the cup down and turns to me again. He doesn't say anything, he just
pulls me toward him and drowns me in the biggest, heaviest hug I think I have ever experienced. I can hear Bronx
growl slightly at the sight of another wolf hugging me.
"Thank you, Kas," James whispers, "You do not know how much that meant to me."
“James, I don't know what words are a good enough apology right now," I shake my head.
“No apology needed,” he pulls me back and looks me in the eye, "I know and you know there isn't any way you
would have done that if you weren't affected. Honestly, in a perverse way, I'm kind of proud of
you."
“Proud?” I ask, confused. I look at Bronx, who also looks confused.
“Yeah. I once told the Alpha that I thought you would make a good assassin. You just proved that you would be if it
ever came down to it. I didn't hear you wake up, let alone open the bedroom door. You got the best of me, Kas.
Probably the first wolf ever to do that,” he smiles with pride. I look over to see Bronx laughing
now.
“Don't even think about it, Kas. You are definitely not adding assassin to your resume,” Bronx scolds in a playful,
mocking tone.
"Oh, you guys don't need to worry about that. I can't even imagine doing something like that again,” I shake my
head vigorously.
Bronx steps forward now, “James, while I am here to make sure you are okay, I am also here on official business.
Kas and I want to offer you a month off of work, full pay. We want you to take some time to think about if you want
to stay on as Kas's guard. We don't want you to rush into a decision right now and we both want you to take the
time to heal.”
"Same goes for you, Delilah,” I address her with a smile, "I want you to take a month off from the bakery. Spend
time with your mate. You more than deserve the time off and you will be back just in time for the update to the
autumn menu.” “Thank you, Alpha, Luna," James says gratefully," We will definitely take advantage of the time.
Delilah, didn't you have something you wanted to talk to Kas about?”
We all turn our attention to Delilah now, who has a huge smile on her face, looking at each of us in turn,“ I'm
pregnant! James and I are having a baby.” 1
My brain churns for a moment as I process what she just said. I hear an excited squeal erupt from deep inside me
as I throw myself at my best friend and give her the biggest tightest hug I have ever given anyone in my life,
ignoring the tiny pang of pain knowing I may never get the chance to share the same news.