Chapter 374: The Phone Call

Third Person’s POV

?Kaden had barely made it back to his office after seeing Rola off when a soft knock rattled against the heavy wooden door.

?"Come in," he called, his voice hollow as he made his way over to his desk. Every muscle in his body felt weighed down by a cold, suffocating exhaustion.

?Logan stepped inside, carrying a stack of revised files. "Alpha, these are the updated financial breakdowns from the affected packs. The council has requested an emergency briefing tomorrow morning to review the allocation for the rebuilding process."

?"Schedule them for ten," Kaden replied, taking his seat. "Ensure every member receives a copy of the logistics sheet before they enter the room."

?"Understood, Alpha."

?Kaden picked up a pen and reached for the top paper, but the words blurred together into meaningless ink. His mind was still trapped in the sitting room downstairs, replaying the sheer pain in Rola’s eyes. He hadn’t expected her to offer him space, especially after figuring out the quiet, desperate reason behind his choice on the battlefield. He respected her kindness, but the heavy guilt in his chest made it hard to breathe.

?"Alpha? Did you catch that last part?"

?Kaden looked up, his brow furrowing slightly as a sharp ache throbbed behind his temples. "What?"

?Logan opened his mouth to repeat himself, but the sharp ring of the desktop telephone cut him off.

?Kaden reached for the receiver, his hand heavy. "Yes?"

?"Alpha, there’s a caller on the main line requesting to speak with you," the housemaid greeted respectfully.

?"Who is it?"

?"Lady Rebecca, Alpha."

?Kaden went completely motionless. The air locked in his lungs, and his heart violently slammed against his ribs with a force so sudden it made his chest ache. "Rebecca?"

?"Yes, Alpha. She asked if you could take her call."

?An agonizing second of silence stretched over the line. Kaden hadn’t heard a single word from Rebecca since the war ended, and after the silent, utterly broken way she had walked away from the battlefield, he had spent the last few days in a living hell, terrified he had lost her forever.

?"Connect her," he instructed, his voice cracking slightly despite his best efforts to keep it steady. He flicked his eyes toward his Beta. "Give me the room, Logan. I need to take this privately."

?Logan gave a sharp nod and exited without a word, pulling the heavy oak door shut behind him.

?A few seconds later, the line clicked, and the telephone rang once more. Kaden snatched it up, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the plastic.

?"Rebecca?"

?"Hello, Kaden."

?Hearing his deep, familiar voice through the speaker sent a sudden, painful jolt through Rebecca’s chest. She sat on the edge of her bed at Stone Pack, her legs shaking so badly she could barely keep her feet flat on the floor. Her fingers gripped her phone with a tight hold, her breathing short and rough.

?For a split second, a wave of panic hit her, making her want to end the call immediately. She still loved him so deeply it felt like a real wound in her chest, but she forced herself to stay focused on the painful reason behind her call.

?"How are you?" Kaden asked quietly, his chest tightening as he listened to the faint, unsteady rhythm of her breathing. He wanted to scream across the distance, to ask her if she was eating, if she was sleeping, if her soul was bleeding as badly as his was.

?"I’m fine," Rebecca lied, her throat so tight the words barely scraped out. "How are you?"

?"I’m managing," Kaden murmured, resting his forehead against his free hand as a wave of raw grief hit him.

?"That’s good."

?An suffocating silence settled between them, thick with a love that had nowhere to go and a pain that threatened to tear them both apart. Neither knew how to navigate the overwhelming wave of longing threatening to pull them under.

?"Is everything alright, Rebecca?" Kaden finally asked, his tone laced with a desperate, raw tenderness that nearly broke her self-control right then and there.

?"Yes," Rebecca whispered, choking back a quiet sob before continuing. "I actually called because... I wanted to talk to you about what happened during the war."

?Kaden leaned back against his chair, closing his eyes tightly as he prepared himself for whatever blow was coming next. "I’m listening."

?"Melvin came to see me today," she began, her voice quivering despite her best efforts to steady it. "He told me his theory about the Tiger leader’s demand that night. He believes the man was never going to honor his word, no matter who you chose. He thinks he was trying to force you into revealing the woman you desperately wanted to keep safe, so he could kill her first."

?Kaden remained completely silent, his heart bleeding in his chest.

?"Melvin said he confronted you about it after the battle, but you didn’t confirm or deny anything."

?"That’s true," Kaden answered, his voice thick with repressed emotion.

?Rebecca swallowed hard, a fresh tear spilling over her lashes and tracing a hot path down her cheek. "Was he right, Kaden?"

?Kaden turned his head toward the tall office window, staring blindly out over the palace grounds as tears stung the corners of his dark eyes. He had known this question would catch up to him eventually, but hearing the heartbreak and confusion in her voice made him feel like he was dying inside.

?"Rebecca, I never wanted you to die," he choked out, his voice dropping into a ragged, painful whisper. "Whatever happened in that circle... my only objective was keeping you alive. I couldn’t lose you."

?Rebecca buried her face in her hand, a silent sob wracking her shoulders as the truth finally crashed over her. It wasn’t just a theory. He had chosen Rola to save Rebecca from an executioner’s blade. He had willingly let her hate him just to keep her breath in her lungs.

?"I spent the entire week believing you chose Rola because she mattered more," she sobbed softly into the phone, the agony in her voice completely unrestrained now. "I thought you were standing there, willing to watch me die."

?"I would rather rip my own heart out of my chest than willingly stand by and watch you die, Rebecca," Kaden confessed, his own voice breaking as he poured every drop of his agonizing, unyielding love into the line. "I love you too much. I could never let him hurt you."

?The raw truth in his words felt like a knife twisting in Rebecca’s chest. Tears ran freely down her face, the bitter anger of the past week completely breaking into pure heartbreak.

?"Then I owe you an apology," she wept softly. "I was hurting so badly, Kaden... and I said such terrible things to you without stopping to consider the torture you were going through."

?"Don’t apologize to me, Rebecca," Kaden begged softly, his own chest heaving as tears silently tracked down his jaw. "Please. You don’t owe me an apology."

?"I do," she insisted through her tears. "And I want to thank you. For taking that burden... for trying to save us both."

?Kaden let out a long, shaky breath that sounded like a ragged gasp of pain. "You’re welcome."

?The line went quiet again, but the air was now filled with an unbearable love. Rebecca felt the wall around her heart completely fall, leaving her open and exposed. Yet, underneath the wave of love pulling her toward him, the scary reality of their past rushed back into her mind. They loved each other to the point of breaking everything around them.

?She forced her shaking hand to wipe her wet face, knowing she had to say what needed to be said.

?"How is Stephanie?" Kaden asked quietly, desperate to keep her talking, desperate to keep her voice in his ear for just a few more seconds.

?"She’s recovering well," Rebecca whispered, her voice fragile as glass. "The healers assured me she’ll make a full recovery."

?"I’m glad," Kaden murmured.

?For one small, beautiful second, the sad reality of their situation vanished, leaving only the warmth of two people who belonged together.

?In that fleeting second, Rebecca wanted nothing more than to teleport to his side, to throw her arms around his neck, hide her face in his chest, and tell him she loved him. But the heavy weight of their past—the blood, the mistakes, the pain they caused everyone around them whenever they came together—stopped her cold.

?She couldn’t do it anymore. The pain was slowly destroying them both.

?"Kaden... there’s something else I need to tell you."