Alex had been moved into one of the larger hospital rooms to accommodate both the machines she was hooked up to and the number of visitors who were sitting by her bedside. Kit was down the hall and recovering at a much better rate. Alex had saved his life by flushing the wolfsbane from his body when she had. His wolf was regaining it's strength and his wounds were healing fast. Aidan had called Nora, Kit's mate, to let her know that he had been found alive. Nora had arrived a few hours earlier, thanking them all in turn and collapsing into Aidan's arms at the relief of seeing her mate.

And still they waited. Cain and some of his team came to check on his sister every half hour, quietly checking for any changes and shaking his head sadly from side to side when asked if there was anything to report.

The day had turned into evening when Nora wheeled a tired looking Kit into the room. Aidan stood up quickly when he noticed Kit attempting to get out of the wheelchair to greet him, pushing on his shoulder gently to keep him sitting.

'Stay where you are Kit,' Aidan said.

'I'm sorry Alpha,' Kit spoke to his feet, 'I should have protected the Luna.' He glanced over at Alex, lying silently and immobile in the bed across the room.

'It looks like it was some sort of trap Kit,' Ronan said, glad of any topic of conversation after the stilted silence in the room. 'Dax was going to try and capture anyone trying to leave Black Mountain. And our sources say he's looking for Luna's.' The source was one of the wolves currently being tortured at the prison. He seemed to have a good grasp on some of Dax's plans and shared, after some persuasion, that Dax was attempting to upend the packs who had become part of Nolan's task force, by killing or taking their Luna's. Alex was a desirable catch being Ronan's sister and Aidan's mate.

'I sent her into that trap,' Aidan said bitterly, the guilt of his actions overwhelming him. 'I could have kept her with me, I could have let her stay with you and I could have gone back to Lunar Ridge.'

'But you were sending her back to protect your own pack while you helped us. It's not your fault,' Hank said kindly.

Kit gave the slightest glance towards his Alpha but said nothing.

'No I thought Black Mountain was going to be attacked so I sent her back with Kit to Lunar Ridge to be safe. I lied to her. I said she could patrol and fight but really, I told Kit to lock her up and not to let her out until I came back to protect her,' Aidan said shamefully, looking down at his mate, full of sorrow and regret.

There was silence in the room.

'It's fucking exhausting to hear you talk about Alex as if she is someone who needs your protection,' Robbie was leaning against the wall with his hands in his pockets, shaking his head incredulously as he looked over at Aidan. 'It just goes to show that you know absolutely nothing about her. You don't fucking deserve her.' Robbie was angry but it was a quiet anger. There was disappointment in his tone as well. 'You should have been on your knees, thanking the Moon Goddess the second you realised you were mated to her.' He looked away from Aidan, disgusted with his behaviour. 'You are a fool.'

Aidan said nothing. He couldn't defend himself. He was a fool. There was no doubt about it.

'You're right,' was all he could manage to croak out. Aidan was tormented. He sat again and took Alex's hand back in his, willing her to come back to him.

All his thoughts of protecting his mate. Of not failing her in the way his father had failed his mother and his sister. Was he any better than him? Or was he just hurting his mate in a different way? Making her take a back seat to him; humiliating and undermining her. He was a fiend and a coward, just like his father.

The silence hung damply in the room until Cain returned. He looked exhausted and headed straight to Alex to take her vitals before speaking to anyone.

He took a seat by the door, rubbing his hands through his hair and pinching the bridge of his nose, taking a moment to make a decision.

'Alex is not improving,' he started as he looked around the room at each earnest face. 'In the last two hours, she has become weaker. Her heart is working too hard; her brain is still swelled with the concussion and she's not responding to any stimulus.'

Everyone was holding their breaths, frightened for what Cain may share next.

'We have exhausted every medical avenue that we have. She's not responding to anything.' Cain looked on the brink of tears as he said these words.

Everyone in the room looked helplessly around. 'So there's nothing we can do?' Nolan said pleadingly, shaking his head as if this was not correct, that this couldn't be the end.

Cain hesitated, licking his lips lightly before looking up. 'I called the Council to see if the Healers there had any useful information to share or any guidance that they could give.' Cain glanced briefly at Aidan before continuing, 'There may be something that could work. It is going to be controversial and I need everyone to hear me out.'

'If it'll save her life, just do it,' Robbie said, hands out motioning to the room,′ what are we waiting for?′

'It involves the mate bond,' Aidan's head snapped in Cain's direction, listening intently. 'If Alex could draw strength from a source outside herself, from Aidan and their bond, her wolf may be able to start healing her.'

'But that would mean..' Nolan started looking anxiously at Cain.

'Yes, Aidan would have to mark her.' Cain finished the sentence.

'Without her consent?' Ronan stood angrily now. 'No fucking way Cain. There must be something else.'

'There is nothing else,' Cain shouted back at Ronan, standing up to face him. 'Do you think I want this for our sister?'

Ronan calmed himself at the upset and pain on Cain's face.

'This bonds Alex to Aidan forever,' Nolan said stoically. 'Alex has chosen not to mate with him. She has no status in Lunar Ridge.' Nolan decided now was not the time to hold back. The group had to know what they were potentially condemning her to, if she was bonded to Aidan. 'They were talking about Aidan making a decision on whether he should reject her before they came to your wedding Ronan.'

Aidan paled at the knowledge Nolan had about his relationship with Alex and his treatment of her at Lunar Ridge. It sounded much worse hearing it back. All of it was true. The room was full of constrained rage now.

'I'll step down as Gamma.' Kit wheeled himself from the corner of the room, to speak to the group. 'Alpha, I won't be a problem anymore for you or the Luna. If she'll have me, I'll serve her as a warrior. She has my undying allegiance and I'll convince anyone at the pack that she deserves the same from them.'

'And it only took her saving your fucking life for you to realise that Kit,' Nolan spat. Kit hung his head remorsefully.

'She could have left me there. She didn't owe me anything. In fact, I would have deserved to die there. She could easily have saved herself and then we wouldn't be in this scenario.' Nora came and squeezed her mate's shoulders, tears running quietly down her face as Kit spoke.

'Well as gallant as that gesture is Kit,' Ronan said, 'we're questioning whether the decision we make here will impose a mate on Alex who doesn't deserve her; who never deserved her.'

Aidan's stomach lurched. He wanted to be angry but he was revolted by his own behaviour. Ronan was right. He didn't deserve his mate.

'But we're talking about her life. About her living or dying,' Cain said. 'I'm not sure that we have the time to think about the potential for complications.'

'I want Alex to live,' Hank said quietly, looking around the room. 'And all of you do too.'