My heart sank, the realization hitting me like a punch to the gut. Oh, fuck.
She thought I washim. She thought I was James.
A pang of hurt shot through me, but I quickly pushed it down, forcing myself to stay focused. “Emma,” I said, my tone urgent but calm, trying to pull her back. “It’s me, Caden. You need to stay with me. You’re just cold and confused.”
Her eyes fluttered again, as though she were trying to fight through the fog in her mind. “James?” she whispered, the name laced with a deep, unshakable hurt.
“Emma, it’s Caden,” I repeated firmly, my heart breaking a little as I saw the pain etched on her features. I cupped her face, hoping to ground her in the present. “And I’m not going anywhere. You hear me? I’m right here.”
She didn’t fucking reply.
“Hey,” I said softly, forcing myself to control the flood of dread as I nudged her, trying to pull her back to reality. “Look at me, open your eyes.”
But she didn’t. Her brow furrowed in confusion as she continued, sounding almost fragile. “Why didn’t you nex me? For five fucking months?”
Each word stabbed at me like a knife, her confusion cutting me deeper than I wanted to admit. It hurt like hell that she thought I was him, that in her dazed state, I wasn’t the one she wanted to hold on to.
But if keeping her talking meant playing along, even if it tore me apart, then I’d do it.
For her.
I sighed deeply, closing my lids for a moment, trying to ground myself, to find the strength to do what had to be done.
“Because I was scared,” I whispered, my voice barely steady. The truth of my words hung heavy in the air, but it wasn’t the fear she thought it was. It wasn’t James’s fear of rejection I spoke of, but my own, Caden’s—fear of losing her, of failing her when she needed me most.
I could see her struggling to make sense of it all, her mind lost in the fog of confusion.
“Scared of what?” she breathed, and she sounded so small, so vulnerable, it nearly broke me.
I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Of you pushing me even further away if I did.”
Fuck it. I resigned to do what I had to. I becamehim, because for her, I would be anyone, even the man who broke her, if it meant keeping her here with me.
She stilled, her body going quiet against mine. “And how was not calling me helping?” she asked, a trace of her usual sharpness creeping back into her voice. Even delirious with hypothermia, she was still snarky.
I almost smiled, even as my heart ached. “I thought I was giving you space,” I said softly, wishing she could see me, really see me.
“Space?” she spat, the word dripping with disdain. “What, like I’m a fucking alien?”
I nearly laughed, even though it wasn’t funny.
Then, her eyes started to roll back, her grip on reality slipping away again. Fuck!
“Emma,” I snapped, now harsher than ever before. “Emma, stay the fuck with me. Give me your eyes! Now!”
Her lids fluttered open again, confusion giving way to recognition. “Caden?” she asked, her voice weak, but at least she was back.
“Yeah,” I said, exhaling in relief.
“I think I fell asleep,” she murmured, her eyelids heavy.
I nodded, even though I knew she could barely see me. “Yeah, but I’ve got you,” I whispered, pressing my fingers to her carotid artery, feeling the slow but steady pulse beneath my touch.
No idea how much time passed after that, but I tried to keep her talking, tried to keep her anchored to reality. As Caden. As James. It didn’t matter. Whatever she needed, whoever she needed me to be, I’d be exactly that. BecauseIneeded her to stay awake, to stay with me.
When she lost consciousnessagain, her head slumping against my torso, something inside me snapped. I was ready to carve out my own heart if it meant keeping her alive. Anything, I’d doanything.
Not only so she could give us the savior, but because without her, the world would lose the very reason it should be saved.
