Betrayed by My Ex, Marked by His Alpha Emperor Brother novel Chapter 117

Chapter 117: Chapter 117

Kaelen’s POV

Six months.

Six months since she woke up and the wolf inside her was gone. Six months of watching her relearn how to exist in a body that bruised too easily, healed too slowly, tired too fast. Six months of pretending I wasn’t terrified every single day.

Now I stood beside her bed in the medical wing, and the terror was no longer something I could hide.

"Kaelen." Elara’s fingers clamped around mine. Her knuckles were white. Sweat darkened the silver hair at her temples. Her face—pale, so pale—twisted as another contraction rolled through her. "Kaelen, it’s—"

"I’m here." I brought her hand to my lips. Kissed her knuckles. "I’m right here, sweetheart. Breathe."

She exhaled through clenched teeth. A ragged, shuddering sound that carved straight through my ribs.

She’s in agony, Alex growled inside my skull. My inner wolf was pacing—back and forth, back and forth—an endless, frantic circuit that matched the hammering of my own pulse. Do something.

What? I snarled back silently. What exactly do you want me to do?

Alex had no answer. Just that relentless pacing.

Physician Morgan stood at the foot of the bed, her hands moving with practiced efficiency over the monitoring stones arranged along Elara’s abdomen. The soft blue glow pulsed in rhythm with something I couldn’t see—vital signs, magical readings, things I didn’t understand and couldn’t control.

"Contractions are intensifying," Morgan said, her voice calm but threaded with tension. Deep lines creased her forehead. She hadn’t looked away from those stones for an agonizing while. "Ela, you’re progressing well. I need you to keep breathing through them."

"I am breathing," Elara ground out through her teeth. Then her grip on my hand tightened so hard I felt the bones shift.

I didn’t pull away. Didn’t flinch.

"That’s it." I smoothed the damp hair from her forehead with my free hand. "Squeeze as hard as you need to."

Another contraction hit. Her back arched off the pillows. A sound tore from her throat—raw, primal, something between a scream and a gasp. It was the sound of a body being pushed beyond its limits.

And her body had limits now. That was the thing I couldn’t stop thinking about. Before, her wolf would have absorbed some of this. The healing, the endurance, the supernatural resilience that every wolfblood woman carried through childbirth—Elara had none of it. She was doing this as a pure mortal. Every contraction, every wave of pain, hit her with full, unfiltered force.

"Morgan." I kept my voice low. Steady. Even though nothing inside me was steady. "How much longer?"

Morgan glanced up. Met my eyes. In that brief look, I saw what she wouldn’t say in front of Elara—the worry she kept locked behind professional composure.

"She’s progressing well. We’re moving in the right direction." She paused. Chose her next words carefully. "But I want to be transparent with both of you. A mortal body carrying a child with wolfblood heritage—the physical toll is significant. The baby is stronger than what Ela’s body is accustomed to supporting. We need to monitor closely."

I already knew this. She’d explained it earlier in the pregnancy, during one of those clinical briefings that left me unable to sleep for days afterward. The child’s wolfblood nature meant stronger bones, denser muscle, accelerated development. All of which placed extraordinary strain on a mother who no longer possessed any supernatural constitution.

Elara turned her head toward me. Those ice-blue eyes—exhausted, glazed with pain, but still sharp. Still her.

"Stop making that face," she whispered.

"What face?"

"The one where you’re calculating how to fight biology with your bare hands."

Despite everything—despite the fear gnawing through my chest like acid—something warm flickered behind my sternum. "I don’t know what you’re talking about."

"Liar." A ghost of a smile. Then it vanished as the next contraction seized her.

This one was worse. She curled forward, a cry breaking from her lips. I caught her shoulders, supported her weight, felt the tremors running through her like earthquakes.

"Breathe, Ela. Just breathe, baby."

"I can’t—it’s too—"

"You can. Look at me." I tilted her face toward mine. Her eyes found me, wild and frightened. "You are the strongest person I have ever known. You hear me? Stronger than anyone in this empire. You can do this."

She held my gaze. Drew a shaking breath. Then another.

The contraction eased. She fell back against the pillows, gasping. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

I pressed my lips to her temple. Tasted salt. "Good. That’s my girl."

She’s losing color, Alex warned.

I could see it. The pallor spreading beneath her skin like frost. The way her chest heaved with each breath, working harder than it should have been.

Minutes crawled past. Each one stretched into something unbearable. Morgan checked the monitoring stones repeatedly, adjusting their positions, murmuring readings to herself. I caught fragments—pulse elevated, blood pressure fluctuating, energy reserves dangerously low.

"Eight centimeters," Morgan announced finally. "Ela, you’re at eight. The active delivery starts now."

The delivery started. The words should have brought relief. Instead, Alex’s pacing grew more frantic.

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