The Messenge (Iva and Nick) novel Chapter 407

The Wolf She Thought She Lost

Caleb realised that Iva was awake only when her fingers moved slightly beneath his hand, and for several seconds he simply stood there, staring at her as though the smallest movement might shatter something fragile between them.

Her eyes were open.

She was looking directly at him.

Yet, for the first time since he had found her, she did not push him away, did not recoil into the corner of the bed, and did not look at his hand as though it were something dangerous.

She simply watched him.

Caleb’s heart skipped a beat as Chaos exploded into life.

Mate.

The single word thundered through his mind with such force that Caleb nearly lost his composure.

Our mate.

Chaos was howling now, pacing beneath his skin, demanding to be released, demanding to touch her, demanding the closeness it had been denied for far too long.

Caleb clenched his jaw.

Since Iva had disappeared from his life, he had been unhinged in ways he had never allowed himself to be before, existing somewhere between controlled fury and something far more primitive, something feral that had spent every waking moment searching for the woman who had been ripped away from him.

His Lycan had never accepted her absence.

Neither had he.

And now she was here.

Close enough for him to touch.

Close enough for him to smell the familiar scent that had haunted his dreams.

Close enough to look at him without fear.

Chaos wanted to crawl beneath the blankets and pull their mate against them, wanted to bury his face against her neck and finally breathe without the constant ache of missing her.

But Caleb knew better.

Nva was still lost.

Her memories were fractured, her understanding of him painfully different from the truth, and whatever had been done to her had left wounds he could not simply command away.

She could not comfort Chaos.

Not yet.

So Caleb used every ounce of inner strength he possessed to keep his beast restrained.

He remained completely still.

He was terrified that one wrong movement would make her withdraw again.

It took several seconds before he finally trusted his voice.

“I’m sorry if I woke you up,” he whispered, his voice low and careful. “I just wanted to check on you and make sure you were okay.”

Iva stared at him for another moment before giving a small nod.

“It’s okay.”

Her voice was quiet, almost exhausted.

“I just have a nasty headache and wanted to close my eyes for some time.”

Caleb’s brow immediately furrowed.

“Do you need a healer?”

She shook her head.

“No… no need for someone.”

She swallowed and turned her gaze toward the ceiling.

“I got used to these headaches from time to time. Probably lack of sleep.”

Caleb nodded slowly.

He wanted to ask more.

He wanted to call every healer in the castle and have them examine her from head to toe, but he knew that doing so without her permission would only confirm every fear she still carried about him.

So he remained beside the bed.

Quiet.

Careful.

Watching her.

There was something almost unbearably intimate about simply being allowed to stay.

For months, he had imagined touching her again.

He had imagined holding her, hearing her laugh, feeling her fingers intertwined with his, waking

beside her and listening to her complain about how cold the castle was in the mornings.

He had imagined a thousand different reunions.

None of them had prepared him for this.

For a woman who looked at him without remembering that she had once loved him.

For a mate who did not know she was his.

For the unbearable privilege of having her hand beneath his and being too frightened to move.

Caleb finally lowered his eyes.

“I wanted to speak to you about something,” he began hesitantly, “but it can wait until tomorrow.”

Iva immediately made a small grimace.

“Now that you told me, I’ll break my head asking myself what it is.”

Despite everything, the corner of Caleb’s mouth lifted.

It was such a familiar response that something inside him tightened.

That was his Iva.

Even with half her memories missing, she was still capable of making him smile.

“So,” she continued, looking at him, “if you already opened the discussion, tell me.”

Caleb nodded.

His expression changed.

The small warmth disappeared beneath concern.

“There is something I need to understand.”

She drew a shaky breath.

“Lori told me who I was. She told me about you, about Nick, about everything that happened, but those are just stories in my head.”

Caleb listened without interrupting.

“I know Youssef is your son,” she whispered. “I know that without anyone telling me. When I look at him, something inside me just knows.”

Her eyes lifted toward Caleb.

“But Avalon…”

She shook her head.

“Nothing.”

Caleb slowly sat on the edge of the bed.

Chaos was no longer howling.

His beast was listening.

Waiting.

And Caleb suddenly understood that whatever had happened to Iva had reached deeper than her memories.

Something had severed the connection between her and the wolf that had always been her other half.

He looked at her hand beneath his.

Then, very carefully, he turned it over so her palm rested against his.

Iva did not pull away.

That tiny acceptance nearly destroyed him.

“I don’t believe you’ve lost her,” he said softly.

Iva’s eyes searched his face.

“You don’t?”

“No.”

“Why?”

Caleb swallowed.

“Because Chaos would know.”

She frowned slightly.

“My Lycan has never been wrong about you.”

Her breath caught.

Caleb lifted his eyes to hers.

“And if Avalon were truly gone, Chaos would feel it.”

For the first time, something flickered across Iva’s face.

Not recognition.

Not yet.

But hope.