The Three Who Chose Me-Chapter 43: The Edge of Wanting

Varen

The sterile scent of disinfectants clung to the hospital walls like a second skin, cold and impersonal. It made the pit in my stomach churn. I hated hospitals. Hated how they felt like places of waiting—for life or death.

I was the first to storm toward the doctor, her white coat fluttering as she backed up a step. She knew who we were. Everyone did. But even knowing I was supposed to be the "calmest" of my brothers didn’t put her at ease.

"What’s the issue?" I snapped, trying and failing to keep the rough edge out of my voice.

She swallowed hard, her eyes flickering toward the corridor as if praying someone else would step in and save her. "She’s out of danger," she said quickly. "Your mate—Josie—is stable. But... she needs blood."

My entire body locked at that. My jaw clenched so tight it ached. "Take mine," I said, stepping forward.

Thorne’s voice came low behind me, steady and commanding. "She only needs one person’s blood. Let Kiel do it."

I turned sharply, glare locked on him. "Why?"

"Because he was the first to find her," Thorne said, as if that simple fact justified it. His hand landed on my shoulder, heavy with silent warning. "It makes sense."

Sense or not, I hated it.

But I stepped back, jaw tight, fists clenched at my sides. "Fine."

Kiel didn’t wait. He was already moving, disappearing into the hallway like he could run fast enough to undo what had happened. I stayed rooted to the spot, trying to resist the urge to follow him and demand to see her first. The fire in my chest made it hard to breathe.

Thorne leaned beside me, his shoulder brushing mine as he handed me a cup of hot coffee. I took it automatically. It was hot and bitter—exactly how I felt.

"You were right," Thorne said suddenly, voice quiet, almost like he didn’t want me to hear it.

I turned to him slowly. "What?"

"I’ve been... wrong. About Josie. About all of this." He looked like it pained him to say it, and maybe it did. "I’ve been handling things like shit."

"No kidding," I muttered, sipping the coffee and burning my tongue in the process.

Thorne sighed and leaned his head back against the wall. "If I had just been more observant—if I wasn’t so determined to act like none of this mattered—then maybe things wouldn’t have gone this far."

I stared at him for a beat, my frustration barely contained. "This’ll keep happening," I said, voice low. "Until you finally decide to fix yourself. We can’t keep bailing you out of your emotional messes."

"I didn’t ask you to," he growled.

"You don’t have to," I snapped. "You’re our brother. We clean up after each other. That’s how it’s always been. But Josie? She’s not built like us, Thorne. She shouldn’t have to survive us to be with us."

He stared at his coffee like it had personally insulted him. "I never wanted a mate."

"It’s not a choice," I bit out. "You think I planned to fall for someone? To feel like this? That kind of connection... it just happens. You either honor it or you ruin it."

We were silent after that. Not because we were done, but because the words between us were already frayed and too fragile to keep throwing at each other.

Kiel came out some minutes later, shoulders tense, his expression unreadable. "She’s stable," he said. "She’s... resting."

Thorne went quiet again, folding back into that unbothered shell he always crawled into when he didn’t want to deal with things. Kiel looked between the two of us with that same disappointed stare, like he was tired of us before we even opened our mouths.

"You two act like strangers," Kiel muttered, brushing past.

I didn’t hold my tongue. "I’m sick of your whining."

He paused at that, but he didn’t say anything. Just shook his head like we weren’t worth it, and kept walking.

I paced.

Minutes stretched. My coffee went cold.

And then finally—the doctor came back.

"She’s awake," she said. "Josie’s awake."

My heart stopped.

"She wants to see Varen," she added, her tone tight. "Just him."

I was already moving before she finished the sentence. But behind me, I heard Thorne’s footsteps, heard the weight of his temper rising.

"I’m going in too," Thorne said.

The doctor raised a hand to stop him. "She—"

"I don’t care," he snapped, eyes glowing faintly with Alpha fire. "I need to see her."

The poor woman looked like she wanted to vanish on the spot.

It was about to erupt into another argument, but someone—I wasn’t even sure who—intervened, and suddenly we were being allowed in. The doors parted. The hallway opened.

And just as we stepped through—

Kiel shoved past us.

"Out of the damn way," he growled, barging through like he owned the place. My shoulder hit the wall from the force of it.

I snarled, but didn’t lash out. Not here. Not with her so close.

And then I saw her.

Josie.

Lying in that bed, her face pale, her body so still it made my chest ache. Her eyes found mine immediately. And when her lips parted, it wasn’t to cry, or scream, or ask what had happened.

It was a whisper.

A breath I almost didn’t hear.

"Varen."

I froze.

The world around me dimmed.

Nothing else mattered.

Not Thorne, who stood beside me with clenched fists.

Not Kiel, whose posture went stiff with frustration.

Not the doctor, or the machines, or the way my hands were shaking.

She wanted me.

Me.

I stepped forward slowly, careful not to let the emotion crumbling inside me show too much on my face. But the moment my hand reached for hers, and her fingers curled weakly around mine—

It was over.

I was hers.

Completely.

Irrevocably.

And if she asked me to burn the world, I’d do it with a smile.

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