When Addison disappeared and Zion was losing his sanity piece by piece, Levi was the only one he could trust to hold him together. Levi was quiet, steady, reliable… and he had carried far more weight than he ever demanded credit for.
So now, looking at him lying weak and pale inside that room, Zion felt a suffocating guilt coiling in his chest. He owed his Beta far more than he ever realized.
"Zion… I want to be by Levi's side. Is that possible?" Addison asked softly. Her lips trembled, her face scrunching up as though she were seconds away from crying. The sight alone made Zion panic.
He nodded immediately, even though he wasn't sure the doctors would allow it. The ICU needed to remain sterile, and Levi couldn't risk even the slightest infection, or his condition might worsen.
But then Zion remembered their unusual mate-bond, the strange, powerful connection they shared even without marks.
