By the third day of Naomi’s return to the healer quarters, Alpha Kaidan had started noticing things he had never paid attention to before. The house was quieter.
Not the peaceful kind of quiet that came after a long day, but an uncomfortable silence that seemed to follow him from one room to another. He came downstairs that morning expecting breakfast to be waiting for him, only to find the dining table empty.
Alpha Kaidan stopped at the entrance. He looked toward the kitchen. "Where is breakfast?"
Grace, who was arranging some plates, turned around. "Breakfast?"
"Yes."
She looked at him for a moment before answering.
"Madam isn’t here."
"I know that."
Grace hesitated. "Madam used to prepare breakfast every morning, Alpha. She hasn’t been doing it lately."
Alpha Kaidan’s expression tightened. For four years, Naomi had always made sure he had something to eat before leaving for pack duties. Even when he barely acknowledged her, she had still remembered what he liked and how he preferred his meals. He had never asked her to. He had gotten used to it.
Grace returned to what she was doing. Alpha Kaidan turned away, but after taking only a few steps, he stopped. "Has she been eating properly?"
Grace looked up again.
"She eats at the healer’s quarters."
"How do you know?"
"She told me."
He nodded and continued toward his office.
Halfway there, he realised something else.
He hadn’t heard Naomi moving around the house that morning.
Normally, even when she didn’t speak to him, he would hear her opening drawers upstairs, moving around the kitchen, or walking through the hallway.
Now there was nothing.
He entered his office and sat behind his desk.
John was already waiting for him with several documents.
"Good morning, sir."
"Morning."
John placed the papers on the desk.
"These need your approval."
Alpha Kaidan picked them up, but his attention wasn’t on them. John noticed.
"Is something wrong?"
"No."
John waited.
Alpha Kaidan glanced toward the door. "Did Naomi leave early?"
John gave him a strange look. "I assume so."
"Do you know what time?"
"Why?"
Alpha Kaidan looked back at him. "I asked a question."
John shrugged. "Probably around seven."
Alpha Kaidan frowned. "She usually leaves earlier than that?"
"I wouldn’t know, sir."
There was something about John’s answer that irritated him. He returned his attention to the documents. "Forget it."
John nodded and began discussing the first report. Alpha Kaidan listened, but his mind kept drifting. At some point, he realised he was wondering what Naomi had eaten for breakfast. He immediately pushed the thought away. It was ridiculous. She was an adult; she could take care of herself.
He had never needed to worry about whether she ate, whether she slept enough, or whether she remembered to take care of her health. Naomi had always handled those things herself.
So why was he suddenly thinking about them now?
At the healer’s quarters, Naomi was having a completely different kind of morning; a young boy had been brought in after falling during training. His mother was worried that he had broken his wrist.
Naomi examined him carefully while he tried not to cry.
"Does this hurt?"
"A little."
"A little?"
The boy nodded.
Naomi smiled. "You’re very brave."
His mother looked relieved when Naomi confirmed that it was only a minor injury. After treating him, Naomi gave his mother instructions for caring for the wrist.
"Keep the bandage dry and bring him back if the swelling gets worse."
The woman nodded. "Thank you, Healer Naomi."
Naomi smiled, "You’re welcome."
As they left, another patient was already waiting.
Naomi looked at the growing line outside the healer quarters and sighed.
She had thought completing her training would give her some time to breathe; apparently not. Still, she didn’t mind.
For the first time in a long time, she was busy with something that belonged entirely to her.
By midday, she had treated six patients. When she finally sat down for lunch, one of the younger healers dropped into the seat beside her.
"You’ve become popular."
Naomi laughed.
"Popular?"
"People keep asking for you."
Naomi shook her head. "They’re just being kind."
"No. They heard about the healer who graduated after four years of training, and now they’re coming to see whether you’re as good as everyone says."
Naomi smiled. "Then I hope I don’t disappoint them."
"You won’t."
Naomi looked down at her food. She still had a lot to learn, but she was proud of how far she had come. For once, she wasn’t thinking about what Alpha Kaidan wanted from her; she wasn’t wondering whether Serena was somewhere nearby.
She wasn’t trying to figure out what she could do to make her marriage work. She was simply Naomi, and she liked that.
By the time Alpha Kaidan returned home that evening, he was tired and irritable; he entered the house and instinctively looked toward the sitting room. Naomi wasn’t there. He walked upstairs; her door was closed. He stopped in front of it; he almost knocked, but instead he turned away. Why would he knock? He had nothing to say to her—at least, that’s what he told himself. He went into his room, changed his clothes, and headed back downstairs.
Grace was setting the dinner table. "Is Naomi eating here tonight?" The question came out before he could stop himself.
Grace turned "No." Alpha Kaidan looked at the table. "Why?" "She said she’ll eat at the healer’s quarters." Again, that uncomfortable feeling returned. He pulled out a chair. "Fine." Grace continued arranging the plates, and after a few minutes, she looked at him. "You know, Alpha, Naomi used to wait for you." He looked up. "What?" "Dinner." Grace placed a bowl on the table. "She used to wait until you came home before eating."
Alpha Kaidan stared at her. "I never asked her to." "I know." "Then why did she?" Grace gave him a knowing look. "Because she was your wife." The words stayed with him—his wife. For four years, Naomi had been there, waiting, cooking, checking whether he had eaten, remembering his schedule, making sure things were taken care of. And he had treated all of it like it was simply part of the house.
Grace picked up another plate. "She doesn’t wait anymore." Alpha Kaidan said nothing, looking toward the empty seat across from him. For some reason, the sight bothered him, a lot.
That night, Alpha Kaidan sat alone at the dining table; the food was still warm, but he had barely touched it. He kept looking at the empty chair, remembering Naomi sitting there, sometimes quietly eating while he worked through reports, sometimes telling him about something she had learned during healer training. He rarely listened, or at least he hadn’t thought he was listening, but now he couldn’t remember the last time she had spoken to him about her day, couldn’t remember the last time she had smiled at him without forcing it, couldn’t remember the last time she had asked him whether he had eaten.
And for the first time, Alpha Kaidan understood something he didn’t particularly like: he had become so accustomed to Naomi being there that he had never considered what his life would feel like if she stopped being there. Now she had stopped, and the difference was everywhere. He pushed his chair back and stood, telling himself he was only tired; that was all. But as he walked upstairs, his mind kept returning to the same thought: what else had Naomi been doing for him that he had never bothered to notice?