Chapter 182
Chapter 182
ALEXANDER
I let out a slow breath, steadying myself before I answered. “It started with the Moon Claw attack.”
Cole’s brows drew together.
“Faye was taken,” I continued. “By Moon Claw wolves.”
“What?”
I nodded once. “They thought she was someone else… her twin, Sage. It was a mistaken identity. I didn’t have the luxury of waiting or calling for backup. Also, I didn’t want to draw too much attention-it could put her in more danger-so I decided to go in alone.”
Cole’s mouth opened, then closed again. He looked like he wanted to argue, but I didn’t give him the chance.
“Jason and Patrick offered to come with me,” I went on. “I didn’t see any reason to refuse…” My voice faltered, and I rubbed the back of my neck, feeling the weight of memory pressing at the edges. “Patrick had his own plans. Turns out, he’d already chosen Draco’s side because he hated me that much. I just didn’t know it then.”
Cole stared at me like he didn’t recognize the person standing in front of him. “You’re telling me all this now?” His tone was calm, but his eyes weren’t. They burned with disbelief… and something deeper… hurt. Alex, this isn’t everyday problem. You never called? You never said a damn thing?”
“It all happened so fast-” I began.
For the first time in a long while, Cole cut me off. “Don’t say you didn’t have the time. You had time after. Days, Alex… It’s been days since you got back. And you couldn’t say a word to me about all this?”
His voice cracked slightly at the end, and I could feel his frustration settling in like a storm brewing just behind his words.
“I’m
your Beta… no, forget that… We’re brothers, Alexander. You mean to tell me if I hadn’t asked, you still wouldn’t have told me anything? Hold on… Did you already know you were going to be attacked when you called that night to ask me to take care of the Luna and Irene?” He seemed to have too much to say at
once.
That’s the height of Cole’s anger. He had every right to be angry. I’d been silent for too long… but the truth wasn’t something I could’ve easily explained when I was lost in my own head.
I looked away, staring ahead for a moment. The air between us felt thick, the sounds of the crowd behind us fading into a dull hum. “You think I didn’t want to tell you?” I said quietly. “Cole, I didn’t even know how to tell myself.”
He frowned. “What does that even mean?”
”
1/3
< Chapter 182
+25 Points
“It means,” I said slowly, choosing each word like it might cut me open, “that when I woke up… I wasn’t
sure what was real.”
Cole’s confusion deepened. “When you woke up?”
I met his eyes again. “After I was stabbed…”
His mouth opened, then closed again… a flicker of disbelief, then anger, then something closer to fear.” You’re serious about the poisoned silver dagger thing?”
“Completely,” I said.
He shook his head. “But… that’s impossible. Alexander, silver and wolfsbane don’t just stab-they end you. No one can survive that. You should’ve been-” He stopped himself, exhaling sharply. “You should’ve been
dead.”
“I was, Faye brought me back,” I said.
The words came out soft, but they hit harder than anything else I could’ve said. Cole’s gaze snapped to mine, searching for a trace of irony, something to tell him this was a twisted joke… but I wasn’t joking.
“I don’t remember the exact moment it happened,” I went on. “Not clearly, at least. I remember Faye… the sound of her voice, the pain, the cold. And then nothing…”
Cole said nothing, but I could see his throat tighten, the faint pulse in his jaw.
“When I woke up again, it was already morning. I was back-completely healed, alive… slightly lost.”
He blinked once, slowly. “So, Faye actually brought you back-”
“She brought me back,” I repeated simply. “Her gift….”
The words felt strange even as I spoke them, like admitting them aloud made everything more surreal.
Cole was quiet for a long moment. The wind shifted, carrying faint music from the other side of the hall,
but it felt far away, like it belonged to another world entirely.
Finally, he said, “And you just… didn’t tell anyone.”
I let out a dry laugh. “Who was I supposed to tell, Cole? You? The council? Irene? ‘Hey, I died and came back, but my memories are a puzzle I can’t piece together’? I could barely convince myself.”
I met his eyes and exhaled slowly. “You were the first person I thought of when I woke up. But the moment I tried to talk about it, it felt like something in my head just-“I snapped my fingers. “-shut off. Like a door slamming shut in my face. Even Faye doesn’t know how messed up my head is.”
“Are you saying you lost your memory?” Cole asked quietly.
“Not exactly,” I said. “It was there… every detail was there. But it was like my brain refused to put it together. I’d close my eyes and see flashes, mostly in my sleep… Patrick’s face, the blade, Draco’s face as I ripped him apart, me bleeding, and the voices… but it was never in order. I didn’t know what part of what I
2/3
< Chapter 182
+25 Points
was seeing actually happened the way I saw it, and what part was some distorted echo left over from dying and coming back.”
I hesitated, then added, “Whatever Faye did to bring me back… it fixed my body but left my mind messed up. I’ve been walking around with that hole ever since.”
Cole ran a hand over his face, muttering something under his breath. “That’s crazy.”
I nodded slowly. “But tonight, the moment I saw him, everything came together. It all snapped into place.
Like the missing piece finally slid in. I confirmed it, Cole. Every second of it. Patrick’s hand on the dagger,
His voice when he explained that I wouldn’t survive.”
Cole’s face hardened, his breathing slowing to a quiet, controlled rhythm… the kind he used when he was
trying not to explode.
“Patrick crossed the line, Alexander. We can’t let that slide,” Cole said. “He just saw you alive…who knows
what he’ll do next?”
25 Points