"The one who sees beyond time" she responded
"The one your mother served."
My hands curled into fists, my legs trembling slightly.
"So all this while... all these years, i wasn't imagining it?"
"You weren't...…" She said whispered lowly.
I shaked my head in denial.
"So I suffered for nothing?" I thought bitterly.
"I suffered because it wasn't time?"
My anger intensified, drowning out any reason or logic.
"Do you even understand the level of what they did to me?" I demanded silently as if she didn't witness the whole thing.
"Do you know how it felt to be nothing? To be told I was weak, useless, lesser?"
My voice cracked and I wasn't silent anymore nor mindlinking her I was full out screaming.
"because I couldn't shift!"
The door slammed open quickly.
Rhage didn't rush me, didn't bark questions or show confusion like a lesser wolf would. He simply stood there, tall and immovable, his presence filling the room like pressure before a storm.
His gaze dropped not to my face but deeper, like he was looking through me.
I tried to breathe normally, tried to steady my racing heart.
"This is stupid, I'm imagining things. It has to be stress or hunger or this bloody blizzard?" I thought still in denial.
"You've heard her?" His voice cuts off the commotion in my head.
My mouth fell open….... the lamp slipping slightly in my grip.
"I…...." My voice cracked and I swallowed hard.
"What?" I whispered
His face remained composed, Stoic, calm but his eyes.... his eyes darkened.
"You heard your wolf?" he repeated.
Shock slammed into me so hard my knees almost buckled.
"You knew?" I whispered.
"When did you find out?" I demanded, my voice trembling now despite my effort to sound steady.
For the first time, something flickered across his face..... Fear.... but it was gone as soon as it appeared.
"Since the day your aunt brought you to this pack."
The reveal shattered something inside my chest.
All these years...…..
All the looks, the whispers, the bullying, the way I learned to make myself tiny.
He knew…....
My vision blurred, hurt, anger coursed through my veins. I haven't seen the King in years but in that moment, he wasn't a king to me.
He was the man who watched me suffer.
He must have seen it on my face because he took a step toward me, then stopped himself dragging his hand down his face as he cursed under his breath.
"I did it to protect you."
I stared at him like he'd spoken a foreign language.
"Protect me? Does that even make sense?"
"I sensed your wolf." he said.
"But she was….... dormant, weak, unresponsive to command, like something powerful or ancient was holding her in place."
My throat tightened as it became harder to swallow.
"If I told the pack you had a wolf who refused to answer you" he continued
"They wouldn't have shown mercy... they would've called you cursed or worse, a witch."
Silence passed as I thought about all he said and I understood.... but then I had to ask.
"Did you think I was cursed?"
His eyes scanned my face, searching, reading everything, every emotion, every word I wasn't saying.
"No."
"I knew you were special" he said quietly.
"You always have and always will be."
My heart betrayed me, fluttering painfully at his words but I locked it down, refusing to let it show.
Then his gaze sharpened again.
"Did she tell you why?"
I shook my head slowly.
"No."
"She's…...." I hesitated trying to explain something I barely understood myself.
"She's scared, s...she speaks in riddles….. says I'll understand when the time is right."
Silence stretched between us and then I became painfully aware of how close he was.
His scent wrapped around me..... pine and something intoxicating. My body reacted again before my mind could stop it, heat curling low in my stomach.
This isnt normal...
He can't be my mate and If he was Hades would've said so or claimed me and Asha would've told me.
yet, whatever this was between us felt wrong and right all at once.
His voice cuts gently into my thoughts.
"Are you okay?"
I nodded automatically, but I wasn't.
My head was chaos, questions, revelations, betrayal and somehow, standing this close to him made it worse. It's even harder to think or breathe.
My stomach chose that moment to betray me again, growling softly in the quiet.
The corner of his mouth lifted, a rare almost invisible smile broke out of his face.
"I made dinner." he said.
"Come eat something first."
I blinked so hard, caught off guard by the sudden kindness.
"I know you have a lot of questions to ask her, and a lot of catching up to do….. you'll have time to talk to her. " he added calmly.
"But not on an empty stomach."
I studied his face, searching for Hades for the beast that had terrified and tempted me earlier cos this can't be the Alpha King I know.
He isn't kind, nor makes dinner.... Even though he's more tolerant than he's beast. he's still the kind that kills without a second thought.... more controlled but equally dangerous in a quieter way.
I nodded slowly…... still skeptical.
He stepped aside for me to pass and I clumsily clipped my leg against the couch, stumbling forward.
His hand shot out instantly, gripping my arm and pulling me back before I could fall, concern flashing in his eyes as he looked me over.
"You've become so clumsy," he muttered, irritation threading his voice.
I pulled away quickly, straightening and looking everywhere else but at him.
"I'm not clumsy," I said stiffly.
I just couldn't tell him the truth that he is the problem and his presence unraveled me in ways I didn't understand and didn't want to.
Without another word, I turned walking down the stairs ignoring every attempt my mind made at him.