Chapter 9: The Man Who Shouldn't Know
1546 Words
Echo's POV
The second timeline was breaking apart.
I could feel it.
Not dramatically.
Not all at once.
Just enough to make my skin crawl.
Three days had passed since I woke up beside the pregnancy test.
Three days since running in the forest and finding the Hawthorne tree.
Three days since I vanished in the white light.
Three days since I escaped the Nullification Ritual.
And somehow...
everything was already going wrong again.
I sat alone in the Academy library.
The same corner table.
The same chair.
The same stack of books.
Trying desperately to convince myself that changing small things mattered.
It didn't.
Not enough.
Kieran still got summoned by the Council.
Vivienne still arrived.
The treaty still existed.
The prophecy still existed.
The danger still existed.
It was like fate was correcting itself.
Like the world wanted the same ending.
The Nullification Ritual.
I stared at the notebook in front of me.
Page after page covered in observations.
Events.
Dates.
Conversations.
Things that happened before.
Things that happened differently.
Things that didn't change at all.
My head hurt.
I needed something bigger.
A weakness.
A secret.
Anything.
Because if I couldn't find one...
Loop Two would end exactly like Loop One.
With the white light.
"You're making a face."
I nearly jumped.
Kieran dropped into the chair across from me.
My heart immediately betrayed me.
Again.
Stupid thing.
It didn't care that I'd watched him fighting in the rain, and screaming that I should run.
Didn't care that I remembered him staying back to buy me time to get away.
Didn't care that I remembered vanishing.
It still loved him.
Still wanted him.
Still trusted him.
Dangerous.
Very dangerous.
"You look exhausted," he said.
I forced a smile.
"Studying."
He snorted.
"That lie was terrible."
For one perfect second...
everything felt normal.
The way it used to.
Before prophecies.
Before treaties.
Before rituals.
Then his phone vibrated.
The smile vanished from his face.
My stomach dropped.
I knew that vibration.
I knew exactly what it meant.
Council.
Again.
The beginning.
Again.
Kieran looked down.
Read the message.
And all the color left his face.
Exactly the same.
Exactly.
The same.
I closed my eyes.
No.
No.
No.
Not again.
Not already.
"Echo?"
I opened my eyes.
His expression shifted.
Concern replacing confusion.
"You okay?"
No.
I wasn't okay.
I was watching fate repeat itself.
And nobody else knew.
"I'm fine."
He frowned.
I stood abruptly.
Too fast.
The chair scraped loudly across the floor.
Several students looked over.
I didn't care.
I needed air.
Needed distance.
Needed something.
Because watching the timeline repeat felt like suffocating.
"Echo."
I kept walking.
"Echo!"
His footsteps followed.
I pushed through the library doors.
Into the hallway.
Into silence.
Then stopped.
Because someone was standing there.
Waiting.
Elder Voss.
My blood turned cold.
The old wolf stood completely still.
Hands behind his back.
Watching me.
Not Kieran.
Me.
Something felt wrong immediately.
Very wrong.
Because his expression wasn't confused.
Or curious.
Or annoyed.
It looked...
knowing.
Like he'd been expecting me.
Kieran emerged behind me.
Immediately tensing.
"Elder."
Voss ignored him.
Still staring at me.
A chill crawled down my spine.
"What?"
The word escaped before I could stop it.
For several seconds he said nothing.
Then—
"You reached the Hawthorne tree."
The world stopped.
Everything.
The hallway.
The students.
The sound.
The air.
Gone.
My heart forgot how to beat.
Beside me, Kieran frowned.
"What?"
Voss finally looked away from me.
Toward Kieran.
"Council chambers. Now."
Kieran's jaw tightened.
"I'll be there."
"Now."
The command wasn't a suggestion.
It never was.
Kieran looked between us.
Clearly sensing something strange.
Then reluctantly walked away.
The second he disappeared around the corner...
silence returned.
My pulse thundered.
Voss and I stood alone.
Neither speaking.
Neither moving.
Finally—
I whispered:
"What did you say?"
The old wolf sighed.
Like a man carrying too many years.
"You're not the first."
Ice flooded my veins.
"What?"
His gaze sharpened.
"You're not the first person to wake up."
The hallway tilted.
I grabbed the wall.
Hard.
Breathing suddenly became difficult.
Impossible.
No.
No.
No.
Because that wasn't possible.
I was alone.
I had to be alone.
Nobody else remembered.
Nobody else could remember.
Could they?
Voss studied my face.
Watching understanding spread.
Watching terror spread.
Watching hope spread.
"You remember vanishing."
Not a question.
A statement.
I couldn't speak.
Couldn't breathe.
Couldn't think.
Because he was right.
And somehow—
he knew.
"How?"
The word emerged broken.
Voss looked tired.
Older than before.
Older than anyone should look.
Then he said five words.
Words that changed everything.
"I remember the ritual too."
The floor disappeared beneath me.
For several seconds I simply stared.
Certain I'd misheard.
Certain my traumatized brain had invented the conversation.
But Voss remained exactly where he was.
Real.
Solid.
Impossible.
"You..."
My voice cracked.
"You remember?"
A slow nod.
My pulse exploded.
I swallowed hard.
"Why?"
Voss frowned.
"Why what?"
"Why did you help me?"
Silence settled between them.
Rain.
Memory.
Regret.
"You could have handed me over."
"You didn't."
"You told me to run."
"Why?"
Voss closed his eyes for a long moment.
"Because I finally understood what the Council had become."
He looked back at her.
"The Nullification Ritual was never justice."
"It was fear."
Echo stared at him.
"Then stand with us."
His expression hardened.
"I can't."
Her shoulders fell.
"If I openly oppose them..."
"They'll replace me."
"And then you'll have nobody inside the Council."
He stepped closer.
"I can't fight beside you."
"But I can watch."
"Listen."
"Delay them."
"Feed you information."
"I'll be your eyes inside the Council."
His voice dropped.
"Sometimes surviving means hiding in plain sight."
He did have a good point
And I'd benefit better in that case.
"How many times?"
The question left before I could stop it.
Because suddenly nothing else mattered.
Not the prophecy.
Not the Council.
Not Vivienne.
Not even the treaty.
Only one thing mattered.
How many?
Voss held my gaze.
Then answered.
"Three."
My knees nearly gave out.
Three.
Three timelines.
Three rituals.
Three failures.
Dear God.
I wasn't alone.
I had never been alone.
The realization hit so hard tears burned behind my eyes.
For days I had carried everything by myself.
The ritual.
The baby.
The terror.
The memories.
The knowledge.
And now—
someone else understood.
Someone else knew.
"Why didn't you say anything?"
Voss laughed.
Humorless.
Tired.
"Because the first time I did..."
His expression darkened.
"Vivienne killed me."
Silence.
My stomach twisted.
"She remembers?"
The old wolf didn't answer immediately.
Which terrified me.
Because hesitation meant uncertainty.
And uncertainty meant danger.
Finally—
"No."
Relief rushed through me.
Briefly.
Then vanished when he continued.
"At least, not yet."
Not yet.
Those two words hit harder than yes.
Because they implied possibility.
The possibility that Vivienne could remember.
Could learn.
Could evolve.
Just like us.
"What is happening?"
The question escaped me.
Small.
Desperate.
Human.
For the first time since this nightmare began...
I admitted I had no idea what was happening.
Voss looked around carefully.
Ensuring nobody listened.
Then stepped closer.
When he spoke, his voice barely rose above a whisper.
"The prophecy is wrong."
My heart stopped.
"What?"
"The Council only knows half of it."
Confusion flooded me.
"Half?"
A slow nod.
"The part about the Alpha heir."
"The part about blood and wolf."
"The part about choice."
His eyes hardened.
"But that's not the ending."
Every instinct I possessed screamed.
Important.
This is important.
"What ending?"
Voss stared directly at me.
And for the first time since meeting him...
I saw fear.
Real fear.
The kind that belonged in ancient nightmares.
Then he said:
"The final line was removed."
Cold spread through my chest.
"Removed?"
"Hidden."
"By who?"
The old wolf's answer arrived immediately.
"Hawthorne."
My breath caught.
My family.
My bloodline.
My grandmother.
Someone had hidden part of the prophecy.
Why?
"What does it say?"
Voss didn't answer.
Not immediately.
Instead he looked at me.
Really looked.
At my face.
My eyes.
My stomach.
Like he was confirming something.
Then—
"The last Hawthorne doesn't carry the heir."
Confusion.
Instant confusion.
"That's what the prophecy says."
"No."
His voice sharpened.
"That's what the Council thinks it says."
The hallway suddenly felt too small.
Too quiet.
Too dangerous.
Because I knew.
I knew the next sentence would change everything.
Voss inhaled slowly.
Then spoke.
"The last Hawthorne is the Vault."
Silence.
Absolute silence.
The words meant nothing.
And somehow—
everything.
"The what?"
Voss looked toward the nearest window.
Toward distant mountains.
Toward secrets older than Pack law itself.
Then back at me.
"The reason history keeps restarting."
My pulse thundered.
"The reason memories survive."
"Because Vivienne isn't trying to stop the prophecy."
"Then what does she want?"
"She wants to control it."
Every word struck like lightning.
And then—
the final one.
The one that shattered the world.
"The reason the Hawthorne tree keeps bringing you back."
The hallway disappeared.
The Academy disappeared.
The world disappeared.
Because suddenly
for the first time since waking up
I understood something terrifying.
The time loop wasn't happening to me.
It was happening because of me.
And somewhere far away...
fate had just started paying attention.
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