THE ALPHA'S WOLF IS MY ENEMY

Chapter Four: The Woman Behind the Wall

For several seconds, I couldn't move.

The woman behind the broken wall was breathing heavily, and every breath sounded painful. I could hear her shifting against the stone, as though she had spent a long time trapped in a space too small for a person to stand comfortably.

I knew that voice.

There was no explanation for it, but I knew it.

"Mom?" I whispered again.

A hand appeared through the opening.

It was thinner than I remembered, the skin pale and marked with old scars, but there was a small silver ring around one finger.

I knew that ring.

My mother used to wear it whenever she worked in the healer's room. I remembered sitting beside her as a child and playing with it whenever she held my hand.

I stepped toward the opening.

Cassian caught my arm.

"Don't."

I looked at him.

"That's my mother."

"You don't know that."

"I know her voice."

"That doesn't mean she's safe."

I pulled my arm away.

"You heard her too."

Cassian didn't answer.

"Didn't you?" I asked.

His silence was enough.

I moved closer to the opening.

The woman on the other side made a weak sound.

"Nora, stay back."

My breath caught.

She had said the same thing when I was six.

I could suddenly see her standing in the snow, holding my shoulders and telling me not to look behind me.

My eyes filled with tears.

"It's really you."

The woman reached through the opening again.

"Come closer."

I started forward.

Cassian stepped between us.

"No."

My anger rose immediately.

"Move."

"You don't know what is on the other side."

"My mother is on the other side."

"And if she isn't?"

I stared at him.

He lowered his voice.

"Nora, listen to me. Someone has kept this woman hidden beneath my council chamber for years. We don't know why. We don't know who put her here. We don't know whether she is being held prisoner or whether she is part of whatever is happening."

The woman suddenly spoke.

"Cassian."

His entire body stiffened.

She knew his name.

Not Alpha Rook.

Not Alpha.

Cassian.

The woman laughed softly, although there was no happiness in it.

"You look exactly like your father."

Cassian turned toward her.

"How do you know my father?"

She didn't answer.

He took a step closer to the opening.

"Who are you?"

The woman looked at him through the gap.

"You already know."

Cassian's face became expressionless.

I stared between them.

"What is going on?"

Neither answered.

I felt something inside me beginning to crack.

I had spent sixteen years believing my mother was dead.

Now she was standing behind a wall in the Alpha's residence, and Cassian was looking at her as though her existence had just reopened an old wound.

"Mom," I said softly, "why are you here?"

Her eyes moved to me.

There was so much pain in them that I almost wished I hadn't asked.

"Because I couldn't get to you."

"Where have you been?"

"Hidden."

"By who?"

She looked at Cassian.

His expression hardened.

"Don't look at him," she whispered.

I frowned.

"Why?"

"Because he doesn't know what they did to him."

Cassian stepped forward.

"What are you talking about?"

My mother ignored him.

"Nora, you have to leave."

I shook my head.

"I just found you."

"You can't stay."

"I'm not leaving you again."

She closed her eyes.

"You're just like your father."

The words hit me harder than they should have.

"My father is dead."

My mother opened her eyes.

"No."

The room seemed to tilt.

"What?"

"He isn't dead."

I stared at her.

Cassian turned sharply toward the opening.

"What did you say?"

My mother looked at him.

"Your father isn't dead either."

Cassian's expression changed.

For a moment, he looked like the young boy I had seen in my memory.

Confused.

Angry.

Afraid.

"That's impossible," he said.

My mother gave a tired smile.

"That's what they wanted you to believe."

Cassian crouched beside the opening.

"Who is they?"

My mother didn't answer.

He asked again.

"Who is they?"

She looked at me instead.

"Does your wolf speak to you?"

The question made my stomach tighten.

I nodded.

My mother closed her eyes.

"Then it's already too late."

I glanced at Cassian.

"Too late for what?"

Before she could answer, Rook spoke.

We have to go.

I looked at Cassian.

His eyes narrowed.

"What did he say?"

"He says we have to leave."

Cassian stood.

"Now."

I had never heard fear in his voice before.

Until that moment.

Something moved at the end of the passage.

Footsteps.

Several people were approaching.

Cassian turned toward the sound.

"How did they find us?"

My mother whispered, "Because the door was opened."

Cassian looked at me.

I suddenly remembered.

I had opened the hidden staircase.

"You said someone had been hiding you here," I said. "Who?"

My mother shook her head.

"No time."

The footsteps grew louder.

Cassian drew a knife from his belt.

I stared at it.

"You carry a knife into your own council chamber?"

"I carry it everywhere."

"That's reassuring."

His eyes flicked toward me.

"Stay behind me."

I wanted to argue, but another sound came from the passage.

A growl.

Not human.

Cassian's eyes turned gold.

Rook spoke.

Three wolves.

I looked toward the darkness.

"Three."

Cassian looked at me.

"What?"

"There are three wolves coming."

His expression changed.

"Can you hear them?"

"Yes."

"What are they saying?"

I closed my eyes.

Their voices were distant at first, overlapping one another.

Then one became clear.

Find the girl.

Another voice answered.

The Alpha must not know.

My eyes opened.

"They're looking for me."

Cassian's grip tightened around the knife.

"Who sent them?"

"I don't know."

Rook spoke again.

Silas.

I froze.

"Rook says Silas."

Cassian looked at me sharply.

"Elder Silas?"

I nodded.

His face became hard.

"That can't be."

"Why?"

"Because Silas has been one of my father's most trusted advisers for twenty years."

My mother suddenly grabbed my hand through the opening.

Her fingers were freezing.

"Nora, listen to me."

I leaned closer.

"You cannot trust Silas."

Cassian looked at her.

"Why?"

"Because he was there the night they took her wolf."

My breath caught.

"What?"

My mother squeezed my hand.

"They didn't erase your memories, Nora."

I stared at her.

"They removed something from you."

My chest tightened.

"My wolf."

She nodded.

"Your wolf remembers everything."

I couldn't speak.

For years, I had believed I was defective.

Different.

Broken.

I had thought my wolf simply hadn't awakened.

But my mother was telling me something else.

Someone had taken it.

"Who?" I whispered.

My mother's eyes filled with tears.

"Silas."

A crash echoed through the passage.

The three wolves were getting closer.

Cassian looked toward the darkness.

"We have to move."

My mother shook her head.

"I can't leave."

"Why not?"

She lifted her arm.

Only then did I notice the silver chains around her wrist.

They were embedded into the stone.

Cassian's expression changed.

He stepped closer and examined them.

"This isn't ordinary silver."

"No," my mother said. "It's moon-forged."

Cassian looked at me.

"That means these chains were made specifically to suppress a wolf."

My stomach dropped.

"Why would anyone keep my mother here?"

My mother looked directly at me.

"Because I know where your wolf is."

The world went silent.

I couldn't even hear the approaching footsteps anymore.

I could barely hear my own breathing.

"Where?" I asked.

My mother opened her mouth.

A howl exploded through the passage.

Cassian turned toward the darkness.

Three pairs of golden eyes appeared.

The first wolf stepped into the candlelight.

I recognized him immediately.

He belonged to one of the guards outside the council chamber.

The second wolf came behind him.

The third remained in the shadows.

Their wolves growled.

Cassian stepped in front of me.

"Who sent you?"

The first wolf didn't answer.

Its human voice couldn't.

But its wolf could.

Silas.

I looked at Cassian.

"She was telling the truth."

His eyes remained fixed on the wolves.

"Get behind me."

The first wolf lunged.

Cassian shifted before it reached us.

Bones cracked.

Fur erupted across his body, and a massive black wolf replaced the man who had been standing in front of me.

I had seen Rook in my memory.

But I had never seen him like this.

He was enormous.

His golden eyes burned through the darkness.

The attacking wolf stopped.

For one strange second, all three wolves stared at him.

Then Rook growled.

It wasn't an ordinary warning.

It was a command.

The wolves lowered their heads.

My mother stared at him through the opening.

Her face went pale.

"Rook."

The black wolf turned toward her.

My mother began to cry.

"You remember."

Rook didn't move.

But I heard his voice inside my head.

I remember everything.

I looked at him in shock.

Then he looked directly at me.

His voice came again.

And now she must remember too.

Behind us, the hidden door suddenly slammed shut.

We were trapped underground.