THE ALPHA'S WOLF IS MY ENEMY

Chapter Five: What Rook Remembered

The door slammed shut behind us.

I flinched so hard that my shoulder struck the stone wall.

For a few seconds, the only sound in the chamber was my own breathing. I could hear the wolves outside moving around the other side of the door, their claws dragging across the stone as they searched for another way in. One of them growled, and the sound travelled through the wall beneath my hand.

Cassian was still standing in front of the door.

He had shifted back, but the change had left him looking different somehow. His shirt was torn across one shoulder, and blood was running slowly down his arm from the wound Rook had received during the attack. He didn't seem to notice it.

My mother was staring at him.

Not at Cassian.

At his wolf.

"Rook," she said.

Cassian turned toward her.

"What did you call me?"

She shook her head. "I wasn't talking to you."

His eyes narrowed.

I understood what she meant, and somehow that frightened me more than the wolves outside.

She had known his wolf.

Before any of us knew what was happening, she had recognized him.

I looked between them. "How do you know Rook?"

My mother didn't answer immediately.

Cassian wiped the blood from his arm with the back of his hand. "That's what I'd like to know."

She looked at him for a long moment before saying, "You have your father's eyes."

Something changed in Cassian's expression.

"You knew my father?"

"Of course I knew him."

"How?"

"He knew your mother. He knew mine."

Cassian's jaw tightened. "You are going to have to do better than that."

My mother lowered her eyes to the chains around her wrists. The silver had left dark marks against her skin.

"I knew your father before you were born, Cassian."

The name sounded strange coming from her. Familiar, almost affectionate.

Cassian noticed it too.

"How did you know my name?"

My mother gave him a tired look. "I knew you when you were a child."

I looked at Cassian.

He didn't deny it.

Instead, he asked, "Were you there that night?"

My mother looked at me.

"Which night?"

"The night Nora disappeared."

My mother's face changed.

I felt something tighten inside my chest.

"I didn't disappear," I said. "I was right there."

She looked at me sadly.

"You don't remember everything."

"I remember my mother taking me into the forest."

"You remember what they allowed you to remember."

I stared at her.

Cassian moved closer.

"Who are they?"

My mother looked toward the door.

"The same people who are outside."

As if they had heard her, something struck the other side of the door.

The stone shook.

Cassian immediately stepped in front of us.

"How many?"

"Three," my mother said.

"Three wolves?"

"Three men."

Another blow hit the door.

This time I heard one of them clearly.

She's in there.

I froze.

Cassian looked at me.

"What?"

I didn't answer him.

The voice came again, muffled by the stone.

Silas said not to let the Alpha take her.

My stomach dropped.

"They're talking about me."

Cassian turned toward the door.

"What are they saying?"

I told him.

For the first time since we'd come down here, he looked genuinely unsettled.

"Silas sent them?"

"That's what I heard."

He shook his head. "Silas wouldn't do this."

My mother gave a quiet, bitter laugh.

"You still believe that."

"He has served my family for twenty years."

"And that is exactly why he was able to get close enough."

Cassian turned on her. "If you know so much, tell me what he wants."

"Your wolf."

Cassian frowned.

She continued before he could respond.

"And hers."

Her eyes moved to me.

I didn't like the way she looked at me.

"Why?"

"Because he is afraid of what happens when the two of you remember."

I looked at Cassian.

"What does that mean?"

My mother didn't answer.

Instead, she looked at the chains around her wrists.

"Help me."

Cassian hesitated.

"These chains are made from moon-forged silver. If I break them incorrectly, they'll burn through her wrists," he said.

My mother nodded.

"You remember."

"I've seen them before."

"Your father made them."

Cassian's head snapped up.

"My father?"

"He used them to protect people from Silas."

Cassian crouched beside her and examined the chains.

"My father died sixteen years ago."

"No."

My mother said it quietly.

"He disappeared."

Cassian slowly looked up.

"I was told he was killed during the war."

"You were told many things."

"By Silas?"

She didn't answer.

That was answer enough.

Cassian stood.

I watched his face as he tried to put together everything he'd believed about his family.

"My father is alive?"

"I don't know."

"You just said he disappeared."

"I said I don't know where he is now."

"Then where was he taken?"

My mother looked at me.

"He wasn't taken."

I felt the room go strangely quiet.

"He left because he was trying to keep Nora alive."

I stared at her.

"Why?"

She looked at me for a long moment.

"Because of your wolf."

I almost laughed, but there was nothing funny about any of this.

"My wolf?"

My mother nodded.

"Silas couldn't kill it."

"Why would he want to?"

"Because your wolf remembers things that the rest of us were forced to forget."

I felt a strange pressure behind my eyes.

I had heard that before.

Not the exact words, but something close.

The photograph.

The passage.

The memory of my mother telling me never to let them take my wolf.

I pressed my fingers against my forehead.

"I still don't understand."

"You were six," my mother said. "You were too young to understand what was happening. Silas discovered that your wolf could remember what other wolves could not. He wanted that ability."

"And he took her."

"He separated her from you."

My mouth went dry.

"You said my wolf wasn't erased."

"It wasn't."

"Where is she?"

My mother shook her head.

"I don't know."

I wanted to be angry with her, but she looked exhausted. There was something in her eyes that made it difficult to believe she was hiding this from me on purpose.

Then I heard it.

A voice.

Very faint.

Almost buried beneath my thoughts.

I'm here.

I stopped breathing.

My mother noticed.

"Nora?"

I didn't answer.

The voice came again.

I'm still here.

I looked down at my hands.

For sixteen years, I had heard other people's wolves. I had heard them complain, whisper, threaten, laugh and sometimes reveal things their owners would have rather kept hidden.

But I had never heard mine.

Not once.

Until now.

"She's here," I whispered.

Cassian looked at me.

"Who?"

"My wolf."

My mother's eyes filled with tears.

"Yes."

I closed my eyes.

There was something else.

A memory was trying to surface.

Snow falling through dark branches.

My mother's hand around mine.

A younger Cassian standing several feet away.

And a black wolf beside him.

Rook.

I knew him immediately.

He was younger, but I knew those golden eyes.

Someone was shouting.

My mother was crying.

Then I saw another wolf.

My wolf.

She stood between me and Rook, snarling at him.

But Rook wasn't attacking.

He was looking at her with something that looked almost like guilt.

A man's voice came from behind them.

"Take her."

Silas.

I opened my eyes.

Cassian was staring at me.

"What did you see?"

"Your wolf was there."

His expression changed.

"When?"

"When Silas took mine."

Cassian looked away.

"That's impossible."

"No."

I stepped closer.

"I saw him."

"You were six."

"I remember."

"You couldn't."

"I remember him."

Cassian's face had gone pale.

I could hear Rook again.

I tried.

I swallowed.

"What?"

Cassian looked at me.

"What did you say?"

"I didn't say anything."

His eyes narrowed.

I realized he had heard me speak to his wolf before, but he still couldn't hear the answers.

I looked at him.

"Rook says he tried to stop Silas."

Cassian didn't move.

My mother closed her eyes.

"He did."

Cassian turned toward her.

"You knew?"

"I knew he tried."

"What happened?"

"He wasn't strong enough."

Cassian's fists tightened.

Outside, the wolves struck the door again.

This time a crack appeared in the stone.

My mother looked frightened.

"They're coming through."

Cassian stepped in front of me.

I heard Rook immediately.

Don't let them touch her.

The crack widened.

Cassian's eyes began to turn gold.

My wolf spoke again.

He remembers.

I looked at Cassian.

"Rook remembers what happened that night."

Cassian stared at me.

"What did he remember?"

Before I could answer, the door broke open.

Stone crashed onto the floor.

Three men stood in the opening.

None of them were looking at Cassian.

All three were looking at me.

The man in front took one step into the chamber.

He wasn't wearing the usual uniform of Silas's guards.

He was wearing the black coat reserved for members of the council.

I knew him.

Everyone in the pack did.

He was one of Silas's closest advisers.

His eyes settled on me.

"Don't make this difficult, Nora."

Cassian stepped forward.

"Who sent you?"

The man looked at him.

"Elder Silas."

Cassian's expression hardened.

The man smiled.

"He said you would probably try to protect her."

I heard his wolf whisper before he spoke again.

He was right.

Cassian's eyes flashed gold.

The man took another step.

"Move aside, Alpha."

Cassian didn't move.

Neither did I.

Because my wolf had begun speaking again.

And this time, she wasn't afraid.

Run.

I looked at the three men.

My wolf's voice became clearer.

Not from them.

My eyes moved to Cassian.

From him.

I felt the blood drain from my face.

She wasn't talking about Silas.

She was talking about Rook.

And for the first time, I wondered whether the wolf inside my Alpha's body had been protecting me all these years...

or waiting for the right moment to finish what he had started.