Reclaimed by the Alpha I forgot

Part 6

/Sebastian’s POV/

She kept her distance, as best she could in the small space, rooted to the spot. It still wasn't enough for the citrus of her shampoo to waft through the room, a scent that made me give her an arrogant, careless stare.

The dim fluorescent light in the room turned her golden skin sallow, her mouth still very, very pink. Lily stared at me, and that pretty mouth twisted down at the corners. I watched her mouth part around some unspoken word, then shut again with an audible click of her jaw.

There it was. Anger. Very familiar.

“What?!”

“I said—”

She cut me off, an indignant squawk escaping her lips, arms coming to cross against her chest. “I heard what you said, Alpha Sebastian. Why are you naked? Forgive me if I am not used to this…” Her hands motioned towards my torso.

“Naked?” I rolled my eyes. “Like I had a choice. The shower is faulty. The water stopped running in the middle of my shower…”

“Right. So your option was to what…stand here like this?”

I huffed out a laugh, shooting her a practised smirk – the sort designed to make its recipient want to smack it right off my face. “I was trying to yell for help, but you knocked right at the moment…”

“There’s no one working but me.”

Something shifted at that, a flash of relief settling in my bones. We would be uninterrupted; no guard dog beta or a vicious Alpha near her meant time to get the answers.

I took a step further, closing the gap between us, all while watching her eyes widen. “Oh? That’s perfect; then we can talk.”

I never learned to leave things alone. In all my years as Pack Alpha, I had always picked at battle scars and prodded my bruises. No goddamn willpower in the face of a bad idea.

“Talk?” She sputtered. “There is nothing to talk about. You mistook me for your mate…”

“It’s not a mistake!” I almost yelled, but then told myself that the awful, raw ache spreading inside was temporary, like a muscle fibre that needed to be ripped before it could be rebuilt. “Anne…”

“My name is Lily! And I’ll get someone to fix your showers, Alpha Sebastian. Have a good day.” With that, she turned on her heel, shoulders squared, lips pursed.

“You can’t run away forever,” I whispered, but she didn’t stop, simply slamming the door behind her, hard enough to rattle and vibrate the floor.

Rage boiled inside me.

My mind immediately took me back to the night before her death. Something about the thing that led up to it got under my skin like a splinter. It broke through to a deep well of f****d-up fantasies that I had never considered.

I wanted answers, wanted to push Anne—Lily to the limit, to find if she really lost her memories or she’s simply playing along. A constant, niggling curiosity settled in: what would it take? What would finally drive her to the edge?

***

The shower was fixed within an hour. My mood was dampened by the time I got out of the inn, not finding Lily at the reception.

Irritation flared in my gut. It was clear that she was avoiding me, especially after the way she stormed out. Still, that didn't deter me from going about my day. I decided to explore the pack territory, getting looks as I surveyed through the boundaries.

Somehow I ended up at a lone diner, which was deserted except for a few older men gathered at one table. It was the kind of silence I desperately needed.

Since Wyatt was busy digging up the information, I decided to order waffles, chicken, and black coffee.

As time passed, I kept getting refills of black coffee, unmoving from my seat and focused on getting through the tasks at hand.

I cracked my knuckles, stretching my arms when I noticed the golden light across the horizon, the orange bleeding into violet. The sun settled quietly outside the dark trees when I heard the door pushed open.

Wyatt strode across the room, his gait confident and face pinched. I motioned to the seat across from me and pushed the menu toward him.

“So…I did some digging on Anne… erm, Lily, and I am sorry, but you were right about the amnesia thing.” He winced, his voice lowered as he leaned over the table.

A curdled feeling settled in the pit of my stomach. She had no answers because she didn’t even remember her past life. The thought of Anne—Lily not knowing anything about the bond we shared or her life beforehand and being able to start all over didn’t sit right with me. How could she get an easy pass?

As if Wyatt could sense the gloominess, he patted my hand lying on the table. “She washed up on the shore, and Oliver was on the hunt when he found her. He named her Lily and adopted her as his daughter in front of the pack. Since then, he gave her a place of her own, and she works for him as an accountant. She also sometimes does the shifts at the inn owned by Oliver.”

“Guess she was telling the truth after all.” I ground my teeth together. That explained why she seemed in a rush to get away. A stranger cornering her to talk might have spooked the poor omega. It also explained her hiding.

Wyatt made a sound. “Yes she is. The pack members weren't so keen to tell the story though. No one wanted to talk much. Our informants are trying to see if there’s anything else but for now I think they are all telling the truth.”

Gears started to turn up in my head. Of course. They weren’t all too keen. It must be Oliver, since he was so swift to run to protect Lily; he must have anticipated this. Why else would everyone parrot the same story?

“That is weird.” I leaned back in the booth, brows furrowed. “Why would Oliver not try to trace her back to her pack? Why would he accept an omega washed on shore and adopt her as his daughter so easily? There must be something he is hiding, Wyatt.”

The beta hummed, shrugging.

“Instead of trying to talk with Lily, I should confront Oliver. We have a meeting pending anyway.”

Wyatt didn’t seem pleased at the idea, his lips twisting. “I don’t know about that, Seb.”

I raised my brow at him. “What do you mean?”

“Listen…I agreed to stay back because I thought Anne was faking it, escaping accountability, but now we know our answers. You should let it be. She does not remember the past, there's no point in us doing anything.” He took a long, deep breath. “Besides, what is the end goal here? You have moved on with Nora, she is our Pack Luna now and you guys are happy together.”

I opened and closed my mouth, words failing to justify my reasoning. Wyatt had a point. I should not be looking for Lily anymore but who’s going to tell that to my wolf? The same Alpha who, for the first time in years, came alive in her presence. How can I let her go again?

***