THE ALPHA WHO ONCE LOVED ME

WE WEREN'TSTRANGERS

“Why are you looking at me like that?” I whisper.

He doesn’t answer.

He just steps closer, slow, cautious, like I’m something fragile… or dangerous.

His gaze shifts to the bruises on my neck, the exact spot he seemed fixated on earlier.

“You shouldn’t smell like that,” he mutters under his breath.

My brows pull together. “Like what? I just got kidnapped, I probably smell horrible from the sweat and chemicals—”

“No,” he cuts sharply, eyes snapping up to mine. “Not that.”

There’s something strange in his stare. He looked at me like I wasn't of this planet. I should be the one freaked out by all this not him.

"I'm Derek by the way," he says. " And those things that just kidnapped you? Rogues. Wolves who abandoned their packs and turned wild."

I pressed myself against the wall shivering from the shock. "Wolves? As in...werewolves?

"Exactly."

My stomach drops.

“They wanted to use you as bait,” Derek continues, crouching slightly so we’re eye level. “For an Alpha. The leader of a Pack. They assumed you belonged to him because your scent is all over his office.”

Lucian. The man who was supposed to be my boss. The boss who I felt attracted to and desperately wanted to get in bed with.

“But why would you help me?” I whisper.

Derek opens his mouth but a roar shatters the air. Louder than anything I have ever heard.

Not human. Not even close.

A sound so raw and violent it vibrates through the walls and straight into my bones.

Before I can breathe, the dented door is kicked open and Lucian storms in.

His shirt is torn, his chest rising and falling as if he ran all the way here out of pure rage. His eyes, they glowed, molten gold and fire combined.

This is not the Lucian Vale who signs multi-million dollar contracts. This is a predator

“Where is she!?” he growls.

His gaze lands on me and something dark snaps in his expression. Then he sees Derek.

“Derek,” Lucian spits the name like poison.

“Well,” Derek says lightly, folding his arms. “Look who decided to show up for the party.”

Lucian ignores him.

He goes straight to me, placing himself in front of me so that Derek disappears from view.

“Tessa,” he breathed, voice torn and ragged. “Are you hurt?”

“I....I'm okay,” I manage, staring at him like I’ve never seen him before. Maybe I haven’t.

“I found her tied up,” Derek says, unbothered. “Doing what you should’ve done, Alpha Lucian.”

Lucian’s snarl is low and primal.“Stay out of my territory.”

“Relax,” Derek replies, amused. “I’m not here to steal your precious human.”

Then he tilted his head, studying my neck, the same place his attention lingered before Lucian arrived.

“Before you drag her away,” he says slowly, “you really didn’t notice anything… strange about her scent?”

Lucian stiffens. The room goes painfully still.

Derek smirks enjoying the pressure. “She doesn’t smell like a human girl. Not exactly.”

“Don’t project your delusions onto her. She is exactkly what she appears to be.” Lucian says, “Now get. Out.”

Derek lifts his hands in surrender. “Fine. But you should keep her close, Alpha. Someone else is going to notice eventually.”

His eyes flick to mine, staring intensely into my soul, before finally leaving.

Lucian doesn’t move until Derek is gone. Only then does he turn to me, the glow fading from his eyes, the CEO mask slowly sliding back.

I step away from him instinctively.

“What was that?” My voice cracks. “Wolves? Rogues? Alphas? What the hell is going on, Lucian?”

“Tessa—”

“No!” My voice breaks. “I was kidnapped by monsters, and you fought them like—”

I choke on the word. “Like you’re not even human!”

Lucian flinches. Actually flinches.

“You’re not telling me something,” I whisper. “And whatever it is… everyone else seems to know except me.”

He closes his eyes, pain twisting his expression into something raw.

“I can’t tell you,” he murmurs. “Because if I do… you won’t look at me the same way again.”

The words slice through me.

“Maybe I shouldn’t,” I whisper back. “Maybe I shouldn’t look at you at all.”

"I'll get home myself," I snapped, trying to keep myself from collapsing.

"Don't even think about following me." I added.

As soon as I got home, I took a long shower and applied ointment to my bruises. I wanted to call Eli, but I didn't know if I could trust him either. He definitely knew about everything and kept it from me regardless.

The only one who had been honest with me since I got here is Derek. Both Eli and Lucian had been lying to my face while I was slowly losing my mind.

I had to find Derek somehow.

But after the shower, exhaustion hit me so hard I didn’t even remember getting into bed. I closed my eyes just to breathe… and it must have drifted into a deep sleep.

Something woke me out of the sleep minutes later. Give me a break arghh!

A presence. Right outside my door. A shadow under the crack… pacing slow and heavy.

“Who’s there?” My voice shook.

Silence.

Then a breath I recognized.

“Lucian?” I whispered.

His footsteps halted.

“Tessa… please open the door.”

I laughed in sarcasm “No. You don’t get to lie to me, confuse me, terrify me, then show up at my door like some guilty puppy.”

There was a dull sound, like he’d leaned his head against the door.

“I’m not here to lie,” he said quietly. “I just needed to know you’re safe.”

“Why?” I snapped. “Why do you care so much? You barely know me.”

A long, heavy pause.

“No,” he said softly. “That’s not true.”

My breath caught.

“What are you talking about?”

His voice dropped to a fragile whisper.

“I know you more than I should.”

Everything inside me went still.

“What does that even mean?”

“Tessa…”

He hesitated, like the next words hurt to say.

“We weren’t strangers before this.”

My stomach twisted.

A memory. A flash. A voice from years ago.

No. No, that can’t—

“You knew me?” I whispered, the words slipping out before I could stop them.

His silence was the answer.

My head spun. “Why didn’t you tell me? Why pretend not to know me?”

His exhale trembled. “Because if you remembered who I was… you’d also remember why I left.”

The floor under me seemed to tilt.

“Lucian… please go home."

I didn't want to listen to him anymore. I didn't want to make the same mistake of letting him in again only to recieve the cold Alpha CEO treatment.

But the only one question mattered now.

Who exactly is he?