Chapter 4
1089 Words
“The one who sees beyond time” her voice responded.
“The one your mother served.”
My hands curled into fists.
My legs trembled.
“So all those times, all those years,
I wasn’t imagining it?”
“Never.” She said whispered lowly.
I laughed quietly, breathlessly , shaking my head in denial.
“So I suffered for nothing?” I thought bitterly.
“I suffered because it wasn’t time?”
My anger swelled, hot and sharp, drowning out any reason or logic.
“Do you know what they did to me?” I demanded silently as if she didn’t witness it also.
“Do you know how it felt to be nothing? To be told I was weak, useless, lesser?”
My voice slipped.
It wasn’t silent anymore nor mindlinking her I was full out screaming.
“because I couldn’t shift!”
The words were barely out of my mouth when the air shifted.
I felt him before I fully saw him.
The door slammed open abruptly.
Rhage didn’t rush me. He didn’t bark questions or show confusion like a lesser wolf would. He simply stood there, tall and immovable, his presence filling the room like pressure before a storm.
His gaze dropped not to my face but deeper, like he was looking through me.
I tried to breathe normally, tried to steady my racing heart.
“This is stupid, I’m imagining things. It’s stress, hunger, the blizzard?” I thought still in denial.
Then he spoke too casually.
“You’ve heard her?”
My mouth fell open.
The lamp slipped slightly in my grip.
“I..” My voice cracked and I swallowed hard.
“What?” I whispered
His face remained composed, Stoic, calm but his eyes.. his eyes sharpened, darkened, like something ancient stirred behind them.
“You heard your wolf,” he repeated evenly.
Shock slammed into me so hard my knees almost buckled.
“You knew?” I whispered.
His jaw flexed once.
“When did you find out?” I demanded, my voice trembling now despite my effort to sound steady.
For the first time, something flickered across his face.
Fear, but it was gone as quickly as it appeared.
“Since the day your aunt brought you to this pack.”
The words shattered something inside my chest.
All these years.
All the looks, the whispers, the bullying, the way I learned to make myself small.
He knew.
My vision blurred, hurt exploding so suddenly it stole my breath. I hadn’t seen the Alpha King in years, not really but in that moment, he wasn’t a king to me.
He was the man who watched me suffer.
He must have seen it on my face because he took a step toward me, then stopped himself. His hand dragged down his face as he cursed under his breath, low and rough.
“I did it to protect you.”
I stared at him like he’d spoken a foreign language.
“Protect me?”
He exhaled slowly, controlled, as if choosing every word carefully.
“I sensed your wolf.” he said.
“But she was...... dormant, weak, unresponsive to command, like something powerful or ancient was holding her in place.”
My throat tightened as it became harder to swallow.
“If I told the pack you had a wolf who refused to answer you” he continued voice steady but heavy.
“They wouldn’t have shown mercy. They would’ve called you cursed or worse, a witch.”
Silence passed as I thought about all he said and I understood but then I had to ask.
“Did you think I was cursed?” I whispered lowly.
His eyes scanned my face, searching, reading everything I wasn’t saying.
“No.”
The word came firm and certain.
“I knew you were special” he said quietly.
“You always have been.”
My heart betrayed me, fluttering painfully at his words but I locked it down, refusing to let it show.
Then his gaze sharpened again.
“Did she tell you why?”
I shook my head slowly.
“No.”
“She’s......” I hesitated, trying to explain something I barely understood myself.
“She’s scared, s..she speaks in riddles. Says I’ll understand when the time is right.”
Silence stretched between us and then I became painfully aware of how close he was.
His scent wrapped around me pine, winter, dark and intoxicating. My body reacted before my mind could stop it, heat curling low in my stomach.
This isnt normal.
He can’t be my mate and If he were Ares would’ve said so and my wolf would’ve told me.
And yet, whatever this was between us felt wrong and right all at once.
His voice cut gently into my thoughts.
“Are you okay?”
I nodded automatically, but I wasn’t.
My head was chaos, questions, revelations, betrayal and somehow, standing this close to him made it worse. It’s even harder to think, harder to breathe.
My stomach chose that moment to betray me again, growling softly in the quiet.
The corner of his mouth lifted. A rare almost invisible smile broke out of his face.
“I made dinner.” he said.
“Come eat something first.”
I blinked, caught off guard.
“I know you have a lot of questions to ask her, a lot of catching up to do. You’ll have time to talk to her. ” he added calmly.
“But not on an empty stomach.”
I studied his face, searching for Ares for the beast that had terrified and tempted me earlier cos this can’t be the Alpha King I know. He isn’t kind, nor make dinner. He the kind that kills without a second thought.
But then this was Rhage, controlled but dangerous in a quieter way.
I nodded.
He stepped aside to let me pass.
I moved carefully, too carefully and clipped my leg against the couch, stumbling forward.
His hand shot out instantly, gripping my arm and pulling me back before I could fall.
Concern flashed in his eyes as he looked me over.
“You’ve become so clumsy,” he muttered, irritation threading his voice.
I pulled away quickly, straightening.
“I’m not clumsy,” I said stiffly.
I just couldn’t tell him the truth.
That he was the problem.
That his presence unraveled me in ways I didn’t understand and didn’t want to.
Without another word, I turned and walked down the stairs.
- Writer
