chapterthree
1072 Words
Aela stepped back into her room, leaned against the door, and let her eyes fall
shut. Just for a moment.
Her wolf paced beneath her skin, restless, uneasy. She could still feel the
echo of the mimic’s fingers in her chest. Cold. Violating. Wrong.
She opened her eyes.
Her room looked exactly as it had yesterday-sunlight cutting clean lines across her floor, her bed neat except for the pillow hiding the severed finger.
A knock interrupted her thoughts.
“Aela?” Liam’s voice.
For a moment, her breath caught. Images flashed-Liam bleeding on the
ground, the mask slipping, the mimic’s voice using his tone.
Her pulse thrashed.
She opened the door slowly.
Liam stood there, arms folded, expression unreadable. His dark hair was
slightly mussed, like he’d been running his hands through it. But his
eyes-something about them felt colder. Sharper. Maybe she hadn’t noticed
before.
“You okay?” he asked.
She nodded, unable to trust her voice.
Liam stepped inside without waiting for an invitation.
He scanned her room quickly, too quickly, his gaze flicking to her pillow for the briefest moment. Too fast for normal eyes to catch. But Aela caught it.
Her wolf’s fur bristled inside her.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“Rhen told me to check on you,” Liam said with a shrug. “He said you’re not
supposed to be alone.”
His tone was light. Too light. Like he was rehearsing casually.
Aela’s fingers curled against her thigh. “Are you worried?”
Liam looked at her, and the corner of his mouth lifted-but it didn’t reach his
eyes.
“I’m always worried about you.”
He said it gently. But something behind it felt forced. Or hollow. She wasn’t
sure which.
Aela crossed her arms. “Where were you last night?”
His reaction was too slow. A heartbeat of delay before he answered.
“In my room,” he said.
Not a lie. Not a truth.
Something in between.
Aela stepped closer, inhaling subtly. Her wolf pressed up against her senses-
-and flinched.
It was Liam.
But it wasn’t.
It smelled like him-cocoa and steel and that faint warmth that always clung to him.
Except… something was off.
Was the scent too faint? Too clean? Or was she imagining it?
Aela closed her eyes and inhaled deeper. Her wolf stirred, trying to place it,
but something flickered behind the scent-like static. Like distance. She pulled
away abruptly.
Something in the scent felt muffled, as if she were smelling him through glass.
“You okay?” he asked again.
Aela forced a smile. “Just tired.”
He nodded slowly, eyes flicking across her face like he was checking for
cracks.
“Stay in your room,” he said. “Rhen doesn’t want you wandering.”
“You sound like you agree.”
Liam’s jaw ticked. “I do.”
The answer was too firm. Too fast.
Aela swallowed. “Liam… if something happened to me or disappeared-”
“Nothing will,” he cut in. “I’ll find you again.”
The tone should have comforted her.
Instead, it chilled her. Because she’d heard those same words-
from the wrong Liam, right before he died at her feet.
Aela forced her voice steady. “I need some time alone.”
Liam hesitated. Just a flicker. Almost invisible.
Then he nodded. “I’ll come back later.”
He left, closing the door gently. The moment the latch clicked, Aela’s knees gave out. She slid to the floor, trembling, shoving her hands into her hair.
That wasn’t her brother. Or if it was-something was wrong.
Her wolf paced wildly, wanting out, wanting to hunt the scent, wanting answers.
Aela pressed the heel of her palm against her chest where the mimic had
touched her earlier. It still burned faintly. A reminder.
She crawled to the bed and pulled out the cloth. Unwrapped it. The severed finger gleamed pale in the light. The tattoo, the shape of the nail, the familiar line of the knuckle, a perfect mirror of her own. Her breath hitched. There was movement outside her window. A shadow. Tall. Broad. Quiet. Aela’s heartbeat surged as she darted to the window and pulled the curtain.
The breeze spun leaves on the ground. The faint scent of chocolate and pine teased her nostrils triggering her wolf.
Mate.
Aela inhaled sharply, gripping the window frame. Someone was here, watching.“Why do you hide from me?” she whispered. The wind shifted, carrying the scent away.
A voice behind her made her jump. “Aela.”
Rhen.
He stepped inside without knocking, face tight. “The elders want to question you again. Tonight.”
Aela nodded. “Fine.”
Rhen’s eyes moved over her face, reading something in the tension of her shoulders. “Did Liam come by?”
She swallowed. “Yes.”
Rhen’s expression barely shifted, but she caught it…a flicker of something dark.
Fear.
Or recognition.
“Did he say anything… strange?” Rhen asked.
Aela hesitated. “No.”
Rhen didn’t believe her. She saw it in the way his shoulders dropped slightly, disappointed or relieved-she couldn’t tell which.
He stepped closer, lowering his voice. “Aela… stay away from Liam. For now.”
Aela stiffened. “Why?”
Rhen looked toward the door like someone might be listening. “Trust me.”
She studied him. His worry wasn’t the usual Alpha-protective kind. It was deeper. Older.
Like he’d seen this exact situation before and hated every second.
Aela swallowed hard. “Rhen… am I safe here?”
Rhen’s answer was soft. Brutal.
“Not the way I want you to be.”
Aela’s chest tightened. “What aren’t you telling me?”
Rhen looked at her, and for a heartbeat, she saw something raw in his eyes, fear mixed with regret.
“Everything,” he whispered.
Before she could react, he turned and walked out.
The door shut.
Aela stood there in the dim quiet of her room, heart pounding, realizing something she didn’t want to accept; whatever happened last night wasn’t the beginning. It was the middle of something much older.
And whoever she saw-
the woman with her face, the wrong Liam, the mate who apologized, the Alpha who seemed to know more, none of them were coincidences.
Something was unfolding around her.
Something tied to time itself.
And Aela was right at the center.
- Writer
