Scent Of A Stranger

4: Unsettling Truth

Rhea Everwood

THREE YEARS LATER

It’s been three years.

Three years since Mason’s life had ended by my own hands. The weight of it lay heavily upon me, an ache that never truly subsided. During the day, I was the ruthless Alpha Rhea Everwood. My pack was safe, the rogues who once terrorized the pack were now either tamed or gone, no more killings for the past three years. But at night, I cried, muffled my scream, clench my breaking heart, going through the terror of losing one’s mate, craving his touch all over again.

I knew something was missing within me, a hollow void that no amount of power or control could fill.

I pushed myself up from the table, the last of my council members bowing their heads before they left, the pack meeting was over and I turned towards my chambers, I could hear Rowan’s footsteps fall behind me. He was always around me, I pretended most time I didn’t see him so I said nothing and went inside my room.

Just as my hand reached for the doorknob, a wave of dizziness washed over me. The world tilted, I swayed, my knees threatening to buckle, when Rowan’s strong hands gripped my arms from falling.

My breath hitched and I jolted. Instinct took over, as I recoiled from his touch. I wrenched myself free, my heart hammering against my ribs, and stumbled into my room, slamming the door shut behind me.

“Rhea!” He called his voice laced with concern. He opened the door again and stepped inside, his brows furrowed, his face etched with worry. “You need to take care of yourself.”

I turned away, busying myself, anything to avoid his scrutiny. “I am taking care of myself, Rowan,” I replied flatly

“No, you are not,” he countered, his tone gentle but unyielding. “You are burying yourself in pack duties. You don’t have a personal life anymore, Rhea. You are working yourself to the bone.”

“Oh please, Rowan. I am an adult and I know what I am saying.”

“You can’t hide from me Rhea, I have known you right from when we are pups and I know when you are okay or not, you are trying to shield everything wrong with you by being a workaholic and it doesn’t work like that.” he tried to take a step closer to me and I took one back.

“The girl you knew isn’t here anymore, Rowan,” I said, my gaze elsewhere but on him.

He took a step closer, his hand reaching out as if to touch my arm, but I flinched back before he could complete the gesture. “Rhea, please…”

I raised a hand, my palm open, “Go, Rowan. I need to rest.” My tone left no room for argument. He hesitated for a moment longer, his eyes searching mine, but then, with a sigh he turned and left, closing the door softly behind him.

I sank onto the edge of my bed, letting out a deep breath. Rowan had been trying, for three years. Three years of patient persistence, of quiet offers of companionship, of attempts to rekindle a spark that I had purposefully, violently, extinguished. Love, trust, anything that tied me to another soul, it had all died with Mason. I had committed myself to a solitary existence, a life of duty until my own end came.

Just as the exhaustion began to claim me, pulling me down into the comforting darkness of sleep, a sharp, insistent knock echoed through my chambers. My eyes snapped open. Who would dare disturb me now?

“Enter,” I called out, my voice regaining its authority.

The door opened, and Kai stepped inside, bowing his head gently, “Alpha Rhea,” he called

“What is it, Kai?” I demanded, already rising from the bed.

“My Alpha,” he began, his voice tight, “we apprehended someone near the eastern border. A rogue.”

My jaw tightened, “You don’t have to report this to me, Kai. You know what to do, the usual disposal, the dungeon. Let the guards handle it.”

Kai hesitated, he looks like he was finding the right word to say, “My Alpha,” he said, his gaze flicking downwards, “this rogue… he looks exactly like the dead Alpha Mason, we questioned him and he claimed not to know who is Alpha Mason, we want you to see him yourself.”

The air from my lungs ceased immediately, it seemed impossible and the very statement from Kai got my interest, I moved closer to him. “Show me,” I commanded.

“Come with me Alpha,” Kai replied and I followed him out of my chambers. He led me towards the dungeon and as we approached, I heard a voice, rough and familiar, the same voice that had haunted me for years, the same voice I had craved to hear again, My steps became heavy but I kept pushing forward.

“I mean no harm,” the voice rasped, directed at the guards. “I was merely passing through. I meant no intrusion.”

“Mason!” The name was torn from my throat before I could stop it, a raw sob that I couldn’t contain.

The man in the cell turned, his eyes widening in confusion as he met my gaze. He was tall, lean, with broad shoulders and the same untamed darkness in his hair as Mason. His features were uncannily similar, the strong jawline, the set of his brow… it was like looking into a mirror.

My breath hitched. I remembered…. I remembered the shock of seeing his life drain from his eyes, the sickening realization of what I had done. I remembered walking away, leaving his lifeless form to be thrown out of the pack. He was dead. I knew he was dead and there is no way he can be standing here right now.

He looked at me, his expression bewildered, a clear question in his eyes. “Who is Mason?” he asked, his voice laced with genuine confusion.

“Who are you?”I asked as I moved closer to him, his gaze darted between me and the guards

“I am just passing by, I don’t know you, I don’t know where I am.” He insisted and I fisted my hands out of anger.

“Answer me right now! Who are you?!” A scream tore out of my mouth that made him and the guards flinch.

“I am Sage,” he finally replied and I moved closer to him.

“Sage from where?”

“I don’t know?” He replied and I looked into his eyes, all I could see was Mason and at the same time not Mason.

Scream tore out of my mouth, clutching my head as a sharp pain coursed through it. Was the world playing a cruel joke on me? Bringing a man that look exactly like Mason? Haven’t I suffered enough?

The pain got worse and my eyes rolled back, falling into complete darkness.