Chapter 266
ALEXANDER
It was already late in the evening.
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I stood outside the pack house with my hands shoved deep into my pockets, staring into nothing in particular. The lights inside were on, voices drifting faintly through the walls, life continuing as if the world hadn’t cracked open hours ago. Everything around me felt distant, muted, like I was standing slightly outside of myself.
I
wasn’t waiting for anyone. I wasn’t doing
anythingve.
I was just… standing.
Thinking hadn’t helped all day. Neither had pacing, barking orders, or pretending I still had control over anything. At some point, exhaustion had settled into my bones–the kind that sleep wouldn’t touch. My wolf, Aiden, was restless beneath my skin, circling endlessly, unsettled by an absence he couldn’t accept.
Then it happened.
Not gradually… not subtly.
Something slammed into me without warning–sharp, sudden, undeniable.
I sucked in a breath as my body reacted before my mind caught up. My wolf surged forward hard enough that my hand came up to my chest on instinct, fingers pressing into the fabric as if I could steady whatever had just gone off inside me.
Pain wasn’t the right word for it, but it wasn’t gentle at all.
It was strong awareness.
Pure, raw awareness.
For the first time since I’d formed the bond with Faye, I felt it react this strongly when she wasn’t
close to me.
Not the faint, frustrating nothing I’d always struggled with before. Not the barely–there pull that left me questioning whether I was imagining things. Usually, trying to sense her through the bond felt like reaching through fog–effort without reward, strain without clarity.
This was different.
This was unmistakable.
Aiden recognized it instantly, even as he bristled from the force of it. The reaction rolled through me in a wave that left no room for doubt.
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“It is her,” Aiden said.
Faye… was alive.
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The realization hit me so fast I had to brace my feet against the ground. For a split second, everything else disappeared–the noise, the weight of the day, the tight coil of dread I’d been carrying since she vanished. Relief surged through me, sudden and almost overwhelming.
She was alive.
The thought repeated itself like a mantra, anchoring me to the moment. Alive meant breathing. Alive meant her heart was still beating somewhere in this world. Alive meant I hadn’t failed completely.
But the relief didn’t last.
It couldn’t.
Because alive didn’t mean safe.
Alive didn’t mean unharmed, or protected, or free. It didn’t mean she wasn’t terrified or injured or surrounded by people who didn’t have her best interests at heart. My wolf knew that as well as I did. The brief surge of relief faded, replaced by something sharper, more urgent.
I needed her safe.
Not just alive.
My fingers curled against my chest, then slowly lowered as I forced myself to breathe properly
again. The bond still hummed beneath my skin–not as violently as before, but present, real in a
way it had never been.
Her wolf was reaching out… whether she knew it or not.
“Faye,” I said aloud before I could stop myself, my voice low and rough in the quiet. Saying her name felt necessary. “Where are you?”
The night didn’t answer.
Of course it didn’t.
But my wolf stirred again, no longer lashing out blindly the way he had earlier. He’d burned through most of that aggression already–hours of fury and helplessness had taken their toll. What
remained now was focused, intent.
Careful.
I closed my eyes and let myself lean into that feeling, resisting the instinct to push too hard. I’d tried that already. I’d torn at the bond earlier in the day–forcing, demanding, desperate for any response. All it had done was leave me raw and empty, with nothing to show for it.
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Chapter 265
This time, I didn’t force.
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I let my wolf extend himself slowly, deliberately, like reaching into dark water without knowing how deep it went. It responded. A quiet thread pulling somewhere beyond my reach.
I followed it as gently as I could.
There was no clear direction. No image or location. Just the undeniable sense of her existence on the other end of that thread. Faint impressions brushed against my awareness–confusion, exhaustion, grief so heavy it made my own throat feel rough.
She was hurting.
That much was clear.
The phone rang while I was still standing there, my focus stretched thin between the night air and the faint pull I’d just felt.
I looked down at the screen.
Unknown number.
For a second, I considered ignoring it. Whoever it was could wait. Everything could wait. But something told me not to. I answered.
“Yes.”
There was a pause on the other end.
“Don’t end the call,” the voice said. “You’ll want to hear what I have to say.”
Patrick. I knew that voice.
I turned slightly, angling away from the pack house, my jaw setting on instinct.
“We have nothing to talk about, Patrick,” I said. “You already know that.”
“I do,” he replied easily. “Which is why I won’t waste time pretending otherwise.”
Silence stretched between us, deliberate on his part.
“I have your mate,” he said plainly. “Faye is with me.”
The world didn’t explode. It didn’t tilt.
It went very, very still.
“If you “I began, my voice calm in a way that should have warned him. “If you’ve laid a hand on her
”
“She’s alive,” Patrick cut in. “And she’s not injured because of me. Quite the opposite.”
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I listened.
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“She was in an accident,” he continued. “A serious one. I was nearby. I got her out and brought her somewhere safe. She received immediate care. If I hadn’t intervened, the outcome would have been very different.”
My fingers curled slowly around the phone.
“She’s stable. Healing.” A pause. Then, more carefully, “But she doesn’t want to speak to you.”
The words landed cleanly.
I didn’t ask why.
I already knew… she was still mad at me.
Patrick seemed to wait, maybe expecting anger, denial–something. When none came, he spoke
again.
“I wish I could help with that,” he said. “But I won’t force her. You should come and get her.”
That was all it took.
“Send the address,” I said.
Another pause–shorter this time.
“You’re coming, then.”
“Yes,” I said.
“You’re not worried this could be a trap?”
Of course I was, but it didn’t matter. “Trap or not, if you have her, I’m coming to get her.”
“Fine. I’ll send the location.” He ended the call.
I didn’t move right away.
Cole was there when I turned, standing just far enough away that he hadn’t intruded, close enough that he’d heard everything that mattered.
“She won’t talk to you?” he asked.
“No.”
“And you’re still going. What if Patrick is lying?”
“I have to take my chances.”
He studied my face. “You trust him?”
“I don’t trust anything that has to do with Patrick,” I said. “That’s exactly why I’m not going alone.”
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Cole exhaled sharply “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go.”
125 Poe
“You’re not coming with me. I need you to stay back and take care of things… just in case, I said.
“That’s not-”
“Derek will follow me at a distance,” I continued. “Far enough not to escalate anything. Close enough to intervene if Patrick forgets himself.”
Cole didn’t like it. I could see that plainly. But he also understood.
“Bring her back,” he said.
“I will.”
I turned toward my car.
Faye didn’t want to talk to me.
That hurt more than anything Patrick could have said–but it didn’t slow me down.
If she needed space, she’d have it.
If she needed time, I’d give it.
But first, I needed her safe… home.
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