Chapter 129: Chapter 13

ADELIE

I sat at the breakfast table, my heart fluttering like a trapped bird, my thoughts a whirlwind of confusion. I’d let him into my bed, and in doing so, I’d let myself down.

I knew it was a mistake from the get-go, but I’d still allowed myself to get singed. Yet, it was beautiful. For a fleeting moment, he made me feel…at ease. It was just him and me, with no worries, no expectations. Just us, in a moment of solitude.

But that’s all it was. A moment that would soon morph into painful poetry.

I was almost certain he knew me. His touch was too familiar. And perhaps that’s what scared me the most. The possibility that he remembered everything.

He sat across from me, stealing glances I tried my best to dodge.

“The boy in the prison is innocent,” Esty chimed in from beside me. “They always rope in the most innocent ones to do their dirty work.”

I turned my attention to the king, disregarding Esty’s comment. “Is the replica ready?” I asked, and he nodded. “I’d like to get on it as soon as possible.”

“I hope you’ll stay afterward,” the king said. “I’d love to have you here as a guest.”

I licked my lips nervously and cleared my throat. “I appreciate your optimism about my return. But once I’m done, I’ll be heading straight back to my pack.”

“Why the hurry?” he asked, a hint of disappointment in his voice.

“My pack needs me, and Elias needs his freedom.” That was only half the truth. The bigger reason was that I was running from Kairos.

“You could stay a bit longer, to rest.” I was taken aback to hear Kairos suggest it. I still couldn’t bring myself to look at him.

Then Collin chimed in. “Yes, we haven’t had the chance to show you our land.” His gaze was fixed on Maeve, who was staring blankly back at him.

I finally looked at Kairos. “I don’t want to stay. I have responsibilities to fulfill,” I told him, taking a sip from my cup to hide my trembling hands.

Esty broke the awkward silence. “Now all we can do is wait for your next clue,” she said, but was interrupted yet again.

“Are you leaving because of me?” Kairos asked, his question hanging in the air. The room fell silent.

I dropped my gaze to the table. “I’ve been here long enough.”

“That wasn’t my question,” he retorted, his tone harsh.

I met his gaze. “No,” I replied.

He leaned forward on the table. “So, it has nothing to do with the fact that I was in your bed last night and now you’re acting like nothing happened?”

Maeve gasped beside me, and Elias dropped his fork onto his plate, his lips curling in disgust. “I may be smarter than my age, but no kid should hear that. Disgusting,” he muttered, leaving the table.

My jaw tightened. “What do you want, a round of applause?” I asked, my voice laced with bitterness.

He shrugged. “Wasn’t it you who first invited me to stay?” He touched his lip thoughtfully. “I’m not a one-night stand kind of guy. I just didn’t want it to be something so insignificant. I think it’s unfair.”

I stood up from the table. “You want to talk about what’s unfair, Kairos?” His eyes darted to me, wary. “Follow me!”

He was upset that I’d asked him to leave. But my bitterness stemmed from a completely different reason.

I walked outside, him trailing behind me. The others followed suit. I turned around when we were surrounded by nature.

Kye had made a promise to him. He’d vowed never to touch me, never to let Kairos hurt me, never to fight back. Kairos didn’t remember. His wolf didn’t either. Otherwise, his wolf would have told him.

I had to ask. “Kairos…”

He looked at me quickly. “You don’t remember who you were before, do you?” I asked.

Leonard seemed interested in hearing his response.

Kairos shook his head. “No.”

“And your wolf?” I asked.

“No.” His answer was quick and firm.

A wolf was like a separate entity living inside you. I knew that. They had their own thoughts.

If Kairos had lost his memories, then surely his wolf hadn’t, and he would tell Kairos why they couldn’t hurt me. His wolf had made a promise to him.

And if his wolf had forgotten…then he had no obligation. If he didn’t remember…there would be no pact between Kye and Kairos to not hurt me.

“Fight me,” I told him, giving him space to shift, but he didn’t.

I noticed his Adam’s apple bob. “Why?”

“Don’t be so serious. Just a friendly fight.” I lightly tapped him on the shoulder.

“You’re much stronger than me,” he protested.

“I’ll go easy on you,” I assured him.

Leonard even chimed in. “Is Kairos a sore loser?” he laughed, but Kairos didn’t find it amusing. He shot Leonard a deadly glare.

“I’m not fighting a woman,” he said through gritted teeth.

“You said it yourself, I’m powerful. Throw a punch and I’ll block it.”

“Adelie…” he began, but I cut him off with a push. “Fight me. Or I might take offense, thinking you believe I’m weak. Fight me!” I yelled at him.

He stood there, his eyes devoid of life. “I can’t,” he said quietly. I lunged forward and hit him on the shoulder. I wasn’t strong, but he still flinched.

He wasn’t fighting back. He wasn’t even trying to. He just stared at his feet.

“Kairos…why aren’t you defending yourself?” I asked, my voice now as fragile as a thin sheet of ice. I hit him again, but still no reaction.

He avoided my gaze.

“Why aren’t you blocking my hits? Why are you letting me hit you?” I asked. Even when I first met him in this pack, I’d trapped him in vines, and he’d just stood there.

His eyes finally met mine. “You know why.”

I nodded, my shoulders sagging, my eyes darting around. “Kye won’t let you?” my voice faded with each word.

“Adelie…” he began, but I wasn’t about to let him finish.

“I don’t like being made a fool of. I don’t let people trick me. Usually, I’m the one doing the tricking. To be honest, I never gave anyone the chance to do so. Because to do that, one has to get close. But I once let someone close and…

“And it made me realize how easily I could be hurt. And I promised not to let anyone close again. And I kept blaming that one person. Wondering why I wasn’t enough. Why it was so easy for them to leave.”

“Maybe it wasn’t easy,” he blurted out. “Maybe it was the hardest thing he ever did.”

“If it was so hard, why is his heart still beating? Because mine isn’t!”

“How can you imagine living when you know your first love died because of you? Mia died because of me! And she’ll always haunt me. I didn’t want history to repeat itself. I never wanted to risk hurting you!”

“What does that mean?” I asked. Why would he hurt me?

I looked at Leonard. “Did you know?” I asked, but he seemed unsure of what I was asking. “His memory has never been better, and here I was, playing the fool,” I said, each word bitter and sharp.

Leonard stepped forward. “It wasn’t my place. I brought you here for work!”

I nodded. “But I’m sure you enjoyed the show.”

Maeve clapped her hands together. “All right. I think it’s time to give Adelie her chance to cut his head off,” she ushered everyone inside. “Nothing to see here. Let’s go.”

She was the last one to go in, closing the doors behind her.

I wanted to cut his head off, but that wouldn’t be enough to make him understand how his abandonment felt. “Why would you lie?” I asked. “Why play games?”

“Because it’s easier than explaining why.”

“Try.”

He shook his head. “You wouldn’t understand. Like everyone else, you’d think I just hid away. That I just needed to fight through it. Why tell you if all you’ll think is that my love wasn’t enough?”

“Fine,” I said, “I won’t beg.”

“I wouldn’t want you to.”

I forced a smile. “It was a long time ago. We’re not the same people anymore. The feelings are gone. So, let’s not waste time. There are far more important reasons why I came here. And I’ll leave as if we never met.”

I was walking past him when he grabbed my arm, holding me back. But I wasn’t about to let him sweet talk me. “Let go!” I snapped at him. He didn’t listen. “I’m still the one in power here. Ask Kye maybe. Or maybe now you regret what you made him promise?”

“Could you?” he asked. “Hurt me?”

“So, if I were to hurt you, what would that mean? Does it mean I still love you, or that I don’t love you at all? You, of all people, should know the answer.”

He retorted sharply, “I did it for the best!”

I replied sarcastically, “Oh, I was thrilled when you disappeared without a word. It really brightened up my future days.”

“I’m being serious here.”

“So am I,” I responded, enunciating each word with precision. “I could never inflict that much pain on anyone.”

His eyes welled up as he nodded. “I’m sorry I couldn’t stay.”

“Couldn’t, or didn’t want to badly enough?” He pulled me close and kissed me. It was a fierce kiss, our lips battling for dominance. He was forceful, but I let him. I relaxed into his hold and kissed him back. My Kairos. The one who had hurt me.

***

I was kissing him, even though I knew I shouldn’t. I pulled away from his grip, exhausted from it all. “What do you want from me?” I asked, my voice weak and weary. “Do you want me to forget everything? You return to the pack and we pretend like nothing happened?”

He pulled back from me. “I… I don’t know what I want, other than you. But I know that’s not enough. I know you deserve more than just being wanted. I have nothing to give you.”

“If you hadn’t left, I could have shown you a million ways how your heart would have been all I wanted.”

“But you have it,” he said. “You always have…”

I took a few steps back from him. “I won’t let you break me twice, Kairos.”

MAEVE

Everyone returned to their tasks after a moment. Only Collin remained.

He was staring intently at the ground, lost in thought until he finally looked up. “I don’t understand any of this,” he confessed.

I nodded sympathetically. How could he understand when everything was tangled in lies? “Kairos was an alpha before he came here,” I found myself revealing to him. It wasn’t a secret anymore, after all.

“That explains his strength. I told the Alpha King there was something off about him. But I was ordered not to question it, that Kairos was a friend. I was also ordered not to seek answers despite my doubts.”

“He was a great alpha. My alpha. I was just an omega then. He was like a god to me. I owe him everything I am. I still do,” despite everything that had happened, I wouldn’t be where I am now if it wasn’t for him. Who would have thought I’d become a beta?

“Why do you owe him?” Collin asked. I watched him with a weary gaze. What was the point when people always hid things?

“He got possessed. And it was my fault. And now he lives with those consequences every day. That’s why he left his luna and wife. I bear a lot of the blame.”

Collin furrowed his brow. “If it was so clearly your fault, how did you become a beta? How many omegas do you know who’ve become betas?”

I laughed bitterly. “Lucky me, right?”

“You managed to earn the approval of your alpha and even Adelie. She’s powerful, and she gave you the power to be a beta.”

I didn’t respond. What could I say? That I sometimes felt undeserving of everything I had?

“When Adelie was bitten…he spoke so fondly of you… I thought maybe there was something more between you two. He knows you so well.”

I shook my head slowly. “My heart belongs to my mate,” a wave of guilt washed over his face.

“I apologize… I was under the impression that…”

He started to panic. “He’s dead,” I told him, watching as his expression returned to normal. “But so is my heart. I won’t let anyone else take the place that was reserved for him.” The harsh truth of why I would die alone.

I didn’t want to give Collin false hope when I knew I wouldn’t let him in.

He looked down for a moment, his gaze lingering on the floor. He didn’t look up for a while.

“My mate was one of the fighters here. She was strong, came from a line of soldiers. She died in the most ridiculous way,” he even laughed.

“I thought she would die in a big fight, trying to protect others. But she just slipped. She was raiding the forest with others and slipped on a wet log. Landed on her head. So stupid.” His lips curled into a sad smile. What a cruel joke life was. How easy it was to lose someone.

“Maeve,” he said, pulling me back to the present. “It doesn’t mean we both have to be alone forever.”

I gave him a weak smile. “Maybe for you, but I’ve made my choice.”

ADELIE

The replica of the book was ready. It looked just like the real thing, except the pages were blank. But that wasn’t enough for me…

I let Maeve know what I was planning to do. Only her, because she was the only one I could trust.

I was on my way to the vampire coven.