chapter 38: done waiting

The wind howled through the shattered window, carrying the night's chill into the room. The guards outside had finally stirred, rushing in with wide eyes and weapons drawn, but they were too late. The assassin was gone.

Elias stood motionless, his breath steady despite the remnants of adrenaline humming beneath his skin. He felt Caidren's gaze on him—unwavering, calculating.

Aedric finally sheathed his sword and turned toward Elias. "You're unharmed?"

Elias nodded. "They missed."

Aedric exhaled sharply, glancing at the broken window. "No. They didn't miss."

Caidren remained silent. He stepped closer, his eyes flickering over the torn sleeve, the scar beneath it. His expression gave away nothing, but something in his posture shifted.

Elias met his gaze, unflinching.

He knew that look.

Suspicion. But not the ordinary kind. It wasn't the distrust of a stranger—it was the kind of suspicion that came when someone recognized something they shouldn't have.

Caidren was searching for an answer.

Elias wasn't about to give him one.

Finally, the Alpha spoke.

"You fought well."

Elias kept his face impassive. "Luck."

Aedric let out a short, humorless chuckle. "That wasn't luck. That was training."

Silence stretched between them. The guards fidgeted near the door, unsure whether to speak or wait for orders. The flickering torches cast jagged shadows against the walls, as if the stronghold itself was uneasy.

Elias knew he should say something—offer some excuse, some explanation. But there was nothing to say that wouldn't raise more questions.

His master had taught him many things. How to fight. How to endure. And most importantly—how to stay unnoticed.

He had already failed the last part.

Caidren's gaze lingered for another moment before he finally turned to Aedric. "Double the guards. No one gets in or out of this wing without my approval."

Aedric nodded. "And the assassin?"

Caidren's lips pressed into a thin line. "They'll be back."

Elias didn't need to ask how he knew.

The pattern was clear.

He wasn't the first Omega to be sent here.

But he might be the first to survive this long.

---

The Alpha's Dilemma

Caidren stood in his private chambers, staring at the sealed letter before him. His hands remained steady, but his mind was anything but.

Elias had fought off an assassin. That in itself was unheard of.

The Omegas before him had never stood a chance. They had been meek, fragile things—too terrified to resist when the time came.

Yet this one…

This one had moved like someone who had seen battle before. Like someone who had trained under a master's hand.

The scar on his arm—it was old, faded, but Caidren recognized the mark. A blade wound, but not a reckless one. A deliberate cut, made to teach a lesson.

He had seen such marks before.

Memories surfaced, unwanted. Of a time before he was Alpha. Of a war fought in the shadows, not on the battlefield. Of men who trained boys to become ghosts.

Caidren's fingers tightened around the letter.

There was more to Elias than he had been told.

And if there was one thing Caidren despised, it was being kept in the dark.

---

A Memory Reawakened

Elias lay awake in his bed, staring at the ceiling. His body ached—not from the fight, but from restraint. His muscles still thrummed with the old instincts he had been forced to suppress for so long.

For years, he had sworn not to use what he had learned. Not after his master abandoned him. Not after everything he had once believed in had shattered.

But tonight, instinct had taken over.

And it had felt… natural.

That terrified him more than the assassin.

His mind drifted to his master's last words to him. You are not ready.

Then why had he left? Why had he not come for Elias when he was sent here?

And why, after all these years, did it feel like everything was leading back to the same fate he had once run from?

Elias exhaled.

He was done waiting for answers.

If his master wouldn't come to him—he would find the answers himself.