When her body collapsed, the Alpha instinctively caught her, letting her rest against his chest.
With an unreadable gesture, his expression shifted from fury to something more ambiguous, something he couldn't quite grasp. It was a fleeting change, almost imperceptible, but enough for his usually hard, cold eyes to reveal a flicker of doubt. His grip on her was firm, yet gentle—almost protective, as though reflecting his internal struggle, his indecision.
He was still weighing his options as if the young woman's audacious words had struck a chord within him. Every gesture, every word from her, continued to echo in his mind.
Aleksi watched the girl now hanging from his arm, so fragile, so brittle—so unlike the "creator" he had imagined.
She was meant to be a pampered, adored young woman, yet she was nothing but skin and bones. Maybe they could fool someone else, but who was he? It seemed likely she'd lived a miserable existence here. Her words and actions, even the way she moved, didn't match his expectations. She seemed to step cautiously, barely moving more than a couple of steps, as if she had spent a long time locked away in a room… or a cell.
Kyle's actions, her words, the recent events... something didn't quite add up.
There was something about her that stirred feelings within him he couldn't comprehend.
"I saw you…" Eris's whisper reached his ears like a distant echo, and without thinking, Aleksi pulled her closer as if seeking some answer in her warmth.
She couldn't have seen him in any normal way. How could someone like her have been in his orbit without his knowledge?
But he couldn't get answers from her. He couldn't trust a stranger, someone with hidden motives, someone who seemed to have been playing him all along.
Or maybe… he was wrong, and she was just seeking an escape, a way out of her life in this mansion.
As the leader of the Moonshadow pack, the guardian of the balance between the supernatural and humans, this was all the more concerning.
If a descendant of the fae was being held prisoner, he had to rescue her even if it was her own family. While the Stellas had great power and influence nowadays, they were only perfumers and she was a creator. A key figure in maintaining peace—or bringing destruction—between species.
Aleksi stroked the young woman's dull, withered hair. She smelled like shampoo, but to him, that scent was like trying to hide trash under a rug. Kyle, the coward, had tried to deceive him.
Aleksi frowned and leaned toward Eris's face. He saw her with sudden clarity, as if the veil between truth and illusion had been pulled away. He couldn't ignore the scent surrounding her—one that had once obsessed him. But there was something more, an essence he couldn't quite identify.
The young girl in his arms trembled as if reacting to the power he still radiated, fluctuating according to his mood. Her words, though faint, continued to echo in his mind. "Take me out of this prison, and I'll answer your questions, little wolf."
Her exhausted, defiant tone grazed his skin like a sting. She wasn't just bold; there was something in the way she spoke that hinted at hidden strength, an intelligence that didn't match the fragile image she presented. Aleksi, though irritated by her audacity, couldn't help but feel intrigued.
"What are you?" he asked again, his voice lower, more serious.
This wasn't just a question of her origins, of who or what she was. It was a need to understand what he couldn't grasp, an urgency to uncover the mystery that Eris represented.
Eris, struggling to stay conscious, tried to speak, but her mind clouded, fading bit by bit. The pressure on her neck had been too much; her body couldn't take it anymore. And though her words came out in fragmented breaths, with each syllable slipping into darkness, something in her expression, in the intensity of her gaze, seemed to shift something within him. A change he couldn't fully understand, but one that stirred him deeply.
Finally, in a shift of compassion—or perhaps just a protective instinct, something he'd never felt before with a prisoner—Aleksi held her more gently. His fingers brushed the mark on her neck, a soft, almost involuntary touch. A conflict reflected on his face, something he'd never experienced with someone like her. It was doubt, a trace of regret invading him as he held the young woman in his arms.
With a tense sigh, Aleksi carefully lifted her and laid her down on the office sofa. His eyes turned to the closed door, to the shadows and noises outside. Why did he feel that this woman, weak and insignificant in the eyes of everyone else, could be the answer he'd been searching for? The key to stopping the internal monster that consumed him? To complete his pack?
"Who are you really, Eris? Or maybe the right question is: what are you hiding from me?"
Questions continued to fill his mind as his eyes traced the figure of the young woman before him. It was clear he hadn't known her in the way he had thought, but now, he couldn't bring himself to push her away.