(Alexis's POV)
The morning sun filtered through my office windows, but I barely noticed it. My attention was fixed on the security footage showing Grace entering the pack healer's office. Her delicate frame moved with a new fragility that made my wolf growl with protective instinct.
A knock interrupted my brooding. "Alpha King." Victoria's voice carried through the door, followed by her familiar scent tinged with distress.
"Enter."
She swept in, her emerald eyes wide with concern. "We have a situation. The Blackthorn Pack is making moves along our northern border."
My jaw clenched. "Handle it through proper channels, Victoria. That's why you're Beta."
"They're working with Katherine Sterling."
The name hit like a physical blow. My stepmother. The woman who'd nearly killed me as a pup. My claws extended involuntarily, piercing the leather of my chair.
"That's impossible. She was exiled."
Victoria's expression softened with practiced sympathy. "I have proof. And... she's asking for you specifically."
Through our mate bond, I felt a spike of discomfort from Grace. My attention snapped back to the security feed, watching as she emerged from the healer's office. She looked pale, one hand pressed protectively against her stomach.
"Whatever Katherine's planning can wait," I growled, rising from my chair.
"Can it?" Victoria's voice took on an edge. "Like it waited when she nearly killed you? When she would have succeeded if I hadn't—"
"Enough." The word came out as a snarl, my wolf rising closer to the surface. But even as I rejected her words, memories crashed through my carefully constructed walls: the burning pain of silver-tipped whips, the acrid smell of wolfsbane, a small hand pulling me to safety...
I shook my head, forcing the images away. Grace needed me. I could sense her fatigue through our bond, though she was trying to hide it.
Moving to the window, I watched as she made her way across the courtyard. My protective instincts warred with the need to maintain distance after our recent tensions. Still, I couldn't help positioning myself where she might spot me if she looked up.
For a brief moment, she did. Our eyes met across the distance, and through our bond, I felt a flutter of... something. Warmth? Hope? But she quickly looked away, continuing her path home.
"She'll be fine," Victoria said softly, coming to stand beside me. Too close. "The pack guards will escort her. But Katherine... she's gathering allies, Alexis. The same ones who helped her torture you. Do you really want to risk them getting close to Grace?"
The mention of Grace in the same breath as my stepmother made my wolf surge forward with rage. Victoria took a strategic step back, her submission perfectly calculated.
"Show me the proof," I demanded.
She pulled out her phone, displaying surveillance photos of familiar faces at our borders. My blood ran cold as I recognized them – my stepmother's old enforcers.
"Fine." The word tasted bitter. "But we handle this quickly. I'm not leaving Grace alone for long."
Victoria's smile held just the right amount of relief and gratitude. "Of course. We could discuss strategy in my den? It's closer to the border, and I have all the intelligence reports there."
Warning bells rang in my head, but they were drowned out by the phantom pain of old scars. I sent a quick message to double the guards around Grace, then followed Victoria out.
Her den was exactly as I remembered from our childhood – a place of supposed safety when I'd fled my stepmother's rage. But now, something felt off about the familiar setting.
"Remember how we used to hide here?" Victoria asked, her voice soft with nostalgia. "How I'd clean your wounds and promise to protect you?"
"That was a long time ago." I remained standing while she settled gracefully onto a plush couch.
"Was it? Sometimes it feels like yesterday." She pulled out a folder of reports, but her eyes stayed on me. "You were so broken, Lex. But I put you back together, piece by piece. No one else could have done that. No one else understood..."
Her words stirred something dark and painful in my chest. Through my mate bond with Grace, I felt a sudden wave of nausea from her. My wolf whined, torn between past and present loyalties.
"The reports, Victoria. That's all I'm here for."
She sighed, a sound heavy with unspoken meaning. "Of course. But first... there's something you should know about Grace."
My claws extended again. "Choose your next words carefully."
"I'm worried about her," Victoria said, her tone perfectly modulated to show concern. "She's been asking questions about your past. About Katherine. Almost as if she's... trying to use your trauma against you."
The accusation was absurd. Grace would never... But then why had she been at the healer's today? Why was she hiding her condition from me? Doubt crept in like poison.
"Enough games," I growled. "Either show me proof of Katherine's movements, or I'm leaving."
Victoria's expression shifted to one of hurt. "Games? After everything we've been through? I saved your life, Alexis. I held you together when you were falling apart. And now, when I'm trying to protect you again—"
"You didn't save me." The words came out before I could stop them, heavy with a certainty I didn't fully understand. Something about that memory felt wrong, distorted.
She stood slowly, moving closer. "Your trauma is making you forget. Making you push away the one person who's always been there. Just like Katherine wanted."
My head throbbed. Through the mate bond, I felt Grace's concern pulse stronger, as if she sensed my distress. The sensation helped clear my mind slightly.
"The reports. Now. Or I'm calling an emergency pack meeting about these accusations."
Victoria's mask slipped for just a moment, showing something cold and calculating beneath. But it was gone so quickly I almost doubted I'd seen it.
"Of course, my King." She handed over the folder with perfect deference. "I just hope you remember who your real allies are before it's too late."
I took the folder and left without another word, but her implications followed me like shadows. My wolf was restless, torn between the pull of old debts and the warmth of my mate bond with Grace.
Something was wrong with this whole situation. But with Katherine's threat looming and Grace's mysterious condition weighing on my mind, I couldn't focus enough to see what it was.
As I walked back to my office, I caught Grace's scent on the breeze – sweet, pure, with an underlying note I still couldn't identify. My wolf strained toward her, but I held back.
First, I had to deal with these threats to our safety. Then, maybe, I could finally untangle the web of lies and truths that seemed to be tightening around us all.
But one question kept nagging at me: Why did my memories of that crucial rescue feel increasingly like a story I'd been told, rather than something I'd lived?