A Warrior's Second Chance (Faye and Alexander) novel Chapter 119

FAYE

I sat down for a moment, still observing him. He hadn’t said anything since I walked in. But I knew a lot was on his mind. Moments like this made him look so ordinary.

That picture of him…one hand resting against the armrest, the other pressed against his temple, gaze unfocused as though his thoughts had carried him far away…wasn’t the Alexander people whispered about.

It was the man underneath.

The man people didn’t get to see. The man I wasn’t sure he let anyone see.

I found myself staring too long, drawn to him like I always was when the cracks showed. There was a sharpness to him, always…an edge honed by power and survival…but in the quiet, in his stillness, he wasn’t the terrifying Alpha. He was simply a man drowning in thoughts too heavy to let out.

When his eyes finally shifted toward me, heat rushed into my cheeks. My gaze dropped quickly, pretending to adjust the strap of my nightwear, but the silence between us grew thick, alive with things neither of us had said.

“Do you ever stop worrying?” I asked, my voice coming out steadier than I felt. I needed to hear something, anything, before the silence drowned me completely.

His lips twitched, a ghost of something that wasn’t quite a smile. “Not really.”

“That’s exhausting,” I said.

He let out a low breath. It sounded almost like a chuckle, though it was weighed down by weariness. “You get used to it.”

I tilted my head, refusing to let him brush it aside this time. “No. You bury yourself in it. There’s a difference.”

That made him pause. His eyes lingered on me, sharper now, like he was trying to decide whether I was teasing him or peeling him open with my words. I didn’t flinch. I wouldn’t…not when I knew this was me standing my ground in the only way I could.

“You don’t have to keep everything to yourself. It’s ok to talk about things, how you feel… keeps you from lashing out,” I said, keeping my tone steady.

His jaw flexed, the muscle ticking with restraint. He looked away, then back again, and the

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Chapter 119

conflict in his eyes was almost painful to watch. “It’s not that simple, Faye.”

Claim

“Why not?” I asked, even though I already knew the answer. He thought it was weakness.

The question hung between us. He didn’t answer right away, only leaned back slightly, exhaling as if my words had pressed too close to something he didn’t want touched.

“I’m fine,” he said.

“You’re restless,” I said. It wasn’t a question…I could feel it radiating off him, humming in the space between us like tension before a storm.

He tilted his head back, eyes on the ceiling as if searching for an escape. “How would you know that?”

I smirked. “You’re not very good at hiding it.”

That made his gaze snap back to mine. “I didn’t think I had to.”

Something about that admission tugged deep at my chest. Alexander was always so deliberate…careful about what he showed, measured with every word, every movement. For him to say that… for him to let me glimpse the truth without his usual walls… it meant more than I could explain.

“I know what’s bothering you,” I said gently.

His mouth twisted into a smirk. “Do you?”

“Yes,” I whispered. “You don’t understand what’s happening, and you hate not having

answers.”

His silence was telling enough. He stared straight ahead, jaw clenched, as though admitting it out loud would cost him something he couldn’t afford to lose.

“And you’re angry,” I pressed on, my voice quiet. “Not just at Marcus. At yourself, at the situation. At everything you can’t control.”

Finally, he turned his head toward me, and the truth in his eyes made my breath catch. He didn’t deny it…he didn’t need to.

“I thought after the full moon,” he said out of the blue. His voice was so calm, almost as if he were confessing a sin, “you’d look at me differently. That you’d see what I really am.”

I blinked, chest tightening. “And what are you, Alexander?”

His lips pressed into a thin line before the words spilled out, jagged and raw. “Dangerous, unstable. A man who can’t promise the people he leads that he won’t lose himself when it

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(Chapter 119

matters most.” His voice dropped lower. “I thought you’d be afraid.”

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And maybe another version of me…the girl who hadn’t seen him fight his own nature, the one who hadn’t been trapped in the middle of his duality…might have been. But I wasn’t that girl..

Before I could second–guess myself, I reached out and laid my hand over his. His skin was warm beneath my palm, his muscles tense, every inch of him rigid as though he wasn’t sure whether to pull away.

“I’m not afraid of you, Alexander,” I said firmly, tightening my grip when he didn’t move. My heart was racing, but my voice held. “Not then, not now.”

His breath hitched–barely, but I felt it, saw the flicker in his eyes when he glanced down at where my hand covered his. For a heartbeat, I thought he would pull away, retreat into the safety of his distance. But he didn’t. He stayed perfectly still, as though my touch had rooted him in place.

And I stood my ground.

I didn’t shrink back, didn’t drop my hand even when his intensity threatened to overwhelm me. My fingers curled more firmly around his, and I lifted my chin slightly, meeting his gaze head–on. “I mean it,” I said softly. “I know you don’t want me this close, but I’m still here.”

His gaze locked on mine, and for the first time, there were no barriers. No Alpha, just a man who looked tired, conflicted, and almost painfully exposed.

“You shouldn’t be here,” he muttered, his voice rough.

“But I am.” My throat tightened, but I held on anyway. “And I’m not going anywhere.”

The silence thickened, but it no longer felt suffocating. It was alive, charged, every second sparking against my skin like fire waiting to catch. I could feel him beside me, the steady rise and fall of his chest, the tension humming through his body.

I shifted closer, the mattress dipping beneath my weight. My shoulder brushed his arm, and the touch felt like stepping across a line I’d been circling for weeks. His jaw tightened, but still, he didn’t move away.

“I see it, Alexander,” I whispered, my hand sliding lightly up from his to rest against his arm. The way you carry everything alone, like the world will collapse if you let someone share the weight?”

He turned then, really turned, and the intensity in his gaze stole my breath.

“And

you think

you can carry my burden?” His voice was low, rough, laced with disbelief–and something else. Something that sounded dangerously close to hope.

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< Chapter 119

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