A Warrior's Second Chance (Faye and Alexander) novel Chapter 51

ALEXANDER

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I leaned back against the headboard on my bed, working on my laptop. Then my phone began to vibrate beside me.

I glanced at the caller ID. Irene.

With a sigh, I dragged the phone toward me and answered. “Hey, Irene.’

“Hey, where did you go?” her voice came through sharp, edged with that familiar impatience. “I checked your chambers earlier, and you weren’t there. You weren’t in your office either.

Where did you vanish to?”

I rubbed a hand over my face, debating how much to tell her, because she could make a big deal of it if I told her I was in Faye’s room. But Irene could smell half–truths a mile away, so lying wasn’t worth it. “I was in Faye’s room,” I said evenly, “but I’m back in mine now.”

For a moment there was nothing but stunned silence on the line. Then her voice came back. “Faye’s room? Did I hear you right? Since when do you ever step foot in there?”

I could almost picture her…eyes wide, lips parted, maybe pacing the hall with her phone pressed tightly to her ear.

“She’s fine,” I cut in before she could launch into more questions. “I only went to check on her. Nothing serious.”

“So she’s alright?” she pressed, still suspicious. “You’re sure? Because the way Bella cornered her at the training grounds this morning… I was honestly worried, even though she

handled the situation well.”

“Irene,” I said. “She’s fine.”

There was another pause, then Irene’s voice softened with something that almost sounded like wonder. “Hmm! Since when do you check on her, Alpha Alexander? Since when do you even acknowledge her existence in this pack–as your mate, as your Luna? You’ve acted like she doesn’t exist since she arrived. And now suddenly you care enough to look in on her?”

Her words pricked at me. I shifted uncomfortably against the headboard, my jaw tightening. I hated when Irene pushed me like this…hated more that she often wasn’t wrong.

“Don’t start,” I muttered. “I’m not in the mood for your judgment tonight.”

“I’m not judging you,” she replied quickly. “I just… Alexander, do you know how it looks? Bella

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keeps poking at Faye like she’s beneath her, and Faye swallows it every time because what choice does she have? Everyone sees it. And don’t you think Bella only dares to because you let her? Because you never give Faye her rightful place? You set the tone. If you don’t treat your Luna with respect, why would anyone else?”

I shifted the laptop aside and pressed my fingers against my temple.

“Bella’s just crazy,” I said at last, my tone dismissive. “She’s reckless and unpredictable. It’s not my fault.”

There was silence again, and when she finally spoke, her voice was calm, almost too calm. She’s not crazy, Alexander. She’s jealous, pure and simple. And why wouldn’t she be? You finally have a mate, a Luna, someone who actually stands in the place Bella thought belonged to her. She’s lashing out because she’s losing ground.”

I froze. For a second, it was as if the air in the room thickened, making it harder to breathe. ” What place are you talking about?” I asked quietly, though I already knew.

I could practically hear her smirk through the line. “Do you really think I’m that clueless, Alexander? Do you honestly believe I didn’t know what was going on between you and Bella before?”

I closed my eyes, dragging in a long breath. There was no point in denying it now. “Fine,” I said at last, my voice low. “Yes. You’re right, I won’t insult you by pretending otherwise.”

For a moment, Irene said nothing. Then, surprisingly, her tone softened again. “I didn’t say it to hurt you. I just needed you to see it clearly. Bella isn’t crazy. She’s clinging to what she thought was hers. And Faye is paying the price for your silence.”

She was right. I hated that I had allowed this mess to fester until it became everyone’s

problem.

“I’ll talk to Bella tomorrow,” I said finally.

“Good,” Irene replied, relief slipping into her tone. “Because if you don’t, she will never stop. And Faye deserves better than to be treated like a shadow in her own pack.”

“I’ll handle it,” I said.

I had skipped breakfast again, because I had an early morning meeting with the elders.

Some minutes after the meeting, there was a knock on the door. “Come in,” I said.

When the door opened and she walked in, I wasn’t prepared for the way the sight of her

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would catch me off guard. Faye was dressed so simple it made her look more striking than usual. Denim pants that fit her like a second skin, a sleeveless top that bared her neck and shoulders to the warm light streaming through the window, and her hair…loose, free, flowing around her face like she had no care in the world.

For half a second, my mind stalled. My eyes lingered longer than they should have, tracing her in that careless way a man shouldn’t trace his mate if he didn’t want trouble. I caught myself, forced my expression back into something neutral, as if I hadn’t just been staring like some dumbstruck boy.

“Do you need anything, Faye?” I asked, making my voice sharper than necessary…a defensive mask. If I didn’t sound like I was in control, she would see too much.

She hesitated. That hesitation was always telling. She had something on her mind but wasn’t sure if she should say it. And yet she didn’t look nervous, she looked… relaxed. Like she had thought it through and decided to face me with it anyway.

She moved toward the chair across from my desk.

“I wanted to talk about what you said yesterday,” she began. Her voice was even, clear.

About the northern border.”

The northern border. My mind sharpened immediately. What about it?” I asked carefully.

“I’d like to go take a look,” she said.

I blinked. “You’d like to… what?”

“Take a look,” she repeated, and I could see the determination building in her eyes even before I reacted. “If you don’t mind.”

”

Of course I minded…I minded a lot. What business did she have with the northern border?

What could she possibly expect to find there that I or Cole or the guards hadn’t already seen? The request was strange, and coming from her, it felt even stranger.

“Why?” I asked.

She didn’t hesitate. “Because maybe the people who went there missed something. Maybe there’s still a clue. Sometimes all it takes is a fresh pair of eyes.”

I stared at her. For a long moment, I had no words. I should have shut it down.

Instead, I found myself oddly… amused. Surprised, yes, but also curious.

“Faye,” I said slowly, “we’ve checked that border twice already. Every inch of it. Cole himself oversaw the patrols. New guards have been stationed there for days. If there was ever a clue,

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it’s long gone now.”

Her jaw tightened, but she didn’t back down. “Still. I’d like to see it for myself.”

“You think you’ll find something we missed?”

Her lips curved, not in arrogance, but in a stubborn kind of sincerity. “Maybe.”

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I shook my head, a humorless laugh escaping me. This lady didn’t know when to give up. And there was no bratty defiance in her voice this time, no cheekiness or attempt to prove me wrong. She sounded genuine…serious. And for some reason, that sincerity pressed against me harder than any amount of insolence could.

“You’re not trained for the border,” I reminded her, softer now. “You don’t know the terrain. You

don’t even know your way around the territory yet.”

“I know,” she admitted. “But I’m not asking to go alone.”

That stopped me. Her eyes held mine, steady and I realized she had already thought of the argument I would throw back at her. She wasn’t being reckless. She was asking because she

believed she could contribute.

Something in my chest shifted. I didn’t like it.

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