A Warrior's Second Chance (Faye and Alexander) novel Chapter 81

FAYE

Out of boredom, I had decided to stroll into the courtyard on the other side of the pack house. When the kids saw me, they ran towards me as usual, asking me to show them tricks. They were the only ones around here I could actually be myself with, so hanging out with

them was easy.

1 knelt in the grass, surrounded by little ones, their laughter high–pitched and contagious. A pair of twins were trying, and failing, to copy the way I’d shown them to crouch low and stalk as if they were wolves hunting. Their legs tangled, and they tumbled into each other, rolling in giggles.

“Not like that!” I laughed, clapping my hands. “You’ve got to keep your balance, light on your feet. Watch.”

I crouched low, shoulders hunched, my fingers curling as if claws. My gaze locked on them, dramatic and fierce. They squealed as I prowled forward slowly, making a mock growl deep in my throat. The smallest of them covered his face, peeking between his fingers, while the others dissolved into laughter.

“Okay, now you try,” I told them, sitting back on my heels.

Of course, they didn’t even get halfway before bursting into fits again. It was chaos, silly and lighthearted, and I felt myself smiling in a way I rarely did these days. For a moment, I forgot about the tension that clung to me whenever Alexander was near. I forgot about the watchful eyes of the pack. I was just… me.

The sound of footsteps pulled my attention, and when I turned, I saw Alexander.

The kids spotted him too, and immediately everything else ceased to exist for them. “Alpha Alexander!” they chorused, abandoning me without hesitation to rush him.

He laughed–an easy, genuine sound I’d never heard from him–and stooped down to scoop one of the little ones into his arms. “Well, look at you,” he said, ruffling the boy’s hair. “Have you been giving Luna a hard time?”

They all spoke at once, eager to share. “No, Alpha! Luna was teaching us tricks…wolf tricks!”

I rose slowly, brushing grass from my dress, my eyes lingering on him as he stood among them. He looked different when he smiled, when he wasn’t holding the weight of the world- or the pack–on his shoulders. He looked softer.

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I didn’t interrupt, just watched them for a moment. It was… oddly disarming.

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Eventually, the children’s attention span ran out, and one of the older women called them away for supper. They scampered off, leaving only me and Alexander in the courtyard.

I crossed my arms, tilting my head. “So, what are you here for? To make sure I wasn’t gossiping with the kids?” My tone was casual, playful even, but I made sure the message beneath was clear enough to hit.

His smile faded. His eyes found mine. “No,” he said simply.

I raised an eyebrow, waiting.

“I thought…” he hesitated, which surprised me. Alexander never hesitated, “I thought I needed to apologize. For yesterday.”

I smirked. “Oh? Which part of yesterday exactly?” I asked, my voice light. “The part where you thought so low of me that you lumped me in with the pack’s gossip? Or the part where you stepped into my personal space first…” I paused, heat rising in my chest, then pressed on, “… then turned your back to me like you couldn’t stand the sight of me?”

His jaw tightened, but his gaze remained on me. “Which one are you mad about right now?”

I rolled my eyes. “Take your pick.” Then, with a wave of my hand, I added flippantly, “Apology accepted. Even though, technically, you haven’t actually apologized.”

“Thank you,” he said, curt as ever.

The apology didn’t sound genuine. The gratitude wasn’t either. But that wasn’t the point. The point was that he had come. He had thought about it, wrestled with it, and still walked up to me. For Alexander, that meant something.

I exhaled softly, letting the silence stretch.

“I should go back to the house,” I said after a beat, brushing my palms together.

He gave a small nod.

ALEXANDER

I was halfway back into the house when I caught their voices. At first, it was nothing more than idle chatter drifting through the evening air…two pack members, probably lingering too long after their duties. Normally, I wouldn’t have given it a second thought. But then I heard it.

“…a wolf with three dark eyes,” one said.

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I stopped dead in my tracks. My ears sharpened, every instinct straining.

The other scoffed. “No, no, no–you’ve got it all wrong. It wasn’t like that. Besides, nobody said whether the eyes were open or closed, so stop making things up.”

There was a sharp edge of irritation in his voice, like he had explained it before.

My blood chilled.

The first one cracked up laughing, a low, careless sound that grated on my nerves. “Doesn’t matter, does it? The point is, there was a wolf, three eyes, and…”

A pause.

“And a ring involved.”

A ring.

They knew about the ring too?

Impossible.

I could feel my heart hammering against my ribs, not out of fear, but out of the raw anger clawing its way through me. I didn’t move until their voices faded away with their footsteps, the two of them ambling down the trail like they hadn’t just spoken words that could tear the entire pack apart if they spread too far.

How the hell did they know?

1 replayed every moment in my mind, every slip, every careless second where I might’ve let something leak. And then…like a knife driving itself into my skull…I remembered.

The gym.

That morning in my private gym with Cole. I had been reckless, too absorbed in the weight of our conversation. We had spoken freely, about things no one else should ever hear. And then Maya–sweet, soft–spoken Maya–had appeared at the door, informing me that breakfast was ready.

I remembered the look on her face. I remembered how I had wondered, just briefly, how long she had been standing there. Long enough to hear?

I had brushed the thought off then. Stupid of me, Careless. But now? Now the pieces fit too perfectly.

Could I have been right to suspect her?

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The air around me seemed to thin, my lungs dragging for breath. My wolf stirred restlessly beneath my skin, snarling its agreement. Whether it was Maya or not, someone was leaking information. And if it was her….

I didn’t waste another second. My legs carried me swiftly, almost in a blur, through the pack house doors. The door slammed behind me, the sound echoing down the hall as I walked

toward the kitchen.

My eyes scanned sharply across the counters, the staff bustling around. No Maya

“Where is Maya?” I asked calmly. I wasn’t sure she had anything to do with this, so I wasn’t about to treat her like the culprit.

The head cook turned, wiping her hands on her apron. “Maya just stepped out a few minutes ago, Alpha.”

I nodded and stepped out.

I was about to walk away when I saw her coming in.

She walked in through the side door, carrying a small basket of herbs from the garden. The moment her eyes landed on me, she froze.

Just for a second. That hint of hesitation, the tightening of her grip on the basket handle.

She recovered quickly, lowering her eyes in respect. “Alpha,” she greeted.

I nodded. My eyes stayed locked on her, studying every shift in her expression, every twitch in her body language. Guilt? Fear? Or was it just the intimidation of standing face–to–face with me like this? She looked like she already knew I had sought her out specifically.

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