A Warrior's Second Chance (Faye and Alexander) novel Chapter 82

Chapter 82

ALEXANDER

She shifted nervously in front of my desk, her frame tense, her hands wringing the hem of her shirt as if the fabric could anchor her.

Maya wasn’t the sort I imagined at the heart of a conspiracy. She was timid, soft–spoken, with the kind of wide eyes that made her look constantly startled by the world around her.

But that didn’t matter. If she had overheard something and let it slip, whether by malice or accident, then she had become a problem, and I needed to call her to order.

I didn’t want to believe it, but I couldn’t ignore it either.

“Maya,” I said finally, breaking the silence. “Before I ask the question, I want you to understand something very clearly. I did not call you here to frighten you. I did not call you here to punish you. What I want from you is the truth.”

Her head jerked up at that word…truth…as though she had been hoping I wouldn’t demand it of her. Or maybe it was just what I chose to see.

“The things being whispered among the pack,” I continued, watching her face carefully,” about the staged attack at the border, about the three–eyed wolf… Tell me, Maya, do you have anything to do with this? Did you hear something you shouldn’t have, and repeat it? Now is the time to come clean.”

For a moment she just stared at me, her lips parted, eyes glistening. I thought she might confess right then…I thought that the guilt had broken through her walls and she would spill everything in one breath. But instead her chin trembled, and tears welled in her eyes.

“Alpha Alexander…” she whispered, her voice catching. Then, in an instant, she crumpled to her knees, sobbing.

The sight almost startled me. I had expected denial, or perhaps stubborn silence–but not this. She pressed her hands together as though in prayer, her entire body shaking.

“Please,” she begged, the words spilling between sobs. “Please, Alpha, don’t hurt me. I swear I didn’t do anything. I am innocent. I don’t know who is saying these things, but it isn’t me. I swear it on my life!”

Her cries echoed against the walls, raw, the kind of tears born not of calculation but desperation.

I frowned, leaning forward, trying to study her more closely. This wasn’t guilt–not the way I

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* Chapter 82

recognized it, anyway. This was fear.

I had been prepared for a traitor’s mask to slip. Instead, what I saw was a terrified girl convinced she was about to be tom apart.

+25 Points

“Nobody told me anything about you, Maya,” I said slowly, trying to steady my tone. “I haven’t accused you because of rumors someone whispered in my ear. I am speaking to you because I know the walls in this house carry sound. Because I know it is possible for words spoken in private to find their way into the wrong ears. And because the things that should be secret among my council are suddenly the talk of the corridors. Do you understand what that means to me?”

She nodded frantically through her tears, but her denials only grew louder.

“I didn’t hear anything! I wouldn’t dare listen in! Luna has been so kind to me–she treats me like her own–and you, Alpha, you’ve always rewarded me for my work, given me benefits no one else gets around here. Why would I throw that away? Why would I betray you? Please, someone must be lying about me because they envy me. They want me cast out. But it isn’t me! I would never!”

Her words came in a rush, tumbling over each other in her desperation to be believed.

And damn it all, I wanted to believe her.

I sat back again, running a hand across my jaw. The instinct I had carried into this confrontation, the certainty that Maya was hiding something began to soften. She looked too small, too fragile to be weaving plots against me. Too timid to be anyone’s spy. And what would she even gain? The notion seemed absurd.

Yet still… the rumors had spread. Someone had been careless–or worse, deliberate.

I let the mask slip from my face then, just enough for her to see the weight of the Alpha behind the man. My voice dropped.

“If I find out, Maya, that you have lied to me…” I let the words linger. “If I discover that you are behind this, or that you are hiding something from me now, then I promise you, you will regret it. Do you understand?”

Her sobbing stilled just enough for her to choke out a trembling, “Yes, Alpha. I swear to you…I wouldn’t dare.”

I searched her eyes one last time, searching for cracks, for signs that might betray her. But all I saw was fear, and perhaps, just perhaps, innocence.

“Go,” I said finally, leaning back once more, though the heaviness in my chest did not ease. I

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Chapter 82

couldn’t question her further, her tears made me feel terrible.

+25 Points

She scrambled to her feet, wiping at her tears with frantic hands, and fled the room as though afraid the floor might open beneath her feet if she lingered.

The door closed behind her, and I was left alone with my thoughts.

Not long after she left, I heard a knock on the door. “Come in.”

Faye walked in. Her eyes were tight, angry, and something else I couldn’t quite place. Hurt maybe.

“What is it?” I asked, perhaps a little sharper than I should have.

She shut the door behind her and crossed the room, her arms folded. “That’s what I came to find out from you.”

I frowned. “What are you talking about?”

Faye gave me a look that made me feel like I’d missed something obvious. “I just saw Maya walking toward the kitchen. She was crying.”

I sighed.

“She wouldn’t tell me why,” Faye continued, stepping closer. “But when I asked where she was coming from, she said your office. What did you do to her?”

For a second, I just stared at her, trying to gather my thoughts. I wasn’t used to being questioned like that…I could have dismissed her, but for some reason, I couldn’t.

I sighed and rubbed my face again, exhausted. I didn’t want to explain, I didn’t owe explanations. But with Faye standing there looking at me like I was some cruel tyrant, I felt the need to justify my action.

“I didn’t do anything to her,” I muttered, lowering my hand and meeting Faye’s gaze. “I only called her here to ask a question.”

Faye blinked, like she hadn’t heard me right. “A question?”

“Yes.” My voice dropped. “About the gossip flying around.”

Her brow furrowed, confusion flashing across her face before it melted into something close to disbelief. “You’re saying you called Maya into this office just to interrogate her? You must have terrified her.”

I clenched my jaw. “It wasn’t like that,” I said. “Listen, Faye. Things are different now. With everything going on, everyone’s a suspect. You know that as well as I do. I have to consider

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Chapter 87

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