Chapter 82

Lauren

Liam left with all the dramatics of a man who knew exactly how to piss off Alexander. A slow, taunting exit, the ghost of a smirk on his face like he had won something. He even had the audacity to wink.

The second the door clicked shut, I felt it—the air shifting. Heavy. Charged.

My head was on Alexander’s chest, the closeness calming something in me I didn’t know was there but it didn’t last. He pulled away from me quick, like I burned his skin.

“Lauren,” Alexander started, his voice deceptively calm. “We’re not done talking. Far from it. Why didn’t you tell me?”

I turned to face him fully, squaring my shoulders. “What part of it…exactly?

His jaw twitched. “Don’t do that. Don’t play dumb.”

I lifted a brow with a sigh, regretting this entire mess. “You’re going to have to be more specific. There’s a long list of things I apparently should have disclosed to you.”

Alexander let out a sharp breath, dragging a hand through his hair. “The transformation, Lauren. The pills. Liam. Everything. Were you ever going to tell me? Or was I supposed to just figure it out when I found you tearing through the woods after our children?”

I faltered, arms uncrossing. My stomach turned over. “My children… are they—?”

“Safe?” He scoffed, shaking his head. “Yes. Relax, I don’t even think they even knew it was you.” His voice dripped with something bitter, something edged with frustration. “God, Lauren, what were you thinking?! Forcing a change?! Why?! Why even risk that?! Being indebted to the Moon Goddess?! To him?! For howl’s sake, you have the mark of the moon now! This isn’t a game, Lauren!”

I rolled my shoulders back, the weight of his words pressing down on me. “Okay, it’s not like I knew it was magic! I just… I…” My hand raked through my hair. “I couldn’t be weak! Not again!”

“You’re not weak?!” Alexander took a step toward me, his voice echoing low against the walls like a drum. “You never were!”

My head shook, feeling a growl pop through my throat, “I need to protect my children!” I shot back. “You don’t get it! You’ve always been strong, an Alpha! Wealth, influence, a strong joba nd future! I’ve fought for everything! Everything! I couldn’t just live without the back up of my wolf form! I mean, think about it! Without you, I would’ve died in those mountains! I can’t be helpless, Alexander!”

His hands were on my shoulders in an instant, fingers tightening just enough to make me still. “That’s why you have me!” His voice was fierce, desperate. “To protect you! To help you! You didn’t need to do this alone!”

I shoved him off, my pulse a frantic, uneven thing. “I—I can’t!” My voice cracked. “Never again!”

Something in his expression shifted. It was subtle but undeniable. Like something inside him snapped.

“Is that why you slept with me then? Some pills?”

The question hung in the air, slicing through the silence like a blade. It was thick—heavy with something I couldn’t quite name, something suffocating.

I held my breath, as though if I exhaled, I might drown in the weight of it all. The only sound in the room was the relentless ticking of the clock on the wall, counting down every precious second, mocking the heaviness of the moment.

And then… the memories. My chest tightened as images of us, tangled in sheets, flashed before my eyes. His hands on me. His mouth. The way we moved together, but it felt like we were dancing around the truth, too afraid to name what had happened.

My face flushed, blood rushing to my cheeks, but it was too late. The memories were out there, raw and undeniable.

I closed my eyes, pressing my hand to my forehead as if trying to keep it all together. The world seemed to shrink, spinning faster and faster, my mind racing. I should’ve expected it. I should’ve known. He always knew exactly where to strike, right at the tender, bleeding wound between us.

Worst of all, he was right.

A sickening wave of guilt crashed over me. It wasn’t about him. It was me—my own weakness. The way I’d let everything spiral out of control, let myself be influenced and now…

I swallowed hard, feeling the weight of every unspoken word lodged in my throat. My lips parted, but no sound came out. What was there to say? What could I possibly say to make this right?

“I—” My voice faltered, trembling as I tried to hold onto something, anything. “It wasn’t meaningless.”

Alexander’s laugh was sharp—bitter, like broken glass. His fists clenched at his sides, his whole body trembling with restrained anger. “Oh, really?” he spat. “Well, thank God it wasn’t just a quick fuck, then!”

I flinched, the sound of his words cutting deeper than I’d ever expected. But it wasn’t just the words. It was the hurt. The betrayal that bled through every syllable. It echoed in the space between us, reverberating off the walls.

I tried to find the words to explain, to justify it, but they felt hollow. Even I didn’t believe the conviction in my own voice when I finally managed, “It wasn’t like that.”

His nostrils flared as he took a slow, deliberate step back, as though the very air between us was toxic. His gaze darkened, full of something I couldn’t read—resentment, disbelief, pain.

He stood there for a moment, staring at me, as if trying to will the truth out of me, or maybe just trying to find a reason to breathe again.

“That was the first time we’ve been… intimate,” he said, voice cold and distant, like I wasn’t even standing in front of him anymore. “Since you’ve been back. Since you were alive. And it wasn’t because of some kind of progress between us, was it? It wasn’t because we were ready for this. No, it was just the damn pill. Just chemistry. Nothing more.”

My throat tightened. “That’s not fair.”

“Oh, it’s not fair?” His voice was all mockery now. “I’m sorry, Lauren. Am I being unfair?” He let out a hollow laugh. “You don’t get to say that to me. To do this. You don’t get to act like it wasn’t just some accident. Some convenient mistake.”

“I’m not saying that!” My voice rose. “I—I wasn’t myself!”

“Exactly!” he shot back. “So what does that say, huh? That the only way you can be close to me is under the influence of something? That the only time you don’t fight me is when you’re not thinking clearly?”

My mouth snapped shut, my stomach lurching. No, that’s not—

But wasn’t it?

His gaze bore into me, his chest rising and falling unevenly. I saw it then. The exhaustion. The rawness in his eyes.

“You know what?” he muttered, mostly to himself, shaking his head. “Forget it.”

Panic spiked through me. “Alexander—”

He turned away from me, his shoulders rigid. “This is what you do. You push. You deflect. You make it impossible for anyone to reach you.”

“That’s not true.” My voice was quieter now, weaker.

He didn’t answer. He just pulled the door open with enough force to rattle the house, and stepped out. There was a flush of noise, like he was transforming.

And then he was gone.

I stood there, the room feeling impossibly empty, the weight of his absence suffocating.

My feet took uneasy steps back until my back was to the wall, sliddinf down to the floor with my head in my hands.

Why didn’t I tell him? Was I just so used to handling everything on my own? Or… did I truly still not forgive him, even if it was Sophie manipulating him back then.

I just… I didn’t know.