SAGE
I rembered the truth he was talking about.
I rembered him turning back at the prison door, jaw tight, eyes burning with determination when he said he would get out. Then, I rembered him saying he needed to speak to his father, that it wouldn’t take long.
I rembered being left behind in that cell, cold stone biting into my skin, hope thinning with every passing second. Then, I rembered he talked about the chaos that followed my disappearance, at least as it had been described to later, the pack thrown into uproar, warriors scrambling, voices raised in confusion and anger.
Then I rembered him talking about his guilt, and almost madness at my disappearance.
But that was not the truth I knew.
My voice ca out broken, a whisper scraped raw by years of screaming into silence. "Why," I asked him, "would you not say the truth? Just once?"
It didn’t matter that a truth was what I had seen in his eyes... because I just couldn’t accept the implications...
The room shifted, my power faltering just as I was.
And so, easily, Daniel broke free. And when he did, he stepped forward, fury and confusion warring across his face.
"What truth?" he shouted. "What are you even talking about? Who fed you this nonsense?"
I didn’t answer him with words, nor did I have need for interruptions. I just wasn’t in the mood. I didn’t have the patience.
Magic snapped from like a lash.
Daniel flew across the room and hit the wall with a sickening crack. The sound of ribs breaking echoed, unmistakable. He slid down, wheezing, blood already blooming at the corner of his mouth.
No one moved again. No one dared.
"No one fed gibberish," I said, still barely louder than a breath. "I saw it. I lived it. I felt the pain of being beaten to death by people I loved."
Adam shook his head violently, as if denial alone could undo what I was saying. "I didn’t do that."
A tendril of magic coiled around his throat instantly, shimring, tightening just enough to make him gasp.
I stepped closer, my eyes never leaving his. "Deny again," I said softly, "and I will kill you."
His hands trembled at his sides. He didn’t look like the powerful Alpha anymore.
"What about when I was Dora?" My voice cracked, the mories clawing their way up no matter how hard I tried to bury them.
"You led into the hall. You said you had to speak to your father. You left there. And then you ca back with your brothers and you beat until I died...almost."
My gaze flicked to Daniel, still gasping on the floor. "You drove a knife into my chest."
Daniel let out a broken, wheezing laugh. "You’re insane," he rasped. "Are you high on sothing?"
Magic slamd him back into the wall again, harder this ti. He didn’t laugh again. He rather settled on coughing out blood.
Noah stepped forward, panic threading his voice. "Sage, stop. Please. Think."
I sent him flying too.
Then I tightened the magic around Adam’s throat, watching his face blanch, watching his eyes darken as air thinned.
Rage roared through , hot and uncontrollable. "You ruined ," I said. "All of you."
Adam raised one hand weakly, fingers shaking. "I have sothing to say," he managed, voice strained.
"Then say it," I snapped. "Before I end you."
His eyes t mine, steady despite the pain. "Go into my mind."
The words hit harder than any blow.
"You’re my mate," he continued hoarsely. "I can’t hide anything from you. If I’m lying, you’ll see it. If I’m guilty, you’ll know."
I hesitated.
For the third ti since I had woken, since I had stepped into this room with revenge blazing in my veins, doubt flickered again.
The mantra ca unbidden again: What if he was telling the truth? What if they were innocent?
The thought made my knees weak.
If he was right, then everything I had built my life around for six years—every plan, every spell, every sleepless night fueled by hatred—collapsed into nothing.
It would an I had been used. Manipulated. That my pain had been redirected by soone else while the real enemy watched and laughed.
I didn’t want that truth.
But I wanted a lie even less.
My steps were unsteady as I moved closer. Slowly, I placed my hand against his forehead. Magic stirred between us, old and intimate, threads tightening as the bond opened.
And then I fell into him.
mories flooded , raw and unguarded. The caves. His shock the first ti he took . Desire, yes, but also awe. Fear of hurting . Fear of losing .
I felt his emotions as if they were my own, his love undeniable, burning through every mont we shared.
He had loved .
He still loved .
I skipped forward, heart pounding, to the night it all fell apart.
I saw him arguing with his father, voices raised, his desperation palpable as the older man struck him and called nothing. Wolfless. Disposable.
Adam hadn’t backed down. He had stood there, bleeding pride and fury, until his father relented enough to promise safety for .
Then the alarm. My disappearance.
I felt his panic as if it were my own, his mind spiraling as he rallied warriors, tearing through the pack, convinced sothing terrible had happened. He had planned to leave with . To take sowhere safe.
He had never co back to that cell because I was already gone.
I tore myself from that mory and plunged forward again, to the ti I was Dora. To the hall. To the mont of betrayal I had replayed a thousand tis.
And there it was.
He left.
He never returned.
Not with his brothers. Not with knives. Not with fists.
What? How?
I was ripped violently out of his mind while I contemplated.
The room spun. I staggered back, choking on a sob as blood stread down my cheeks.
Gasps filled the room as my tears hit the floor, dark and red. My magic unraveled in an instant, the pressure in the room instantly lifting.
I collapsed.
Hands caught before I hit the ground. Adam was there, cradling my face, wiping away blood without hesitation, without revulsion. His touch was grounding, devastating.
"I’m here," he said, voice breaking. "I’ve always been here."
I didn’t fight him. I couldn’t.
The truth had shattered more thoroughly than any lie ever could.
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