Chapter 110 : Waking up in his room

Chapter 110 : Waking up in his room
Lena POV 

My head felt like it had been hit with a boulder and the first thing I noticed was the smell.

Cedar and rain and something clean that wasn’t the palace. The second thing was that I wasn’t in my room.

I forced my eyes open to confirm such.

My body ached, every muscle protesting as I tried to sit up. The room swayed, and my stomach twisted.

Rain. Games tomorrow.  

I’d collapsed and why? Because of the tension in my chest.

“Don’t move too fast,” a voice said.

Adam.

He was sitting in the chair by the bed, arms crossed, looking like he hadn’t slept. 

His shirt was damp at the shoulders, hair sticking to his forehead. He looked worse than I felt.

“What are you doing here?” I whispered in a raspy tone. I cleared my throat and tried again. “Where am I?”

“My house,” he said simply. 

He slid a cup of something steaming on the nightstand. “You have a fever. You passed out in the driveway. I wasn’t about to leave you there.”

I stared at him. “You could’ve left me.”

He smirked.

“I could’ve,” he agreed. “But you’d have died before the games, and then the rival packs wins without lifting a finger.”

Of course. Everything with him came back to that.

I pushed myself up anyway, ignoring the protest in my limbs. 

The blanket slid off, and I realized I was in one of his shirts. Oversized, smelling like him. My jaw tightened.

“Don’t get the wrong idea,” he said, catching my look. “You were soaked and shivering. My housekeeper changed you. Nothing happened, alpha.”  

Should I be concerned?

I mean I still protected my body from him seeing it while his brothers sure did.

“Alpha" I echoed bitterly. “Right. That’s all I am to you now. A title.”

His jaw ticked. “Don’t start.”

“I’m not starting anything. You heard what she said. She sold me.”

“She said she was under duress,” Adam replied calmly.

“So? That makes it okay?” I swung my legs over the side of the bed, the cold floor hitting my feet like a slap. “She let them use me. She lied to me my whole life. And you want me to just—what? Forgive her because she cried?”

“No,” Adam said. He stood, and suddenly the room felt smaller. “I want you to listen.”

I stood too, swaying. He caught my elbow before I could stumble.

“Let go of me.”

“Not until you hear me out,” he said. His grip wasn’t rough, but it didn’t give either. “You said it yourself last night. An alpha imposes authority. An alpha protects their pack.”

“So?”

“So think, Lena.” His eyes were steady, no anger, no pity. Just that infuriating calm. “What would you have done if someone told you that if you didn’t hand over your beta, they’d kill ten of your people?”

I opened my mouth, then closed it.

“I would have—”

“You would have made the choice,” he finished for me. “And you’d hate yourself for it every day after. But you’d do it, because that’s what leadership is. Sacrifice.”

My chest felt tight.

“That’s different,” I said weakly.

“Is it?” He stepped back, letting me go. “Your mom didn’t sell you for money. She said lives were at stake. Her people. Maybe even you. She pushed you away because keeping you close meant you’d die.”

“You don’t know that.”

“No,” he said. “But I know this. She ran between us last night. Crying. Shaking. If she didn’t care, she wouldn’t have.”

I swallowed hard. The image of her face, pale and desperate, wouldn’t leave me. 

“She set me up. She used me and here I was wondering why the fuck the alpha wanted me to reign.”  

He heaved a sigh, looking sober as his eyes lowered at me.

“well the real enemy's still out there,” Adam said. “they want you and your mom at each other’s throats. They want you distracted, angry, alone before the games. Don’t give her that.”

I looked away, staring at the window. Rain still fell outside, drumming against the glass.

Fuck! Everyone was an enemy.

“You’re defending her,”

“I’m defending you,” Adam said. “Because if you walk into that arena tomorrow hating your mom more than you hate your rival, you’ve already lost.”

The words hit harder than I wanted them to.

I thought of Mom’s hands, shaking as she stood between us. Of the way she said my name like it still mattered. 

Of the years I spent hating her for abandoning me, when maybe she’d been trying to save me.

It didn’t erase what happened.  

It didn’t make it okay.

But it made it human.

I sank back onto the edge of the bed, my legs giving out. Adam didn’t say anything. 

He just crouched in front of me, close enough that I could see the exhaustion in his eyes.

“You don’t have to forgive her tonight,” he said softly. “But talk to her. Get the truth from her mouth, not from Athena’s whispers. Then decide.”

I stared at him. “Why are you doing this? You hate that I don’t trust you.”

“Because I’m tired of watching you tear yourself apart,” he said. “And because if you lose tomorrow, I lose too.”

There it was. The alpha in him. Always practical.

But there was something else in his eyes. Something he wasn’t saying.

I didn’t ask.

Instead, I nodded once. Small. Barely there.

“Fine,” I whispered. “I’ll talk to her.”

Adam exhaled like he’d been holding his breath.

“Good,” he said. “Now drink the tea before you pass out again. And get some sleep. You’ll need it.”

I picked up the cup. It was warm in my hands.

For the first time since I found out the truth, the storm in my head felt a little quieter. tart by facing my mom.

The tea tasted like honey and a bit bitter due to the medicine.

I drank it because arguing would waste energy I didn’t have.