Chapter 10 Chapter 10

Chapter 10 Chapter 10
CHAPTER TEN

Aveline’s POV

“Run.”

The word hit me like a slap.

Everything around me froze.

The courtyard… the voices… the pain in my side… it all disappeared like it had never been there.

It was just me.

And her.

My mother stood a few steps away, but something felt wrong.

She looked… the same, but not.

Too pale.

Too still.

Like a memory trying too hard to be real.

“Mom…” My voice trembled as I took a step toward her.

“I found you,” I whispered. “I knew you were alive. I knew—”

“Run.”

She said it again.

Sharper this time.

Desperate.

My brows pulled together.

“Why are you saying that?” I asked, my chest tightening. “I’m here. You’re here. I just need to—”

“AVELINE, RUN!”

Her voice broke.

Not soft.

Not weak.

Terrified.

My heart slammed hard against my ribs.

I stopped moving.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, panic creeping into my voice. “What is it? Who’s after you? Tell me—”

“You don’t understand,” she said quickly, her eyes darting around like she was being watched. “They are listening. They are always listening.”

A cold chill ran down my spine.

“They?” I repeated.

Her gaze snapped back to me.

“You cannot trust anyone there.”

My chest tightened painfully.

Anyone?

“No,” I shook my head. “No, that’s not true. Fenrir—”

“Don’t!” she snapped, her voice breaking. “Do not say his name like you know him.”

I froze.

“What…?”

“He is not what you think,” she said, her breathing uneven. “None of them are. You are in danger, Aveline. Greater danger than you realize.”

My mind started racing.

This didn’t make sense.

Fenrir saved me.

He helped me.

He—

“You are being watched,” she continued urgently. “Every move you make. Every word you say.”

A sudden pressure built in my chest.

“No… no, that’s not—”

“You need to leave.”

“I can’t!” I snapped, tears stinging my eyes. “I can’t leave! You’re here! I have to save you!”

Her expression softened for a second.

Just a second.

“My brave girl…” she whispered.

My throat tightened.

“Then tell me what to do!” I begged. “Tell me where you are. I’ll come find you. I don’t care what it takes.”

Her lips parted.

But before she could speak—

A shadow moved behind her.

My heart stopped.

Something… shifted in the darkness.

Tall.

Wrong.

Watching.

“Mom…” I whispered, fear crawling up my spine.

Her eyes widened.

She saw it too.

“AVELINE, WAKE UP!”

Everything shattered.

My eyes flew open.

I gasped, my body jerking violently.

Pain exploded in my side again, dragging me back into reality so harshly it felt like I had been ripped in half.

I coughed, my chest heaving as I tried to breathe.

The courtyard came rushing back.

The noise.

The chaos.

Fenrir.

He was right in front of me, his hands gripping my shoulders, his eyes locked onto mine.

“You’re back,” he said, his voice tight.

I blinked rapidly, trying to focus.

“Fenrir…” I croaked.

His grip on me tightened slightly.

“Where did you go?” he demanded.

I swallowed hard.

“I… I saw her…”

His expression didn’t change.

“Who?”

“My mother,” I whispered.

For a second, something flickered in his eyes.

Something sharp.

“Say that again.”

“I saw her,” I repeated, my voice shaking. “Not… not like before. Not one of those impostors. It was really her this time.”

He stared at me like he was trying to read every thought in my head.

“What did she say?”

I hesitated.

My chest tightened.

“She told me to run.”

Silence.

Heavy.

Thick.

Uncomfortable.

Fenrir’s jaw clenched.

“Of course she did.”

My brows furrowed.

“What does that mean?”

“It means whoever is holding her wants you afraid,” he said flatly.

“That’s not true.”

“It is.”

“No,” I shook my head weakly. “You didn’t see her. You didn’t hear her. She was scared, Fenrir. That wasn’t a trick.”

“And how do you know that?” he shot back.

“Because she’s my mother!”

The words came out sharper than I intended.

But I didn’t take them back.

I couldn’t.

He held my gaze for a long moment.

Then exhaled slowly.

“You’re injured,” he said. “You lost a lot of blood. Your mind is not stable right now.”

Anger flared weakly in my chest.

“Don’t do that.”

“Do what?”

“Don’t make me feel like I imagined it.”

“I’m not saying you imagined it.”

“Then what are you saying?”

His eyes darkened slightly.

“I’m saying someone is inside your head.”

My breath caught.

“What…?”

“You didn’t just ‘see’ her,” he continued. “You were somewhere else. Your body went cold. Your pulse dropped. You weren’t responding.”

A chill ran through me.

“I heard her,” I whispered. “She was talking to me.”

“That’s the problem.”

My fingers curled weakly against the ground.

“What do you mean?”

“It means this is bigger than we thought,” he said quietly.

My heart started racing again.

“What does that mean for my mother?”

“It means she’s alive.”

Relief hit me again.

But it didn’t last long.

“Then we need to find her,” I said quickly, trying to sit up.

Pain shot through my side immediately.

I gasped, falling back slightly.

Fenrir caught me before I could collapse completely.

“Easy,” he said.

“I don’t have time to take it easy,” I snapped weakly. “They’re doing something to her. I saw it. She’s scared.”

“And running into a trap will help her?” he asked.

“Yes, if it means getting to her!”

“No.”

The word was firm.

Final.

I glared at him.

“You don’t get to decide that.”

“I do when you can barely stand.”

“I don’t care!”

“I do.”

That shut me up for a second.

Not because I agreed.

But because of how he said it.

Like it wasn’t just an order.

Like it mattered.

My chest tightened.

“I can’t just sit here,” I said more quietly. “Not when she’s out there… not when she’s calling me…”

Fenrir didn’t respond immediately.

He just watched me.

Then—

“You’re not sitting here.”

Hope flickered in my chest.

“I’m not?”

“No.”

I held my breath.

“Then what are we doing?”

His expression hardened.

“We’re finding whoever did this.”

My heart skipped.

“And my mother?”

“We find her through them.”

I swallowed hard.

“That’s dangerous.”

“Yes.”

“You could be walking into a trap.”

“I am.”

“Then why—”

“Because they just made a mistake.”

I frowned slightly.

“What mistake?”

His eyes darkened.

“They let you see her.”

A chill ran through me.

“And that changes things… how?”

“It means they’re getting desperate,” he said. “And desperate people make mistakes.”

I wasn’t sure if that made me feel better or worse.

“And if they’re not desperate?” I asked quietly.

“Then we make them desperate.”

My breath caught slightly.

There was something about the way he said that…

Something dangerous.

Something cold.

And yet—

Something reassuring.

I didn’t understand it.

But I didn’t fight it either.

“Okay,” I whispered.

His gaze softened slightly.

“Okay?”

“I’ll trust you,” I said, even though the words felt strange coming out of my mouth.

His expression shifted for a second.

Like he wasn’t expecting that.

“Don’t,” he said.

I blinked.

“What?”

“Don’t trust me completely.”

Confusion settled in my chest.

“That’s… not exactly comforting.”

“It’s honest.”

I studied his face.

Trying to understand him.

Trying to see what my mother saw.

What she meant.

You cannot trust anyone there.

My chest tightened again.

“Fenrir…”

“What?”

“What if she’s right?”

A pause.

“About what?”

“About you.”

His eyes locked onto mine.

Cold.

Sharp.

Unreadable.

“Then you should run.”

My breath hitched.

“Are you serious?”

“Very.”

I searched his face for any sign of a joke.

There was none.

“Would you stop me?” I asked quietly.

Another pause.

Longer this time.

Then—

“Yes.”

My heart skipped.

“Why?”

His gaze didn’t waver.

“Because you’re more useful here.”

The words stung.

More than I expected.

I looked away slightly.

“Right,” I muttered. “Of course.”

But then—

His voice came again.

Lower this time.

Quieter.

“And because if you run… you won’t survive.”

I looked back at him.

Something in my chest shifted.

I didn’t know what to say to that.

Didn’t know how to respond.

So I didn’t.

Silence stretched between us.

Heavy.

Complicated.

Then suddenly—

A guard rushed toward us.

“Alpha!”

Fenrir’s attention snapped to him instantly.

“What is it?”

The guard looked tense.

“Sir… we found something.”

My heart skipped.

“What?” Fenrir asked.

The guard hesitated.

Then—

“It’s the girl who attacked her.”

Everything inside me went still.

“She’s… dead.”

A cold wave washed over me.

Dead?

Fenrir stood slowly.

“How?”

The guard swallowed.

“She… she killed herself, Alpha.”

My chest tightened.

No.

That didn’t feel right.

“Before she died…” the guard continued, his voice shaking slightly, “she said something.”

Fenrir’s eyes narrowed.

“What did she say?”

The guard hesitated again.

Then looked at me.

And that alone made my stomach drop.

“What did she say?” Fenrir repeated, more sharply this time.

The guard took a breath.

Then—

“She said… ‘Tell Aveline… she’s already too late.’”

My heart stopped.

Too late?

Too late for what?

For my mother?

For everything?

No.

No, that couldn’t be true.

It couldn’t—

“Aveline.”

Fenrir’s voice cut thro
ugh my thoughts.

I looked at him slowly.

His expression had gone completely cold.

Controlled.

Dangerous.

“They just made another mistake.”

My throat felt dry.

“What… kind of mistake?”

His eyes locked onto mine.

“The kind that gets people killed.”

A chill ran down my spine.

And for the first time since all of this started…

I felt something worse than fear.

I felt it deep in my chest.

Like a quiet, sinking truth I didn’t want to accept.

Whatever we were walking into…

It was already bigger than us.

And somehow…

I had the terrible feeling…

That I was exactly where they wanted me to be.