Chapter 80

Chapter 80
Jesse

When I woke up, my head felt like someone had used it for target practice with a sledgehammer. 

I tried to reach up and rub my temples, but my arms didn't go more than a few inches before I heard that sickening clink of metal.

I was chained. Again. But this time, chained to Maddox’s bedpost.

I felt like a dog on a leash.

Maddox stood up from his chair and walked over to a table, pouring some water into a glass. 

He held it out to me, his face was looking way too calm for someone who just had their guards bash my skull in.

"Drink," he said.

"Get that away from me!" I snapped. My voice was scratchy and weak, which I hated. I didn't want to look vulnerable. 

II don't want anything from you. I want to know what the hell is going on. Now."

He just set the glass down on the nightstand and looked at me. 

"You have a lot of questions, Jesse. I suppose seeing the gallery was a bit of a shock."

"A bit of a shock?" I almost laughed, but it hurt my head too much. 

"There is a literal twin of me hanging on your wall. In a pack I’ve never been to. In a life I’ve never lived. Who is he? Why does he have my face?"

Maddox didn't answer right away. He turned his back to me and walked toward the massive window that overlooked the training grounds. 

He stood there, staring out at the darkness, his hands clasped behind his back.

"The person in that portrait," he started, his voice dropping into a low, steady tone. "His name was Gale."

Gale. There was that name again. The name the guards whispered. 

"I’ve always believed in second chances, Jesse," Maddox said, still looking out at the trees. 

"Most people think when something is gone, it’s gone forever. They think death is a finish line. But I never believed that. I believed in fate. I believed that if something is meant to be yours, the universe will find a way to bring it back."

"What are you talking about? What does fate have to do with me looking like him?"

Maddox turned around then. The light from the fireplace hit his eyes, and for a second, he looked... intense. Almost scary. 

"I believe in the mate bond, Jesse. Truly believe in it. Most wolves treat it like a nice tradition. They think it’s just about finding a partner. But they don't understand the capacity of it. They don't understand how it affects the universe, or how it can pull a soul back from the edge of nothingness."

I just stared at him. Was he saying what I thought he was saying? No. That’s insane. 

Souls don't just hop into new bodies because an Alpha is lonely. That’s not how biology works. Was it?

"I don't get it," I whispered. "Are you saying... you think I’m him? You think I’m Gale?"

Maddox walked back toward the bed, stopping just a few feet away. He looked at me with this weird mix of hunger and relief.

"Today, I’m going to explain everything to you," he said.

"Gale was my mate," Maddox said. 

"We mated under the full moon, over five years ago. It was the best day of my life, Jesse. Truly. Everything felt right for once."

I swallowed hard. I thought about Claude. I thought about the day the moon told us we belonged together and how he’d looked at me like I was something he’d stepped in. 

Claude had rejected me. He’d thrown me away because he was a coward. But Maddox? Maddox had actually wanted his mate. 

He’d accepted him. He’d loved him. It made my chest ache in a way I hated. Why was the villain better at being a mate than the man I’d actually cared about?

"We were going to do great things," Maddox continued, pacing slowly. 

"The Variant Pack was going to be the strongest. We were going to rule together. We had plans for the future. Happy plans. But every good love story has a villain, doesn't it? Someone has to come along and ruin the one thing that’s perfect."

"In my case, it was my sister. My sweet, psychotic little sister, Rhea."

"Rhea?" 

"Rhea was always obsessed," Maddox said. 

"Ever since we were kids. She couldn't just play with her own things she had to have mine. She obsessed over everything I had. I didn't mind at first. I mean, she was my sister, right? You’re supposed to share."

"But then she started obsessing over Gale. She wanted him for some weird, twisted reason. I don't even think she loved him. She just wanted him because he was mine."

"One day," he whispered, "Rhea did something incredibly stupid. She took Gale out of Variant territory. She convinced him to go toward the waterfall. She knew it wasn't safe. She knew we had enemies out there. But she didn't care. She just wanted him all to herself for a few hours."

"They were attacked," he said. "Rogue wolves. Not the peaceful kind you claim to be, Jesse. Monsters. They didn't just kill him. They ripped him apart. Right in front of her. And then... then they tossed what remained of him over the waterfall. Into the rocks and the white water. His body was neve recovered"

I felt the blood drain from my face. I was horrified. I actually felt sick to my stomach. I looked down at my own hands and wondered if the people I called friends were capable of that. Being a rogue was hard, but... that? That was pure evil.

And Rhea? Did she really watch that happen? Was she the reason he died?

"I lost my soul that day," Maddox said, looking back at me. "I spent years in the dark. But then I found you. You, with his face. You, with his eyes. You, who was found by the very person who led him to his death."

"Do you see it now? Do you see why I can't let you go? Fate gave him back to me. And this time, I’m never letting Rhea, or anyone else, touch you."

I couldn't even speak. I just stared at him, my mind spinning. Was Rhea really a monster? 

\---

It finally made sense now. All those stories I’d heard around the campfires from Brandon and Kane, stories about the Mad Alpha who hunted rogues like they were vermin. 

They always said Maddox did it for no reason. They said he was just a bloodthirsty monster who liked to hear people scream.

But there was a reason. A horrible, bloody reason.

Rogues had ripped his world apart. They had taken his mate and thrown the pieces into a river. 

I looked at Maddox’s face, at the lines of grief etched around his eyes, and for a split second, I actually felt bad for him. Who wouldn't go a little crazy after that? But then I remembered the friends he’d killed of mine. The sympathy vanished.

"I still don't get it," I said.

"Okay, so rogues killed Gale. That’s awful. It really is. But what does that have to do with me? I’m Jesse. I was born in a different pack. I’ve lived my own life. I'm not... I'm not him."

"Don't you see? For years, I stayed awake at night. I prayed to the All-Glorious Moon Goddess until my knees were bruised. I told her it wasn't fair. I begged her to return him to me. I told her I would do anything just to see that face again."

He reached out, his hand hovering near my cheek. I flinched, pulling back as far as the chains would let me.

"And then," he whispered, "I found you. At first, I’ll admit, I was confused. I thought maybe Gale hadn't died. I thought maybe he’d survived the fall and lost his memory. But then I watched you. I saw how you fought. I saw that you were different. You’re stronger, angrier... you’re Jesse."

"Exactly!" I shouted, the chains rattling. "I'm Jesse! So let me go!"

"No," he said. "Because I realized the truth. You are someone else, but you’re still Gale. The Goddess heard me. She took his soul, she took his beauty, and she put it into you. She gave him a second chance at life so he could come back to me. It’s the only explanation for why you look like that. Why you feel like this."

The truth finally settled in my stomach like a lead weight. This wasn't just a mistake. Maddox’s obsession with me was some twisted, broken version of love. 

He really believed, actually, truly believed that the universe had recycled his dead boyfriend and handed him to me as a gift.

How do I even talk to someone who thinks like that? Do I argue with a person who thinks the moon is a delivery service for dead souls?

Maddox sat on the edge of the bed, a soft, creepy smile spreading across his face. 

"It’s perfect, Jesse. We don't have to be sad anymore. We can start over. Together, you and I will rule this pack. I'll give you everything Gale never got to have. You’ll be my Luna. You’ll be my world."

"You’re... you’re serious, aren't you?" I asked. My voice was trembling, but not from fear, from the sheer, pure madness of it all.

"You actually believe this. You’ve built this whole fantasy in your head to avoid the fact that he’s gone."

Maddox’s smile didn't fade, which made it even worse. That meant only one thing about him.

"You are the most delusional person I've ever come across." I muttered.