Chapter 167 I LIED
Chapter 167 I LIED
The antiseptic smell of the hospital burned Alex’s nose, but he didn’t care. Pain wasn’t his to carry anymore.
He sat on the edge of the gurney with blood drying in black lines down his side and watched Mia through the glass.
She was asleep.
At least she looked asleep. Her face was pale in a way that had nothing to do with the IV in her arm and everything to do with the fact that ten minutes ago she’d been screaming like someone was carving her open with a knife. Because someone was. Him.
Every bullet Seraphina put in him, Mia had taken.
Every stitch the surgeon was pulling through his ribs right now, Mia felt.
That was the curse. That was the price.
His hands were shaking. Not from blood loss. From rage.
“Alpha.”
Jenna’s voice was quiet behind him. She stood in the doorway between Mia’s room and his, one hand on Sara’s back. Sara was asleep too, finally, curled in the hospital chair with her thumb in her mouth and tear tracks still on her cheeks.
“You need to lie down,” Jenna said.
Alex didn’t look at her. “Can you stay?”
The question came out rough. Like he hadn’t used his real voice in days.
Jenna hesitated. “The nurses said I could go home once—”
“I know what they said.” Alex cut her off, but not unkind. He turned then, and when his eyes met hers they weren’t gold anymore. They were black. Deep. Endless. And tired in a way that had nothing to do with sleep. “I’m asking you. Please. You’re the only one I trust with them for now,although I'm still unable to figure why.”
Jenna felt it. The weight of it. The way the air in the room seemed to press down on her shoulders. This wasn’t a request. It was an Alpha asking. No, not an Alpha. Something older.
She swallowed. “How long?”
“I won’t be long.” Alex stood. The motion pulled at the bandages around his ribs but he didn’t flinch. He couldn’t. The curse wouldn’t let him. “Downstairs. Holding.”
Alex nodded once.
Jenna looked at Mia. At Sara. Then back at Alex. She saw the blood on his knuckles, the way his jaw was set, the storm sitting behind his eyes. “Fine,” she said. “I’ll stay. But you come back to them, you hear me? You don’t go do something stupid.”
Alex didn’t answer. He just walked out.
The hallway was too bright. Fluorescent lights buzzed overhead and with every step Alex took, they dimmed. Not a lot. Just enough that the nurse at the station looked up and frowned.
“What’s wrong with the lights?” she muttered to no one.
Kane was waiting by the elevators. His arms were crossed and his face was carved from stone.
“Holding room B,” Kane said before Alex could speak. “Silver cuffs. Two guards. He’s been laughing.”
Alex stepped into the elevator. Kane followed.
Neither of them spoke on the ride down.
When the doors opened, the temperature dropped.
It wasn’t cold. Not really. But it felt like winter had followed Alex out of the elevator and was walking beside him. The guard at the desk rubbed his arms.
“Sir,” the guard started. “You’re not supposed to be—”
“Out.”
Alex didn’t raise his voice. He didn’t have to. The word rolled through the hallway and hit the two guards in the chest. They exchanged a look, then left. Fast.
Holding room B was small. Concrete walls. One table. One chair.
And Ivan.
Ivan sat with his hands cuffed to the table, silver biting into his wrists. His mouth was still gagged. His clothes were still bloody from the ruins. But he was smiling. That same lazy, infuriating smile.
He looked up when Alex came in and his eyes lit up.
“Mmm,” Ivan hummed through the gag. Like he was pleased.
Alex closed the door. The sound was too loud in the small room.
He didn’t sit. He stood, ten feet away, and just looked.
The lights overhead flickered. Once. Twice.
Ivan’s smile faltered. “What. No witty greeting? No ‘I’m going to kill you’ speech?”
Alex took a step forward. Then another.
He stopped when he was close enough to smell the blood and the dirt on Ivan.
Alex reached out and yanked the gag down. Ivan coughed.
Ivan licked his lips. Blood on his teeth. “ What are you here for nephew? To hurt me? Go ahead. The curse won’t let you.”
“It won’t let me kill you,” Alex agreed. “But it didn’t say anything about pain.”
He put his hand on Ivan’s shoulder.
Ivan screamed.
It wasn’t a human sound. It was the sound of bones grinding, of ice forming in his veins. Because Alex wasn’t touching him with a hand. He was touching him with everything he’d been holding back since the ruins. All the rage. All the grief. All the nights he’d spent listening to Mia scream in her sleep because of him.
The door slammed open.
Seraphina stood in the doorway. Her hair was a mess. Her eyes were red and swollen. She looked like she hadn’t slept in a week.
“I lied,” she said. The words came out in a rush, like if she stopped she’d choke on them. “I didn’t shoot her. I didn’t. I was mad. I was so mad at you and at him and at everything and I wanted you to feel it. So I lied. She’s in the cabin. Sleeping. I left her food. Water. Blankets. She’s okay, Alpha. She’s okay.”
The room went silent except for Ivan’s ragged breathing.
Alex took his hand off Ivan’s shoulder. Slowly.
Ivan collapsed forward, gasping, sweat pouring down his face.
Alex turned to Seraphina.
Really looked at her.
The girl who’d shot him. The girl who’d tried to kill Kane. The girl who’d been used by Ivan for years.
Something in his chest cracked. Not the curse. Him.
“Thank you,” Alex said.
Seraphina crumpled. Right there in the doorway. Her knees hit the concrete and she started to cry. Not loud. Just quiet, broken sobs.
Alex didn’t go to her. He couldn’t.
He looked at Ivan instead.
“Get up,” Alex said.
Ivan didn’t move.
“Get. Up.”
Ivan stood. Shaking.
Alex grabbed the chain between Ivan’s wrists and pulled. Not hard. He didn’t need to. Ivan followed. Because the air in the room was telling him to. Because the thing standing in front of him wasn’t Alex anymore.
They walked out.
Past the guards who didn’t meet their eyes.
Past Kane, who just stepped aside.
Down the hall, where the lights flickered and then steadied as Alex passed.
Upstairs.
Room 204.
Jenna was still there, rocking Sara. Mia was still asleep.
Alex led Ivan in and cuffed the chain to the bed frame. Metal on metal. Final.
Ivan sat on the floor and laughed. Soft. “You think this changes anything? You think because you didn’t kill me, you won? You’re still cursed, Alex. And every time you bleed, she bleeds.”
“Shut up,” Alex said.
And Ivan did.
Alex crossed to Mia’s bed.
She looked small in it. Too small. Her face was peaceful now, but there were still tear tracks on her cheeks.
He sat on the edge of the mattress. Careful. Like she was glass.
He took her hand.
Her fingers curled around his in her sleep.
“I’m here,” he whispered. “I’m here, baby. No more pain. I promise.”
The words were a vow.
And the air in the room seemed to hear it.
Outside the window, the sky that had been clear all morning turned gray.
Then it started to rain.
Soft at first. Then harder. Drumming against the glass.
Jenna exhaled. She hadn’t realized she’d been holding her breath.
Alex didn’t let go of Mia’s hand.
He watched her sleep.
And for the first time since the ruins, the black in his eyes faded.
Gold came back.