Chapter 236 236

Chapter 236 236
Caden's POV

The moment the words left my mouth, I knew I'd fucked up.
Nova's eyes went wide, her lips parting on a sharp intake of breath. For half a second, I saw something raw flash across her face. Panic, maybe. Or fear. Then that familiar mask slid into place, smooth and practiced, and I was looking at a stranger again.
Shit.
I dropped my hands from her face, taking a step back to give her space. My chest felt tight, frustration clawing its way up my throat. Too much, too fast. She hadn't even decided if she could forgive me for the past and here I was, barreling through her boundaries like some kind of territorial asshole with zero sense of timing.
"I should go check on Lydia," Nova said, her voice calm and steady. Too calm. Too steady. "She'll be devastated about Zayn."
It was an excuse and we both knew it. But I couldn't exactly call her out when I'd just shoved my foot so far down my throat I could taste my own stupidity.
"Yeah. Sure." The words came out rougher than I intended. "That's probably a good idea."
She nodded once, already moving toward the door. She didn't look back.
The door clicked shut behind her and I stood there like an idiot, staring at the empty space she'd left behind. Then I dragged both hands through my hair and let out a string of curses that would've made my mother wash my mouth out with soap.
What the hell was wrong with me?
I dropped into my desk chair, linked my fingers behind my head and leaned back until the leather creaked. The ceiling had a water stain in the corner I'd been meaning to fix for months. I stared at it, replaying the last few minutes in my head and hating every second.
She'd been vulnerable. Hurting. Wondering if she belonged here, if her presence caused more harm than good. And instead of reassuring her gently, like a person with functioning brain cells, I'd grabbed her face and declared she belonged with me. As my Luna.
Christ.
My phone buzzed on the desk. I glanced at the screen and my jaw tightened.
Lila. Again.
That made five messages today, each one progressively more desperate. I'd ignored the first four and I sure as hell wasn't going to answer this one. Whatever she wanted, I didn't have the bandwidth to deal with it right now.
I shoved the phone aside and pushed to my feet. Sitting here stewing wasn't doing me any good. I needed to move, to burn off some of this restless energy before I did something else monumentally stupid.
The training grounds were on the east side of the estate, a sprawling area of packed dirt ringed by equipment stations and a makeshift fighting ring. The afternoon sun beat down on a cluster of warriors who'd gathered to watch two figures grapple in the center.
I recognized Garrett immediately. Hard not to, considering he was shirtless and covered in a sheen of sweat that caught the light every time he moved. The other guy was Rhys, one of the younger warriors. Good instincts, decent form, but he was getting his ass handed to him.
I stopped at the edge of the crowd and watched. Garrett fought dirty. Not in an illegal way, but in a way that got under your skin. He'd feint left, then come in from the right. Drop his guard just enough to make you think you had an opening, then punish you for taking it. Every move was designed to test, to prod, to pull a reaction. He was hunting for weak spots, and once he found them, he exploited them ruthlessly.
Rhys lunged forward, going for a takedown. Garrett sidestepped smoothly, hooked an arm around Rhys's neck and dropped him face-first into the dirt. The crowd erupted in cheers and groans, depending on who they'd been rooting for.
Garrett released Rhys and straightened, grinning as he accepted the backslaps and ribbing from the others. Then his gaze landed on me and that grin widened into something sharp and mischievous.
Oh hell.
"Alpha!" Garrett called out, loud enough for everyone to hear. "You here to supervise or you gonna show us how it's really done?"
The noise from the crowd died down. Every face turned toward me, expectant.
Normally, I'd shut this down. I had better things to do than indulge Garrett's need for attention and his constant testing of boundaries. But the coiled tension in my muscles, the frustration still gnawing at my gut from that disaster with Nova, it needed an outlet.
Besides, getting the chance to personally rearrange Garrett's smug face sounded pretty damn appealing right now.
I shrugged out of my jacket and tossed it to the nearest warrior. "You really want to do this?"
Garrett's grin went feral. "Thought you'd never ask."
The crowd came alive again, whooping and shoving each other to get a better view as I stepped into the ring. Someone started taking bets. I caught fragments of it, odds being called out, money changing hands. Apparently I was the favorite, which made sense considering I was their Alpha. But Garrett had a reputation for being scrappy and unpredictable, so the odds weren't as lopsided as they could've been.
I rolled my shoulders, loosening the knots that had settled there over the past few hours. Garrett circled me slowly, still grinning like he knew some joke I wasn't in on.
"You sure about this, Alpha?" he asked, voice carrying just enough mockery to be borderline disrespectful. "Wouldn't want you to throw out your back or anything."
A few snickers rippled through the crowd.
I didn't answer. Just watched him move, cataloging the slight favor of his left side, the way his right shoulder sat a fraction higher than it should. Old injury, probably. Something he compensated for without thinking.
"Gonna stand there all day or are you planning to actually fight?" Garrett taunted.
I lunged.
He was fast, I'd give him that. But I'd been watching him tear Rhys apart for the last five minutes and I knew his tells. When he feinted left, I was already moving right, catching him across the ribs with enough force to knock the air from his lungs.
He stumbled back, surprise flashing across his face before that grin returned. "There we go. I was starting to think you'd gone soft."
"Keep talking," I said. "See how that works out for you."
He came at me hard, all power and aggression, and I met him head-on. The impact jarred up my arms but I held my ground, using his momentum against him to spin him around and drive an elbow into his back. He grunted but didn't go down, twisting free and coming back with a series of quick jabs aimed at my face.
I blocked most of them. One caught me on the jaw and I tasted copper.