Chapter 119
Sofia Bliss.
The silence that came after Adrian’s last sentence was tormenting.
My whole body was tense, like he had just pulled the pin of some grenade or something, as if something was about to explode.
I didn’t know what to expect.
And honestly… I didn’t know if I wanted to hear it.
I didn’t know if I wanted him to keep going or if I preferred pretending this conversation had never happened. Everything he’d said — about his mother, the Oracle, the Moon, and my mother’s past — all mixed together sounded unreal. Impossible. Something out of a nightmare.
“Say it,” I said, my voice sharp and tense. “Whatever it is… finish it. Just say it.”
Adrian drew a deep breath. I saw the conflict on his face — the hesitation — like he already knew that once he spoke, nothing would go back to how it was before. Nothing would be simple again.
“Your mother… Serena,” he began, “ran away from her own family because of what they were planning for her.”
I blinked, still confused.
“What plans?” I asked, already knowing I wasn’t going to like the answer.
He looked away for a second, then met my eyes again.
“Well… it wasn’t just about her. It was about what she could create.”
My heart sped up.
“Adrian…”
He let out a long breath, almost anxious, and started.
“According to the Oracle,” he continued, “from the time Serena was very young, there was a revelation. Her child… her daughter… would be the next True-Alpha.”
I froze, listening carefully.
“True-Alpha?”
“An alpha above all others. Above the Council. Above even the Supreme Alpha,” he explained. “A leader of absolute power. A living symbol.”
“And… what does that have to do with me?”
He stepped closer.
“Everything.”
What? How?
I questioned myself, even more confused than before.
“Her family,” he went on, “wanted that True-Alpha to be born inside their pack. With Hines blood. That way, they could control that power. Control everything.”
“Control… how?” I asked, already knowing his answer wouldn’t be good.
He paused. A long pause.
My chest started hurting even before the words left his mouth.
“They wanted to choose who your mother would have a child with.”
“Her engagement to Andrew Hoffman?…” I said quickly, thinking that was all it was.
Adrian closed his eyes for a moment.
“Sofia… they wanted Serena to have a child with her own brother. Her older brother.”
My eyes felt like they had turned to stone the second he said it. I couldn’t blink. I froze completely.
Then came the revulsion.
A heat rising through my body, mixed with nausea.
“No…” I whispered. “No. That’s not possible. That’s… too sick. That’s—” my voice broke “—that’s monstrous.”
I shook my head over and over, denying and refusing all of it.
“That makes no sense… It’s insane. Your mother… she must have made this up. Someone made this up.”
“No,” Adrian said firmly. “It’s true.”
I felt tears burning my eyes.
“My mother would never allow that,” I said, almost shouting. “She wasn’t like that.”
“That’s why she ran,” he replied. “That’s why she cut ties. That’s why she never talked to you about her family.”
“She ran because she loved my father,” I shot back. “Because he was human. Because they didn’t accept that.”
“Yes,” Adrian agreed. “But also because she believed if she had a child with a human, maybe the destiny would break. Possibly you’d be born human. Maybe the Oracle’s revelation — that the True-Alpha would be born from her — would fail.”
My chest burned at his words.
“She… she loved my father,” I repeated, mostly to myself, because I knew that part was true.
“She did,” Adrian said softly. “But in the beginning… it was a strategic choice. A desperate attempt to save you.”
A half-hysterical, disbelieving laugh escaped me.
“No. This is too much. This is too insane.” I pressed my hands to my head. “Your mother is lying. She has to be. She always hated me. She put my name on a list to kill me. Why would I believe her now?”
Adrian held my arms gently but firmly.
“Sofia, look at me,” he asked. “This isn’t a joke. They’re approaching you now because they failed with your mother.”
What? Where was he going with this?
“What do you mean by that?” I demanded, already tired of waiting.
“They want you,” he said. “They want you to have a child. They want to repeat the plan. Use someone from the family again, if they have to.”
“ENOUGH!” I screamed, pulling away. “Enough of this insanity! This can’t be true! This is sick, this is… this is something only deranged people would do!”
My breathing was out of control. And the wolf inside me growled, restless, as if it recognized the danger even when my mind refused to accept it.
“I…” I clutched my head, feeling the creature inside me thrashing. “I don’t know if I believe this,” I said, my voice trembling. “I trust you… but I don’t trust your mother. Not after everything.”
Adrian didn’t say anything.
“Why would she put me on a kill list if she wanted to ‘protect’ me?” I continued. “Why? Why would she tell you all this to help me? None of this makes sense, Adrian. None of it is logical.”
He didn’t respond. He just stared at me, deep in thought.
I stepped closer and hugged him. Tight. As if I needed something solid to keep myself from falling apart.
“I’m not angry at you,” I murmured. “Thank you for telling me. Really.”
He wrapped his arms around me, tense.
“But I don’t know what to believe yet,” I whispered. “And that scares me.”
Then his phone rang.
And the tension in the room multiplied instantly.
Adrian pulled back slightly and looked at the screen.
“Edgar,” he murmured.
He answered immediately.
“Talk.”
I watched his face change in seconds.
“What?” he said, suddenly rigid. “Sofia is here with me. Why?”
My heart stopped.
I stepped forward, trying to hear.
“Adrian…” Edgar sounded breathless on the other end. “Get her away from you. Now. I need to tell you something.”
“Edgar, just say it,” Adrian demanded.
I was close enough to see the color drain from his face.
“It’s about her father,” Edgar said, his voice breaking. “They just found a car… at the bottom of a cliff.”
I turned to stone.
“The body inside… was found burned beyond recognition.”