Chapter 54: Fear of Her
Chapter 54: Fear of Her
Sasha POV
For the first time in days, I felt like I could breathe again. Kade would live. The healer said the wound would leave a scar, but it wouldn’t claim him. Ronan, too, would heal, though his bruises ran deeper than anyone else could see. Neither of them was lost to me. Not tonight. That truth alone was enough to loosen the knot that had kept me wound so tight I thought I might break. But relief didn’t last. Because the moment Valen’s voice echoed back in my head, the knot pulled tight again.
Your twin isn’t dead. She is alive. And when I’m finished, she will be mine.
I wanted to tell myself it was a lie. I wanted to believe that it was just another one of his twisted games meant to fracture me. But I knew better. My truth sense wouldn’t let me hide behind comfort. The taste of metal still lingered in my mouth when I replayed his words. He hadn’t lied. Not about this. Which meant that my sister was alive. My twin sister was alive. The twin sister I had just found out about, the one I had thought was already dead, was alive. And in all honesty, I should have been filled with hope, but I wasn’t. Instead, it filled me with a fear so sharp it took my breath away. Because if she was alive, she was also out there in the dark. And if Valen’s claws were already around her, then she was in danger. Worse than danger. She could already belong to him.
“And she could hate us,” my wolf, Sassy, whispered. I was surprised to hear her voice. It had been so long, but this was scary enough to make her speak. However, before I could even talk back to her, Sassy retreated. I understood her fear. If my twin sister was alive, would she hate me for not trying to look for her? I pressed my palms to the table in my cabin, trying to steady myself. The wood was cool, grounding. But no matter how many times I told myself to breathe, the fear stayed. I wanted to go after him. I wanted to chase Valen into the forest and tear the truth out of him. But my body shook with the thought. Because it wasn’t just Valen I was afraid of. It was her. The sister I had never met. The other half I hadn’t known existed. What if she hated me? What if Sassy was right? The question settled in, quiet but immovable. She could blame me. For living when she didn’t get to live here. For being left behind while she was taken. For growing up with a pack, messy, imperfect, but still a home, while she had nothing. What if every day of her life had been pain and loss, and now she looked at me and saw only the one who got spared? The thought carved into me deeper than claws ever could.
“Ugh, I don’t know what to think,” I muttered as I sank into the chair and stared at the locket pieces I had kept from the severance ritual. They lay broken on the table, harmless now. But they reminded me of how false everything I thought I knew had been. My mother had placed a spell on me and Kade. A veil. A lie meant to protect. And I had believed in it, built my whole life around it, until it shattered. Now there was another truth waiting. Another veil ripped away. I closed my eyes and let the fear come. My truth sense wouldn’t allow me to pretend. No more hiding. No more telling myself I was only angry or only determined. I was scared. Scared of Valen. Scared of the prophecy. Scared of the curse that tied Ronan to me like a shadow, waiting for the right moment to strike. But most of all, I was scared of her. My sister. Because what if she looked at me and saw a stranger? What if she wanted nothing to do with me? What if she carried Valen’s mark now, not mine? The cabin door creaked. I startled, then relaxed as Ronan stepped inside. He still carried his wounds, but his posture was strong, his presence steady. His eyes softened when they found me.
“You should be resting,” he said.
“So should you,” I countered. He almost smiled.
“Fair,” he whispered, and I hesitated, then asked the question I had been circling since Valen’s words.
“Do you believe him?” Ronan didn’t answer right away. He leaned against the wall, his arms crossed.
“I believe your truth sense. And if it told you he wasn’t lying, then yes. I believe him,” the words hit harder than I expected. I nodded, swallowing against the tightness in my throat.
“I’m scared,” I admitted, the words tasting bitter but clean.
“You should be,” he said softly. “We all should,”
“No,” my voice shook, but I forced it out. “Not just scared of Valen. Scared of her. My sister. If she is alive…what if she hates me?” Ronan pushed off the wall and crossed to me. He crouched so we were eye to eye.
“Why would she?”
“Because I lived here. Because I had a home. Because I was spared,” my chest tightened. “What if she suffered while I had a life she should have had? What if she thinks I stole it from her?” Ronan’s gaze didn’t waver.
“Then she would be wrong,”
“No. You don’t know that,”
“I know you,” he said firmly. “And I know what’s true. You didn’t choose this. You didn’t take anything from her. If she is alive, then she is blood. And you will face her the same way you face everything else…honest and unflinching,” tears pricked hot at my eyes, but I blinked them back.
“What if she doesn’t want me?”
“Then I will want you enough for both of us,” he said. I looked away, my heart aching, my fear still coiled but softened at the edges. The wind pressed against the window, rattling the shutters. It whispered faintly, words only I could hear.
Blood calls to blood.
I shivered. Ronan’s hand covered mine on the table, steady and warm.
“No more hiding,” he said. I nodded slowly.
“No more hiding,” I agreed, and then the silence stretched, heavy with things neither of us said.