Chapter 168 CHAPTER 168

Chapter 168 CHAPTER 168

Matthias’s POV

After rehearsing our fake story and securing our fake IDs, Kael and I arrived at Eclipse. We were ushered through security without much trouble and eventually escorted to a guest inn tucked away from the busier parts of the territory.

But everything between our arrival at the guest inn and the moment I suddenly woke up in a room felt like a blank stretch of time.

I pushed myself upright, blinking as I tried to clear the fog from my mind. For a moment, I simply sat there, listening.

The room was quiet. I scanned my surroundings, taking in the walls, the closed curtains, the small table beside the bed, and the unfamiliar furniture. My muscles tensed instinctively as I wondered whether Kael and I had been separated and whether I was being held prisoner.

I swung my legs over the edge of the bed and stood. My head felt heavy, and a strange weakness lingered in my limbs. Even my senses seemed dulled, which unsettled me more than the unfamiliar room. I was used to being alert, especially in a place like Eclipse, where I couldn't afford to let my guard down.

I walked around the room, checking the door first. It wasn't locked. That eased some of the tension in my shoulders. On the bedside table was a small card. I picked it up and read the words printed across it.

Welcome to Nola's Guest Inn.

I stared at it for a moment before setting it back down.

Nola.

I remembered hearing the name when we'd arrived, but everything after that was still hazy. I rubbed my temple, trying to force the missing memories into place. Nothing came.

I searched through my bag and finally found my phone buried beneath my clothes. I immediately dialed Kael.

He answered after a few rings.

"Where are you?" I asked, my voice still drowsy, thick with the remnants of sleep. I cleared my throat and sat back on the edge of the bed.

Perhaps I hadn't realized just how exhausted I was from the journey.

There had been something strange about that exhaustion, though. It wasn't simply the kind that came from traveling. It felt deeper, as though my entire body had been drained and forced into sleep before I'd even had the chance to protest.

Kael and I eventually met at the breakfast table.

The smell of freshly prepared food drifted through the room, mingling with the faint scent of smoked wood and herbs. My stomach rumbled, but I barely noticed. I was still trying to piece together what had happened after we arrived.

Across the table, Kael looked almost as unsettled as I felt. His fingers drummed lightly against the edge of his cup, a nervous habit I had noticed before. Every so often, his eyes wandered toward the entrance as though he expected someone to walk through it.

Then our host appeared. She was an elderly woman named Nola, the owner of the guest inn.

She moved with a calmness that seemed almost unnatural, her posture slightly bent with age but her eyes remarkably sharp. There was something about the way she looked at us that made me feel as though she could see past the fake names, the fake identities, and the carefully rehearsed story we'd brought with us.

I straightened in my seat. Nola asked us what had brought us to the park.

She didn't look directly into our eyes when she asked the questions. Instead, her gaze drifted casually between the plates, the window, and the coffee pot, as though she were making harmless conversation with two ordinary travelers.

But I was familiar with that tactic.

She was deliberately avoiding direct eye contact to make us feel comfortable, creating the impression that her questions were nothing more than routine inquiries from a friendly host.

I wasn't fooled.

Nola wasn't just an ordinary woman running a guest inn. There was something else about her, something I couldn't quite put my finger on. She was a spy, someone whose job was to observe new guests coming into Eclipse Park and quietly determine whether they belonged there.

I kept my expression relaxed and reached for my cup.

"We're just travelers," I replied. "We're traveling to a park on the eastern side of Eclipse. We decided to spend a few days here to rest from our journey."

Kael nodded beside me, silently agreeing with the story we'd rehearsed.

She studied us for a moment, though she still avoided looking directly into our eyes. Then, without saying anything, she pushed a generous serving of bacon toward us.

"You are welcome to Eclipse," she said.

I smiled politely.

"Thank you."

But as I reached for a piece of bacon, I couldn't shake the feeling that her words carried a meaning far beyond simple hospitality. There was a watchfulness beneath her gentle manner.

And I had the uneasy sense that, despite our careful preparation, Nola was already beginning to see through us.

I looked around the inn, trying to find any sign that there were other guests besides us. Maybe Alexa was still in the inn if she had come to Eclipse.

I let my gaze wander around the dining area, taking in the empty tables and the quiet corners. There was something unnerving about how still the place was. Even the faint sounds coming from the kitchen seemed muted, as though the entire inn were deliberately keeping its voice low.

"Do you have visitors here frequently?" I asked her. "It seems very quiet here, and we are the only ones at the table."

She looked at me.

"Not very often. We do have visitors, but not as often. Eclipse Park is at a distance from the other parks, and it's not every day we have guests coming in."

I nodded thoughtfully, keeping my expression relaxed.

"I had heard so much about your park," I replied, even though there was very little to find about it in the literature. "And what I've seen so far doesn't even do it justice. What I've read about Eclipse Park doesn't do justice to how beautiful this park is."

It was exactly the kind of conversation our identities called for. Kael and I had disguised ourselves as scholars traveling from one park to another, documenting their history, culture, and natural beauty. Everything about our conversation had to support that identity, from the questions we asked to the details we pretended to be fascinated by.

"I would like to meet the alpha of your park," Kael said suddenly.

He leaned forward slightly, adopting the curious expression of an academic eager to meet an important historical figure.

"His name is Alpha Rodrick, right?"

Nola nodded.

"Yes. But you cannot meet Alpha Rodrick."

Her answer came without hesitation.

"Why not?" He asked.

"Alpha Rodrick only meets those he sends for."

She returned her attention to her breakfast as though she'd just answered the most ordinary question in the world.

But something about the statement made the hairs along my arms rise. Alpha Rodrick didn't meet visitors. He summoned them.

I lowered my eyes to my plate, hiding the sudden alertness in my expression. I thought that was strange. But I didn't say anything.

After breakfast, I waited until Nola was out of earshot before I pulled Kael closer to me.

"There is something about Nola that is unsettling," I whispered.

My eyes drifted toward the doorway, where she had disappeared only moments earlier. I couldn't explain exactly what had set off my instincts, but something about her presence made the wolf inside me restless. It wasn't fear. It was recognition—the familiar warning that came when something didn't belong where it appeared to.

"We have to leave the inn," I said.

Kael frowned.

He clearly didn't feel the same way.

"Leaving would raise suspicions," he replied. "We don't want to give anyone a reason to look at us suspiciously."

He lowered his voice as another movement caught his attention from across the room.

"We have to put our heads down and find Luna Alexa. That's our mission here."

I stared at him for a moment. Kael was mistaken. That wasn't just the mission. I had come here on my own mission, one that had nothing to do with Silas's orders. I was here to find Alexa, yes, but I wasn't doing it simply because Silas had sent me. I had my own reasons for finding her.

And there was something else I intended to accomplish while I was in Eclipse.

I wanted to stir up something powerful enough to deepen the conflict between both packs. I hadn't come to Eclipse merely to find Alexa. I had come to disturb the fragile balance between the packs.

And if I played my cards carefully, neither side would realize what I had done until it was already too late.