Chapter 182 CHAPTER 182

Chapter 182 CHAPTER 182
Silas’s POV 

Seeing Alpha Rodrick was totally unexpected and shocking. The last picture I had seen of him showed a strikingly handsome man, but the creature standing before me now was something entirely different—half beast and half man.

His features had been distorted by the transformation. Sharp, animalistic edges had replaced the refinement I remembered from the photograph, and there was something unnervingly powerful in the way he stood, as though barely restrained instincts lurked beneath his skin.

“Welcome, Alpha Silas,” he greeted.

“Thank you for seeing me,” I responded.

My gaze drifted across the room as I spoke, carefully surveying every corner, searching for any trace of Alexa. I tried to appear composed, but my attention remained fixed on one thing alone.

Where was she?

I took the seat that was offered to me and went straight to the point.

“I’m here for two reasons, Alpha Rodrick,” I said, settling into the chair without allowing myself to relax completely. “Firstly, I’m here to find my Luna, Alexa. Secondly, I’m here with a team on a reconciliation mission between my pack and yours.”

I watched his expression carefully, studying every subtle movement of his face. He tried to keep it as neutral as possible, revealing nothing.

Then he leaned forward.

“I saw your Luna a few days ago,” he replied. “Unfortunately, she seemed to be suffering from severe memory loss.”

I nodded slowly. I had heard that. “Yes, I was told earlier.”

A tense silence briefly settled between us before I continued.

“However, it seems she is missing. I haven’t been able to set eyes on her since I arrived at your pack.”

Alpha Rodrick leaned back in his chair, his posture deceptively relaxed.

“Don’t worry about that, Alpha Silas,” he said. “No one gets missing at Eclipse.”

His words were reassuring, but something about the way he delivered them made me remain alert.

“She will be found in no time.”

While we were still speaking, someone stepped into the room and leaned close to him, whispering something into his ear before quietly slipping back outside.

His expression changed. A smile slowly spread across his face as he turned his attention back to me.

“Good news already,” he said. “Your Luna has been found.”

Relief swept through me so suddenly that I felt as though something heavy had been lifted from my chest. 

“She will join us soon,” he added.

From that moment on, my eyes kept returning to the door. Every few seconds, I found myself looking toward it, waiting for it to open and for Alexa to walk through it.

I hadn't seen her in weeks.

The minutes stretched painfully.

Then, about five minutes later, the door finally opened.

Alexa stood in the doorway.

For several seconds, she simply remained there, her figure framed by the entrance. Then she began to walk carefully into the room.

I watched her closely, and almost immediately, something felt wrong.

There was something completely different about her. She didn't seem like the same person I knew.

“Alexa?” I called out.

She turned toward me. Her eyes met mine. Then her gaze shifted to Alpha Rodrick, lingering on him briefly before she finally began walking toward me.

“Who are you?” she asked.

The question struck me hard even though I expected it. I'd hoped she'd somehow remember me.

But her voice sounded different. It was still recognizably hers, yet something about it felt unfamiliar. More disturbing, however, was the emptiness I felt where our connection should have been. I couldn't feel her. Not the bond or the pull of my mate. Nothing.

“It’s Alpha Silas,” I replied, forcing my voice to remain steady.

She blinked slowly at the sound of my name, her expression giving away no recognition. Then, once again, her eyes drifted toward Alpha Rodrick, as though instinctively searching his face for reassurance.

That was when I began to study her more carefully.

Aside from her altered voice and the strange shift in her entire aura, something else immediately caught my attention. Her pregnancy was gone.

My eyes dropped to her stomach, disbelief spreading through me as the realization settled heavily in my chest. My jaw tightened, and every instinct within me rose to the surface.

“What happened to our child?” I asked.

My gaze snapped toward her face, searching desperately for an answer.

She seemed taken aback by the question. Her hand instinctively moved to her stomach, her fingers resting against it as if she were trying to understand what I was talking about.

“Child?” she asked.

Her eyes immediately returned to Alpha Rodrick.

This time, I looked directly at him. I could see the slight discomfort in his expression, the way his posture stiffened before he quickly composed himself.

“Yes. You were pregnant when you left Twilight,” I said.

She lowered her gaze, her fingers still resting lightly against her abdomen.

“I cannot remember what happened to the child,” she responded.

I rose to my feet. A surge of emotion moved through my veins, and I could feel my wolf stirring restlessly beneath my skin. Its agitation was impossible to ignore. Every instinct screamed that something was terribly wrong.

“You cannot remember what happened to our child?” I asked, my voice tightening.

I turned toward Alpha Rodrick, searching his face for an explanation.

“Is this Alexa, or is this someone else? Because I cannot recognize her.”

Her expression hardened.

“How could you say that to me?” she asked, taking a step toward me. “I suffer from memory loss. I've been told it's temporary. I will remember in due time. You can't blame me for that.”

I clenched my jaw and forced myself to breathe.

My wolf was still pacing angrily inside me, but I pushed the instinctive fury down. I had to remain rational, even though everything standing before me felt like an elaborate act.

Perhaps it really was Alexa. Perhaps the memory loss had genuinely taken away everything she knew about me, our relationship, and our child.

I wasn't sure anymore. But losing my temper wasn't part of the plan. I had to remember why I was here.

I wasn't here solely to find Alexa. I had come as part of a reconciliation mission, and the alliance between Eclipse and Twilight was far more important than my personal anger. Whatever Alpha Marcos was planning, we would need every ally we could get.

I slowly lowered myself back into the chair, forcing the tension from my shoulders.

“You don't need to worry yourself, Alpha Silas,” Rodrick said. His voice was calm, almost reassuring. “I will make sure your child is found before the end of the week.”

I stared at him. He spoke as though my child had simply wandered off somewhere within the pack, on a casual stroll.

Before I could say anything further, he continued.

“And as a symbol of our readiness for peace, I have also released your brother.”

His smile was exaggerated. Yet, nothing was adding up. This was not the sort of reception I had expected at Eclipse. I had prepared myself for resistance from Alpha Rodrick, perhaps hostility, suspicion, or at the very least, some reluctance to negotiate.

Instead, he was being far too accommodating. He was too ready for peace. He didn't seem like the same person who had moved an entire tribe of wolves out of Twilight after he lost his fiancé.

If he had wanted peace all this while, why hadn't he reached out to Twilight? Why had he allowed the hostility between our packs to continue for so long, only to suddenly open his arms to us now?

The questions crowded my mind, each one leading to another. Something was wrong. Every instinct in me urged caution, but I couldn't identify the source of the danger. I was desperate to find an answer before I left Eclipse. There had to be something behind Rodrick's hasty willingness to cooperate.

Then the door opened again. For the third time that day, someone entered the room. And this time, it was Matthias.

I stared at him. Yet again, I couldn't recognize the person standing before me. He wasn't holding his cane. He wasn't limping.

He walked into the room on both legs, his back straight and his steps steady, as though he had never needed assistance to walk in his life.

My mind struggled to reconcile the man I remembered with the one standing before me.

“What the hell...?” I whispered.

Matthias stopped a few feet away, his eyes settling on me.