Chapter 183 CHAPTER 183

Chapter 183 CHAPTER 183
Matthias’s POV 

I realized my mistake as soon as I saw the reaction on his face. I had completely forgotten that I was still acting crippled to my brother. My cane was not with me, and I had strolled into the room without the slightest hint of a limp. There was no way to undo it now.

So I simply kept walking, hoping I could come up with something convincing if he asked.

My eyes shifted toward Alexa, or, more accurately, the woman who was supposed to be Alexa. She was unusually quiet, sitting stiffly on a chair with her hands folded in her lap. 

"Silas," I greeted, forcing a smile onto my face. "I'm so glad you are here, even though this was not the plan."

He watched me. His gaze lingered on my legs for a moment before slowly returning to my face. I could almost feel the weight of his suspicion settle between us. The wolf beneath my skin stirred uneasily, reacting to the tension in the room before I could stop it.

"Yes," he said quietly. "Because things went outside of the plan."

I nodded, knowing what he meant. I was pretty sure Beta Kael had already told him how Alexa had attacked me and how that attack had eventually led to the uncovering of our identities. 

I lowered myself into a seat, trying to appear relaxed despite the uneasiness crawling beneath my skin.

Just as I settled in, Alpha Rodrick rose.

"I will leave you to enjoy your privacy," he said.

His tone was polite, but his eyes told a different story. He looked at me for a brief second, his expression knowing. Then he turned and walked out of the room.

The door closed behind him, leaving the three of us in silence.

Silas looked at me again, and his eyes fell to my leg.

"Since when did you start walking without a cane, Matthias?" he asked.

His gray eyes pierced mine and even though he was relaxed on the chair, I knew there was nothing calm in his mind. He was probing and looking for cracks in the story. One wrong answer was all it would take for him to leap out of his chair and tear me to pieces. 

I pretended to be shocked by his question.

"As soon as I got into Eclipse," I said. "I just felt this strangeness around me. Then one morning, I got out of bed without my cane, and I realized that I was healed."

I let out a small, disbelieving laugh, as though I still couldn't believe it myself.

"It was so sudden."

He nodded slowly, his hand supporting his jaw and his gaze fixed on me. I was determined not to blink or look away.

He seemed skeptical about Alexa too. That bothered me. Not because his suspicion was unreasonable, but because Alexa seemed to be doing a terrible job of acting like the person she was supposed to be.

She barely spoke. She hardly moved. Even her expressions were wrong. I had known enough about Alexa to know that she would never have sat there so quietly under this kind of scrutiny.

My fingers tightened around the edge of the chair. I needed her to do better.

We sat in silence for another two minutes before Silas finally decided it was time to leave.

He rose, and I followed. Together, we left the room and made our way toward the car. I had barely taken a few steps when he suddenly caught my arm and pulled me aside.

I stiffened.

His grip wasn't painful, but there was enough firmness in it to tell me he wanted to speak privately. My wolf immediately became alert, and I had to consciously suppress the instinct to pull away.

"She doesn't act like I know her," he said quietly, watching me. 

Then his eyes shifted toward Alexa, who was waiting a short distance away.

"Is it just me, or is she different?"

I looked at her.

“Well, she did seem quieter now compared to the day she had attacked me. But then again, that could have been explained.”

He was waiting for the explanation.

"I've been told she has some memory loss," I said. "It's probably why she's behaving the way she is."

He studied my face. Then he finally released my arm.

We got into the car, and a chauffeur drove us back to the guest inn.

Nola was waiting when we arrived. She welcomed us, but something about her cold welcome unsettled me. 

She was not openly hostile, but noticeably distant. And for some reason, that coldness seemed directed at me in particular.

I had not seen Kael since the time he broke into my cell, and even now, he was nowhere to be found.

"I'll have lunch served for you all," Nola said.

A few minutes later, she invited us to the table.

We followed her into the dining area, and I immediately noticed the carefully arranged table. Plates had been set out, glasses filled, and the smell of freshly prepared food hung in the air.

But then Nola made a grave mistake.

The baby pram was beside the table, positioned directly next to the chair where Alexa sat.

I noticed it just as Silas did. My gaze lingered on it for barely a second before I forced myself to look away. There was no reason for a baby pram to be there, and Nola knew that.

"What is the pram for?" Silas asked.

Nola froze. The surprise on her face appeared almost too sudden. Her mouth parted, and for a moment, she seemed unable to find an answer.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," she said quickly. She gestured toward one of the helpers. "Please, take that away."

The helper hurried over and wheeled the pram out of the dining area.

She turned back to us and apologized again, but the damage had already been done. The message had been passed.

I was almost certain she had done it deliberately. She wanted Silas to see the pram. She wanted him to know that a baby had been born in the inn, and that she had seen the baby.

And judging by the way Silas's eyes remained fixed on the doorway through which the pram had disappeared, he had understood the message perfectly.

Alexa sat quietly, giving no reaction. I kept my face composed, but beneath the table, my fingers curled tightly against my palm.

After lunch, Silas left the inn with his team and a couple of security members from Eclipse. They were going to search for the baby. I watched them leave from one of the windows, my arms folded tightly across my chest. The moment their vehicles disappeared from view, I turned away.

I found the woman in her room. By then, I was furious. The way she had been acting downstairs had nearly ruined everything. She wasn't even close to behaving like Alexa, and if Silas became too suspicious, we would have a much bigger problem on our hands.

"You don't know how to do a good job," I said, irritation sharp in my voice. I was told she was good but all she had been good at was being sloppy.

She immediately rose to her feet.

"I'm sorry. I will do a better job." She hesitated, then added, "I just need to know what happened to Luna Alexa for me to be able to play her role properly."

I stepped toward her, my irritation returning before she could notice the hesitation.

"You don't need to know shit," I snapped. "You need to just play your role perfectly, or you'll get fired."

She lowered her gaze. I turned away and walked toward the door.

But something tugged at the back of my mind as I left.

Luna Alexa. She had called her Luna Alexa.

I had never told this woman that Alexa was a Luna. I hadn't even told her anything beyond the fact that she was supposed to act as Alexa. So how did she know? Had she simply made an assumption?

But something about the way she had said it bothered me. It hadn't sounded like a guess. It had sounded like she knew.