Chapter 120

Chapter 120

Amelia's POV

I knew without a doubt that everything was not at its end. Even as I waited patiently in my room, I had no better intention than to figure out all these things and all these secrets. But the biggest problem was that nobody would tell me, and somehow I didn't want to get that information by force.

I needed to ask Miriam, though she wasn't to be trusted anyway and she was sure to manipulate some of the details. My brother, the alpha himself—I would ask him about it and he would tell me. I decided, making up my mind, that that was the best course of action I could possibly come up with.

And so after making up my mind, I did the most sensible thing for me to do as a result of my decision. I went straight to his room to wait for him. Goodness knew where he was, but the door wasn't locked, not from me, and after a couple of manipulation techniques, I got it wide open. The world sucked in. Smiling to myself at my trickery, somehow I took a nap and woke up, and he was still not here.

I wasn't sure how long I would keep going with this suspicion weighing upon me constantly like a weight, but I was determined that he was not going to get away with any of this so easily. And I was going to get the full reward for my efforts sooner or later.

The door banged open as he stepped in roughly, looking more like an alpha than I thought he should look like. I was talking to know him as Ethereum, Myram, and only the alpha, specifically for me. But right now, he looked like a rogue who was on his own. It looked like he had just come back from the war or something. It was not the kind of war I enjoyed fighting, which we had started to get used to on the same bed. It was a different time, one that was kept secret from me despite my greatest desire being to be let in on it.

"How are you doing?" I asked him.

He turned around sharply to look at me with a frown on his face. Clearly, he didn't expect me to be here. This was a surprise to him, but it didn't mean that I was changing anything. I was here already, and he was going to answer my questions. That was a simple solution to the entire matter because if he didn't give me possession of cards right now, there might be no game to play anyway.

"What are you doing here?" he asked finally, eyeing me apprehensively as he stepped back in the room.

"What am I doing?" I repeated to myself with a frown on my face that he would be asking such a question at such a time. He made it sound like I had no right to be here when, personally, I felt like his room should be my second home, if anything.

"Are you trying to hide from me?" I asked him outright, not able to keep it in any longer.

He looked very surprised now, as he frowned. "What are you talking about?" he questioned.

"Just answer," I said. He opened his mouth, but I raised a finger. "And answer honestly," I added, staring straight into his eyes. If he lied, I would know. I didn't know how, but I felt it in my bones. He couldn't hide such a thing from me. Sure, he could probably hide the truth from me, but I would know that he was lying if he lied, and I was banking on that little ability of mine that seemed to have developed all of a sudden just for his sake.

"You think I'll lie to you?" he asked me, but I wasn't up for that game, not now.

"Tell me the truth. The truth given," I said. "If there's anything you're hiding from me."

He stepped forward towards me, cupping my face with his hands in such a way that I felt like a little girl. I didn't stop him. Instead, I watched him apprehensively for his response, wishing he would stop keeping me in suspense.

"You're asking for the truth?" he asked me. "So let me look into your eyes. Are you sure you can handle it?" he continued.

I frowned at him. He might as well be giving me an answer already with these sorts of questions. However, it was my perfect opportunity to be let in on what I had been oblivious to for so long, so I didn't hesitate.

"Yes, I can handle it," I said.

It took a moment before he sighed. "There are a lot of things I'm hiding from you. But you shouldn't want to know them. You shouldn't try to learn. It's only to protect you that I'm hiding them from you."

"I'm getting the information that's going to bring you out of that protection," he stated.

I stared at him in disbelief. At least he was admitting that he was hiding something from me. This was sort of progress, I suppose. Also, his stupid excuse was about the most ridiculous thing I had ever heard.

I shook my head. "No, tell me. I want to know. It's my choice, and I'm making that choice right now."

He shook his head. "Unfortunately, that choice is one I'm going to make for you," he said, his expression solemn. "Forgive me, but I will return you. It's for your own good. You have to trust me."

I shook my head at him. If he knew what I knew, would he still be asking me to trust him without giving me a valid reason? I could hardly believe my eyes as he started ushering me out of the room with those little words that sounded very insincere.

I was not satisfied, not at all, but I wasn't being given a choice. My only option was to leave at the moment because it was what he wanted, and personally, that left me very, very frustrated and annoyed at him. This wasn't how he should treat someone that he loved, but apparently, he already had a good idea of what he wanted, and nothing was going to change his mind about it at all.

I expected him to push me out. I expected me to vanish into thin air, but instead, to my surprise, he lingered. He just sort of stayed walking beside me, and I realized that he was taking me to my room. I stopped, turning around to look at him, because I couldn't bear this any longer.

"You have to tell me. Whatever you are hiding is the only way I can trust you. And I'm sure you want me to trust you," I said to him.

"Please, Amelia, it's to protect you," he continued.

I felt a shadow passing and frowned to see someone in the passageway stopping what he was doing. I recognized him as Riker himself, finally someone that had some more value for me and respected me enough to let me in on such big secrets and also trust me to not break down because of them. I looked at the Alpha, wishing I could run into Riker's arms for protection but knowing that it would actually break the fragile unity between the two of them.

"What am I missing? What is going on? I'm confused. You have to enlighten me," I told him, frowning, but he was shaking his head.

"Listen, you have to enter into your room now and forget about all this," he said.

Flashbacks of things that had happened between us, of how he had been pushing me away and drawing me to himself also at the beginning of our relationship, came back to me as I stared at this man that I had hated previously and had come to love. He had given me so much, but now the very thing I was asking for, he was not willing to give me. I didn't even know what to make of that at all.

"What is Alpha Jerome's connection to you?" I even asked him suddenly, and he froze.

I frowned. The question had come out suddenly from my mouth, probably from my own intrinsic understanding of the clues laid out before me. But with his silence, could there actually be a connection at all?

"Tell me," I said.

"Amelia, please stop," he said, but his voice was cold this time around.

"Tell me," I asked once again, my tone pleading.

"Please, Amelia," he said.

"Tell me," I said, taking one step closer.

"Stop!" he shouted, his voice raised.

I shook my head at him in disbelief. Alright then, he was drawing the line. He was deciding how he wanted things to be, and I didn't see why I should quarrel with him about it. I turned around, making up my mind that I would leave him alone and figure it out all by myself, and then he'd be sorry.

Just as I put my hand on the door handle, about to enter the room, a clear voice, loud and distinct, sounded across the night, bringing the most shocking words I had ever heard to my ears.

"Alpha Jerome is Therian's banished uncle," someone said.

I turned to look at Riker, who was not stopping yet.

"He's also the one responsible for framing your family and, in person, the disaster that happened."