A Warrior's Second Chance (Faye and Alexander) novel Chapter 420

< Chapter 420

Chapter 420

ROMAN

My voice came out steadier than I felt.

Because I didn’t want to sound scared.

Ethan didn’t answer right away.

He looked ahead instead, like he was confirming something only he could see. Then he nodded once, as if satisfied.

“We’re here,” he said.

I frowned.

Here.

That didn’t mean anything on its own.

I shifted my stance slightly, scanning the area more carefully now.

The trees were denser here, the ground uneven in a way that suggested less frequent movement. No clear markings. No obvious paths leading deeper in any particular direction.

It didn’t feel special.

Which made it worse.

My eyes narrowed slightly as I looked back at him.

“What is ‘here‘ supposed to mean?” I asked.

Ethan finally turned fully toward me, his expression less casual than before. Not serious in a heavy way… but different. Focused in a way I hadn’t seen earlier.

He exhaled once, short.

“This is where the patrol team found you that night,” he said.

I didn’t respond right away.

My eyes stayed on the ground, as if it might suddenly offer something more than it already

had.

This place.

It didn’t look like anything sp

No obvious markers. No sign carved into the trees, warning whyund the ste

And yet Ethan’s words sat heavy in my heard

This is where the patrol team found you that night

I still didn’t have a full picture of that right

Not really

Only fragments

Broken pieces that didn’t connect cleanly, no matter how many times I tried to force themes together

Movement in the dark

Voices I couldn’t place.

Footsteps closing in faster than mine.

My gaze drifted slowly around the area again, slower this time, more

It didn’t feel like anything was here.

But I knew better than to trust that feeling

Because the mind filled gaps when it didn’t have answers, and not all of those answers

right

I took a slow step forward, then another, moving without fully thinking about it

Like my body was trying to measure something my memory couldn’t

“How do you know that?” I asked finally

My voice came out lower than before

i turned slightly to look at him

He wasn’t watching the forest anymore.

He was watching me.

That alone made my attention sharpen

Chapter 420

Claim

Then he exhaled, rubbing the back of his neck once, like he wasn’t fully sure how to explain it.

“I was out here with the team that night,” he said.

I frowned slightly.

“With the patrol?”

He nodded.

“My first day,” he added. “I was supposed to shadow them. Learn the routes, how they move, how they track.”

A pause.

His eyes flicked briefly toward the trees behind me, like he could still see that night layered over this one.

“But…” he continued, his voice dropping a little, “that was also my last day out here.”

I looked at him more directly now.

“Why?” I asked.

He let out a short breath that didn’t quite turn into a laugh.

“Because I didn’t have the courage to go back after that,” he said simply.

I stayed there a moment longer, letting the weight of the place settle properly in my chest.

Ethan’s words had already explained the facts. This was the point where the patrol team found me. No mystery in that.

No hidden layer I didn’t already know. I had heard it before, more than once, usually in passing conversations that ended quickly once people realised I wasn’t going to ask follow–up questions.

But standing here made it different.

It wasn’t just information anymore.

It was… location. Reality.

My eyes moved slowly across the uneven ground, tracing nothing in particular. There was no marker, no sign, nothing that should have made this place important.

And yet it was. Because whatever I was before Blood Crescent, whatever version of me existed before I opened my eyes here, had crossed into this territory from somewhere beyond

M

this exact point

It made everything feel strangely direct.

Like there should be a path visible in the air if I looked hard enough. One side leading backward into a life I couldn’t access, the other forward into the one I was still trying to understand

Neither of them felt fully like mine.

I shifted slightly, my hands loose but not entirely relaxed, my attention drifting inward again. Not to fear. Not to confusion. Something quieter than that. A kind of pressure I couldn’t easily name.

Belonging, maybe.

Or the lack of it.

I had always known I was an outsider here. That part wasn’t new. It was in the way people looked at me before they decided how to treat me. In the pauses before conversations continued. In the way trust had to be earned twice over.

But standing here made that distance feel physical.

Like I could measure it in steps.

Ethan stood a few feet away, giving me space without making a point of it. That, more than anything, kept me from spiralling too far into my own head.

He wasn’t pushing. Not pressing. Just waiting, like he expected me to process whatever I needed to process on my own time.

It almost made me wonder what exactly he thought I was feeling.

Or if he thought anything at all.

After a while, I let out a slow breath and straightened slightly.

This was still just a place. A starting point. Nothing more than that.

But my mind didn’t fully let go of it.

Because something about beginnings had a way of making everything that came after feel

heavier

Ethan’s voice broke through the quiet again, more grounded this time.

“We should probably head back to the pack house.”

I glanced at him.

For a second, I didn’t respond, because the idea of turning away from this spot felt oddly final.

Then I gave a small nod.

“Yeah,” I said. “Let’s go.”

I realised the restlessness had reduced.

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