A Warrior's Second Chance (Faye and Alexander) novel Chapter 567

Chapter 557

THIRD POV

Alice was halfway through folding a pile of freshly washed clothes when a knock sounded at her door

She frowned.

It was already late, and she wasn’t expecting anyone.

Setting the clothes aside, she walked over and pulled the door open.

The moment she saw Alpha Jason standing outside, her expression changed.

Not to surprise.

To hesitation.

For a brief moment, she seriously considered pretending she had somewhere else to be.

Instead, she sighed quietly and stepped aside.

“Come in, Alpha,” she said politely, though there wasn’t much warmth in her voice.

Jason walked inside, and she quietly closed the door behind him. The atmosphere between them felt noticeably different from what it used to be.

There had been a time when she would have smiled the moment she saw him. Tonight, she simply stood there, waiting to hear why he had come.

Jason noticed it immediately.

“I know you’re still upset with me,” he said after a brief silence. “I don’t blame you. But I didn’t come here to argue. I just… needed someone to talk to tonight. So please don’t turn me away.”

Alice stared at him for a moment before rolling her eyes dramatically.

“Oh? You needed someone to talk to?” she asked with a faint, sarcastic smile. “Then why didn’t you go your precious mate? Isn’t that what mates are for?”

Jason didn’t even need to think about his answer.

“If I wanted that option,” he replied evenly, “I wouldn’t be standing here.

The answer pleased Alice far more than she wanted to admit

She quickly hid it behind another shrug before carelessly gesturing toward one of the chairs.

“Well, you’re already here,” she said. “You might as well sit down. So… what exactly is so important that the Alpha of Silver Hollow suddenly remembered I exist?”

Jason lowered himself into the chair with a tired sigh. He leaned forward, resting both elbows on hi knees while running a frustrated hand through his hair.

For several seconds, he simply stared at the floor

When he finally spoke, his voice carried the exhaustion he had been trying to suppress all day.

“I’m tired, Alice.”

She frowned slightly.

Jason shook his head before she could misunderstand.

“I don’t mean physically. I’m tired of constantly having to defend myself. It feels like every single time I walk into that council chamber, I’m expected to justify every decision I make. No matter what I do, it n seems to be enough.”

Alice listened quietly without interrupting.

“They’re always watching me,” Jason continued bitterly. “They’re always waiting for something to go wr so they can compare me to my father. It’s always the same thing. They never say it directly every time, I it’s there. Every conversation somehow turns into how my father would’ve handled things better or how things never would’ve reached this point under his leadership.”

He let out a humorless laugh.

“As if I’m not trying. As if I wake up every morning looking for ways to destroy this pack.”

He leaned back in the chair and rubbed both hands over his face.

“I spend every day dealing with one problem after another. I barely get any rest anymore because there’s always something demanding my attention. Yet somehow, none of that matters to them.”

Alice continued watching him in silence.

Jason looked up at her.

“Today was no different. Vincent started questioning my leadership again. Then Simon joined him. Before I knew it, I was standing there listing everything I’d done these past few days just to prove that I wasn’t sitting around doing nothing.”

He shook his head in frustration.

“The more I talked, the more I felt like I was deferiding myself in front of people who had already decided! wasn’t good enough to be Alpha.”

Alice remained quiet for another moment before speaking.

“You know…” she began thoughtfully. “I’m not surprised at all. I was wondering when you’d finally realise it”

Jason looked at her.

“I think that this is exactly what your council is hoping for. They want to see you looking like this.”

Jason frowned.

Alice leaned back comfortably in her chair before continuing.

Chapter 552

“Every single time you feel overwhelmed, you react emotionally. You start explaining yourself. You start defending yourself. You start trying to convince everyone that you’re actually working.”

She gave him a long took, “And don’t you see what that tells them?”

Jason said nothing.

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