A Warrior’s Second Chance novel Chapter 168

The room was silent except for the soft, sound of Alexander’s breathing. He lay motionless. on the bed, his face calm, almost peaceful. An hour ago, that same face had been pale and lifeless. Now his chest rose and fell, his skin warm again.

Faye sat beside him, hands clasped tightly on her knees. Her palms still tingled faintly. Every few seconds, she would glance at them, half–expecting to see that strange light again.

The healer, Edna, stood at the foot of the bed, her face a mask of disbelief. She had tended to hundreds of wounds in her lifetime… seen death in every shade… but never had she seen it reversed so completely… so fast.

Finally, she exhaled, shaking her head. “I’ve never seen anything like this,” she murmured.

Faye glanced at Edna but said nothing. Her father’s hand rested heavily on her shoulder. Edna turned toward everyone and said, “He’ll live. But he needs peace. All of you… out. He must rest.”

They obeyed without argument. But when Faye started to rise, Edna lifted a hand.

“Not you, child. Stay.”

When the door closed behind the others, the room felt smaller, tighter. The weight of what had happened pressed down on both of them.

Edna came closer, her eyes calm. “Faye, tell me the truth… tell me exactly what happened out there,” she said. Her voice was calm, but there was something behind it… something almost cautious.

Faye swallowed hard. “I… I don’t know,” she whispered. “He was just lying there. I could feel his breath slipping away. I put my hand on his chest to comfort him… I just wanted him to breathe again.”

She hesitated. “Then my hand started to glow. I didn’t even notice until Sage said something from behind us. It was… warm, but not like fire. It was deeper, heavier. Then he started shaking, and…”

She broke off, her voice cracking.

Edna said nothing for a while. She sat slowly on the edge of the bed and took one of Faye’s hands in hers. The woman’s touch was gentle. “Have you experienced it before?”

Faye shook her head. “No.”

“Child,” she said softly, “do you

understand what you did?”

Faye shook her head again. “I… I healed him, didn’t I?”

Edna’s gaze

remained fixed on her for a moment, then glanced at Alexander. “No,” she said quietly. “You didn’t just heal him. It’s more like you brought him back… there’s a difference.”

Faye blinked, her heart skipping a beat. “What?”

“What you did wasn’t regular healing–it was restoration. You called him back from where no wolf should ever return,” Edna said.

Faye stared at her, her mouth parting in disbelief. “That’s not possible…”

Edna gave a soft, humorless laugh. “I would have said the same thing an hour ago. But I’ve lived long enough to know that the goddess sometimes touches her children in ways we can’t understand… and I just witnessed it. What happened tonight frightened me.”

Faye’s throat tightened. “Frightened you?”

The old woman nodded. “Because power like that never comes freely. There’s always a cost.”

Faye’s breath caught. “A cost? But…”

Edna nodded again. “The world doesn’t allow life to return without taking something in exchange. It could be strength, memory… or something far worse. I can’t tell you what it will take, or if it would take anything at all this time, but, Faye…” She reached forward, her voice trembling just slightly. “Don’t ever use that power carelessly. If the goddess has given you the ability to touch death and bring life back, then she has also given you the burden of consequence.”

Realizing how ridiculous that sounded, Irene huffed. “Fine, do you have a better explanation?”

Cole sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “No. But I’ll reach out to some of our contacts in Silver Hollow,” he said. “Maybe they can help remind Alexander and the Luna to charge their phones.”

Irene’s eyes narrowed. “You’re so annoying,” she muttered, almost throwing her phone at him before rolling her eyes and leaving the room.

The moment the door closed, Cole’s casual mask vanished, the smile disappeared. His jaw tightened as he pulled out his phone and scrolled to a number he hadn’t used in months. He dialed quickly. The line rang twice before a gruff voice answered.

“Cole, it’s been a while,” the man said.

“Yeah,” Cole replied curtly. “Sorry to bother you, but I can’t reach Alpha Alexander or Luna Faye. They were in Silver Hollow for the summit… have you heard anything from that end?”

There was a pause on the other side, then the man said, “I wouldn’t know if the summit held or not. Things got… bad here.”

Cole frowned. “What do you mean, bad?”

“You didn’t hear?” The man sounded genuinely surprised. “Silver Hollow was attacked… in broad daylight. Moon Claw wolves… they hit hard. A lot of lives were lost, properties destroyed. Thankfully, they didn’t get to the Pack House. If your Alpha was in the summit hall, he should be safe. I have to go… my child’s in the clinic.”

Before Cole could ask more, the line went dead.

He stood frozen for a moment, the words echoing in his head. Silver Hollow was attacked.

His pulse quickened. How could he have known? It was a clash between two werewolf packs. Something like that would never make it to public news. Those kinds of things stayed buried.

Cole’s hands tightened around the phone. He needed to send men to Silver Hollow immediately… to make sure they were alright.