A Warrior’s Second Chance novel Chapter 204

FAYE

Alexander waited–he just sat there in the room, eyes fixed on me like he was waiting for… something. A reaction, a question, an argument…anything.

But I didn’t give him any. I stayed seated on the chair where I’d been the entire time, my palms resting on my thighs, my mind still trying to catch up to everything that had just happened. The echo of the council’s shock still lingered in the air even after they’d gone.

The Ring of Fire… A fight to the death.

I should have reacted. I usually did…I always did.

But right now… my thoughts were moving too fast and too slow at the same time.

After a long moment, Alexander exhaled softly and rubbed the back of his neck.

“Faye,” he said gently, “please say something.”

His voice held something I wasn’t used to hearing from him: uncertainty.

He was used to me responding instantly, usually with fire. He expected pushback or questions–never silence.

I finally lifted my gaze to him. He looked.. tense. Not in the cold, controlled way he addressed the council, but in a way that suprised me a little.

“I don’t really know where to start,” I admitted.

His brow pulled together slightly, and I could tell that wasn’t the answer he expected.

I took a breath. “When did you make that decision?”

His throat bobbed, and for a moment, he hesitated. Just a moment, but I noticed it.

“It wasn’t something I’d been planning,” he said. “It came to me only a few hours ago.”

He shrugged a little.

“When I was at the clinic… when I saw Cole lying there on that bed… after being stabbed in my office…” He clenched his jaw. “A stab meant for me. A warning meant for me. Delivered by one of my own wolves because Marcus has already begun turning my pack against me.”

The anger in his voice wasn’t loud, but it was sharp enough.

“He won’t stop, Faye. Not until I’m out of the way. Not until he gets what he wants. And if he wants to push this far, then I’m done waiting for the next ambush. One of us is going to die in the shadows unless I end this in the open.”

He met my eyes squarely.

“If I call myself Alpha of Blood Crescent, then I need to be willing to stand and prove it.”

I inhaled slowly, letting his words settle

He should have told me earlier. He should have told me before the council meeting. Before he declared something that could mean his death. Before he dragged our entire future into a circle built on fire and blood.

The thought tightened in my chest, sharp and painful.

But then I remembered this morning–how he’d tried to talk to me. How I’d shut him down and insisted he rest. How he’d looked like he was carrying something but I had waved it off.

That was probably what he wanted to tell me.

I looked away briefly, my breath leaving in a long, quiet exhale.

“As terrifying and insane as this whole thing is…” I said quietly, “I understand why you chose it.”

His shoulders eased just slightly.

“I’m not going to discourage you from fighting for your birthright, Alexander.

Or for the position you earned through sweat and blood long before he showed up.” I swallowed. “This fight… it’s honor. It’s justice. And honestly? I wouldn’t have handled it any other way.”

His breath hitched just faintly–so faint barely caught it.

But I saw the relief in his eyes… And the pride, and the fear he would never admit to.

I reached out, placing my hand over his

“You have my support.”

He shook his head, almost laughing. “You’re full of surprises.”

I decided to check on Cole after the meeting. As I got to the clinic, I pushed the door gently, stepping inside. Cole lay on the bed, half propped up, staring out the window.

“Cole,” I said softly.

His head lifted immediately. “Luna.” His voice was steady, but his eyes… they looked tired. And Cole never looked tired.

He tried to sit up straighter, out of respect. I raised a hand automatically. “No, don’t. Please. Stay how you are.”

Only then did he relax back into the pillows.

I moved closer, stopping beside his bed. “How are you feeling?”

He huffed a breath. “I’ve had better days.”

I tried to smile, but my chest tightened. He wasn’t healing fast enough. At least, not the way a wolf should after hours. With the treatment, he should be up and pacing the floor by now.

“May I?” I asked quietly, nodding toward the bandaged wound.

“Of course,” he said immediately. “You don’t need to ask me.

Up close, the wrongness was even worse. His skin was pale, the bandages across his abdomen already stained again. That wasn’t normal.

“Cole…” I whispered, not knowing how to finish the sentence. “This should be closed,” I whispered before I could stop myself. “You should be fine by now.

Why is it taking this long?”

His eyes softened. “Don’t worry about me, Luna. I’ll be fine.”

But he wouldn’t be. Not like this, not at this rate.

I didn’t even realize I had leaned in closer until my hand reached out on its own. I wasn’t thinking. I wasn’t doing anything consciously. My body just… moved. My instincts tugged me forward like I was meant to be exactly here, in this spot, beside this bed.

Cole’s gaze flicked down to my hand as it hovered uncertainly over his abdomen.

“Luna?” he said again, quieter this time.

He didn’t stop me.

Maybe he trusted me. Maybe he didn’t have the strength to protest. Maybe he sensed the same energy I felt.

I lowered my hand.

The moment my fingers brushed the bandages, a warmth surged up my arm -a soft, steady heat that didn’t feel like mine. It wasn’t sharp or overwhelming. It didn’t blaze or crackle or spark.

It felt like stepping into sunlight.

Cole sucked in a breath.

I froze.

The warmth wasn’t coming from him, it was coming from me.

It flowed out gently, almost like water, spreading from my fingertips into the wound beneath the bandage. I couldn’t see what was happening, but I could feel it–cells knitting themselves, muscle rejoining, blood flow stabilizing, the pain fading out of his body.

Cole let out a shaky exhale, his body relaxing against the bed. His hand twitched, fingers gripping the sheets.

“Faye…” he whispered. His voice trembled. “What… what are you doing?”

“I don’t know,” I whispered back.

And it was true. I wasn’t doing anything I wasn’t pushing. I wasn’t focusing. I wasn’t summoning anything.

It was like the energy had a mind of its own.

Slowly, the warmth faded, returning to silence inside me as if it had simply done the job it came for and gone back to sleep.

I pulled my hand away.

Cole immediately lifted his head to look down at the bandages. He froze for a moment from shock, disbelief, fear, relief, all tangled together.

“It stopped hurting,” he said breathlessly. “It…the pain is gone.”

I stepped back, breathing slowly, giving him space–he sat up straighter, fingers brushing lightly over his once–injured side.

“Wow!” he whispered, voice thick with awe. “You…you really do have the gift … You healed me.”

I just stared at him. It still didn’t make sense to me. I couldn’t feel my wolf anymore. According to Helen, the pregnancy created that quiet, that strange emptiness where Nova’s presence used to be.

And yet… these gifts, this thing inside me I didn’t understand or control, still responded as if nothing had changed.

How could I be cut off from my wolf, but not from this? How could a power l never asked for keep working when the part of me that should have fueled it was completely silent?