A Warrior’s Second Chance novel Chapter 288

FAYE

Alexander smiled faintly, then turned to shrug out of his jacket. I watched him move around the room–controlled, composed, as if the night hadn’t shaken the entire pack awake. It was always like that with him.

One minute he was everywhere with his emotions, and the next, he was totally calm.

I lay back against the pillows, but sleep didn’t come. My body might have been exhausted, but my mind refused to follow.

The young man’s face kept surfacing in my thoughts–pale beneath the grime, lashes dark against

bruised skin, chest rising just barely enough to reassure us he was still alive.

I turned onto my side, staring at the wall. The silence in the room felt too loud, each tick of time stretching thin. Somewhere down the hall, the pack house creaked and settled–the sounds of others moving, whispering, keeping vigil in their own ways.

My thoughts spiraled.

What if he was running from something?

The weight of it pressed against my ribs, making it hard to breathe.

The mattress dipped behind me, and then Alexander was there–close, solid, his arm sliding around my waist and drawing me back against him. His chest was warm at my back, his heartbeat steady and unhurried.

“Stop thinking so loudly,” he murmured.

I stiffened slightly. “Was I?”

He smirked but said nothing. Then I remembered…

Of course, he could hear my wolf.

“I can’t help it,” I whispered. “Every time I close my eyes, I see him. Lying there. Alone. I keep wondering how long he was out there before the patrol found him. What if they’d been late?”

Alexander’s hold tightened just a fraction. “They weren’t.”

“I know. But still.”

He shifted, one hand coming up to rest over my arm, his thumb tracing slow circles against my skin. “You have a habit of borrowing trouble from futures that haven’t happened yet.” He was right.

I let myself sink back into Alexander, the tension in my shoulders easing despite my best efforts tohold onto it

“Do you think we did the right thing?” I asked after a moment.

“Yes.”

The certainty in his voice made me tilt my head slightly, looking back at him. “No hesitation?”

“There was hesitation… you know that,” he corrected. “But there was also a line I won’t cross.”

“I hope he wakes up,” I said softly. “I hope he tells us something that makes all of this make sense

“So do l.”

We lay there like that, the night stretching on around us.

Sleep crept up on me slowly this time.

A smile tugged at his lips, amused. “I don’t mind.”

He studied my face more carefully then, the humor fading just enough to make room for concern. Everything okay?”

I stared at him and felt a dry, sarcastic laugh bubble up before I could stop it. “You mean apart from the fact that we rescued a total stranger last night who was unconscious, bleeding, and dumped at our border like discarded cargo?”

Cole chuckled softly. “Fair point.”

My arms folded across my chest on instinct, fingers gripping the fabric of my shirt. “Where is he?” “He’s at the clinic,” Cole said. “Dr. Adams called earlier.”

My breath caught. “What happened?”

“The stranger regained consciousness,” he explained. “Not fully. According to the doctor, he’s awake but not responsive. He’s not speaking yet, and they’re not even sure he’s fully aware of himself. But Alexander didn’t want to hear it secondhand. He went to see for himself.”

Of course he did.

I closed my eyes briefly, exhaling through my nose as my mind raced ahead of me, already picturing the clinic.

“Are you planning on going too?” he asked.

The clinic wasn’t the place for impulsive appearances. Walking in wearing nothing but Alexander’s shirt and bedroom footwear would be ridiculous.

“I’ll wait,” I said finally, though every instinct in me protested.

“I’m going to freshen up,” I added. “Before curiosity kills me, or Alexander decides to come back and find me interrogating half the pack house in his shirt.”