A Warrior’s Second Chance novel Chapter 331

FAYE

The shift in the conversation crept up on me slowly, like a change in the air before a storm.

Alexander was taking the conversation somewhere heavier than where we had started.

And I wasn’t ready for that.

I straightened slightly in my seat, cutting in before the moment could stretch any further.

“Come on, you’re being dramatic now.”

The words came out lighter than the tension I felt building in my chest. The entire direction of the conversation was unnecessary.

“Of course I’m sure.”

I held his gaze, steady and certain–even if part of me knew he could read me, no matter how hard I tried to shut him out of my mind.

“We’ll talk more about it later,” I added quickly, before he could dig deeper. “But right now we have something more urgent to focus on.”

Tomorrow.

“Irene is coming,” I reminded him. “And her mate. Helen.”

I wasn’t just saying it… I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little tense about it all.

“They’ll be here tomorrow, and I’d rather we survive that meeting first before we start dissecting everything else.”

For a moment, the room went quiet.

Alexander studied me in that measured way he had–like he was deciding whether to push further or let the matter rest.

Then he gave a small nod.

“Alright.”

Relief slipped quietly through my chest.

Good.

Because if he had pushed again… I wasn’t sure I would have been able to keep deflecting.

I stood, smoothing my hands over the front of my clothes out of habit.

“I should start making arrangements for tomorrow,” I said.

There was a lot to prepare. Irene didn’t exactly arrive quietly anywhere, and if she was bringing her mate with her, then the entire dynamic of the visit changed.

Alexander was still leaning against the desk when I leaned in and wrapped my arms around him.

It was brief, but also warm.

“Try not to overthink things while I’m gone,” I murmured.

Then I pulled away before he could respond.

“I’ll see you later.”

ROMAN

The woods behind the packhouse were quieter than the rest of the territory.

Not silent–never silent–but quieter.

Branches creaked overhead as the wind moved through them, and somewhere far off, a bird called out sharply before settling again. The ground beneath my boots was uneven, scattered with roots and patches d the deeper I walked into the trees, the more the sounds of the packhouse faded stopped near a clearing where the trees spread out slightly, letting thin ribbons of sunlight filter through the leaves above. The air smelled different out here–cooler, wilder, less controlled than the polished halls and corridors of the packhouse.

I leaned back against a tree and crossed my arms.

For a moment, I just stood there.

Breathing.

Thinking.

Which, lately, had become a dangerous thing to do.

Because when my mind had nothing else to focus on, it kept circling back to the same things.

Or the same thing.

For today… the dream.

It had woken me before my alarm that morning, though I hadn’t realized how deeply it had gotten into my

head until hours later. At the immediately after, and had a chance to process it. The alarm had gone off almost head had been that I couldn’t afford to be late for training.

Not when Alpha Alexander was the one waiting.

Except he hadn’t shown up.

Which had been strange in its own way.

But now, standing in the woods with nothing else demanding my attention, the memory of the dream pushed its way back in.

Darkness.

That was the first thing I remembered.

Not ordinary darkness, either. It had felt… thick.

Like something that pressed against you.

Something you had to push through.

I frowned slightly.

Even now, recalling it felt strange. For some reason, I felt dreams usually faded quickly after waking up, like mist dissolving under sunlight. But my dreams didn’t disappear that easily.

Certain pieces of it stuck… just like this one.

The sensation of struggling.

Of being trapped in something heavy.

Mud, maybe.

Or something like it.

I rubbed the back of my neck.

And then there had been her.

Luna Faye.

The image of her standing there flashed through my mind, but I pushed the rest of the memory away before it could unfold completely.

I didn’t want to get lost in it again.

Still, something about it lingered.

Not just the fact that she had appeared in the dream.

But the way it had felt.

Important.

Like it meant something.

Which was ridiculous.

It was probably just a dream.

My life was already confusing enough without trying to decode whatever my brain decided to throw at me while I was asleep.

I pushed away from the tree and started walking again, boots crunching softly over dry twigs and scattered leaves.

The woods stretched deeper around the packhouse than most people realized. I’d only started exploring them recently, usually after training sessions when my muscles were too restless to sit still.

Alexander had casually mentioned before that wolves felt more at ease in places like this.

Closer to the wild.

Closer to instinct.

I didn’t know if that was true.

But something about being out here did make it easier to breathe.

Easier to think.

Or maybe the opposite.

Maybe it was easier not to think.

I kicked lightly at a stone in my path, watching it bounce across the ground before disappearing into a patch of tall grass.

Then…

Something moved.

I didn’t think.

Didn’t process.

I understood that.

Even without fully knowing why.

Faye continued walking slowly, brushing her fingers lightly along the bark of a nearby tree as she passed it.

“I grew up in the Silver Hollow pack,” she said.

Her voice softened just a little as she smiled.

“No matter how long I stay away from home, I’m still that Silver Hollow wolf.”

Something about the way she said the word home made something shift uncomfortably inside of me.

I looked down at the ground.

Home.

Again.

The same word.

The same empty space inside my head where something should have been.

Whenever someone said it, something inside me tightened.

Because I didn’t know what it meant.

Not really.

The Blood Crescent packhouse was the only place I knew.

The only place I remembered waking up in.

But everyone kept telling me it wasn’t my home.

Which meant somewhere out there-

Somewhere beyond these trees-

There was another place… another pack, another life.

Maybe even people–family, friends…

Someone who had known me before I became… this.

I exhaled slowly. I couldn’t help but wonder…

If they existed.

If anyone was actually looking for me.

Or maybe no one was.

Maybe whoever I had been before wasn’t worth looking for.

Maybe that life had been something people were happy to forget.

I shoved my hands into my pockets and stared ahead at the forest.

I swallowed slowly.

“I wish I could remember mine,” I muttered quietly. “Home.”

The words slipped out before I could stop them.

My gaze stayed fixed on the ground as I continued.

“Even just a little.”

A face, a voice, a place…

“Maybe someone out there is looking for me,” I said.

Then, after a pause, I added quietly,

“Or maybe not.”

The forest seemed quieter suddenly.

Faye stopped walking.

I felt her eyes on me.

For a moment, neither of us said anything.