Alpha alec's redemption (Sadie) novel Chapter 329

Sadie

The next morning rises far too quickly.

I barely sleep. Maybe an hour or two, but I drag myself to the training grounds anyway. If I stay in my room any longer, I’ll drown in my own thoughts. I need movement. I need air. I need something to quiet the ache sitting like a stone in my chest. I need to train.

The field is empty, dew glittering on the grass, the early sun a pale smear in the sky. I stretch my fingers and call the scepter. It appears instantly, no hesitation, no delay, the golden-white light curling around my hand like it’s been waiting.

I swear I’ll never get used to feeling it in my hands. I’ll never get used to having it answer to my calls… but something feels off today.

The moment my fingers curl around the staff, a pulse shoots up my arm, sharp and electric, almost like the scepter is reacting to something I can’t see.

I frown. “Okay… what the hell was that?”

I try again, focusing on summoning fire. It erupts too fast, too big, gushing out of my palm like a damn explosion. I gasp and yank control back before I scorch half the field.

My heart skitters, and panic begins to rise. I’ve been training, but this has never happened. It’s different from when I lose control.

“Nyx?” I whisper instinctively, hoping that she’ll answer and explain, but all I get is silence.

Right. She’s gone… Hibernating, cultivating. A thousand words she used that did nothing to make her absence easier to swallow.

I clench my jaw and try air next. A whip of wind slices across the clearing, snapping branches and rattling leaves… It’s too strong and too unstable in a way I don’t understand.

Why is everything so intense today? Like I said, I’ve lost control a bunch of times, and none of them felt like this. This feels like my powers have been plugged into a power source I didn’t agree to. Like something is pushing through me. Like something is pulling at me… Or It’s reacting to something else.

My chest tightens. Could it be Xena? Is she doing something? Or is this because Nyx is gone?

I’m still trying to figure it out, trying to understand what’s happening when footsteps approach behind me.

I don’t turn. I don’t need to. I know that presence. I know that scent and my stupid heart reacts before my mind catches up.

“Sadie,” Alec calls softly.

I swallow hard, staring straight ahead, not at him. If I look at him, my resolve might crumble.

“I really don’t want to talk to you,” I whisper.

A painful silence follows before he breaks it.

“How, Sadie?” he says quietly, voice rasping like the words hurt him. “How am I supposed to fix this if you won’t even look at me?”

He waits a second longer, probably hoping I’ll say something, but I don’t.

I can hear the pain in his voice, and it’s fucking gutting me… but how can I even let him in when my insecurities are screaming louder?