Mated to Her Alpha Instructor (Eileen and Regis) novel Chapter 226

Chapter 226

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Eileen glanced at the sketch, her face darkening. “Regis said the artist worked from their descriptions. They wanted it distributed as

widely as possible since most of us don’t move in Elder circles and wouldn’t recognize him on sight.” Her voice dropped. “He could be

anywhere by now.”

“He could,” I agreed quietly, my hands still trembling slightly as I gathered the last of the fallen fabric.

She studied me for a moment, and I could see her healer’s instincts kick in–that careful assessment of someone who wasn’t quite telling

the whole story. “Nina… do you…” She hesitated. “Does he seem familiar to you somehow?”

My breath caught. Had I been that obvious?

“I don’t know,” I said, and it was the truth. “Maybe. It’s hard to say.”

She studied me for a moment. But she didn’t push. That was one of the things I appreciated about Eileen. She understood the value of silence, of letting people carry their burdens until they were ready to set them down.

“If you need anything,” she said softly, “or if you want to talk…”

“I know.” I managed something approximating a smile. “Thank you.”

She squeezed my shoulder gently before moving past me down the corridor, probably heading to check on her latest patient. I watched her go, feeling an unexpected surge of… something. Gratitude, maybe. Or the faint warmth of what friendship might feel like if I let myself

believe in it.

Once I was alone again, I made myself look at the poster one more time.

Was it you?

The face stared back at me, offering no answers.

Maybe it didn’t matter. Whether Cornellus was one of the men who’d hurt my mother–who’d tried to weaponize her gift, who’d driven het to the desperate act that created me–or just another powerful man who saw people like us as tools to be used… either way, he was

dangerous.

And he was out there somewhere now, free and angry and plotting Moon–know–what.

I thought of Eileen, carrying a child who would be born into a world where men like Cornellus still held power. I thought of the medical station, full of vulnerable people recovering from wounds. I thought of Silas, who’d disappeared so conveniently just before his master escaped custody.

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Chapter 226

My hands clenched into fists at my sides.

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For years, I’d made myself small. Invisible. I’d buried my wolf, denied my heritage, tried to become so unremarkable that no one would

look at me twice.

But standing here, staring at that face that might or might not haunt my earliest memories, I felt something shift inside me.

Enough.

I couldn’t keep hiding. Not if people I cared about–and Moon help me, I did care about Eileen, about Mira, even about this rough

collection of healers and warriors–were in danger.

Thea stirred again, more strongly this time. Not demanding. Just… present. Waiting.

I closed my eyes briefly, acknowledging her for perhaps the second time in my adult life.

If I need you, I thought, will you come?

The answer was immediate–a surge of fierce protectiveness that made my breath catch. She’d always been there, I realized. Waiting.

Patient. Ready to defend what was ours.

Yes, she seemed to say. Always.

When I opened my eyes again, the corridor was still empty. The poster still hung on the wall, Cornelius’s cold gaze fixed on some distant

point.

But something had changed.

I bent to pick up the last of the fallen linens, my movements steady now. Whatever memories lurked in the shadows of my past, whatever connection might exist between that old monster and the child I’d been… I would face it.

Not alone this time. And not defenseless.

For the first time in decades, Nina Grey stood straight–backed in an empty hallway and let her wolf exist alongside her without shame or

fear.

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Mated to Her Alpha Instructor