THE ALPHA'S FORSAKEN SECRET

son'

likewise too. The twins were asleep and ignorant of the storm building outside these walls in their room with Ava. Still, I wasn't sleepy.

ore than I had let on. He is aware of t

years that I was maintaining pack order and safeguarding them. The fundamental basis was falling apart right n

ur children. I too ought to have been with them. But the guilt got more every time I visited Ava and every time I observed tho

ing went through my hands, I had to keep moving, acting, doing something. And stil

hanging over her shoulders. Her eyes locked with mine, and for a moment we neither spoke. The quiet stretched thick

shattering the quie

thing, the words would not flow. What I could say to straighten thi

son," Ava remarked, he

r; the strain in my muscles

here to fight. But this kind of circling each other is

s not that straightforward, though. You separated the twins fr

ffering-but she stayed firm. I had to keep them safe.

nched. "You

ove a whisper: "I didn't trust any

g away from. I had turned her away. I had pushed her away since, for the pack, for me, I felt it

g." "What I found in front of me did not match.

een us stayed. Jackson, we cannot turn back the

n the future hangs precariously, we afford to bury ourselves in

want to protect them." But I h

exactly in front of me. You really have to believe me

lthough I had been treating her like a threat-that of someone who had betrayed me-the truth was

lackthorn's danger hovering over us. Not with a traitor

threatened to overwhelm me. Blackthorns are aware of the t

determine the traitor among us. Should we not,

k has been kept under great alert. Although everyone has been scree

brow. "Perhaps they are not hiding. Perhaps

ough that made logic, it also meant we were running out of time.

voice firm. "He has also been researching e

long enough to sa

ta, my closest friend. But lately, there had been cracks-tiny, hardly perceptible at

But I can't discount the likel

. "Then, Jackson, exercise caution.

ew exactly what I needed. We would lose ever

, the door knocked. Riley wa

he replied, "We

lerance was runni

ome men from Blackthorn close to the northern boundary. They

n surge of adrenaline coursed

maybe more". The worst o

then turned back to Riley. "

y currently have someone with

member of our flock. The disloyalty. Right n

wondered, my voi

clear view. Whichever it is, though, they are gui

xuding tension. "We have to stop them," she replied, her vo

it. The occasion we had been waiting for. At last the tr

er. One misplaced action

head to the northern border." "We'll grab w

at was in his eyes. Was it uncertainty? Dela

devoid of space for debat

pped myself with her glance. S

y jaw stiff. But you r

e wouldn't stay on the sidelines. Not

on was high in the heavens, giving the trees a terrible radia

That we would uncover the traitor, h

this was the starting point. Sti

o meet Blackthorn's scouts and find the trai