SAGE
I remembered the truth he was talking about.
I remembered him turning back at the prison door, jaw tight, eyes burning with determination when he said he would get me out. Then, I remembered him saying he needed to speak to his father, that it wouldn’t take long.
I remembered being left behind in that cell, cold stone biting into my skin, hope thinning with every passing second. Then, I remembered he talked about the chaos that followed my disappearance, at least as it had been described to me later, the pack thrown into uproar, warriors scrambling, voices raised in confusion and anger.
Then I remembered him talking about his guilt, and almost madness at my disappearance.
But that was not the truth I knew.
My voice came out broken, a whisper scraped raw by years of screaming into silence. "Why," I asked him, "would you not say the truth? Just once?"
It didn’t matter that a truth was what I had seen in his eyes... because I just couldn’t accept the implications...
The room shifted, my power faltering just as I was.
And so, easily, Daniel broke free. And when he did, he stepped forward, fury and confusion warring across his face.
"What truth?" he shouted. "What are you even talking about? Who fed you this nonsense?"
I didn’t answer him with words, nor did I have need for interruptions. I just wasn’t in the mood. I didn’t have the patience.
Magic snapped from me like a lash.
Daniel flew across the room and hit the wall with a sickening crack. The sound of ribs breaking echoed, unmistakable. He slid down, wheezing, blood already blooming at the corner of his mouth.
No one moved again. No one dared.
"No one fed me gibberish," I said, still barely louder than a breath. "I saw it. I lived it. I felt the pain of being beaten to death by people I loved."
Adam shook his head violently, as if denial alone could undo what I was saying. "I didn’t do that."
A tendril of magic coiled around his throat instantly, shimmering, tightening just enough to make him gasp.
I stepped closer, my eyes never leaving his. "Deny me again," I said softly, "and I will kill you."
His hands trembled at his sides. He didn’t look like the powerful Alpha anymore.
"What about when I was Dora?" My voice cracked, the memories clawing their way up no matter how hard I tried to bury them.
"You led me into the hall. You said you had to speak to your father. You left me there. And then you came back with your brothers and you beat me until I died...almost."
My gaze flicked to Daniel, still gasping on the floor. "You drove a knife into my chest."
Daniel let out a broken, wheezing laugh. "You’re insane," he rasped. "Are you high on something?"
Magic slammed him back into the wall again, harder this time. He didn’t laugh again. He rather settled on coughing out blood.
Noah stepped forward, panic threading his voice. "Sage, stop. Please. Think."
I sent him flying too.
Then I tightened the magic around Adam’s throat, watching his face blanch, watching his eyes darken as air thinned.
Rage roared through me, hot and uncontrollable. "You ruined me," I said. "All of you."
Adam raised one hand weakly, fingers shaking. "I have something to say," he managed, voice strained.
"Then say it," I snapped. "Before I end you."
His eyes met mine, steady despite the pain. "Go into my mind."
The words hit me harder than any blow.
"You’re my mate," he continued hoarsely. "I can’t hide anything from you. If I’m lying, you’ll see it. If I’m guilty, you’ll know."
I hesitated.
For the third time since I had woken, since I had stepped into this room with revenge blazing in my veins, doubt flickered again.
The mantra came unbidden again: What if he was telling the truth? What if they were innocent?
The thought made my knees weak.
If he was right, then everything I had built my life around for six years—every plan, every spell, every sleepless night fueled by hatred—collapsed into nothing.
It would mean I had been used. Manipulated. That my pain had been redirected by someone else while the real enemy watched and laughed.
I didn’t want that truth.
But I wanted a lie even less.
My steps were unsteady as I moved closer. Slowly, I placed my hand against his forehead. Magic stirred between us, old and intimate, threads tightening as the bond opened.
And then I fell into him.
Memories flooded me, raw and unguarded. The caves. His shock the first time he took me. Desire, yes, but also awe. Fear of hurting me. Fear of losing me.
I felt his emotions as if they were my own, his love undeniable, burning through every moment we shared.
He had loved me.
He still loved me.
I skipped forward, heart pounding, to the night it all fell apart.
I saw him arguing with his father, voices raised, his desperation palpable as the older man struck him and called me nothing. Wolfless. Disposable.
Adam hadn’t backed down. He had stood there, bleeding pride and fury, until his father relented enough to promise safety for me.
Then the alarm. My disappearance.
I felt his panic as if it were my own, his mind spiraling as he rallied warriors, tearing through the pack, convinced something terrible had happened. He had planned to leave with me. To take me somewhere safe.
He had never come back to that cell because I was already gone.
I tore myself from that memory and plunged forward again, to the time I was Dora. To the hall. To the moment of betrayal I had replayed a thousand times.
And there it was.
He left.
He never returned.
Not with his brothers. Not with knives. Not with fists.
What? How?
I was ripped violently out of his mind while I contemplated.
The room spun. I staggered back, choking on a sob as blood streamed down my cheeks.
Gasps filled the room as my tears hit the floor, dark and red. My magic unraveled in an instant, the pressure in the room instantly lifting.
I collapsed.
Hands caught me before I hit the ground. Adam was there, cradling my face, wiping away blood without hesitation, without revulsion. His touch was grounding, devastating.
"I’m here," he said, voice breaking. "I’ve always been here."
I didn’t fight him. I couldn’t.
The truth had shattered me more thoroughly than any lie ever could.