79

ALINA

knew I wasn’t alone the moment my eyes opened.

I didn’t hear anything, but I knew it. A feeling in the strange stillness in the air that didn’t belong. It crept over my skin and tugged at the edge of my sleep until my eyes snapped open. Panic wrapped around my chest before I could fully process it. I sat up fast, heart pounding, breaths shaky.

“Easy there.” the voice was calm.

Claude.

My eyes darted across the room in the dark. I reached out blindly for the lamp, fingers fumbling a little before I flicked it on. Warm light spilled across the space, revealing him perched at the foot of the bed. His head was tipped back, eyes shut like he hadn’t noticed I was awake.

Relief came like a rush of air into my lungs, but confusion quickly followed. Claude hadn’t been here in… I didn’t know how long. Maybe it was because I stopped noticing. Alexander had consumed most of my time, and Claude had faded into the background like a shadow. It felt strange to see him here now, unannounced and slouched like all the life had drained out of him.

I moved slowly, crawling across the mattress until I was close enough to see him properly. His face was pale under the lamplight, dark circles sitting heavy under his eyes. It hit me hard then I hadn’t asked about him. Not once. Not when he started pulling away. Not when he disappeared.

Guilt twisted in my chest. Had we ever really been friends? Because if we had, I had failed him.

I haven't been asking about Hailey either.

Still, I reached out. My fingers brushed his shoulder gently. He flinched, as if yanked out of some distant thought. I pulled back immediately.

“Are you okay?” I asked, my voice quiet. Unsure.

He turned his face to me, and what I saw broke something in me. Claude didn’t look like himself, his strength stripped away, the usual calm buried beneath exhaustion and something darker.

“Do you want the truth,” he said, voice slurring just slightly, “or the watered down version?”

My pulse jumped. He was drunk.

My body tensed without meaning to. After James… the smell of alcohol on someone’s breath sent alarm bells ringing in my head. But I kept still, tried to push the fear aside. This wasn’t the same. This was Claude.

“You can tell me whatever you want,” I said.

I wanted to touch him again. Comfort him. But I didn’t know if I was allowed. I never did well with words when it came to pain, I always preferred touch. Just a simple hug or a hand on the arm, something to say I’m here. It was what I was never ofered. Not the kind words of gentle touch.

He has always seemed so solid and confident. Seeing him like this, cracked and raw, left me unsteady.

“My mother tried to kill me.”

The words landed like a blow. I froze. My mouth parted slightly, but nothing came out.

How do you respond to something like that?

I instinctively moved a hand to my stomach, but caught myself before I made the motion obvious. He couldn’t know. No one could know, not yet. My fingers curled into fists at my side instead, grounding me.

“I’m so sorry,” I finally whispered.

He laughed. Not the good kind. It sounded hollow, like something was caving in inside him.

“No one’s ever apologised to me.”

I opened my mouth again, but stopped. The air between us was too delicate now, like one wrong move would make him disappear. I reached for his shoulder once more. This time he didn’t flinch. My hand settled there, squeezing gently, and I hoped he felt how much I meant it.

“She told me I was a mistake. Over and over again.” His smile was bitter. “Like I asked to be fucking born.”

My throat tightened. That kind of pain… I couldn’t begin to understand it.

I didn't know my parents but I liked to believe they loved me. I've heard as much.

I had never heard much about him, even before everything went to hell with the pack. He was always The Wolf Slayer's beta. That’s what people called him, never Claude. Never his own person. I assumed he had the same mother as Alexander, but that couldn’t be true now. Alexander’s mother had died long ago.

And Claude’s mother… she tried to end his life.

A mother was supposed to be a sanctuary. The safest place in the world. And his wasn’t even close.

“She brought me into this world, and still hates me for it,” he murmured, almost like he wasn’t talking to me anymore. “She made the choice, not me.”

His eyes glistened. The tears didn’t fall, but they were there.

I glanced at the door, praying Alexander wouldn’t walk in. He’d misunderstand everything. And I wasn’t in the mood for his possessiveness tonight.

“He’s passed out downstairs,” Claude added, almost reading my mind. “With Killian.”

The name sounded familiar, but I couldn’t place it. It didn’t matter.

I let out a slow breath and nodded. My focus was here. 

I wanted to be the kind of person who showed up when it mattered. I hadn’t done that for Lisa or Hailey, wherever she is. And the guilt of that still sat heavy on my chest. I wasn’t going to fail him too.

“Do you want to talk about her?” I asked softly. “I thought… I thought she was gone.”

His mouth twisted into a dry smile. “She should’ve stayed that way.”

The sharpness in his voice didn’t scare me, it just made me sadder.

“When did it happen?” I asked.

He didn’t answer right away. He didn’t have to. I remembered the days he disappeared without warning. The way he came back he seemed, different. Distant. His mind faraway.

I ran a hand through his hair gently, hoping the gesture gave him even a fraction of peace. He closed his eyes for a moment like he might let himself rest there.

“I’m really sorry, Claude,” I said again. “No one deserves that.”

Silence settled between us.  Then he spoke, voice quieter this time. “I’m sure you’ll be a much better mother.”

My heart stopped.

It was such a simple sentence. Such a dangerous one.

My body stilled. Every part of me froze like I’d just been caught doing something I shouldn’t. I tried to act normal, like the word mother hadn’t hit me like a sledgehammer. But when I met his eyes, I knew he knew.

The look he gave me was calm. Not accusing or judgmental. An acknowledgment if anything.

“I won’t tell Alexander,” he said gently.

My throat dried up. I swallowed hard and nodded. Trusting him.

Not that i had much of a choice since he already knew.