CHAPTER 5

Charlotte:

I woke to silence. Not the kind laced with tension or cold indifference, but real silence. The peaceful kind. The kind that said that there was no one speaking, no one yelling, no one waiting for you to make a mistake. It was just quietness.

For a second, I forgot where I was.

For a second, I found myself looking around, trying to familiarize myself with the room.

The sheets beneath me were clean, soft. The scent in the room was faintly woodsy, cedar and earth, but not unfamiliar. A far cry from the stale corners of Crescent Moon, or the bitter frost of exile.

My eyes welled up with tears, but I refuse to let it show. I just looked away as I took a deeper breath than necessary, calming myself down.

I sat up slowly, muscles stiff but intact. My body was still sore from walking around for hours. Normally my body would have been stronger, but judging by the weakness that I felt, the pain that I felt, my sister betraying me, my mate's rejecting me, everything just drained me.

Xavier’s pack house was… nothing like I expected. It was organized. Peaceful. Clean. Safe. And no one, literally no one, seemed to be hostile. No one seemed to look down at another. It was as if they were just one big family and they were making sure that everyone saw it.

And that, more than anything, unsettled me.

I got up and walked toward the tall windows, pushing them open. Below, the pack was already moving, training, laughing, working together like a well-oiled machine. The opposite of what Crescent Moon had become in the final months before Lydia’s return. The opposite to everything that I've known. I had tried to make things right, I tried to fix them, but I knew that no matter how hard I did, nothing seemed to work. Somehow everything just seemed to be ruined.

I turned to the neatly folded clothes left on the side table, simple leggings, a fitted top, undergarments, even boots. All in my size. Just like the ground that I got last night, the night count that they left for me when I walked out of the shower.

I didn’t want to feel gratitude. I didn’t want to feel anything. I just wanted to get out of here before I was going to cost myself more than I could afford, and I knew that nothing came for free.

But I couldn’t deny it. It was… kind. Thoughtful. And it confused the hell out of me. It even scared me to the point where I did not even know how to describe it.

After showering and changing, I followed the scent of fresh bread and spices down the hallway. The main floor was warm and open, the walls lined with portraits and weapons. Wolves passed by and nodded respectfully, not sneering, not staring.

No one looked at me like I didn’t belong. No one even spared me a glance. It was as if I belonged here. It was as if my place here has been already settled, much different than everything that I grew to live in.

I was halfway through the corridor when I heard voices, Xavier’s and another, sharp and clear.

“I still think it’s risky,” the second voice said. “What if they end up looking for her?”

“I didn’t ask what you think,” Xavier replied, cool and calm. “She’s not a threat, Alessandro. You already sent your man roaming around. We are already looking out and judging by everything, no one seems to be looking for her. I think that you can see how weak she looked. She's not being looked for, Alessandro.”

So that was his Beta.

I rounded the corner and saw them, Xavier leaning against the stone archway, arms crossed, and the man beside him, tall and lean with sharp cheekbones and a tactical gaze that cut straight through me.

Their conversation halted the moment I entered.

“She’s up,” Alessandro noted. “That’s… earlier than I expected. I would have expected you to get some more rest. I believe that your body might need it.”

I didn’t offer a smile. “Sorry to disappoint.”

Xavier pushed off the wall and nodded toward the long table nearby. “There’s food. Eat something.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“You are my guest, you don't need to be stubborn. You can eat, it's free. Food is for everyone in this house.” He said, looking me in the eye.

I bristled at the quiet authority in his voice. He didn’t yell. He didn’t demand. He just… stated things, like he already knew how they would end.

I met his gaze head-on. “What do you want from me? Why are you doing this?”

“Nothing,” he said without pause. “Sometimes people can do things without asking for anything in return. You appeared in my territory looking beaten and tired. And I can assume rejected as well. I'm not interested in what they did to you, at least not yet. You need rest, food, and a reason to believe you’re not broken. A reason for you to rise stronger.”

I swallowed hard, throat dry.

“You’re not my Alpha,” I said.

“No,” he replied. “But I could be. That's of course if you want me to be.”

I stared at him, startled by the calm confidence in his voice. He didn’t mean it possessively. He wasn’t trying to claim me like Ashton had.

Xavier was… offering.

Behind him, Alessandro rolled his eyes and muttered something under his breath as he walked off.

I didn’t move. I didn’t speak.

Because something in me wanted to ask, why?

Why would a powerful Alpha, a rival of my ex-mate, offer safety to someone like me?

But that was a question I wasn’t ready to ask.

Not yet.

“You do realize who I am, Alpha Xavier?”

“All the more reason to make this offer.” He said, looking me dead in the eye. I did not know how to respond. I just kept my eyes on the ground for a moment as I debated as I thought, and he did not speak, as if waiting for me to be the one to initiate a conversation.

But deep down I knew that I had nothing to respond to, that I had nothing to tell him.

So instead, I moved toward the table, sat down, and picked up a piece of bread.

And Xavier?

He sat across from me. Patient. Silent. Watching like a man who had all the time in the world