All Chapters of REBORN TO BREAK YOU: Chapter 51 - Chapter 59

CaiusIt wasn't a choice I wanted to make. Not even close.Dax stood in my office, quiet like always. He didn't wave his hands or talk loud. He just put the paper on my desk."Alpha," he started, his voice flat. "I have something to report about Senna."My stomach tightened, but my face didn't move. I gave him a small nod. He knew what that meant. Speak."I never stopped trying to track her movements," he said. "Routine checks. Standard."I knew what standard meant for Dax. He checked everything, everyone. He was my eyes. He’d been with me since I took over the Ironblood Pack, six years ago. Dax was the first one to fall in line, seeing what I was. He saw the strength, the certainty. So when Dax brought me something, it wasn’t gossip. It was fact, hard and cold."I found eleven inconsistencies," he continued. He didn't look at me, but at the wall behind my head. "Individually, each one has an explanation. They can be explained away. Together, they form a picture I can't account for."

Senna"You really need to go all that way for roots?" Rhea asks me. She is standing in the doorway of the herb room. She looks worried. Her hands are on her hips. "We have roots here, Senna. Plenty of them. You’re just looking for an excuse to breathe some air that doesn't smell like Ironblood sweat.""The marsh root only grows by the eastern water," I say. I don’t look at her because I am not a good liar. I am busy wrapping a glass jar in a thick cloth. "It helps with the fevers. You know how the children get when the season changes. I need to be ready."Rhea sighs. "I don’t like it. The roads are not safe anymore... for a girl alone.""I have a horse and I have a knife," I tell her. I finally look at her and try to smile. "And I have a very boring face. No one will bother me.""Your face is not boring," Lyra says. She is sitting on a stool in the corner. "Can I help you pack the bag? If I help, can you bring me back a ribbon? A blue one?"I walk over to her and pat her head. "I will

SennaElder Orin has eyes that do not work, but he sees things better than I do. Every Thursday, I go to his room and rub oil into his hands because his bones hurt. It is a thing we do now. It is a job, but it is also a secret. He sits in his big chair and I sit on a stool and the room smells like dead leaves and the medicine I make."Does it hurt today?" I asked him. I took his right hand. His skin feels so soft."A little bit," Orin said. "But the red is going away. Look."I looked. He was right. The puffiness around his knuckles was down. I started to rub the oil in circles. I used my thumbs. I tried to stay very calm because Elder Orin can feel the way people move."There is a storm coming," he said. He looked at the window even though he can not see anything. "The air feels heavy. The moon is going to be big tonight.""The calendar says it is a full moon in three days," I said."The calendar is a piece of paper," Orin said. He laughed a little bit. "The air tells me the truth. Yo

AelaThe letter did not have a fancy seal or a stamp from a royal house. I was standing by the big map in the strategy room when Theron walked in.“It’s here,” Theron said. He didn't move past the door. He just held a piece of paper in his hand.“What is it?” I asked. My voice sounded a bit thin.“A letter,” he said. “A messenger brought it through the side door. No pack marks. No codes. He said it was for your eyes only.”“Who is it from?” I asked, though I think I already knew.“Senna,” Theron said. He walked over and handed it to me.I took it. My fingers were shaking, just a little bit. I looked at the handwriting. It was neat but fast, like the person writing it had a lot to say but didn't want to waste time. I didn't sit down. I stayed standing, right there by the map of the territories. I read it once. Then I read it again.Aela, the letter said. I want to meet you. Not as the Alpha meeting. Not with packs watching. We need to go somewhere neutral.It was signed at the bottom.

SennaI woke up that morning feeling like I was in two places at once. Few days left until the big thing, and everything in the compound felt too real, too close. I had to keep going, but it was getting hard to hold it all in.The day started normal, with me checking on Lyra in the training yard. She was getting better, her moves sharper since I showed her that new hold. "Hey, Senna, watch this," Lyra said, grinning as she flipped her partner. "Better than last time?""Yeah, way better," I said, clapping. "Keep at it, and you'll beat anyone." Lyra's confidence was growing, and it made me smile, but inside, my mind was racing. The mission countdown ticked in my head, while I acted like just the healer here. Rhea caught up with me later in the hall, chatting like always. "Senna, you look tired. Did you sleep?" she asked, bumping my shoulder."Not much," I admitted. "Been working on that fever treatment." Rhea nodded, her eyes curious. "Want help? I can mix the herbs." We talked about it