All Chapters of The Alphas Second Chance Mate : Chapter 91 - Chapter 100

Elaris's povI stay put on the cot based on the healer's caution.For a change, obedience is not a flaw.Something feels different within me.Not yet whole, not yet fully formed as it might have been if Caedmon hadn't decided to tap into me for essences, but not empty either.My strange sense of detachment that seems to have possessed me while wandering aimlessly around the healing chamber for days and nights is gone.I can breathe deeply into my lungs and my hands no longer shake as though I were on the verge of collapse.I press my palm against my abdomen and feel the tiny heartbeat against my palm as a thrill of something close to fear races through my being.I close my eyes and take a deep breath.For the first time in recent memory, I don't have to wonder if I'll live through another day.Which means I know what I've just done to myself and it terrifies me.Averic is still in his chair across from me.The healer takes a final check of her patient.Her fingers trail slowly over th

Elaris's POVI do not answer Averic when he says Caedmon's nameThe name settles in some deeper part of me where the conversation itself does not reachCaedmonThe man I once measured my life around the man who's failing wolf once mattered more to me than my own health, my own body, and eventually the life of the child I had wanted for years The man who woke from the essence transfer alive and looked at me as though my sacrifice had been an offenseI remember his rejection without having to conjure itI remember walking away from his home believing I had lost everythingNow he has shown up in the council hall immediately following Averic surrendering both his title, and his wolfThat timing is bothersome to me more than the mere name aloneI ask "Why did the council keep him?"Averic does not pretend to know anything more than what he knows"They did not tell me"That answer leaves something to be desiredCaedmon would not remain in a council hall after an emergency session without a

Elaris's POVThe horses vanish out of sight.Their footsteps dissolve into the common creak of the wood and the distant stir of wind beyond the house walls.Averic still stands near the doorframe.I settle next to the cot and let my bones relax after the confrontation.The small hands shift under my palm.One more motion.I exhale when I look down.'You felt that as well?'The man's gaze follows mine and pauses there.This isn't a question for him.This is a reassurance that I need to say to myself, that there is still something growing in me that has little to do with the wants of her Caedmon.We sit in silence for several long beats as if the decision just made has yet to sink into either of our bones.She has come back to the house, but the cost has yet to be paid.Neryss comes away from the small window after casting a single look in either direction of the road.'Nothing.'The woman lowers the shutter and works the latch a few times before choosing, apparently, that pretending th

Elaris's POVNight falls down over the outer house and Neryss has taken the outer watch so she won't return unless her watch is called. Shuttered and the road empty beyond the windows, the main room is only for Elaris and Averic.The fire has lowered leaving the house dark and toasty but there is no audience to act as the council, no witness to the pack ceremony beyond the walls. Whatever was decided by the day has to be made real.I stand beside the hearth in the plainest clean dress I have and braided hair that does not overcomplicate the night. None of my old tricks to dress the moment as more than it needs to be.I won't allow the moment to be dressed up as anything other than what it is. Across the room Averic waits. He does not walk towards me but gives me space to change my mind before I offer him the smallest nod.He does not take up the space until permitted. Both of us unburdened of old words.No invocation, no witness, no promises for the benefit of others. We know the one

Elaris's POVThe healer didn't bother asking what happenedShe went straight up to Averic and began checking him over, almost as if it was the exact same procedure that she used when she had first diagnosed my failing essence.She examined his wrist, his throat and his chest, taking note of the patterns in his breathing, the changes in detail of his expressions;Then she asked him to close his eyes.Averic obeyed without question and waited for her to move onto the next part of the examination.'Something beneath the surface.''And how often has it been doing that?''Constantly now.'The healer tested his essence.She stopped, momentarily shaken, and tested him again.It shouldn't have been possible.Averic wasn't meant to have an increasing reserve of essence - only enough to stop his body from shutting down completely.The pathways that had been damaged by the severing of his wolf essence shouldn't be repairing themselves.She tested Averic a second time before stepping away.'It is