Alpha alec's redemption (Sadie) novel Chapter 237

Sadie.

I’d just come from a run. Sleep had been a distant thought, elusive and half-formed, slipping from my grasp every time I closed my eyes. My mind had been too full of everything and nothing. When day came, and I still couldn’t get any sleep, I decided to go for a run to clear my head before I started my day.

Aspen wasn’t in the room when I got back, and by the time on my phone, she had probably already had breakfast and was either with Martha or playing.

I padded to the bathroom, needing something to wash away the ache pressing against my chest. I turned the shower on hot and stepped under the stream, pressing my back against the cold tile as the water poured down my body. I stood there for what felt like forever, trying to sort through everything that had unraveled in the past twenty-four hours.

Nyx’s words echoed in my head.

Xena and Kaden are mated… but they’re not true mates.

How was that even possible? You couldn’t mark someone who wasn’t your fated mate. It went against every law we knew, every piece of biology and magic in our world. Unless… unless Kaden being a demigod changed the rules. How does being mated to a demigod even work?

I scrubbed a hand down my face, frustrated. No matter how I twisted the puzzle, the pieces didn’t fit.

Eventually, I got out, dried off, and pulled on a soft pair of gray leggings and a loose tank top. I went back into the room, put my shoes on and left.

But my thoughts wouldn’t settle, even as I settled in the kitchen for breakfast.

They drifted to Alec.

To the way he had stood there in my doorway last night, sheepish but gentle. His eyes had softened when they landed on Aspen. And when he’d kissed her forehead, his lips had lingered, as if he were grounding himself with her. And then… then there was that moment between us. That silent, tense moment when the air had grown thick with something unspoken. His scent had infiltrated my senses—earthy and warm, like cedar and smoke—and my body had responded in a way that made my skin burn.

I’d wanted him. Desperately. Shamefully.

The bond was getting stronger, and I hated it. Hated the way it pulled me to him, the way it twisted my emotions until I couldn’t tell what was real and what was the pull of the moon. But if I was honest with myself—which I rarely was—there was a part of me that wanted it. That wanted him.

And that scared me more than anything else.

Because I had buried those feelings for Alec a long time ago.

Or at least… I thought I had. I shouldn’t be feeling anything for him. I shouldn’t be wanting him despite the effects of the moon, so why was I desperate for him? I was sure the feelings I had for him died in the dungeons three years ago, so why were they bubbling to the surface all of a sudden?