Alec’s

Sadie.Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

By the time I was done training, I was tired. So, freaking tired. Who knew teleporting from one place to another would be draining? I didn’t have any energy whatsoever.

“Today, you did well.” Nyx praises in a soft voice. “I’m glad that you were able to get it so quickly.”

“Well, it wasn’t easy. It zaps your energy, that’s for sure,” I mumble, trying to level my breathing.

“Next, we’ll expand the radius,” she says almost in a lazy tone. “Maybe you can try teleporting back home.”

“Are you freaking crazy?” I yell inside my head. “That’s like hundreds of miles away.”

See what I mean when I say that Nyx is crazy? I know she has this urgency to push me to master my powers, but this is pushing it too far.

“Nyx, I’ve only just mastered teleporting a few distances away. You can’t expect me to just go from that to being able to teleport about four hundred miles away.”

Her eyes bore into mine as she stares at me. She isn’t happy, but she also knows that we can’t push my body like that. I needed to start somewhere and build up slowly. Pushing myself too far isn’t going to help anyone. In fact, it might just push us back.

“Fine,” she grumbles before shutting me off.

Sighing at her stubbornness, I stand up from the boulder I’d been sitting on and start to make my way back to the pack house.

I didn’t have a lot planned for today. Maybe I’d just spend some time with Aspen before I try to re- familiarize myself with the pack. After all, I’ve been gone for three years. Some things have probably changed.

I start speeding up when Aspen’s sweet voice hits my ears. I am just about to reach her when his voice stops me cold in my tracks.

“Have you said sorry?”

I catch the last sentence from Aspen, just as I get closer to the father and daughter duo.

They were a few feet away from the back entrance of the pack house. Alec was squatting in front of Aspen.

Even though his back was to me, I would recognize him anywhere. That’s just how deep my obsession with him had been. I would know his voice and body even in my sleep.

“No, I haven’t,” his gruff voice pulls me back to the duo.

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Alec was so lost in his conversation with Aspen that he failed to notice that someone was listening in to their conversation.

“You have to… you say sorry when you are wrong,” Aspen insists, her hand still on his face, something I didn’t like,

“I made a huge mistake, sweetheart. I don’t think it can be fixed with a simple sorry.”

Something in his voice catches, but I push it away. I refuse to dwell on what it is. It doesn’t matter. Alec and whatever feelings he has isn’t any of my business.

He is right though, what he did to me can’t be fixed with a simple apology. My wounds run deep. The internal ones are yet to heal… and the physical ones have left scars. It just isn’t easy to forgive and let go of the pain the man you fell in love with caused.

“B-but you have to try,” Aspen insists.

She is stubborn like her father and doesn’t really know when to let things go. It’s a character I love and hate at the same time.

Before Alec can respond, I decide to step in. I have to put a stop to whatever the hell was happening here.

“Aspen,” I call, “Come here.”

Two sets of the same green eyes turn to me. Aspen’s eyes transform, and her lips turn up in a smile. While Alec’s eyes shift in guilt, as if he has been caught doing something he shouldn’t.

“Mommy!” she shrieks before running to me, her body colliding with mine.

“What are you doing here and where is Martha?”

She starts nibbling her lips, and I just know I won’t like what she’ll tell me. She nibbles her lips when she’s guilty.

“I saw a butterfly,” she begins. “I wanted to chase it, so when Martha wasn’t looking, I did. I crashed on Mr. when I was chasing the pretty butterfly.”

“Why didn’t you let Martha know?”

She shrugs her shoulders. “I’m sorry,”

She gives me her puppy eyes and I cave in like the **g weakling I am. I can never say no to her. Nor can I ever stay mad at her.

I sigh, before bending down to kiss her cheeks, “This is a new pack, so don’t go running around alone, okay? Now go find Martha, she must be looking for you.”

“Okay mommy,” she then turns to Alec. “Bye Mr.”

She sprints past me and goes inside the house. When she disappeared, I turn to Alec. “Stay the f**k

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away from my daughter, Alec.”

His eyes harden as he gets up.

harden as he gets up. “She’s my daughter too.”

As much as I try to push it down, I feel my anger rising. Pushing forward to the surface.

“How dare you!” I all but scream. “Daughter? You wanted to end her life! You called me a f**g **e!”

I can’t stop the pain that washes over me when I remember that day and the words he carelessly

it. flung at me. It hurts. It f**g hurts. My heart is aching, and I don’t know how to stop

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“Do you remember what you said to me? Because I do. It’s still clear in my mind, as if you said them yesterday.” Tears are pouring down my face and I hate that he is witnessing me crying. “If the b**d child is mine, which I doubt, I would never allow it to live. I f**g hate you, Sadie, and I’d rather that pup die than be given birth to by the woman who destroyed my life… That’s what you said to me.”

My knees weaken and I wrap my hands around myself, just to comfort and give myself strength.

His eyes flash. Pain is etched in them, and he seems to drown in them. I don’t care though. He said things he can’t take back. He wanted to kill my baby. How can I even think of getting over that?

“Sadie…” his voice is nothing but a h**e whisper, full of emotions.

“No!” I wipe my tears aggressively, pretty p**d off with myself for allowing him to see this weak side of me. “By denouncing her, you severed any ties and bonds you had with her. You lost the right to be her father because of the intent you had to kill her and the degrading name you called her.”

“I’m sorry,” he whispers brokenly, but it does nothing to ease the pain that still haunts me.

“Sorry doesn’t fix s**t, Alec. It’s only applicable when you accidentally spilled milk, or broke a glass but not when you destroyed someone’s life. You did what you did, fully conscious of your actions and being sound of mind. There are no take backs. You can’t go back and change things.”

“I would if I f***g could!” he grits out through a clenched jaw, but his words don’t move me.

I never thought that I would end up like this. Hating the same man that I was sure I would love forever. I used to see him and see nothing but our beautiful future together. Now I see him, and I’m- reminded of nothing but the pain he put me through.

I said everything I needed to say. I didn’t have anything else. I turn to leave, but he grabs my hand.

Immediately, the bond comes to life. Tingles race up and down my arm, and it feels like I’ve been electrocuted. I gasp, because this is new. It has never happened before.

“Sadie, please.” He pleads. His eyes move in wonder from where our skin is connected to my eyes. I didn’t want to feel the spark, so I rip my hand from his and leave, not once, looking back at him. Rubbing my arm where he touched me, I try to erase the lingering feel of the sparks. The bond

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seemed to get strongerand I hated it. Now more than ever, we need to find a way to break this d**n curse. I needed to leave, before the bond consumed us both.

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