Page 325 of Alpha Mates

Last time, they didn’t have to ask if he was dead. They found me, and the blood told them what they needed to know. Somehow, that was kinder than this.

“Julian!” my father snaps, forcing me to look at him.

I open my eyes only to look away a moment later when Oliver’s eyes stare back at me.

“I mean, he’s alive,” I choke out as I focus instead on the chaos confining us.

Wolves run around us like ants crawling out of a disturbed anthill, all doing their part to ready our pack and our warriors for what’s to come. We were yet to speak to the pack as a whole, but word of a potential fight had gotten out, and our fighters had since gathered for their orders.

“I saw him,” I continue as I start walking again, tracking a group of warriors hustling in front of me. My parents follow closely behind. “Aiden and I went to scout the rogue threat, and I saw him.”

It sounds straightforward like that, but there’s nothing straightforward about the way our dormant family bond flares painfully. I ignore it, pushing it down as I keep walking, desperate for an escape from this conversation.

I didn’t even realise I would have to have it until they appeared in front of me amidst the chaos and unleashed an entirely new form of dread beneath my skin. The realisation had been like a punch to the gut.

“Julian,” my father whispers with effort while I keep moving—keepusmoving. “What do you mean you saw him?”

“I mean, I saw him,” I whisper shakily. “He’s alive. He’s with the rogues.”

Alive. Whole.

All these years. All the mourning, and he’s alive … and we didn’t even know.

“We need more wood at the eastern border—grab some and take it over. The next patrol shift is in ten. Find your team if you’re on it.” I bark my orders in the midst of the madness, and somehow, people hear them and obey. I’m grateful for it, because I don’t know what I’ll do if I have to keep still, even for a moment.

“I want weapons over there and warriors with the deltas,” I state with a pointed finger. “If you don’t know where you’re supposed to be, find Beckett in the Hall.”

“Julian, wait—” my mother begs as she rushes forward to cut off my path. “Please, just wait.”

I stop to face her, my mother with her tearful blue eyes that resemble a child’s. She looks to me, and it’s not a mother facing her son, but a scared woman seeking answers from the only one who has them.

Goddess, where’s Aiden?

I look for him in the crowds, but I can’t spot him. I know he’s near—I can feel him—but he’s not close enough because Ican’tdo this.

I don’t know how I summoned the words and let the truth spill out, but I had—and now they’re following me like lost pups, searching for answers I don’t know how to give them. But they need them, so when my father grabs my arm and forces me to look at him, and not through him, I don’t fight it.

I don’t posture or let offence rise, because I’m so tired, and he’s so scared.

My father—immovable and impassible—now scared. When Oliverdied, a part of him went with him, and misery took its place. But not fear—never fear. Not until now …

“He’s alive,” I whisper again, meeting those amber eyes that look just like his.

His fingers tighten around me, and his lips part like he wants me to deny it, but he remains quiet.

“Whatever we found …” I swallow, needing to breathe deep to get it out. “It wasn’t him.”

“No,” Mother croaks, lifting shaking hands to her lips. “No?”

Aiden, I call through our link.

I’m coming.

“How do you—What did you see? Where?” Father rambles, his questions stacking on top of each other as he squeezes my arms. His head drops as he heaves. “Julian?”

A hand slides across my lower back, and another into my free fingers, keeping me upright before I have the chance to fall.

I step back into it, and as my father lifts his head, unbalanced, I force myself to breathe.