Alpha Alec's Redemption - Chapter 137: Chapter 137

Sadie
Raven and I sat side by side in the large conference room. Last night, before Alec left my room after kissing Aspen goodnight, he had reminded me of today’s meeting. Something that I had completely forgotten
The room was quiet, thick with silence and tension that sat heavy on everyone’s shoulders. We’d been here for ten minutes already, just waiting.
I leaned back in the stiff chair and glanced around the table.
Jason looked like he hadn’t slept in two days, which was probably true. His eyes were shadowed, his jaw tight, and even his posture was beginning to slump with the weight of exhaustion. Micah sat beside him, silent, arms crossed, staring at the table like he was mentally running through every scenario he’d already played out a hundred times.
And Raven… Raven was unreadable, but I noticed the way she kept clenching her fists beneath the table, the way her foot tapped a quiet rhythm against the stone floor. She was trying to keep her control in check. Trying to hold herself together like the rest of us.
This whole operation was bleeding us dry. Slowly. Quietly.
I dragged my eyes to the last person in the room—Alec.
He hadn’t said a word since we sat down. Just stared ahead, brows drawn, hands folded on the table in that way that made it look like he had complete control. Like he was calm. But I’d seen through that look before. I knew the set of his jaw meant he was grinding his teeth. That his foot tapped once, quiet and low, every time he was stressed.
He was tired too. But he wouldn’t show it.
And goddess help me, even like this—worn down and simmering with frustration—I couldn’t look away.
The full moon was only two weeks away. I felt it in every part of me. In the way my skin prickled with awareness, the way my breath caught in my throat when he was next to me. Like everything inside me was slowly being rewired. Like my body wasn’t mine anymore—it was his, and it knew it.
The pull toward him was getting harder to ignore. It felt hungry. Like something was curling and clawing under my skin, begging to be let out. Heat burned low in my stomach and made me feel half-wild, half-ashamed. I clenched my thighs beneath the table and forced my eyes away from him.
I hated how much of a grip the bond had on me. It made me feel out of control. Made me feel weak.
But it wasn’t just the full moon, if I am being honest.
It was him.
I hated this feeling. I hated that the bond made me want him.
I shifted in my seat and crossed my legs, swallowing against the dryness in my throat. I could feel the start of heat building already. That deep ache in my chest, in my core, like I was being lit from the inside out.
And with Alec this close, I was a damn flame waiting to catch.
Can he feel it too? Can he feel the effects the oncoming full moon has on me?
I took a slow breath through my nose, trying to steady myself, trying to be something other than just a body that craved his. There was too much at stake. Too many lives on the line. I wasn’t going to allow the bond to take precedence.
I breathed a sigh of relief when the door creaked open, snapping everyone to attention.
The Elders had arrived.
The door creaked wider, and eight elders filled the room. No greetings. No wasted time. Just the rustle of coats, the sound of chairs scraping against the floor.
They took their seats. One of them—Elder Orion—leaned forward, folding his weathered hands in front of him.
“We’ll get straight to it,” he said, voice rough like worn gravel. “You asked for updates on Kaden.”
My stomach tightened. I nodded once. “Yes. Have you found anything new?”
A brief silence passed before Elder Lillian answered, “No. Not yet. We’ve scoured everything in our possession—our libraries, our scrolls, even the oldest oral accounts. There’s nothing on him. Not even a whisper.”
“We reached out to other packs,” added Elder Thorn, his tone clipped with frustration. “We thought perhaps they’d have some forgotten text buried in their vaults. But even with access granted, we came up empty.”
“There’s no record of Kaden,” said Elder Mira, her silver braid falling over her shoulder. “Nothing about demigods. Nothing about what’s keeping him locked. Nothing about how to undo it.”
Each elder took a turn, each report a variation of the same grim truth: nothing. Not even breadcrumbs.
The silence after their words felt louder than before. I turned my gaze toward Raven.
She leaned forward slowly, resting her forearms on the table. Her dark hair was pulled into a low bun, strands loose around her temples. Even in stillness, she looked exhausted—more so than any of us. Her eyes were ringed with sleeplessness, her voice barely above a whisper when she spoke.
“I haven’t found anything either,” she admitted. “I’ve followed every lead I could think of. I even reached out to some of my mother’s old contacts.”
She paused, pressing her fingers to the bridge of her nose for a second before continuing.
“As for the spell itself… I still haven’t figured out a way around it. It’s layered, ancient, and laced with magic I have no clue about. To unravel it safely would take more time than we have. And even then, I don’t know if it’s possible.”
A cold hush fell over the room as her words settled in.
“Are you saying,” I began slowly, “that the only way to break the spell is to release him?”
Raven’s eyes flicked up to meet mine, haunted. “At this point… yes.”
A quiet breath escaped me. So that was it. All this time we’d been trying to find a way to weaken the cage without breaking it.
“As for Kaden, I can seek permission and go back to the coven. Try and see if I can find anything more, ” She added.
I nodded and remained quiet, trying to decide if I should let them in on my discovery or not. Finally, I decided on telling them. There was no point in hiding it.
I straightened slowly, resting my hands flat on the table. “There’s something else,” I said, my voice steady but low.
All eyes turned to me. Raven looked up sharply. Alec went still. Jason tilted his head, alert. Even Micah, who rarely betrayed anything, leaned forward slightly. The elders, in contrast, looked mildly curious—but only because they didn’t know yet what this would mean.
“I had a conversation with Nyx yesterday,” I said carefully. “She confirmed something for me.”
A pause.
“You were right, Alec. The veiled woman is Nyx’s sister and her name is Xena.”
Raven let out a slow, quiet curse. Alec’s jaw clenched. Jason straightened, eyes widening slightly. Only the elders remained still, their brows beginning to furrow in confusion.
“That’s not all,” I continued, because I couldn’t stop now. “There’s something else I’ve suspected for a while, but I didn’t want to bring it up until I was sure.”
Alec’s gaze locked onto mine.
“Xena and Kaden…” I took a breath, the words heavy in my throat. “They’re somehow connected. Nyx didn’t reveal anything, but it was there. She knows him somehow and so does Xena.”
The silence that followed was absolute.
Raven blinked slowly, like she was trying to process it. Micah sat back in his chair, exhaling a sharp breath. Jason swore under his breath, low and sharp.
And the elders?
Confusion broke across their faces, like someone had dropped a foreign language into the middle of the conversation.
“What connection?” Elder Kael asked cautiously. “Who is this Xena?”
I glanced at Alec, who was still watching me, unreadable.
They didn’t know. Not yet. Not the full story.
But they would.
Because if Xena and Kaden were connected—by magic, by purpose, or something else—then we weren’t dealing with separate threats.
We were standing in the shadow of something bigger.
And it was finally starting to show its shape.