THE ALPHA WHO HATED ME - Chapter 30: Chapter 30

EVANGELINE POINT OF VIEW
Maeve's expression softens. "Normal was never an option for you, Evangeline. Your bloodline runs too deep. But you don't have to face this alone."
She holds out the silver charm, the moonstone glowing brighter in the firelight. "This will help protect you. It won't hide your true nature completely, but it will make you harder to track. Harder to hurt."
I take the charm with shaking fingers. It's warm against my palm, pulsing like a heartbeat. The moment I touch it, my wolf settles deeper into my bones, calmer than she's been in weeks.
"Why are you helping me?" I ask. "You barely know me."
"Because I recognize what you are, even if you don't understand it yet," Maeve says quietly. "And because someone needs to stand between you and the people who want to destroy you."
"You've been watching me my whole life?"
"Not your whole life. Only since you came to Blackclaw Academy. I enrolled to keep an eye on certain... developments."
The pieces start falling into place. Maeve appearing just when I needed her most. Her perfect timing during Celeste's frame job. The way she seemed to know exactly what to say and do.
"You're not really a student," I realize.
She smiles for the first time since I arrived. "I'm older than I look. Much older. I stopped aging when I came into my full power."
"How old are you really?"
"Old enough to know that questions like that are dangerous to answer." Her smile fades. "But I'll tell you this much - there's a bloodline buried so deep it was meant to stay forgotten. Someone is digging now. And you're the key they need to break it open."
My blood turns cold. "What bloodline? Break what open?"
Before she can answer, the wind outside howls like a wounded animal. The sound is wrong, unnatural, like it's carrying voices from somewhere far away. Maeve goes very still, her eyes darting to the windows.
"Something is watching," she whispers.
The charm around my neck grows hot against my skin. Outside, one of the bone wind chimes cracks with a sound like breaking teeth. A bird slams into the window, leaving a streak of black blood against the glass before falling to the ground.
Maeve stands quickly, moving to a shelf lined with glass jars. She pulls one down - filled with what looks like salt mixed with silver dust - and begins sprinkling it along the windowsills.
"What's happening?" I ask, my voice barely a whisper.
"They've found your trail. Not all of it, but enough." She moves faster now, sprinkling the mixture along the doorframe. "The wards will hold for now, but not for long."
I look down at the charm in my hand, this small piece of protection against an entire world that seems to want me dead. "What am I supposed to do with this? Hide forever?"
"For now, yes. Learn to control whatever is awakening inside you. Grow stronger. And when the time comes..." She trails off, but I can hear the unspoken words.
When the time comes, fight back.
I fasten the charm around my neck, feeling it settle against my skin like it belongs there. My wolf hums with approval, and for the first time since the storage room, I feel something that might be hope.
"Will you teach me?" I ask. "About my power? About what I can do?"
"When it's safe to do so. But first, you need to survive what's coming." Maeve stands up, walking to the window. "Something is changing around you. I can feel it in the air, in the way magic moves through this place."
"What kind of change?"
She looks out at the darkening sky, where the moon is just beginning to rise. "The kind that draws attention. The kind that makes enemies move faster than they planned."
Fear crawls up my throat like a living thing. "How long do I have?"
"Until the next full moon. Maybe less."
Two weeks. Maybe less than that before my enemies find me.
"What should I do until then?"
"Be careful. Trust no one at school except me. And whatever you do, don't let your emotions overwhelm you. Strong feelings can trigger changes, and if that happens in public..." She turns back to me, her face grave. "It won't matter how well the charm hides you."
I nod, trying to memorize every word. The charm feels warm against my chest, a small comfort in the face of everything I don't understand.
"I should go," I say, though I don't want to leave this cottage. Don't want to go back to the world where people hurt me for fun.
"Yes. But be careful. They know you're awakening now. They'll be watching, waiting for you to make a mistake." Maeve walks me to the door, her expression grave. "Remember - you're not alone anymore. If you need me, follow the path deeper into the woods. I'll know you're coming."
I stand on shaking legs, but something has changed inside me. The tea, the charm, the knowledge that I'm not crazy - it's given me something I thought I'd lost forever.
Strength.
Not the kind that comes from being fearless, but the kind that comes from deciding to stand up anyway.
"I won't run anymore," I say, the words surprising me as they come out. "I don't care if I'm not ready. I won't spend my life hiding from shadows."
Maeve's eyes widen slightly, like she sees something in my face that wasn't there before. "Brave words. I hope you can live up to them."
"So do I."
The mention of beginnings brings fresh tears to my eyes, but these aren't tears of despair. They're tears of something I can't name - relief mixed with terror mixed with a strange kind of hope.
I walk back through the woods as darkness falls around me. The charm pulses against my chest with each heartbeat, reminding me that I'm not defenseless anymore. Not completely alone.
But as I reach the edge of the trees, something makes me stop. A sound. Footsteps that aren't mine, moving through the forest behind me.
I turn around, searching the shadows between the trees. Nothing. But my wolf is alert, ears pricked forward, sensing danger I can't see.
The footsteps stop.
Then I hear it - a voice calling my name. But it's not Maeve's voice.
"Evangeline..."
It's Ronan.
My blood turns to ice. How did he find me here? How does he even know about the woods?
I press deeper into the trees, using the darkness to hide. Through the branches, I can see his silhouette moving along the path I just walked. He's following my scent.
The binding stone around his neck glows faintly in the moonlight, and I realize with horror that it's not just suppressing my power anymore. It's tracking me.
He stops directly across from where I'm hiding, his head turning like he's listening for something. For me.
"I know you're here," he calls softly. "I can smell you."
My wolf whimpers, pressing close to my ribs. The charm around my neck grows warm, but it's not enough to completely hide my scent. Not from him.
Ronan takes another step into the forest, and I know I have seconds before he finds me.
Two weeks until the full moon, Maeve said. But looking at Ronan's determined face, at the way the binding stone pulses with dark light, I realize I might not have that long.
The hunt isn't coming.
It's already here.