The Alpha's Gamble - Chapter 96: Chapter 96

MADELINE
It was twilight. Wolves howled along the border, sending their nightly warning to any rogue stupid enough to test our land. The warriors were heading home, drenched in sweat. They’d been training like mercenaries the past few days. I saw them when I came out around ten p.m., and they didn’t leave until just before sundown. It looked like they were prepping for war, though as far as I knew, nothing was on the schedule.
I ducked my father’s hit, his fist grazed my jaw, a reminder to get my damn head back in the session. Next time, he wouldn’t miss.
“Focus, Madeline.”
Three more hits. Left, right, duck. Up on my toes for an uppercut, then a round kick.
Focusing was hard when I couldn’t stop glancing toward the mansion, eyes flicking across the windows, hoping—praying—to catch a glimpse of him. Just a shadow, a silhouette, anything to quiet this gnawing feeling that something was wrong.
Noah hadn’t come by in over a week. And the last few days had been abnormally excruciating after he stopped waiting outside my door. At least then, I could smell him. Feel him. Not physically, but the imprint of his presence lingered in the air, just out of reach but somehow still within it.
“Madeline!” My head snapped sideways. Palm to my cheek. Blood trickled down my chin.
“Ah, fuck,” I groaned, snapping my head back up.
“Focus!”
“Shouting doesn’t make it easier!” I shot back, sounding like a brat, but it was true. Each session, he got more comfortable and more agitated. His voice had started to lose its fatherly warmth. Now, he just sounded like another damn trainer.
“Too damn bad. Hands up, guard your face!” He ran a five-step combo, dodged my hit, circled my body, and landed a kick beneath my chin. I dropped to one knee, arms heavy at my sides, panting like I was that little girl again, sprinting up the mountain, lungs burning, legs giving out.
“You’re not trying.”
Half growl. Half groan. His control was thinning, anger rising.
“I am. But we’ve been at this for three hours.” Thanks to the generous extension granted by our temporary Alpha, my father now has unlimited access to my time. Jack and Mom were away, and in their absence, Noah had stepped into the role, immediately giving my father as many training hours as he wanted. Was I included in this conversation?
Of course not.
I spat blood onto the dirt and stood, my legs shaking under me.
“Three hours is nothing. You used to train all day, never faltering in strength.”
There was curiosity in his voice, his brows pinched slightly. He was probing for something.
I stared at his readied form. Hands up. Neck bent. Bouncing lightly on his toes.
“I trained all day to avoid coming home,” I said flatly, dropping my hands.
If he was surprised, he didn’t show it. Then again, he had been the one to train me. Most of the time, anyway. Sometimes, I fought a tree, filing down my knuckles and leaving bits of skin behind in the bark.
“I figured as much,” he said, lowering his guard slightly.
Where he failed as a father, he more than made up for it as a trainer, teaching me resilience and the discipline to survive. I was strong because of him. He was my ticket into Auburn Academy.
Well… before everything crashed and burned and left behind fragments of the fairytale I’d spent my whole life believing.
“I need you to conjure that strength, Maddie. This is literally life or death.”
Ah. Thank you, dearest father, for the helpful reminder. I had completely forgotten I was walking into my own execution in a few weeks.
I rolled my eyes, suppressing a laugh, not because it was funny, but because I knew Noah would’ve hated it. He always got that dangerous edge in his eyes whenever I got defiant. And just like that, my gaze drifted again. Toward the mansion.
My father followed it. His eyes landed on the window. Noah’s room.
All he had to do was walk past the window. Just once. I didn’t even need a full second, just a flash. Just a breath of was that him? I could live on crumbs right now. Just… something.
“Let’s call it a night,” my father said quietly, walking over and placing a heavy hand on my shoulder. We went inside. Noah’s scent still lingered in the staircase and the hallway. I made a beeline for my room. The guards opened the door, one good thing about their 24/7 post. Though I wondered why they were still there now that Noah was in charge. Maybe he didn’t want me wandering around the mansion alone.
Or… maybe he was afraid, too.
But then a colder thought crept up my spine like frost, settling into my bones.
Maybe he was done with me. Maybe he’d finally come to his senses. Moved on. Maybe Olivia sounded better now that he saw what a wreck I was.
The thought made my heart seize up, twist like it was being strangled by a fist.
No. No, I won’t go there. Noah wouldn’t do that. Not after everything he said. Not after everything we’ve been through. But that didn’t stop the thoughts. Didn’t stop the spiral. Didn’t stop the nausea curling in my gut or the pressure tightening in my throat like a scream I couldn’t let out. I felt like I was going to throw up on my carpet. I turned on the shower, hoping maybe, just maybe, the water could wash this poison off my skin. Help me focus on what really matters.