Alpha Alec's Redemption by Kathy M

The air is cool and still when I step out onto the training field. Morning dew clings to the grass, sparkling under the rising sun.

I should be focused. I should be clearing my mind and centering my energy. But all I can think about is Nyx and Xena. All I can think about is the love that turned into hatred. The power that was never wanted. The betrayal I still don't

understand.

What could possibly shatter a bond like that?

I try to picture Xena, but it's hard to imagine someone I've never seen. All I have are fragments of who she is, but no face.

Nyx... I know her. I've felt her pain, her strength, and her rage. I've carried her memories like they were my own. But Xena? She's still a mystery. And I can't fix what I don't understand.

I shake my head and push the thoughts aside. Enough. I didn't come here to spiral into my thoughts. I came to train.

The field is empty, just me and the silence. Nyx is nowhere in mind, so I rely on what she taught me yesterday.

I steady my breath, spread my fingers, and reach inside myself, searching for that spark, that golden thread of power waiting to be pulled.

Nothing.

I try again and again.

Still nothing.

spine. My palms tingle but no light appears, no pull, no hum. Just silence and

I scream. Loud and raw. It tears out of me

uneven. My hands dig

me.

technique immediately? This crashing weight of disappointment and failure. No wonder she always felt inferior. I don't know Xena personally, but the fact that she can create a whole new species

threatening to fall,

I need a break.

close my eyes, letting the breeze run over my skin, trying to calm the whirlwind inside. And that's when

I say yes? I didn't even think about

much that's unresolved between us. So much pain. And yet, there's this flicker of hope in me. This foolish, reckless hope that maybe, just maybe, everything will work out. That maybe we can heal from the past and

me because what

up again? I

pull my phone from my pocket, needing a distraction. I scroll

contacts and call King. It only

he answers, voice

softly, "how are

How about

my mind," I laugh dryly. "How's the

"The pack is doing really well. Everything is

hear. I never doubted his capabilities. I knew King would take care of the pack so well, they n't even notice their alpha