Chapter 254: Questions
Leo’s POV
I didn’t believe her.
The moment those words left Scarlett’s mouth, something deep inside me refused to accept them as the truth. I had watched her too carefully for too many years to be fooled now. I knew the exact way her lips curved when she was truly happy. I knew the look that came into her eyes whenever she looked at one of us. Most of all, I knew how her voice changed whenever she was trying to hide her real feelings.
And today? Something felt wrong. Very wrong.
The bedroom door closed behind us with a soft click, and the hallway turned completely quiet. Nobody spoke. The air felt heavy and hard to breathe. Liam stood frozen for a few seconds, staring at the closed wooden door like he couldn’t understand what had just happened.
Then something inside him seemed to snap. Without a word, he turned around and marched down the hallway. A few seconds later, a loud crash echoed through the packhouse as a glass vase shattered against the wall. Nobody reacted. Nobody ran to see what had happened. We all knew exactly why he broke it.
Leonard looked even worse. His face was completely pale, and his brown eyes looked totally empty. For a second, I honestly thought he might cry. Instead, he turned around and walked away without saying a single word.
Just like that, one brother disappeared down the stairs, and then the other. I was left standing all alone in the quiet hallway.
I stared back at Scarlett’s bedroom door. Something just wasn’t right.
She is lying, my wolf growled softly inside my mind.
I frowned. The exact same thought had crossed my mind already—more than once. But would she really lie about something this big? Why would she do that to us?
I rubbed my face with my hands and let out a long breath. Maybe I was just desperate. Maybe I was trying to tell myself she still loved us because accepting the truth would completely destroy me. Yet no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t stop playing the scene over and over in my head.
I know who you are. I remember everything. But the feelings are gone.
The words sounded real, but Scarlett hadn’t looked real. Not completely. There had been wet tears in her eyes. Her hands had been shaking under the blanket. And most importantly, she hadn’t looked us in the eye. Not even once.
I closed my eyes. The pieces of the puzzle weren’t adding up.
Suddenly, another memory came to the forefront of my mind. The forest. The red wolf shift.
My eyes snapped open. During her shift, Scarlett had completely lost control. She didn’t know who we were. She had lunged at Leonard, and she had almost attacked Liam. But then Liam had said he was sorry, and everything changed. The massive red wolf had stopped.
Why? If Scarlett truly felt nothing for us anymore, why did she stop because of Liam’s words? Why did the mate bond reach her? Why did she calm down?
The more I thought about it, the less sense it made. My stomach twisted into a painful knot.
Unless...
No. I pushed the thought away immediately. Because if I was right, it meant Scarlett had just willingly broken all three of our hearts on purpose. And that thought hurt almost as much as losing her love.
I needed answers, and I needed them now. Turning around, I walked quickly toward the healer’s wing of the house.
The hallways were unusually full of people. News about Scarlett’s terrifying shift had already spread through the entire packhouse. Fighters whispered to each other in corners, and servants exchanged worried looks. Everyone looked scared.
When I finally reached the healer’s ward, I knocked once and walked straight inside. The head healer looked up from her large desk.
"Alpha Leo," she said, surprised.
"I need information."
She sat up straight in her chair immediately. "About Scarlett?"
"About Red Wolves."
A strange look passed over her face. It wasn’t fear, and it wasn’t surprise. It looked closer to confusion. She slowly put down the book she had been reading.
"I don’t know much," she admitted.
My anger grew instantly. "Then tell me the little bit you do know."
The healer paused for a moment, then let out a tired sigh. "Most papers and information about Red Wolves disappeared hundreds of years ago."
"That does not help me."
"I know," she said quietly.
I clenched my jaw, trying to stay calm.
The healer continued. "The tiny bit of history that remains is buried deep in old records and fairy tales."
"And? What do they say?"
"And most old healers believed Red Wolves aren’t normal wolves at all."
A cold feeling ran down my spine. "What does that mean?"
The healer leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. "According to the old stories, some ancient wolves had powers that normal wolves never possessed."
I listened very carefully, not missing a word. "Powers like what?"
"Super-fast healing. Control over magic energy. Old bloodline memories." She paused, then added in a quiet voice, "And deep self-preservation instincts."
My eyes narrowed. "Explain that to me."
The healer folded her hands together on the desk. "When ancient wolves felt their human host was in grave danger, they would sometimes do things to protect them."
"Protect them how?"
She shrugged her shoulders. "There are stories. Stories about old memories being locked away. Powers being hidden. Even intense emotions being completely shut down."
Everything inside me went totally still.
Emotions. Shut down.
My wolf growled loudly in my chest. I stared hard at the healer. "Are you saying a Red Wolf can lock away a girl’s feelings?"
"I don’t know for sure, Alpha."
"But you just said—"
"I said there are stories," she cut me off firmly. "Nothing more."
But it was enough. It was more than enough. Because now, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Could the Red Wolf have locked up Scarlett’s feelings to protect her? Or... was Scarlett just pretending to be cold?
Neither answer made me feel any better. I thanked the healer and left the room.
By the time I walked back into the main hall, night had completely fallen outside. The packhouse was much quieter now. Most of the pack had gone to their bedrooms to sleep. But I couldn’t rest. Every instinct inside my body kept pulling me back toward Scarlett.
Just go check on her, I told myself. One look. That is all.
I tried to tell myself I was just worried about her health, but that was a lie. I just needed to see her face again.
My feet moved on their own, carrying me through the dark, quiet hallways. Before long, I was standing right outside her bedroom door again. I stopped, my hand hovering over the handle as I hesitated.
Then, a loud, terrified scream tore through the door from inside her room.
I didn’t even think. I threw the door open and rushed into the bedroom.
"Scarlett!" I called out, my voice tight with fear.
The room was dark, but my wolf eyes could see her clearly. She was sitting straight up in the middle of the bed, clutching the heavy blanket against her chest. Her whole body was shaking, covered in a cold sweat. She was gasping for air, her chest moving up and down rapidly, and her wide eyes scanned the dark room as if she were still seeing a monster. She looked absolutely terrified.
I hurried to the side of the bed, reaching out but stopping myself from touching her. "Scarlett, what is wrong? What happened?"
She didn’t say a word. She just kept gasping, her lips trembling as she stared right through me.
My chest squeezed with deep anxiety. I couldn’t stand seeing her like this. I leaned closer, keeping my voice calm. "Scarlett, please talk to me. What’s wrong? Are you hurt?"
She swallowed hard, finally blinking as if she were just realizing I was in the room. She pulled the blanket higher, her face hardening back into that cold, blank mask she had used on us earlier. But I could still see the wild fear hiding behind it.
"I am fine," she said, her voice small and tight.
"You aren’t fine," I pressed, my worry growing by the second. "You just screamed like you were dying. Tell me what happened."
"It was nothing, Leo. Just a bad dream," she said, looking away from me.
Obviously, she had just had a nightmare. The sweat and the terror on her face proved it. But as I watched her avoid my eyes, my gut twisted. I felt there was more to it. Much more. A normal bad dream didn’t make a powerful wolf look this totally broken. But looking at how pale and exhausted she was, I decided not to pressure her. I didn’t want to force her to speak when she was already falling apart.
"Okay," I said quietly, sighing as I sat down on the very edge of the mattress. "I am staying the night here. I’ll spend the night on the couch just to make sure you’re safe."
Just then, heavy footsteps approached, and the bedroom door swung completely open.
Liam walked in.
Of course. This was his room. For a brief moment, amid all the panic and the scream, I had completely forgotten that this was his space, his bed, his territory.
Liam stopped dead in his tracks. His red-rimmed eyes locked onto me sitting on the edge of the bed, and then moved to Scarlett, who was still trembling under the sheets. The air in the room instantly turned ice-cold and heavy.
"What is going on here?" Liam asked, his voice low, rough, and full of annoyance.
I looked up at him and could see the deep suspicion burning in his eyes. He stood tall, his shoulders tense, looking back and forth between the two of us. He clearly felt that Scarlett and I were up to something behind his back—like we shared a secret he was locked out of.
In order not to cause a huge misunderstanding between us, I stood up quickly and kept my hands visible. "I was walking by in the hallway. I heard her scream from outside, so I ran in to check on her. She had a nightmare."
Liam didn’t seem to believe me. His jaw clenched, and his eyes narrowed as he stared at me, then at Scarlett. The suspicion didn’t leave his face, but he didn’t say a word to call me a liar. He didn’t shout. The fight had been drained out of him from earlier, leaving him looking tired and bitter.
He walked past me toward the closet, his movements stiff. "I just came for a blanket and a pillow," he said flatly.
He didn’t look at Scarlett as he grabbed a spare pillow from the top shelf and pulled a thick, folded blanket from the closet. He gripped them tight against his chest, turned around, and walked straight out of the room without looking back. The door clicked shut behind him.
The silence returned, thicker than before.
Scarlett looked up at me from the bed, her voice cold and distant again. "You should leave too, Leo. I want to be alone."
I looked at her, my heart aching. I wanted to stay. I wanted to hold her until the fear left her body. But I knew pushing her right now would only make her pull further away. I didn’t want to pressure her anymore tonight.
"All right," I whispered. "Rest, Scarlett."
I turned and left the room, closing the door softly. But I didn’t go to my own bedroom. My mind was racing, and the look in Liam’s eyes kept bothering me. We couldn’t let this lie tear our brotherhood apart. We needed to talk.
I tracked his scent through the quiet packhouse. It led me straight to the private study.
I pushed the door open quietly and walked inside. The room was dark, lit only by the moonlight coming through the large window. I saw Liam lying down on the long couch in the corner, using the pillow he had taken. He had the blanket pulled over his shoulders, staring blankly at the ceiling.
I closed the door behind me and took a step forward. "Liam," I started, my voice low. "About what happened in there—"
Just as I was about to speak, a sharp, loud buzz hit my brain.
A mind link.
Liam sat up fast on the couch, his eyes snapping to mine in the darkness. He had felt it too. It was a high-alert link, and it came straight from the border guard stationed at the edge of our territory.
"Alpha Leo! Alpha Liam! Alpha Leonard!" the guard’s voice echoed in our heads, sounding panicked and completely terrified. "We have a problem at the western border line! There are people here... no, not wolves. They are moving too fast. We are under attack!"