The Alpha Assassin novel Chapter 50

Neither Nolan nor I said anything until he was gone. Once he seemed to turn toward Alpha Raymond's office in the older wing, I felt I could possibly maybe find my senses again.

Nolan’s eyes were still wide, but they were focused on me. “What?” he breathed.

“Did you not feel that?” I asked. 

He shook his head slowly, but his brows tugged together over pursed lips. “I mean, it felt a bit off, I guess, but…”

But nothing like the suffocating skin-crawling power I felt. 

“I’ve seen that man before, but he didn’t have those tattoos,” he added.

“Those weren’t tattoos.” I shook my head, but I didn’t have an explanation for them. 

“He’s probably just here to pay his condolences, and he will be gone,” Nolan explained. Again, it struck me that he was the one trying to comfort me after his brother's funerals that were my doing.

We stayed staring at each other for a minute before I brushed back through the curtain, now seeming a bit foolish for my insane reaction. Nolan must think I was actually insane. 

But I still hoped he feared me for it instead of pitying me. I wasn’t entirely sure of his position, and he had the power of the truth about me he could wield whenever he wanted. 

“Nolan?” I asked as we walked back toward the door. 

“Hm?”

“Why haven’t you told them?” I asked. 

The same question I asked Ezra what felt like years ago now, but I was betting the answer would be a lot different. 

“Do you think they would believe me if I had?” he asked.

I shrugged. I had absolutely no idea. 

Nolan walked me up to my floor and paused. “I don’t know which one is yours,” he admitted, so I led him to my room. 

He paused outside; a thousand questions seemed to flicker across his face. “I know you’re probably not permitted at the feast, but I’ll let you know if that man is staying and if he’s around tomorrow,” he said.

“Thank you,” I replied with complete sincerity, reaching out to brush his shoulder. Something I didn’t intend to do. 

“Should I send someone to guard your door?” he asked but shook his head as if he remembered I didn’t need it. “Habit, I guess,” he explained. “But if it would make you feel better…?”

“I’m okay.” I smiled at him, genuinely surprising myself. “Thanks,” I replied, but it was quiet. His humanity his genuine response melted me.

______

I paced around my room, going through what I had just seen and what it could mean, the challenge, the other Alphas, and how they looked today. Aksala and I went through everything, debating back and forth and analyzing what might be and the outcomes.

A soft rapt at the window drew our attention; the sky outside showed me it was late afternoon as I went to the window. 

Ezra’s formidable figure was somehow hunched on the small ledge. My heart accelerated as I fumbled with the latch before I managed to pull it open.

I pulled the window back, stopping it before it crashed against the stone wall. Ezra jumped in with feline grace. A loose tendril of dark brown hair fell forward, and I wanted to touch it, to brush it back. But he stood and tucked it back into his bun, and somehow I composed myself. 

“What a gentleman,” I snorted, crossing my arms. “Finally learned to knock?” 

Not that I wanted to die during it, but I had so many things to consider that after the challenge, after the death, the deaths of those I had been coveting for so long seemed insignificant at best. Trivial perhaps. I didn’t want to waste time on it. 

He looked back at the fire. The every-so-slight tug down on his lips made me reconsider.

“Any suggestions?” I asked him.

“No. Just curious.” He swallowed. “What of Miles? “Same end?” he asked.

I nodded. I wanted answers from him. He was like a second father to me; he was my uncle, and I mourned him with the rest. That betrayal was personal. It cut deep. I needed to know why, even though no explanation would make me feel better or would save him. 

“I’ll help in any way I can,” Ezra promised, and I shook off that anger and tucked it away with the rest, but it was red hot, and the wound festered. 

“What did Miles want from you?” I asked him, half forgetting that Miles was the one who had hired Ezra in the first place. 

“He was just checking in. I told him what I found… or didn’t find. The deaths stopped when I came besides the trial, of course. But that was due to the other brothers.” 

“What is it you aren’t telling me?” I asked. 

“He wanted me to change my task while I was here,” he added. He grasped his hands together and shifted in his seat, glancing at me and then back at the fire.

“Stop doing that,” I spat. His antics were unnerving. “Just tell me, what does he want?

Ezra thankfully stilled and looked at me with his too-penetrating eyes.

“He wants you dead.”