The Alpha's Fated Outcast: Rise Of The Moonsinger. - Chapter 280

Chapter 280: Hard decisions II
Lyla

His lips curved into a slow, wicked smile.

“Interesting,” he murmured, taking a step toward me.

I had just made a dangerous mistake. I had just revealed my hand.

The blood oath meant I couldn’t attack him – I was supposed to be submissive, bound to his will like a fool. If I were indeed under the oath’s power, I couldn’t have pushed him away or defied him at all.

I looked at Nathan and saw he knew I’d been faking my submission all along.

“So, you’ve been playing games, Lyla,” he said, straightening his shirt where I’d gripped it. “I suspected as much, but thank you for confirming it so… dramatically.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, and I’m sorry if I pushed you. You know how it is with my powers. I haven’t learnt mastery of it and…”

He threw a pocket knife to me, and instantly, I caught it. In my defense, it was coming directly to my face. What was I supposed to do?

Nathan nodded, satisfied. “And you’re fast, too. See how you caught the knife in milliseconds. Have you been training, Lyla? But you deceived me into thinking you were still a rookie.”

“You assumed, Nathan,” I said quietly. “It’s not my fault you thought I was still weak.”

He nodded. “So, did your mate teach you?”

“Mostly him and many other nice people,” I retorted. “But how did you know?” I asked, my mind racing to formulate an escape plan. I needed to know exactly how much he knew, how long he’d been onto me.

“The blood oath never took effect,” he replied. “I felt nothing when we performed the ritual, even though you put up a show.”

Heat rose to my neck as I tried not to remember how embarrassing I’d been that day. I had wriggled several times after we were done, pretended to have lost my memory of everything, and clung to Nathan. It was when he wondered if that was how I was supposed to behave, primarily since the other Alphas do not act that way with him… I had slowly pretended to get back my senses.

Thinking of it now, I made a complete fool out of myself.

“There should have been a connection, a binding. There was none,” he added.

“Then why pretend?” I demanded. “Why did you let me believe I was bound to you?”

He laughed coldly. “I wanted to see how far you’d go with the charade. How much information you’d gather while thinking you had the upper hand.” he gestured around the room. “And look where it’s led us. To the truth about who you really are.”

He pulled out a piece of paper that had seen better days and tossed it to me. It landed directly at my feet.

“That’s the original letter your father wrote. Sorry, I had to exchange it because he spent the better part of the letter telling you to avoid me and that I was the Dark One and a lot of accusations, and then he kept emphasizing on you trusting Ramsey and taking guidance from your mother. Annoying stuff…” he sighed.

I stared at the crumpled paper at my feet. I wanted to bend and pick it up, but I couldn’t take my eyes off the man staring at me. My mind was still working its way through the escape plan.

I stared at the door; it was locked. My eyes began to scan my room, looking for something I could use to fight him, at least.

“You know,” he continued, walking to the sofa and sitting on it. He selected an apple from the bowl there and bit into it. “You’re such a good actress. You endured three days of torture to convince me that you would not take the oath, you know, just like you discussed with your mother, put up a little fight…”

I tried to hide my surprise. I was sure no one had followed us to the clearing where Nanny and I had had the conversation.

“On the third day, you almost convinced me you were real. If you had stayed until the fourth day, I swear, I would have thought you really wanted to do your thing and no pressure.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Nathan, and I don’t care either. Just let me go,” I started walking towards the door, not before bending down to pick up the crumpled letter in front of me.

As I reached the door and tried to touch the handle, it disappeared completely. What was left was just a wall. I turned to him. I wanted to scream out my panic, but I still maintained my composure.

There’s no way Nathan would be able to do that. Werewolves were not magicians. The few of us that could do certain supernatural things were rare. Except…

I turned to face him; my heart was thudding violently in my chest.

“Y-you’re not Nathan…” I accused, pointing a finger at him.

He stared at me for a few seconds and then smiled. “Well…I can’t deny that either, you know. I am Nathan and something else…”

“Xander?” I scoffed in disbelief. “You’re Xander…”

“Yes!” he nodded, but I’m also Nathan. I’m sure he’s somewhere, here,” he pointed at his chest. “It’s not been easy keeping up with this charade for years. I even convinced his wolf that I was the real deal.”

I stared at him, trying to understand what was going on here.

“Don’t look so surprised, Lyla. I can’t believe you didn’t know, or maybe you choose not to…”

“You cannot be Nathan,” I interrupted him. I was too angry to be afraid at this point. “You came to me in the human world in your original form, Xander. Both you and Mr Dupree. Nathan was in prison back then; there’s no way you could have done that…”

He tapped his fingers together and then nodded. “Smart thinking, Lyla. I came to you in someone’s form, believe me. I only took advantage of the fact that you may have seen me before in your past life and saw that my face matched the one from Neriah’s time. But believe me, everyone sees me differently from you.”

I shook my head. “You’re not making sense.”

“How about we skip that part of my identity crisis and just concentrate on more important things? I’ve missed you, baby. Come sit with me for a while,” he tapped at the space on the sofa.

“Not until you explain how you’re, Nathan. I’m going to kill you anyway, so you might as well just tell me,” I said confidently, holding his gaze.

“I love that, Lyla, but you shouldn’t be so hasty. You’re the one who is trapped underneath this hell-hole where your powers cannot work. You may not have noticed, but this room is insulated, and you cannot show those singing powers here. That’s why they didn’t work on me a while ago.”

My heart was pounding so hard that I was scared it might jump out of my chest any moment.

“Tell me how you are, Nathan,” I repeated vehemently. “You more than anyone know patience is not my forte, and who told you I can only sing? You have no idea what I’m capable of.”

“Your wolf is dead, Lyla. I watched you kill her…”

I let out a dry laugh. “You think?” I smiled as I walked towards a cabinet in the room and picked up what seemed to be a decorative replica of an egg. “Haven’t you ever wondered if you played right into my trap? Why did I leave the letter on the dresser? Why did I return to Blue Ridge with you? I could have left since. Why haven’t you gotten any response from Ramsey? Why did Nanny refuse to coronate…” I trailed, allowing the words to sink into him.

“In the grand scheme of things, you taught me to manipulate, and I do it well. So, the earlier you start talking, the better we round off things here and go about our lives.”

“You still have your wolf?” he asked, his eyes darted to my chest, not before I saw a flash of panic in his eyes.

“Why would I kill my wolf just because I wanted to?” I scoffed.

“You cannot manage both powers at the same time. You will run mad. Assuming you had a normal wolf…”

“But here I am, standing. Do I look mad to you? Go ahead and tell me why, and when you become Nathan, I might go easy on you.”

He stared at me for the longest time before he sighed. “I needed a form…I still need a form because to control things and project them so well, I need to break the curse and be restored to my original form. I can only use mediums. The only reason why I have been in Nathan for so long is because of how dark his soul is…”

“How long ago are we talking about?” I asked.

“When he was 10,” he replied. “He had been so angry after his mother’s death. I was just up and about floating. You have been born. You were eight years old, and just like I mentioned, the birth of a Moonsinger means life for me. After I found you, I hung around your pack, waiting for the perfect medium…”