Chapter 123: She Knows

LUCIAN’S POV

"So, that’s the woman you’ve been searching for all these years? And she’s your mate?" Lucas asked.

"That’s none of your business," I replied coldly.

Without waiting for his response, I turned and walked away, heading straight toward the parking area where the woman was waiting.

When I arrived, I found her standing beside my car, with my personal guard watching over her. She immediately straightened when she noticed me approaching.

"Alpha, can I leave now?" she asked.

"Not yet."

She frowned. "But I’ve already told you everything I know. What else do you want from me?"

"I still have questions."

She looked frustrated but said nothing. I turned toward my guard and instructed him to return to his duties before facing her again.

"You’re coming with me to my pack. There are certain things I need to confirm."

"Your pack?" She stared at me in disbelief. "Alpha, why is that necessary? Can’t you ask me whatever you want to know here?"

"No. We need somewhere private to talk."

She folded her arms, clearly displeased. "With all due respect, Alpha, I have work to do. I can’t simply abandon my duties because you have questions about something that happened four years ago."

"I’ll inform your supervisor that you’re with me. You won’t get into trouble for leaving your duties."

She studied me for a moment before letting out a frustrated sigh. "Fine. How are we getting there?"

"We’re not going by car. The journey to my pack would take almost an hour, and I don’t have the patience for that. I can teleport us directly to my study."

Her eyebrows rose in surprise. "You can teleport?"

"Yes. Come closer."

She hesitated briefly before approaching me. I placed a hand on her shoulder, concentrated on my destination, and teleported us directly into my study.

The moment we appeared, she stumbled and quickly grabbed the edge of my desk to steady herself.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, looking around in astonishment. "We’re already here?"

"Yes. Sit down."

She glanced around the study before lowering herself into one of the chairs opposite my desk. I walked around the desk and took my seat, studying her carefully.

For four years, I had sent trackers and investigators to different packs, searching for the woman who had saved my life. Despite their efforts, none of them had managed to identify her. Yet this woman had appeared out of nowhere, claiming to be the person I had spent years looking for.

Her account of that morning was convincing, but my wolf’s refusal to recognize her was something I couldn’t ignore. Fortunately, there was one detail about that incident I had never shared with anyone.

"There’s something else I need to ask you," I said.

She straightened. "I’m listening, Alpha."

"The woman who saved me that morning left something behind, right beside me. I want you to tell me what it was."

She frowned. "Left something behind? I’m sorry, Alpha, but I don’t understand."

"Think carefully. When you were in that forest four years ago, did you lose anything?"

She lowered her gaze, appearing to think. "I don’t know. That was four years ago."

"Then take your time and try to remember."

She remained silent for several seconds before speaking. "Well, I remember what I was wearing that day. I had on a casual blue gown and a pair of sandals. I also remember wearing small black earrings, but I don’t think I had any other jewelry on."

"Are you certain?"

She frowned. "I’m trying to remember, Alpha. It happened a long time ago."

"Then keep thinking."

She looked down at her hands, remaining quiet for a while. I watched her closely, paying attention to every change in her expression. I had deliberately avoided telling her what the missing object was. If she was truly the woman who had saved me, I wanted her to remember it herself.

Suddenly, she raised her head. "Wait! I think I remember something!"

"What?"

"A bracelet!" she exclaimed. "I lost my bracelet!"

My fingers tightened around the armrest, although I kept my expression unchanged.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes! I remember now!"

"Think carefully. Was it really a bracelet, or was it a necklace?"

She shook her head immediately. "No, Alpha. I don’t remember wearing a necklace that day. It was definitely a bracelet. Now that you’ve mentioned it, I remember that I never saw it again after returning from the forest."

"Why didn’t you mention it earlier?"

"Because I completely forgot about it! It was four years ago, Alpha. I didn’t even realize it might have fallen off in the forest until you asked me."

I studied her for a moment before speaking again.

"Describe the bracelet. Tell me its color, design, and anything that made it different from an ordinary bracelet."

She thought for a moment. "It was a silver bracelet. Not very thick, but not too thin either. It had a small, round pendant hanging from it, with a tiny blue stone in the middle. There was also a little engraving on the inside. You wouldn’t notice it unless you looked closely."

"What engraving?"

"A small crescent moon," she answered after a moment. "I’m certain about that because I used to wear it almost every day."

I stared at her, struggling to hide my surprise.

Every detail she had mentioned matched the bracelet I had kept hidden for four years.

But how was that possible?

Nobody knew about that bracelet. Not Lucas, not my guards, and not even the trackers and investigators I had sent to search for the woman who had saved me.

Four years ago, after regaining enough strength to move, I had discovered the bracelet lying on the ground beside me. I had picked it up, believing it belonged to the woman who had treated my wound, and I had kept it ever since.

During my search, I had deliberately kept the bracelet a secret. I wanted something that only the real woman would be able to identify if I ever found her.

And now, sitting across from me, was someone who had described it perfectly.

I slowly opened my desk drawer and reached inside. The bracelet was still there, wrapped carefully in a small piece of cloth. I removed it and placed it on my desk, keeping it concealed beneath the cloth.

"One last question," I said. "Where did you get that bracelet?"

She hesitated. "It was given to me a long time ago."

"By whom?"

"Someone very special to me."

"Who?"

She looked away. "I’d rather not talk about it, Alpha."

"Was it a man?"

She frowned. "Why does that matter?"

"Because I asked you a question. Who gave you the bracelet?"

She hesitated before finally answering. "My former mate."

I raised an eyebrow. "You had a mate?"

"Yes."

"What happened to him?"

Her expression hardened. "I don’t want to talk about it."

"We need to talk about it."

"Alpha, with all due respect, what happened between me and my former mate has nothing to do with the fact that I saved your life four years ago."

"It has everything to do with it. You claim your wolf was already sick when you found me, and now you’re telling me you had a mate before then. I need to understand what happened."

She looked displeased, but after a moment, she sighed.

"Fine. Since you insist on knowing, my mate died before I met you. We had been together for some time, and I loved him very much. Losing him was the most painful thing I’d ever experienced."

I remained silent, allowing her to continue.

"After his death, my wolf became withdrawn. At first, she refused to communicate with me. Then she stopped responding whenever I tried to shift. The healer said she was struggling with the loss of our mate and that the grief was affecting her strength."

"So that’s why you started taking suppressants?"

"Yes. Her condition kept getting worse, and the healer prescribed medication to keep her dormant while she recovered. I was already taking those suppressants when I found you in the forest."

She paused briefly before continuing.

"Unfortunately, she never recovered. Instead, she became weaker until I eventually lost my connection to her completely. I haven’t heard her voice or been able to shift for years."

I leaned back in my chair, considering her explanation.

"So your wolf was still mourning your first mate when you found me?"

"Yes. She had barely begun to recover from losing him. That’s why I couldn’t sense anything unusual about you that morning."

I studied her face carefully. "And you’re saying your mate died before you found me in the forest?"

"Yes, Alpha. He was already gone by then."

She suddenly frowned, as though something had just occurred to her.

"Wait a minute. You said earlier that the woman who saved you was your fated mate, didn’t you?"

"Yes."

She looked at me in confusion. "But I already had a mate, and he died before I met you. So, if you’re telling the truth and we really are mates, wouldn’t that mean you’re my second-chance mate?"

I didn’t answer immediately.

She continued, "Perhaps that’s why I couldn’t recognize you that morning. My wolf was still mourning her first mate, and the suppressants were keeping her dormant. I wouldn’t have known if the Moon Goddess had given me another mate."

Her explanation sounded reasonable. A wolf suffering from the loss of a mate could become weak, and suppressants could interfere with its ability to recognize another bond.

I looked at the bracelet lying beneath the cloth on my desk.

"Let me see that bracelet," she suddenly said. "If it’s really mine, I should be able to recognize it."

I studied her for a moment before slowly unfolding the cloth.

Her eyes widened immediately.

"That’s it!" she exclaimed, rising from her chair. "Alpha, that’s my bracelet!"

She reached toward it, but I quickly placed my hand over it.

"Sit down."

She stopped. "But Alpha, that’s the bracelet I was telling you about!"

"I heard you. Sit down."

She frowned but reluctantly returned to her chair.

I looked down at the bracelet before turning my attention back to her. There was no denying that she had described it perfectly, right down to the tiny crescent-moon engraving.

Until now, I had considered the possibility that someone had sent her to impersonate the woman who had saved me. Perhaps one of the trackers I had hired had been secretly working with her, feeding her information about my search.

That would explain how she knew about the forest, my injuries, and the herbs that had been used to treat me.

But the bracelet changed everything.

None of those trackers knew it existed. I had never mentioned it to them, shown it to anyone, or included it in any of my investigations.

So how the hell had she known about it?

And now she had provided another explanation for the missing mate bond. According to her, she had already lost her first mate before meeting me, and the grief had weakened her wolf so badly that she eventually lost her connection to it.

If she was telling the truth, then perhaps I really was her second-chance mate.

But why was my wolf still refusing to recognize her?

Well? I asked my wolf. What do you think about everything she just told us?

I still don’t recognize her as our mate, he replied.

Could it be because she’s lost her connection to her wolf?

That’s possible, but it doesn’t make sense. Even when a werewolf loses their wolf, the mate bond doesn’t simply disappear. I should still be able to recognize her human side.

I frowned. Then how do you explain everything she knows about that morning, especially the bracelet?

I don’t know, Lucian. That’s what confuses me, too. Everything she’s saying points to her being the woman who saved us, but I can’t feel any connection to her.

I leaned back in my chair, my confusion deepening. My wolf wasn’t dismissing the evidence, but neither could he explain why he felt nothing toward the woman sitting across from me.

I stared at the bracelet on my desk, struggling to make sense of everything.

My wolf had never been wrong about our mate before. Four years ago, despite the poison weakening my body and leaving me unable to open my eyes, he had recognized her presence immediately.

I had trusted him then, and I wanted to trust him now.

But what was I supposed to make of the evidence sitting right in front of me?

The woman had correctly described the forest, the herbs, what had happened that morning, and now the bracelet. She had even given me a possible reason why she hadn’t recognized our mate bond.

Yet my wolf continued to insist that she was lying.

And for the first time in four years, I found myself wondering whether the evidence before me was more reliable than my own wolf.