Too Late To Regret, My Alphas

Chapter 69: A Late Awakening

Rosalie:

Eiden suddenly tried to step away from me.

It wasn’t a dramatic movement. In fact, it was so small that I probably wouldn’t have noticed it under normal circumstances. But somehow, in this very moment, every part of me was hyperaware of him. The warmth of his body. The sound of his breathing. The steady beat of his heart. The comfort of his presence. So the second he tried to create distance between us, my body reacted before my mind could.

My fingers tightened around the front of his shirt and I pulled. The movement wasn’t forceful, yet it was enough. Eiden stopped immediately, and before either of us could process what was happening, the distance vanished completely. Our bodies collided softly, leaving no space between us.

I froze. Eiden froze. And for a long moment neither of us moved.

I could feel the heat radiating from him, feel the rise and fall of his chest against mine, feel my own pulse hammering wildly against my ribs. And then realization crashed into me. I had done that. I had grabbed him. I had pulled him back. I had been the one unwilling to let him go.

The moment that realization hit, horror followed immediately after. My fingers loosened and I prepared to release his shirt, but before I could do so, a low warning growl echoed through me. The sound wasn’t coming from outside. It wasn’t coming from Eiden. It came from somewhere deep inside me. My breath caught and my entire body locked up.

Then, before I could recover from the shock, I heard a voice. A real voice which felt familiar and unfamiliar all at once. A voice I hadn’t heard in four years.

Don’t let go.

The words echoed through me, clear as day. My eyes widened. My heart stopped. Then the voice came again, stronger this time, filled with certainty and possessiveness that left me completely speechless.

Claim him.

Our mate.

The world around me disappeared. For a moment, I forgot about Eiden completely. I forgot about where I was. I forgot about my embarrassment and the bond and everything else.

All I could focus on was the voice.

Her voice.

My wolf.

She was speaking to me. After four years of silence. After four years of believing she was weak. Broken. Defective. After four years of wondering why every other werewolf could feel their wolf while mine remained silent. After four years of being looked down upon and pitied and treated like something incomplete. She was finally here. She was real. She had always been real.

The realization shattered something inside me. My vision blurred. My throat tightened painfully and emotions surged through me so violently that I couldn’t contain them. Tears spilled down my cheeks before I even realized I was crying.

A warm thumb brushed beneath my eye, wiping away one of the tears. Then another. Slowly, my attention returned to the present and I found Eiden still standing in front of me. His blue eyes never left mine. There was no surprise in them. No confusion. No pity. Instead, there was something that looked suspiciously like relief. As though he had been waiting for this moment. As though he had known all along that this would happen.

The sight only made my tears fall harder. Not because I was sad, nor because I was hurt. But because nobody had ever looked at me this way before. Nobody had ever looked at my wolf and seen strength instead of weakness.

"You have a strong wolf."

His voice was soft, but every word reached me clearly. It was the same thing he had told me when we first met. The same thing I had refused to believe back then. The same thing I had laughed off. This time, however, I couldn’t dismiss it so easily. Not after hearing her voice. Not after feeling her presence.

Eiden smiled then, a small but genuine smile that made his entire face softer. "Congratulations, Rosa. You finally met her."

Fresh tears slipped down my cheeks. He didn’t tell me to calm down. Didn’t tell me everything would be alright. Instead, he gave me the one thing I needed most - validation.

"Sometimes, some wolves turns out to be extremely strong and unusual that they awaken later than normally. Though very rarely, they do happen." He explained. "You have been wrong all these years, Rosa. Your wolf isn’t weak, nor is she broken or defective. She is simply too strong. Too extraordinary. Too powerful for your body to handle her."

I listened to every word as though my life depended on it.

"Your wolf didn’t abandon you. She didn’t reject you. Instead, she has been protecting you. Waiting. Holding herself back." His thumb caressed my cheek softly as he revealed, "And she finally awakened the night you fell from the cliff to protect you. Because if she hadn’t stepped forward, you probably wouldn’t have survived."

The memory of that night flashed through my mind immediately. The darkness. The pain. The impossible survival. For the first time, it made sense.

Eiden gently cupped my face and tilted my head up until I had no choice but to meet his eyes. The warmth and certainty I found there made something ache deep inside my chest.

"I can feel how powerful your wolf is. So strong that your current body isn’t prepared for her. Strong enough that she is still holding herself back because she doesn’t want to harm you. And that is exactly why you need to train."

The words should have discouraged me. Instead, they did the opposite. For the first time in years, I had hope. Real hope. I had heard my wolf. I had felt her. I knew she was there.

And suddenly the thought of training didn’t sound difficult at all. If training meant hearing her voice again, if it meant never losing this connection, then I would do it.

Eiden finally released my face and raised an eyebrow, silently waiting for my answer.

I didn’t even need a second to think about it. I nodded immediately. Then nodded again. "I’ll train." My voice came out firm despite the tears still staining my cheeks. "I’ll do it." The relief that appeared in his eyes was immediate. Then he smiled and finally stepped back.

Except he didn’t really step away.

His hand found mine and before I could react, he pulled me along with him. A surprised sound escaped my lips as I stumbled forward, only to find myself wrapped securely in his arms. Warmth surrounded me instantly. Safe. Strong. Comforting.

My wolf stirred again at the contact, no longer demanding or restless. This time she felt content. Satisfied. I slowly rested my cheek against Eiden’s chest and listened to the steady rhythm of his heartbeat. For the first time in what felt like forever, the crushing loneliness that had haunted me for years eased. I wasn’t alone anymore. Neither was my wolf.

Then my gaze drifted to the side and immediately froze.

Zaiden was still there. He’s still sitting exactly where he had been the entire time. Still watching. Still witnessing every single thing that had just happened.

And judging by the unreadable look in his gray eyes, he hadn’t missed a thing.