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Lahat ng Kabanata ng Fighting For The Alpha's Mark: Kabanata 111 - Kabanata 120

134 Kabanata

110

SavannahThe nasty cramp twisting through my lower back made it impossible to sleep, so I gave up trying. The sheets were damp. I shoved the blanket off, stood slowly, and pressed my palm into the curve of my spine.My body felt tight, like the walls were closing in, and lying there pretending to rest was starting to feel like punishment.Also, my brain wouldn’t shut up. Everything from Sasha’s silence to Xavier’s forced optimism was piling up like wet laundry, and I was sick of breathing in other people’s expectations.I pulled on one of Xavier’s sweatshirts he'd forgotten in my room. It was oversized on me, but carried his scent.The soft snores of the boys filled their room as I crept past their door.The front door of our wing creaked when I cracked it open. I stopped to listen for movement. Nothing. The guards never came this far in unless summoned.I didn't have to fear, though. Cameras and patrols walked like ghosts. But I needed air more than I needed privacy, and if someone s

111

SavannahI had the phone pressed between my ear and shoulder while folding the boys’ laundry.“I’m not saying she tried to freeze me out,” I muttered into the phone, “but she definitely had the temperature set at minus five.”“Savannah,” Eve groaned on the other end, dragging my name out like it annoyed her just to hear me talk around it, “I said tell me what happened, not give me the weather report. I want tea. Spill it.”I snorted. “You don’t want this tea. It’s cold and bitter. Like it’s been left out overnight.”Eve didn’t miss a beat. “Perfect. That’s the best kind.”I sighed and sat on the edge of the bed. “It wasn’t like she said anything directly. Sasha’s too calculated for that. But the nurse’s eyes were trained on me like I had criminal tendencies, and she kept calling me the other twin, like I didn’t come with a name. Sasha didn’t even correct her.”“She’s trying to make you look small,” Eve said. “Classic.”“Maybe. Or maybe she’s just... scared,” I said.Eve scoffed. “Scar

112

XavierPolitics and barely concealed ambition hung in the air like incense that had long burned out. I adjusted the cuff of my coat and took my seat on the elevated Alpha dais.The High Arbiter struck the gavel. Everyone rose. His voice rang out in that formal, unnecessarily pompous tone: “Let the council acknowledge the Regional Alpha.”They all bowed slightly—some with more stiffness than others. I nodded.Bigger title, same old problems.The proceedings began immediately. Two minor Alphas were brought forward. They had a territory dispute—something about a mine near their shared border. The conflict had been dragging on for over a decade, passed down from the previous generation. One of them had a map that looked like it had been hidden under a floorboard for years. The other carried digital projections and receipts like we were in a courtroom on Wall Street. Every word they spat felt personal. Every piece of "evidence" came laced with insults.I listened and even tried to mediate—

113

SavannahI stood outside Sasha's wing for maybe five full minutes before knocking. My palms were sweaty, and I wiped them on my thighs.Everything in this part of the estate had that sterile, too-perfect feel. Sasha’s nurse opened the door. She had a biscuit halfway to her mouth, and for a split second, we both froze. Then she dropped the snack like it had burned her. Then she straightened, cleared her throat, and smoothed down her blouse like I had come for a health inspection.“I want to see Sasha.”She looked me up and down, then tried to smile.“I’ll check if she wants to see you,” she said, dragging her words a little, like she already knew the answer and just wanted me to stew in it. She turned and walked off.I sat down on the guest chair by the door, the one that screamed we don’t want you here but we’re being polite. I crossed my legs, uncrossed them, checked my phone, locked it again. A TV was playing faintly from a far room. The nurse passed once or twice again and didn't m

114

SavannahI didn’t realize I was holding my breath until I reached the edge of the stairs. The wind had picked up. It moved through the hedges and curled dust along the path. My chest felt cracked open, not the clean kind of break, but the aching, splintered kind that sits in your ribs.I walked faster, needing to get out of her wing. Xavier stepped out from my side of the house. He looked exhausted.“I told you not to go to her, didn’t I?”He spoke like he’d caught me smoking behind the school shed or climbing something I wasn’t meant to touch. And I was already pushing past him before he could ask.“Hey, hey—what happened?” He caught my arm, his voice softer now.I shook my head, but I couldn’t stop the tears this time. They slid down without warning—hot and stupid—and I hated that I was doing this out here, in the open, where anyone could see. I pulled back, glancing toward her window. “Please don’t hold me. She might be watching.”He glanced in the same direction. “She’s always wat

115

Xavier“Warn your whore. If she breathes near me again, I will end her myself. With these hands.”Sasha hissed, waving her hands. “And you? You can rot with her.”I leaned on the doorframe, trying to stay calm. Sasha’s voice hit a pitch that could snap bone. I wasn’t even in the mood to argue tonight, but clearly, she was.“She’s your twin.”“She’s not my anything. I didn’t crawl out of the same womb as that snake. You think blood makes her family? That thing slithered in here to ruin me. Stole everything. You. My home. My child’s peace.”Adelaide’s cartoon was playing in the background. I caught her reflection on the polished glass by the hallway. She was too close.I snapped my fingers toward the nearest maid. “Take Addy upstairs. Now.”The girl obeyed quickly. Sasha saw the motion and let out a mean laugh, like I’d just proved her point.“Oh, so now I’m the monster? Of course. You’re already protecting that urchin. You did the moment she opened those cursed legs.”I should have tur

116

SavannahI had been watching from the window long before they rang the bell. The physiotherapy team rolled in, wearing pressed uniforms. They always came in groups. I watched them unload the gear and found myself hoping this time it would stick.Maybe if Sasha started walking again, she'd stop throwing emotional grenades at me. Maybe half the bitterness had been hiding in her wheelchair all along.But I didn’t believe that. You can’t blame steel and rubber for a bitter heart.Through the glass, I spotted my mother pacing in Sasha’s wing. My dad was with me, scrolling on his phone, too focused to notice that his left thumb was twitching as he typed. He kept glancing toward Sasha’s corridor like he was expecting an alarm to go off.I leaned on the wall next to him. He didn’t look up.“Are you texting your soulmate?”He blinked and pulled his phone closer to his chest, like I was trying to snatch it. “Ha ha. Funny.”“Mmhmm.” I rocked back on my heels. “So... are we pretending again, or i

117

SavannahI woke up with my stomach doing slow backflips, the kind that didn’t even give me time to reach the toilet. My hands gripped the cold ceramic like I was holding on to shore. I breathed through the nausea. Nothing about this pregnancy felt manageable.Something fried drifted in from the hallway. Eggs or toast, probably. I gagged.“Jermaine, can you get me some cold water, please?”He came running, wide-eyed and shirtless, holding a plastic bottle with a bite mark on the cap. Jace was right behind him.“Is the baby sick too?” Jermaine asked, trying to make sense of adult problems.“No,” I said, pausing to take a sip. “Just me. I’ll be okay.”“Daddy will fix it.”The way he said it—so sure, like Xavier was some walking solution kit—made me smile.I leaned on the counter and wiped the back of my hand over my mouth.A month ago, they didn’t even know who their father was. Now they believed in him more than cartoons.My phone buzzed. I didn’t have the strength to guess who it was,

118

SavannahIt was freezing. Not from the weather, just the kind of cold that gets under your skin when your nerves won’t sit still. I wrapped my coat tighter. Morning sickness, stress, rage all churned together like sour milk in my throat.Today was supposed to feel good. Payback. Closure. Whatever. Claire was finally in custody, locked in a holding cell under Alpha court authority. That was the only reason it happened this fast—she had messed with two Alpha houses. Xavier and Ethan. Even the council didn’t blink when she was arrested. When you frame an Alpha, especially for a scandal that risks inter-pack stability, you're not getting a slap on the wrist. You're getting a cell, and your trial happens before the ink on the complaint even dries.Still, I couldn’t stop shaking.One of Xavier’s men was driving us. Eve sat beside me, tapping something into her phone.“I swear,” Eve muttered, “If they let me get five minutes in that room, I’m giving that witch the kind of slap that rewires

119

SavannahTwo days later, Xavier handed me the clinic referral, slipping it across the breakfast table.“You should register here. It’s closer. New facility. Less waiting.”I didn’t argue. I was too tired. The pregnancy had gotten louder. The nausea came in unpredictable waves, and the smell of eggs now made me feel homicidal. I told him I’d go that day, and he nodded.The clinic was quiet when I first walked in. The doctor introduced himself as Dr. Aris Thorne—the kind of man who didn’t need to smile too much because his voice was already soft enough to put people at ease.Early thirties, handsome, and those intelligent eyes that flicked up whenever I paused, like he was measuring more than just symptoms.He asked the right questions. Didn’t interrupt. Didn’t flinch when I said “complicated pregnancy,” and didn’t blink twice at my last name. When I told him Xavier was the father, he nodded and moved on.I liked that.I didn’t mean to start trusting him. But the follow-up appointments

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