My Alphas' Dark Desires
Chapter 169: Didn’t Know...

Chapter 169: Didn’t Know...

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Chapter 170

~Valerie’s POV~

I tried to pull back from him but couldn’t. "Let go," I demanded. Still Xade didn’t let up.

Instead, he wrapped both arms around me, holding me firm against his chest as he whispered, "Shhh,."

Xade buried his face in my hair as his hold tightened. "It’s okay. Please don’t fight me, Val. Just... calm down."

I struggled once more but he didn’t budge. I did it again, twice and then sagged.

Xade’s scent, warmth and fragrance all unravlled me until the silence and then I broked. A soft, choked sob escaped my throat before I could stop it.

Xade pulled back just enough to meet my eyes. His fingers brushed my cheek, wiping the tears away with a tenderness I didn’t expect.

"Don’t do that," he said softly. "Don’t bottle it up."

I blinked up at him, heart still stinging when Xade eae kissed my eyelids. A simple, fragile press of lips that made everything still.

"Let’s go somewhere quiet," he whispered against my skin. "I’ll take care of you."

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~Axel’s POV~

Valerie’s voice still rang in my ears. "I want to know exactly how each of you got your blue eyes."

It should have annoyed me.

Another girl poking at sealed wounds. Another person trying to understand things they weren’t meant to. But it didn’t.

Instead, it all ached deeply.

Because she wasn’t asking for gossip. She wasn’t looking to collect pieces of me like puzzle parts to hold power.

She asked like she felt the edges of something sharp inside me—and wanted to dull it with her presence.

And gods help me... it worked.

Even as I stared at her, the glow of the nightflowers making her eyes brighter, softer—I felt the pang in my chest twist sharply.

Because I had forgotten.

Today.

Of all days

I had spent the whole damn morning smirking at Dristan and winning him during the practise Training march... until we lost. Spent the day stealing glances at Valerie, dodging Coach Rainer’s constant yelling on the field...

It was all good but it wasn’t until before detention that I I remembered what this date meant, as I stared at it on the board.

I swallowed when it struck me. All my attention had been fixed on Valerie that I completely forgot.

The others had sensed it and whispered behind me but I did not care. This was supposed to be a sacred day but I forgot.

And when she had asked me to accompany her, I just did not argue though i suspected somrthing at play.

And when she asked me about my family and then about our experiences, it felt liek she knew what it was and wanted to break me from it.

The sun dipped and her voice reached into the core of me when she apologized after I told her the most painful memory I had, after I lived all of that in my head.

It was like a brutal way to remember Sapphire.

In anger I had acted out and pushed Valerie away. Acer purred within me at my dismissal but I felt hurt to even want to call her back.

"She didn’t do it on purpose," he tied to explain.

"How sure are you?" I questioned Acer back.

"Because I felt her pain."

My heart skipped a beat at his comment. Had I overdone it? I shoved the thoughts away and I let another tear slip down my face as I lifted my gaze back to the Moon.

Xade didn’t say much as he led me through the back path behind the training fields, into a narrow corridor tucked between two unused dormitory buildings.

It was quiet here. A lone bench sat beneath the canopy of a drooping tree, its leaves still wet with dew even though the sun had set.

This was his hiding place. It felt like the kind of place that knew how to keep secrets.

He let me sit first, didn’t press, didn’t crowd. Just stood nearby, letting the silence wrap itself around us.

Then, softly, he said, "Forgive Axel. He doesn’t know what he’s doing."

I turned to look at him, brows raised. "No. I’m pretty sure he meant every word."

Xade let out a quiet sigh. "He didn’t." His voice dropped even lower. "Forgive me for eavesdropping... I wanted to talk to you, and I’d been following when I heard you two pass by. Then I heard... everything."

"Yeah... hmm." I tried to keep my voice even, but the shame had already started creeping in. My chest tightened, a familiar ache starting just behind my sternum.

Xade crouched beside me now, his eyes thoughtful as they met mine. "You may not have realised it, Valerie. Maybe you asked those things in good faith. Maybe you just wanted to connect with Axel... I get that."

"I didn’t mean to hurt him," I whispered. "I never did. I just... wanted to understand him. I wanted to get close to him. And maybe I was stupid in how I went about it but... I swear it wasn’t from a bad place."

"I know." He nodded gently. "I believe you. I do. But it also means that you didn’t know."

I frowned, confused. "Know what?"

Xade looked away, the weight of his words already clear in the tightness of his jaw. "That today, October 14th, is the day Axel lost his childhood sweetheart. Her name was Sapphire."

The air left my lungs all at once. My mouth went dry. "What...?"

"She was murdered today," Xade said, voice heavy with the kind of sorrow that belonged to shared grief.

His words thudded through my mind, one after the other like drops of rain striking a hollow drum. I remembered the haunted look in Axel’s eyes, the strain in his voice, the silence after my question. Oh god.

I had done that.

"I didn’t know," I said, voice breaking at the edges.

Tears slipped down my cheeks before I could stop them. I hated that I was crying again, hated that I was making this about me, but guilt had sharp claws, and it had sunk deep.

"I’m sorry," I croaked.