The Alpha Behind The Mask-Chapter 75: He Knew I Lied

​Aurora’s POV

​"I have been where you are, Aurora. I understand more than you think," Hailee said, her voice dropping to a comforting tone.

​She shifted closer, her eyes softening with the weight of her own history. "I loved more than one man once. The confusion, the guilt... it can make you feel like your heart is tearing in two. But deep down, I somehow knew Nathan was the one I wanted to spend my life with. It has been seventeen years now, and I have never regretted that decision for a single second."

​I looked at her, searching her face for the secret to that kind of certainty. "But how did you know?"

​"The heart doesn’t care about logic or classes, Aurora," she replied, reaching out to give my hand a comforting squeeze. "I may not know this other man you speak of, but you know them both better than anyone else. One might be a dream, and the other a reality, or perhaps they are both different parts of what you need. Follow your heart—not your fear. It’s the only compass that won’t lead you astray."

​She stood up, giving me a final, encouraging nod before slipping out of the room, leaving me in a silence that felt far too heavy.

​Follow my heart.

​I leaned back against the headboard, closing my eyes, but there was no peace. How could I choose? The two men in my life were impossible enigmas. Raymond was a man I should be thinking of how to kill—the monster who had shattered my world and left me with nothing but a thirst for vengeance. Every time I thought of him, I should feel hatred, yet I found myself aching for his touch, for the safety I felt in his dark, masked presence.

​And then there was Oliver. The Alpha King. A man so far above my league that even standing in the same room felt like a transgression. He was arrogant, demanding, and powerful—yet he had shielded me with his own body. He had looked death in the face and used his last breaths to tell me he loved me.

​"I’m a mess," I whispered to the empty room, pulling my knees to my chest.

​If I chose Oliver, I was choosing a life of targets and political wars, a life where I would always be the weakest link.

If I held on to my feelings for Raymond..Then I was falling for a killer. Not just any killer, but my parents’ killer... they would be so disappointed in me.

​A soft knock startled me. My breath hitched as I pulled the blanket tighter around my shoulders. Was it Oliver? I wasn’t ready to face those blue eyes again, not after the lie I’d just told him.

​"Who is it?" I called out, my voice trembling.

​The door creaked open, but it wasn’t the King who stepped inside. It was Alpha Oscar. He didn’t come in with the warmth his mother had; instead, he radiated a sharp, restless energy.

​I swallowed hard. "Alpha Oscar."

​"How are you feeling?" he asked. He didn’t wait for an answer as he moved across the room, leaning his broad frame against the wall and folding his arms over his chest. His eyes were like flint, sparking with a frustration he wasn’t trying to hide. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

​"Better," I managed to say. "The healers did a great job."

​He nodded slowly, but his gaze never left my face. "I know you don’t have a concussion, Aurora."

​The air in the room suddenly felt very thin. I opened my mouth to protest, but he cut me off with a sharp wave of his hand.

​"You remembered everything—the turbulence, the crash, the crew. You didn’t lose your memory," he said, sounding so certain about it. "I don’t know why you lied about it. Perhaps my brother said something to you that you didn’t want to accept?"

​Damn, he’s smart. I shouldn’t have been surprised; he was an Alpha, trained to read people, to spot the weakness in a story.

I tried to maintain my facade, blinking back tears. "I don’t know what you mean. The healers said—"

​"Forget the healers!" Oscar snapped, pushing off the wall. He began pacing at the foot of my bed, his movements tense and restless. "My brother likes you. No... let me say it better. My brother loves you. I believe he must have confessed those feelings to you right before the crash happened. Am I wrong?"

​I swallowed hard, my silence giving me away. I couldn’t look him in the eye.

"I knew it," he muttered.

His frustration spiked.

​"Why did you lie about not remembering it?" he demanded, his voice rising with an anger that made the glass of water on my nightstand rattle. "Why? You don’t want his love? You don’t want him?"

​"It’s not that," I whispered, but he wasn’t listening.

​"Listen to me," Oscar growled, stopping dead and staring me down. "Oliver has gone through more than you will ever understand. I’ve never seen him this open, this vulnerable, for anyone. I was the one who pushed him to finally tell you how he feels, and what are you doing? You’re throwing it back in his face with a fake concussion."

​He stepped closer, his shadow looming over me. "Why did you come into his life? Why did you make him fall for you if you weren’t going to catch him? Do you have any idea what you’re doing to him? If you don’t have feelings for him—if you’re just going to be the ’weak spot’ his enemies use to kill him—then leave. Get out of his life before you break what’s left of him."

​I felt frustration pushing through the guilt. "I never asked him to fall in love with me!" I snapped, my voice trembling as I sat up straighter. "I never asked for any of this! I just wanted to be his secretary. I wanted to do my job, get paid, and take care of my brother. I didn’t ask for the Alpha King to look at me, and I certainly didn’t ask for him to fall in love with me."

​Oscar didn’t flinch. He just stood there, his eyes cold and hard, watching the tears spill over my lashes. "Well, he has fallen for you," he said, his voice cold. "He’s fallen harder than I thought possible for a man like him. Now, what are you going to do about that?"

​"I don’t know!" I cried, clutching the sheets. "Don’t you get it? Every time I look at him, I see the man who can have anything he wants with a snap of his fingers. And then I look at myself—I have nothing. No wolf, no power, nothing but a list of enemies who would love to use me to get to him. If I say I remember, if I say I want him back, I’m signing my own death warrant. Or worse... I’m signing his."

​Oscar stepped closer until he stood right beside the bed. "You think you’re protecting him by lying? You’re not. You’re just hurting him more. He’s out there right now, blaming himself for the crash, blaming himself for your ’memory loss,’ and carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. He needs you, Aurora. Not a coward who hides behind a fake concussion because she’s afraid of her feelings."

​"I’m not a coward," I whispered, though I felt like one.

Oscar ran a frustrated hand through his hair before looking back at me.

​"Then prove it," Oscar challenged. "He’s in the study down the hall, trying to track down the people who tampered with the jet. Go to him. Tell him the truth. Or, like I said... leave."

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