Chapter 2 Chapitre 2

The large room was filled with a serious whisper, a deaf rumble woven from the voices of men and women from far for this meeting. The air vibrated with authority and latent tensions, because it gathered several alphas in the same place was always a balance of balance. Both gauged others of the gaze, analyzing the strengths and weaknesses, defying without a word, while respecting this fragile truce which imposed on them to put away claws and fangs.

She was there, straight, serene, indifferent to the power games that were traced around her. She was not of their world, more for a long time. And yet, it had been called. His name was now circulating among them, no longer as an echo of the past, but as a necessity. His talent, his knowledge, his ability to save those whom even the donations of the Wolves-Garous could not heal, this is what was worth a place among them today.

She was standing on the outskirts of the room, watching, listening. Then a presence struck her, an invisible weight that fell on her before she even turned her head.

He was there.

He did not look at her yet, taken in the stormy exchange between two alphas, her right and insured posture. But she felt it. Like a current under his skin, a pressure in the air, something intangible that should have disappeared over time but which, against all logic, still existed.

She inspired slowly, controlled her breath. He was only one man among others in this room. Nothing more.

Finally, he turned.

Time did not hang. There was not the vertigo that lovers who find themselves after years of absence know. No. There was simply this look, this moment when their eyes met and when she saw, without the slightest ambiguity, that he did not expect him to discover.

He stared at her, and she saw something deeper than a simple surprise parade. A disorder. A misunderstanding.

She did not look away.

She did not flank.

And that's how he understood.

She was no longer the girl who had loved her, formerly.

There was a fraction of a second where she thought she saw her jaw contract, as if he was fighting against something he did not master. Then, as quickly as it came, he turned his head.

The murmur of the room resumed, the tension dissipated in the bustle of the discussions. However, something was broken in silence.

She had felt him.

And too.

The discussions around the table took an increasingly tense turn, but FL felt his own calm vacant. Each word exchanged, each furtive gaze she received seemed to be responsible for a charge that she could not ignore. He was there, just a few steps, his presence as disturbing as it is imposing. She knew that she had to keep her cool, that her skills as a doctor were what she was invited for, but each movement on her part revived the ashes of a past that she had carefully buried.

She clenched her fists under the table, leaving nothing to appear from the thunderstorm that rumbled in her. Then he spoke. His raucous and cold voice echoed in the air, slipping into the exchange. He had not forgotten. Nor her. Nor their past.

- We need someone we can trust, he says, his gaze lingering for a moment for too long on her. This situation is delicate, and I doubt that it can be resolved by simple treatments.

The other alphas nodded, but the way he had pronounced these words gave birth to a tension that she could not mask. Why this accent on "confidence"? Why this implication?

She straightened up in her seat, her eyes launching an icy shine.

- You seem to forget, Alpha, that my skills are what brought me here, not my links with you. There is nothing left between us, and I ask you not to forget it.

The answer was immediate, sharp, without detour.

- Nothing ? he said, a bitter smile stretching his lips. You are right. There is nothing left. But we both know that it is more complicated than that.

She struggled so as not to flank under the weight of these words, a painful memory dating back to the surface. But she did not give in. She turned to the other alphas, deliberately ignoring the warmth of her gaze.

The exchange continued, but the piece seemed to have been shrinking around them, as if everything surrounded them had become secondary. The voices of others were now too distant, and FL heard that this electric shiver between her and him.

Their words had become veiled daggers, and she knew he was still able to injure her as deeply as he had done in the past.

And in this tumult, something even more subtle was added to this tension: a smell.

A soft, almost imperceptible scent, like a wind carried by the wind. He couldn't help frowning. He could not have defined it, but this fragrance ... This warmth, this sweetness, was strangely familiar.

Her eyes laughed at her, as if he was looking for an answer that he did not yet understand. The smell had slipped into the air, invisible but persistent. It was like a trace, an imprint left over time, a memory of a bygone era that he could not grasp.

He scrutinized her, seeking in his gestures, in his posture, an explanation for this strange familiarity. But FL, without the slightest sign of destabilization, made a head movement, capturing the attention of another alpha. She deliberately avoided her gaze.

He remained frozen for a moment, observing, but did not find an answer. However, this smell persisted. A mystery that he could not have resolved that day, but which would continue to haunt him, following the shadow of his thoughts.