The Alpha’s Fated Outcast: Rise Of The Moonsinger

Lyla

Ramsey stared at me for a few seconds. The news of Lenny finally waking up was certainly the last thing he was expecting to hear.

"A-Are you sure?" he asked with a whisper. "The healer said he wasn't responding to any treatment and we should prepare for the worst."

"Well," I shrugged, "Good thing you have me. I know how much Lenny means to you – sometimes I wonder if you love him more than me. Bottom line, I was able to heal him – it was a nasty poison, but I took care of it. He's fine and resting now."

He stared at me again as if his brain was still processing my words. "Lenny is… healed?"

"Yes," I confirmed again, still a tad surprised at what I'd done. "The poison is gone. He's resting now, but he'll make a full recovery."

For a moment, Ramsey didn't move or speak, and then he scoffed, lowering his head until it was almost touching my lap.

"I thought—" His voice broke. He ran a hand over his face, trying to hide the sudden wave of emotion that passed through him. "I thought I was going to lose him. The healers said there was nothing more they could do."

I reached for his hand and squeezed it gently. "He's going to be okay, Ramsey."

"You don't understand," he said, rising to his feet. "These past few days have been…"

He turned away, giving me his back. I could see his shoulders were tight with tension. I waited patiently, giving him the space to collect himself.

"I almost lost you both on the same day," he finally said, still facing away from me. "The two people I care about most in this world, and I couldn't protect either of you."

When he turned back, the controlled, powerful Lycan Leader was gone. In his place stood just Ramsey—vulnerable, exhausted, and fighting tears.

"I've been sitting beside his bed every night, when the healers go to rest, and after I leave your room too," he confessed. "I watched him getting weaker, Lyla, knowing it was my fault. That knife was meant for me. He took it; he was protecting me. I'm not such a great friend to him. We don't agree on so many things yet, but he willingly put himself in harm's way to save me."

A tear escaped, sliding down his cheek, and he made no move to wipe it away.noveldrama

"And you," he continued, his voice barely above a whisper. "When I saw Cassidy's knife in your chest... I've never felt so helpless. So fucking useless."

More tears followed the first, and he didn't try to hide them. I'd never seen Ramsey cry this way—not when he was wounded in battle, not when we lost warriors, not even when he spoke of his parents' deaths. He'd always maintained the strength our world needed.

"If you had died—if either of you had died—I wouldn't have forgiven myself." His words came out with a painful sound. "I'm supposed to protect the people I love, and I failed. Completely. Everyone was right, my grandfather, the people, Nathan, that fucking Dark One…"

"Don't, Ramsey," I tried to intervene.

"I am weak!" he sniffed back tears, laughing humorlessly. "I'm 28 years old, Lyla. I spent the better part of my life making the wrong decisions, fighting battles I simply could have avoided if I didn't let my damn emotions get into the way."

He ran his hand through his hair again. "My father was a better Lycan Leader. He kept our world at peace and made all the werewolves submissive under the rule of the White Moon Throne. No one dared cross him; his only flaw was his weird interests," he scoffed. "He preferred men. Constantly clashed with my grandfather, who wanted perfection…"

He shook his head as if to dispel the direction of his thoughts. "I don't blame you for anything, Lyla. I wouldn't want me for anyone, either."

I stood and walked to him, wrapping my arms around him. For a moment, he remained stiff, still fighting for control. Then he broke, pulling me against him and burying his face in my hair as his body shook with silent sobs.

"You are not a failure, Ramsey. You didn't fail," I whispered. "We're both still here. We're all still here."

His arms tightened around me. "When they told me about the poison, that there was no cure... I've never felt so powerless. I've been making war plans, giving orders, and pretending I knew what to do, but inside, I was falling apart. I couldn't save him. I couldn't save you. What kind of Lycan Leader does that make me? What kind of mate? What kind of friend?"

I pulled back just enough to look up at him, to place my hand on his tear-streaked face. "The kind who feels. The kind who cares so deeply it hurts. That's what makes you the Lycan Leader we all follow, Ramsey. That's what makes you the man I love."

He closed his eyes, leaning into my touch. "I was so afraid," he admitted in a whisper. "I'm still afraid. There's so much at stake now—you, our world, our packs. I can't lose any of you, especially to that evil…"

The vulnerability in his voice, the naked emotion on his face—this was a side of Ramsey few ever saw. The weight of leadership, the constant pressure to be strong for others, had built walls around his heart that only collapsed in moments like this.

"You won't lose us," I promised. "We're stronger together, remember? All of us."

"I'm scared…" he cried again. "What if we can't win? The war council suggested I storm into White Lake and capture Elder Thorne and his family. That would force their warriors to fight alongside ours. But I don't want that. We don't need more violence…"

I took a deep breath, trying to centre myself in the situation. "That's what we need now, Ramsey,"

He shook his head, but I clasped his hands like a vice.

"The only way we can end this is with more violence. We need every warrior we can get. We haven't even fought with Xander yet… this is just a piece of what's to come. You must do everything necessary to achieve what you want. That is the only way to protect me, to protect Lenny and all the people you love…"

"Fuck!" he groaned. "I hate this… I hate being like this…"

"I hate it more, baby, but you're better than me when it comes to decision making, and you must agree we're misfits… the Moon Goddess must have been drunk when she paired us together. We're a mess."

That drew laughter from him.

"Completely." He took a deep, shuddering breath, then pressed his forehead against mine. "Thank you," he whispered. "For saving Lenny. For saving yourself. For giving me hope when I thought it was gone."

We stood there for a long time, holding each other while his tears gradually subsided. I felt something change between us – a deepening of trust, an acknowledgement of the fears we both carried but rarely spoke aloud.

Still, I wasn't being truthful. Not completely. The truth is the last thing we needed now.

When he finally pulled away, wiping the last traces of tears from his face, I saw Ramsey returning, the man I had met at 19. The same one who would reject me every time we met. The same man whom I love so much, I couldn't take a breath without him. The same man, I will be leaving soon.

But I could also see the man beneath, the one who loved fiercely enough to break when that love was threatened.

"I should go see him," he said with a smile. "Come, let's go."

"He'll probably be asleep," I warned. "The healing made him drowsy."

"I just need to see for myself," he admitted. "To know it's real."

I laughed, understanding. "Then I don't need to be there, or I might get jealous and kill him again. Go. I'll go back to the pack house and wait for you."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," I nodded.

He kissed me gently, then straightened his shoulders and headed for the door. At the threshold, he paused and looked back.

"I love you," he said simply. "I love you so much, Lyla Woodland. More than I can ever express."

"I know," I replied with a smile, hoping the knot in my throat would not loosen and turn into tears. Was it the pregnancy hormones already? "I love you, too."

I managed to maintain the smile until the door closed behind him. I breathed with relief, placing my hand over my stomach, thinking of the child we'd created – a child who would not know its strong, determined Dad that others saw, but the deeply feeling man I'd just held in my arms.

Our child would have been lucky… sadly, we'll not be around for much longer.

A sob escaped my lips just before the tears fell, the door opened, and Ramsey entered.

"I forgot to go with my phone…" he started saying, then paused when he saw the tears in my eyes. In a flash, he was by my side. "What happened?"

The door opened again, this time, it was Caius, and from the way he rushed in despite maintaining a blank expression, I knew the five minutes of tears and peace had come to an end.

Until Xander dies, no one, especially me, would ever know what it means to be peaceful.