The Lycan King's Second Chance Mate: Rise of the Traitor's Daughter-Chapter 105: The Truth Behind Garrick

Natalie~

I couldn’t move.

I couldn’t breathe.

My entire world narrowed to the figure standing before me—the impossible reality of Jacob wearing the face of my long-lost friend. My fingers curled at my sides, my body trembling with something between shock and overwhelming relief.

Jasmine was the first to speak. "What’s happening? Why Is Jacob wearing another face and why do you and Zane look so shocked?"

I barely heard her. My voice came out in a whisper, shaky and unsure. "Jacob... were you... Garrick all along?"

Jacob—no, Garrick—grinned. "Guilty as charged."

My breath hitched.

Zane suddenly let out a sharp breath beside me. His body stiffened, and his arms remained crossed, but there was no anger—just a dawning realization that he had been completely and utterly played. His blue eyes flickered with something between disbelief and reluctant amusement as he looked at Jacob.

"You absolute scam artist," Zane said, his voice light but held real accusation.

Jacob blinked. "Excuse me?"

Zane’s nostrils flared. "You scammer! You tricked me into taking you—Garrick—to the hospital, wasted my damn money on all those medical bills, and now you’re telling me the whole thing, the sickness was fake? That I spent a fortune treating a fraud?"

Jacob let out a loud, boisterous laugh. "Oh, come on, Zane, don’t be so dramatic—"

"Dramatic?" Zane’s eye twitched. "I spent thousands on treatments for your pathetic, imaginary illness!"

Jacob smirked. "Correction: you knew my sickness wasn’t that serious. You just played along because you were looking for any excuse to keep Natalie by your side."

I turned to Zane so fast I nearly gave myself whiplash. "Wait... what?"

Zane stiffened. A faint pink dusted his sharp cheekbones. "That’s not true," he muttered.

Jacob waved him off. "Oh, please. Don’t lie to yourself. You saw Natalie caring for me—Garrick—and realized that you wanted to know more of her. Admit it, Zane. You just needed an excuse to keep her close."

Zane clenched his jaw. "I had a perfectly valid reason."

Jacob cocked an eyebrow. "Oh yeah? And what was that?"

Zane opened his mouth. Then closed it. Opened it again. Then let out a low growl.

Jacob smirked in victory.

Jasmine cackled in my head. "Ohhh, this is delicious. Do you see his face? He’s trying so hard not to combust from embarrassment! Damn, I missed a lot!"

I ignored them both and stepped forward, my hands shaking. I didn’t stop until I was right in front of Jacob. And then, without warning, I threw my arms around him.

Jacob stiffened for a moment before exhaling and wrapping his arms around me.

"I thought I lost you forever," I whispered. "And now... you’re telling me you were here all along."

Jacob’s grip on me tightened. "I never left, Nat."

I pulled away just enough to look him in the eyes. "But why, Jacob? Why did you pretend to be Garrick? And why did you disappear from the hospital?"

A shadow crossed Jacob’s face. His usual playful demeanor slipped, replaced with something heavier—something like guilt.

He hesitated. Then, finally, he spoke.

"Because of a mistake," he admitted. "A mistake our brothers and I made."

My stomach twisted. "What do you mean?"

Jacob sighed and ran a hand through his dark hair. "Natalie... when you were in the Silverfang pack, suffering under Darius’s rule, we thought... we thought Griffin would be your salvation. That once he realized what you had been through, he would become your light—your shield. We thought he would protect you."

My breath caught.

Right, Griffin was once my mate. I almost forgot.

Jasmine’s voice was eerily calm. "I don’t like hearing what that good for nothing pack and man did to you."

Jacob swallowed hard. "But everything fell apart. Instead of standing by you, Griffin turned his back on you. And then you were banished. You were alone. Again." His voice grew rough with emotion. "I followed you, you know? Even after you left. I watched over you. But no matter how much I wanted to help, I knew that revealing who I really was would only make things worse. So... I became someone else. Someone who could be there for you without interfering too much with your destiny."

Something in my chest twisted.

Jacob’s voice thickened. "I thought... if I couldn’t undo our mistakes, the least I could do was be your friend. To give you someone to rely on." He exhaled, then turned to Zane, who had been silent, listening with an intensity that made the air feel heavier. "And then I realized... it was never Griffin. It was Zane. It had always been Zane."

Zane’s eyes darkened, the weight of Jacob’s words sinking in.

Jacob pressed on. "That’s when I decided to be the bridge between you two. I started looking into Zane’s life. And that’s when I found out about Alexander."

Zane tensed instantly.

Jacob turned to me. "Natalie, Alex was suffering. He kept running away. And one day... he was taken."

I sucked in a sharp breath, the memories crashing into me. My baby. How much he had suffered.

Jacob nodded, as if reading my thoughts. "He was scared, lost, and alone. I was the one who saved him."

Zane’s breath hitched. "You—"

Jacob met his gaze head-on. "Yes. I saved him from those bastards."

My heart pounded as I pressed a hand against my chest.

Jacob’s voice softened. "And while I was with him, I told him about you, Natalie. I told him that there was someone—a fierce, kind, beautiful woman—who would protect him. Someone who would never let him feel alone again." His gaze held mine. "And then I led him to you."

The alley.

That night.

When I found Alex.

My throat tightened.

Jacob’s expression was a mix of guilt and quiet satisfaction. "I needed you and Zane to meet, Natalie. Because I knew that, together, you could heal each other."

Silence filled the room.

For a long moment, no one spoke.

Then I moved. Without thinking, I threw my arms around Jacob, this time holding on tighter, afraid he would slip away. "Thank you," I whispered, my voice trembling. "For watching over me. For watching over Alex."

Jacob exhaled, wrapping his arms around me just as tightly. "Always, little sister."

A presence shifted beside me. I turned. Zane was there. His face was unreadable, but his blue eyes—raw, vulnerable—held an emotion I had never seen before.

He looked at Jacob, and in a voice softer than I had ever heard, he said, "Thank you."

Jacob blinked. "For what?"

"For looking after Alex when I couldn’t."

A small, almost surprised smile played on Jacob’s lips. "Huh. Didn’t think I’d ever hear that from you."

Zane smirked. "Don’t get used to it."

Jacob chuckled, the tension breaking.

Then, from across the room, a hesitant voice spoke.

"We, uh... we should probably apologize too," Bubble muttered.

Eagle shifted awkwardly beside him, rubbing the back of his neck. "Yeah. We... may have meddled. A little."

Bubble shot him a look. "A little? We literally tried to control their love life."

Eagle sighed. "Okay, fine. We meddled—a lot." He turned to me and Zane, his expression earnest. "We thought we were helping. We thought we knew what was best for you two." He hesitated. "But we didn’t. And we’re sorry."

Bubble nodded. "Yeah. We just wanted to see you happy, but we should’ve let you figure things out on your own. We messed up."

I exchanged a glance with Zane. Then, shaking my head, I smiled. "You guys are idiots."

Bubble groaned. "Okay, we deserve that."

Zane smirked. "You deserve worse."

Eagle held up his hands. "We get it! We were wrong!"

I laughed, and after a moment, Zane did too. The tension that had been so thick moments ago finally began to dissolve.

Zane crossed his arms, giving them a mock-stern look. "Just don’t try to play matchmaker again."

Bubble grinned. "No promises."

Eagle elbowed him. "Dude."

I rolled my eyes. "You two are idiots."

Bubble winked. "We’re your idiots."

I sighed, shaking my head. "Unfortunately."

********

The room was still buzzing with Jacob’s confessions when he suddenly straightened, his playful smirk returning. His dark eyes flickered between me and Zane before he casually leaned back against the arm of a sofa, arms crossed.

"We’ll talk more about this later," Jacob announced, his voice carrying an unmistakable finality. "There are more things I’d like to reveal, but for now, we need to focus on the mission at hand."

Zane exhaled through his nose, his jaw tight. His eyes burned with a mixture of frustration and curiosity, but he gave a sharp nod. "Fine. What do you have in mind?"

Jacob’s lips curved into a slow, knowing smile—the kind that sent shivers down my spine. I had known him long enough to recognize that look. Whatever he was about to say next was going to be either brilliant or absolutely insane.

He straightened. "Tomorrow, there’s going to be a meeting at Silverfang."

The name of my former pack sent a cold jolt down my spine. My fingers clenched into fists at my sides as memories of pain and humiliation flooded back. But I forced myself to remain still, listening.

Jacob continued, his expression calm. "Guess who’s attending? Zane’s uncle, Nathan. And.... Dexter."

Zane’s head snapped up. "Dexter?" His face turned to me, "The same one you said sent people to kidnap Alex?"

I frowned, "Jacob, you already know who Dexter is?"

Jacob exhaled slowly, his gaze darkening. "That’s the problem. I tried looking into who he is, but..." He hesitated, and I saw something rare on him—uncertainty.

"But what?" I pressed.

Jacob rubbed the back of his neck. "His face keeps changing."

What?

Zane’s entire body tensed, his muscles coiling. "What the hell do you mean by that?"

I shook my head, trying to make sense of it. "You can’t find him? You? That doesn’t make any sense. People don’t just... change faces."

Jacob gave a humorless chuckle. "Mortals don’t."

A shiver ran down my spine. The implication in his words settled into my bones like ice. My voice came out quieter than I intended. "Are you saying... he’s not mortal?"

Jacob’s eyes locked onto mine, deadly serious. "No mortal can escape my sight, Natalie. Whoever this Dexter is, he isn’t human or wolf. And that means we’re dealing with something much bigger than we thought."

The seriousness in his tone and of his words sent a ripple of unease through the room.

Bubble let out a low whistle. "Well, shit."

Eagle muttered under his breath, rubbing his temples. "And here I thought things were finally calming down."

Zane’s expression hardened. "We need to find out who—or what—he is."

Jacob nodded. "That’s exactly why we’re going to Silverfang."

I inhaled sharply, my stomach twisting. "You mean... we’re infiltrating Silverfang?"

Jacob smirked. "Not as prisoners or fugitives, sweetheart. We’re going as invited members of the coup."

The room went deadly silent.

I blinked. "You want us to pretend we’re joining them?"

Jacob’s grin widened. "Exactly."

Bubble let out a nervous laugh. "That’s... not a terrible idea, actually."

Eagle groaned, shaking his head. "It’s a terrible idea. A brilliant one, but still terrible."

Zane spoke next, his voice quiet but firm. "You want us to walk into enemy territory and pretend to be on their side. If they suspect anything, we could be dead."

Jacob smirked. "Nothing can kill us." Zane rolled his eyes and sighed but didn’t reply.

Jasmine growled in approval. "Finally, some action. Let’s go and burn that place to the ground."

I smirked. "I like your thinking, Jasmine."

Jacob stepped forward, resting a hand on my shoulder. "Natalie, you and I will go in together. We’ll pose as allies and gain their trust. Once we’re inside, we gather intel and find out who this Dexter really is."

I hesitated. The thought of returning to Silverfang... to the place where I had been humiliated, marked against my will, and thrown away like I was nothing—made my blood boil. But at the same time, the idea of walking in as someone powerful, as someone who no longer cowered in fear, sent a thrill through me.

I lifted my chin. "Fine. Let’s do it."

Zane turned to me sharply. "Natalie—"

I met his gaze, my voice steady. "I’m not that scared, broken girl anymore, Zane. I refuse to let them have power over me."

His jaw ticked. "I don’t doubt that. But this isn’t just about you proving something. It’s dangerous."

I stepped closer to him, our faces inches apart. "I know. And I still want to do it."

Zane’s eyes searched mine, his frustration warring. He let out a low growl, then ran a hand through his hair. "I don’t even know why I keep trying."

I smirked.

Jacob, clearly enjoying himself, clapped his hands together. "Well, then! Looks like we have ourselves a plan."

Bubble snorted. "A very reckless plan."

Eagle smiled. "Too bad I’ll miss it."

Jacob grinned. "Oh, it’s gonna be fun."

Zane pinched the bridge of his nose, muttering something about regretting ever associating with us.

Jasmine purred in my mind. "I really like this plan. I especially like the part where we get to rip throats out if necessary."

I smirked." Let’s try not to make that our first option."