As Luna Duskrend’s lies hung in the air between us, my mind started connecting dots I’d been too lilind to see before. All those videos of Karla being humilated, all the “evidence” of her supposed cruelty–how much of it had been orchestrated by the very people claiming to be victims?]
“You need to listen to me very carefully.” I said, my voice dropping to the deadly quiet tone that made most wolves back down immediately. “I don’t know how many people you’ve sent that video to, but I’ve already destroyed every copy I could find. If I ever–and I mean ever–discover that you or anyone else is using that footage to hurt Kaela again, I will personally make sure you regret it for the rest of your very short life,”
Luna Duskrend’s face went white, but I was already walking away, leaving her to process exactly what kind of enemy she’d just made []
Inside the house, the silence hit me like a physical blow.
For three years, this place had been alive with Kaela’s presence. No matter how late I came home from the medical center, she’d be waiting in the living room, usually with a hook or her laptop, but always ready to greet me with that hopeful smile
There was always food waiting–hot meals she’d prepared herself, even though she’d never been taught proper cooking by her adoptive family. She’d
arned from YouTube videos and trial and error, determined to take care of me the way she thought a proper mate should
I’d taken it all for granted. Worse, I’d resented it sometimes, seeing her devotion as clinginess rather than love.
Now the house felt like a tomb
Tlay in bed that night, staring at the ceiling and forcing myself to really think about the past three years. Every supposed “incident” that had painted Kaela as the villain, every piece of “evidence” that had convinced me she was tormenting Ophelia.
The auction photos–if Ophelia had just woken up, how could she have orchestrated something that elaborate? The estate fire–convenient timing, just when i was starting to question things. The women’s reformatory school that had supposedly driven Ophelia to attempt suicide–I’d never actually verified any of it [
I’d just believed what I wanted to believe. What fit the narrative I’d constructed in my head.]
The realization made me sick
I grabbed my phone and called my beta a assistant. “I need you to investigate something. Find out exactly where Kaela was when the Duskrend estate caught fire. And dig into this reformatory school story–I want to know if it actually happened or if we’ve all been played.“]
Sleep was impossible after that. I kept thinking about Karla’s face when I’d left her on that operating table, the way she’d looked at me in the coffee shup like I was a stranger!
Because maybe I was Maybe the man she’d loved for three years had never really existed.
The next morning desperate knucking at my door jolted me awake. For one wild moment, I thought it might be Kaela, that she’d come back to give me another chance to explain
Iran to the door barefoot, not even bothering with a shirt.[]
But it was Ophelia standing there, dressed to perfection and wearing that sickeningly sweet sunile I was starting to hate |]
What do you want?” The words came out harsher than I’d intended
Her face crumpled into that practiced expression of hurt innocence. “Soren, Theard there’s an unction today in the eastern district. The Grimweald jack will be there Maylar anaybe we could un in an opportunity to talk to Kaela? Clear up all these muunderstandings?“[
The mention of Karl’s name made every other thought disappear. Within ten minutes, I was dressed and heathing out the door with Ophelia in tow, my wolf practically clawing at my chest with the need to see my mate again []
The auction house was crowded with pack elite from across the territories. It didn’t take long to spot them–Kaela and that hybrid standing near the center of the room, surrounded by other high ranking wolves who were clearly paying their respects]
She looked… railiant. The way the carried herself, the confidence in her posture, the genuine smile on her face as she spoke to the pack leaders around her –this was a different woman than the broken girl I’d let behind []
Then I saw them. Dark marks on her throat, harely concealed by her hair. More along her collarbone, disappearing beneath the neckline of her dress
Possessive marks Claiming marks
Red flooded my vision.]
I was across the room before I could think, my hand closing around her arm with enough force to b
bruise
“What the hell are these?” I snarled, my fingers tracing the marks on her throat. “You’re supposed to be my mate, Kaola. How dare you let another male touch you like this?”
She jerked away from me like my touch burned, disgust clear on her face.
“Let go of me,” she said, voice deadly calm. “I’m bonded to Nikolai now. You have no claim on
But I could barely hear her over the roaring in my ears. Those marks–evidence that she’d given herself completely to someone else while I’d been going insane with missing her–felt like stakes through my heart
The hybrid had marked her. Thoroughly, Possessively.
And from the satisfied glow in her eyes, she’d enjoyed every second of it.]
I forced myself to take a deep breath, to remember why I was here. Kaela was angry, rightfully so, but once I explained everything, once she understood that I’d been manipulated too, she’d come home.
She had to
Because the alternative–that I’d lost her forever to a monster who could give her things I never had–was too unbearable to accept.
