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21| LENORA

Author: Purpah
last update Last Updated: 2025-02-19 20:46:33

I replayed my interaction with Elijah more times than was probably decent.

It was easy to lose myself in the coziness of the café—the quiet hum of conversation, the rich aroma of coffee, the illusion of a temporary escape. But as more people filtered in—groggy students rushing for their morning caffeine fix, their chatter growing louder—the peaceful atmosphere dissolved. Taking it as my cue to leave, I finished the last sip of my drink and gathered my things.

After exchanging polite greetings with a few students who recognized me, I stepped outside and began the short walk to campus. The crisp morning air helped clear my head, but my thoughts remained tangled in the memory of that fleeting moment with Elijah.

Just as I reached the manicured campus grounds, my phone buzzed with an email from the Head of my Department, summoning the faculty for an impromptu meeting before classes began.

With a sigh, I changed course toward the faculty lounge, already bracing myself for what awaited
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  • ALPHA PRINCE’S FORBIDDEN DESIRE   101| LENORA

    Four days after I asked him to help with Marcus, an envelope arrived in the mail, thick and weighty, sealed in gold foil with Victor’s personal crest. Inside was an invitation with specific instructions—alarmingly specific. It listed the exact time I was to head downstairs to prepare, the exact boutique I’d be driven to, and the exact expectations for my behavior once I arrived at the event.There were no explanations. Just commands dressed up in cursive calligraphy.Much like the night he invited me to dinner, Victor sent a sleek black car to collect me. This time, it took me to a high-end boutique nestled into the heart of the city. The moment I stepped in, I was no longer a person. I was an image to be crafted.The dress they chose for me was pale pink, delicate as crushed rose petals, threaded with soft pearls and thin silk that clung to my skin. My hair was pulled into an elegant updo, a few strands curled and left to frame my face. They dabbed only a little makeup on me, mostly

  • ALPHA PRINCE’S FORBIDDEN DESIRE   100| LENORA

    For a long moment, Victor didn’t say anything. He just stared at me in that unnerving way—like he was peeling back my skin to see what was twitching beneath. I expected him to say no. To laugh in my face. To punish me for making demands.But instead, he reached under his desk and pressed a button. A faint beep answered, followed by Izaak’s flat, ever-present voice crackling through the speaker.“Alpha?”“Prepare the girl,” Victor said simply, then released the button.That was it.I parted my lips, then slammed them shut. I shouldn’t have to say thank you. This wasn’t a favor. This was an exchange—him giving me something I should’ve gotten a long time ago.I just stood there, heart hammering, the edges of my fingers prickling with static. Either way, it was done. He was giving me this—for whatever reason, on whatever twisted impulse—but I would take it. I would take it and hold it tight, because this might be all I’d ever get.Victor rose from behind his desk and smoothed out his suit

  • ALPHA PRINCE’S FORBIDDEN DESIRE   99| LENORA

    I got up eventually, my muscles ached and my bones screamed in protest as I uncurled from the position I’d been bent in for what could have been hours, but it was my heart that began to scream and ache as I stared at the note place tentatively on my coffee table. It looked so normal and felt normal as I picked it up, but for whatever reason, the note seemed to a weigh a million pounds as I picked it up and stared at it. Just ten digits. Curved in soft, hopeful handwriting.I stared at it for a long time, the lines swimming as my vision swam in and out of focus. Then I folded it carefully. Once. Twice. Slid it into the drawer with my old chargers and snapped pen caps—the graveyard of things I didn’t use but couldn’t throw away.It didn’t mean anything. It didn’t.But still, I didn’t tear it.It was more grace than I likely should ever give my mother, but I couldn’t get the image of the heartbreak that flashed across her face at my words. The sincerity in her voice as she left her num

  • ALPHA PRINCE’S FORBIDDEN DESIRE   98| LENORA

    “Tea or coffee?” I asked the woman seated on my couch.She looked up at me, her blue eyes full and sharp at once, and replied, “Coffee.”That was a surprise—my mother never drank coffee—but I made it without a word. Two cubes of sugar, like she used to prefer, a little milk, then I set it on a coaster and brought it to her.She nodded with a muttered, “Thank you,” and took a long sip. I just stood across from her and stared.She looked much older than the last time I saw her. Her hair was longer and more unkempt, though pinned back into one of her typically severe buns. There were more wrinkles on her once-ageless face. Her lips were pulled down in a permanent frown, her posture more slumped. Her hair was grayer. She looked tired—more fragile than I’d ever seen her.Maybe another child would feel their heart ache a little, seeing their parent like this. But I was just trying to figure out how she had found me—and, more importantly, who she might have led here.I kept waiting, tense, c

  • ALPHA PRINCE’S FORBIDDEN DESIRE   97| LENORA

    When I was sixteen, I made the mistake of trying to carve out a path for myself.One of the routes I took involved working toward my PhD and falling for a man—or rather, a boy. He was only two years older than me, with sandy blonde hair, freckles, and the kindest smile I’d ever seen. He treated me better than anyone ever had.All my life, I’d been told I was destined for someone else—the son of the Alpha. But why? Why was I supposed to bind myself to someone I didn’t even love? Someone who didn’t love me either? Someone who wasn’t even my mate?So, for a little while, I decided to defy that destiny. That was how I ended up with my first boyfriend.He was the son of the pack doctor. We met at school shortly after my sixteenth birthday. Unlike everyone else, he didn’t shrink away from me, cowed by my title or the weight of what I was. He saw me eating alone one day and approached with the brightest smile. He introduced himself and waited for me to do the same—something I’d rarely done,

  • ALPHA PRINCE’S FORBIDDEN DESIRE   96| ELIJAH

    The garden smelled like lavender and fresh earth.I was small again—maybe seven or eight—kneeling in the flower beds beside Mum. The sun hung low and golden, spilling warmth across the hedges and blooming petals. Bees buzzed lazily in the distance, and windchimes clinked from the porch like tiny bells. I could hear the steady snip of her garden shears, rhythmic and familiar, like a lullaby wrapped in sound.She wore her straw hat, the one with the frayed brim and blue ribbon I used to tug when I wanted her attention. Dirt streaked her forearms, her fingernails packed with soil, but she looked radiant—like the sunlight itself loved her.“There we go,” she said softly, reaching down to pat my back. “Your hands are gentle. That’s why the flowers like you.”I grinned, my heart blooming with pride. “I wanna help every day.”She glanced sideways, her eyes warm. “I’d love that. Maybe you can teach your sister how to do this.”I giggled, still elated at the thought of having a little sibling.

  • ALPHA PRINCE’S FORBIDDEN DESIRE   95| LENORA

    Elijah hadn’t shown up to class. Again.At first, I tried to tell myself it wasn’t anything new. He skipped sometimes—especially when things got bad at home. I didn’t expect him to come back right after being punished for goddess knew how long. But that realisation did nothing to settle my erratic thoughts, all it did was breed more worry. What if he was actually hurt and weak and unable to come to class because of that, what if he wasn’t even released from Victor’s clutches yet. The worry had bloomed into something tighter—something close to panic.It’s been days. Nearly a week since I saw him last. I dismissed the class and gathered my things slowly, lingering at the front as the students trickled out.Then I saw him—Luka—headed toward the door, his hoodie half-zipped, a satchel slung over one shoulder. He didn’t look at me as he passed by the lectern, and his steps were clipped, his shoulders rigid. He always lingered when Elijah was around. Now he seemed like he couldn’t get ou

  • ALPHA PRINCE’S FORBIDDEN DESIRE   94| ELIJAH

    I didn’t even remember walking through the door.One minute I was in hell—my father’s brand of it, brutal and endless—and the next, I was here. In the apartment I used to share with Luka. Still technically shared with him, I guessed. His hoodies still hung on the hooks by the door. There was a toothbrush by the sink, an unopened energy drink on the counter. Signs of life. His life. But not mine.I locked the door behind me and didn’t leave again.The curtains stayed drawn. The lights stayed off. Time bled out around me, thick and directionless. The world outside stopped existing. I moved through the apartment like something dead but too stubborn to rot all the way through. I wasn’t thinking. I wasn’t even feeling. I just… existed. Barely.My back throbbed with every breath. The skin was raw, tight, like it had been stitched together too quickly. Every time I shifted, it pulled and burned. I hadn’t changed out of the shirt I threw on that first night—it clung to me now, damp with old s

  • ALPHA PRINCE’S FORBIDDEN DESIRE   93| LENORA

    The cup was cold in my hands. I raised it slowly, and the smell hit me first—rotten fruit and metal and something sharp that made my nose sting. My stomach turned. I closed my eyes, braced myself, and drank. The moment it touched my tongue, I gagged. It burned going down, thick and syrupy, like swallowing hot tar. My throat seized, and I doubled over slightly, coughing as my stomach twisted in revolt. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand, breathing hard. My eyes watered. Adora didn’t blink. She just watched me like a scientist observing a test subject. Victor chuckled weakly from the bed. “Such dramatics. You’d think she was being poisoned.” Wasn’t I? My limbs felt heavier now. My thoughts slower, dulled at the edges. But I knew the next part. I’d done this before. Too many times. So I stepped forward, finally, my feet dragging like I was wading through water. My hands were shaking again—but this time, it wasn’t just fear. It was power, building beneath my skin in

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