Chapter 5: The Devil’s thought.

POV: LUCIAN

The door clicked shut behind her, and I stood frozen right there in the middle of my room like some idiot who had forgotten how to move.

Her scent still filled the air. Warm and complex, wrapping around me in a way that made my wolf sit up and snarl for more. I did not breathe for a long second. My jaw locked tight. My hands curled into fists so hard the knuckles ached.

Seven fucking years. Seven years since anything hit me this hard.

she smelt.. not like Lysandra. Not exactly the same. But close enough to tear open every scar I had stitched shut with pure rage and stubborn will.

I could still picture Nyx standing there in that scrap of ivory lingerie. Shoulders back, chin up, refusing to shrink even an inch. Those full curves and breasts on full display, skin flushed hot, eyes locked on mine with fear flickering behind the cold wall she tried to hide behind. She looked ready to fight the whole damn world rather than apologize for existing.

My wolf lunged hard toward the door. Wanting to track her scent down the hall. Wanting her. The pull felt sharp and specific, nothing like the cold plan I had laid out. I slammed it back down with every bit of Alpha control I had forged since I was seventeen.

"Enough," I growled under my breath.

The word came out rough. More animal than man. I hated the sound of it.

I crossed the room and dropped into the chair at my desk. Her file waited there. Thin black folder with her name printed neat on the tab.

Nyx.

I flipped it open. Stared at the first page without really seeing the words.

She smelled like courage wrapped tight around terror. The exact way Lysandra used to mask her fear behind steel and quiet strength. Same tilt of the chin. Same refusal to break even when everything around her was already shattered.

And my body had cataloged every damn detail before my brain could stop it. The way that lingerie clung to her. The soft rise of her breasts with every careful breath. The small cut on her lower lip that made something dark and hungry twist low in my gut.

I slammed the file shut.

She killed the woman you loved.

The thought sliced through me clean and cold. The same reminder I had repeated like a prayer every single day for seven years.

I opened the file again. My eyes landed on the drawing of her clipped inside. Sharp features. Dark wavy hair. Eyes staring straight like she dared whoever took it to try her.

My wolf whined low in my chest and pushed again. Harder this time.

I shoved it back down with everything I had. The same iron control that had kept me breathing when grief tried to swallow me whole.

I could still feel the heat of her body from when I had pulled her close earlier. She had not flinched away. Not really. She just met my stare like she would burn right along with me if that was what it took.

I hated how badly I wanted to test that fire.

"She's here for one reason," I said out loud. My voice came out flat and precise. The voice I used when I needed to remind myself who the fuck I was. "She killed Lysandra. Everything else is noise. She suffers. Then she ends."

The words tasted like ash in my mouth.

My wolf did not give a damn about my rules. It wanted her scent again. Wanted to follow it down the hall. Wanted to know exactly how that warmth would feel pressed tight against my chest.

I shoved up from the chair fast. The legs scraped loud against the floor.

I paced across the room once. Stopped and paced back.

That image of her in the lingerie flashed again. Uninvited. The defiant set of her mouth. The way her body curved under that thin fabric. The slight cut on her lip that made me want lean down and kiss it.

I stopped at the desk. Snapped the file closed.

Opened it again.

Closed it.

"Fuck."

I walked over to the tall window and stared out into the night. The estate grounds lay dark and quiet below. Moonlight cut silver across the trees. Somewhere out there she was walking back to whatever room they had put her in.

I kept staring into the black.

Her name sat heavy on my tongue. Unwanted and dangerous.

I said it anyway. Quiet. Just once.

"Nyx."

It settled in my mouth like it belonged there. Like it had been waiting years to be spoken out loud.

Rage flooded through me hot and fast.

I was already losing the war I had declared the second she stepped foot in my territory. And I had not even started the real fight yet.

I closed the file one last time. The sharp click echoed in the silent room.

But my eyes stayed fixed on the window. On the dark. On the path she had taken.

And the wolf inside me kept pushing. Kept pulling. Kept whispering that this broken bride might just ruin me in ways I had never planned for.