Lucian's POV I turned slowly.Alina.She stormed into the hall, her dress flowing behind her, her eyes glinting like daggers. She rushed to Lily, staring at her in shock.Then her eyes lifted.They locked onto mine, and that look... it burned hotter than any punishment I could have issued. It wasn't just anger. It was resentment.But strangely, I wasn’t shattered by it. I wasn’t bothered by the judgment in her eyes. All I felt was a deep, unexplainable relief.Relief that she was here.Alive.She hadn't left.And I let out a breath I didn’t even realize I'd been holding.She scoffed, demanding, her voice slicing through the heavy tension in the room like a serrated blade. “You've got no reason to have to stand on ice, Lucian!" “She was just serving punishment,” I yelled, tone flat but forceful.She spun on me, her eyes wide and burning like wildfire in the dead of night. “For what, Lucian?! For what exactly?!”I clenched my jaw, unwilling to bend, even if her voice struck something
Lucian's POV I clenched my fists, walking away from Sabrina, the memory still lost to me but the consequences were already unraveling. The silence in my study was suffocating. The kind that didn’t just fill the room but settled on my skin like a second layer, sticky and accusing. I stared past the untouched files on my desk, mind a maze of blurred images and guilt.And somehow, this felt like only the beginning.I turned away from the desk, dragging in a breath through gritted teeth. A flicker. Then another. Like pieces of shattered glass coming together in my mind’s eye. My fingers dug into the wood of the bookshelf beside me. A pulse pounded behind my eyes, and before I could brace for it, a sharp memory hit me like a slap across the face.Cade driving. My rage boiling.I staggered back, crashing into the edge of the desk. Pain lanced through my hip, but I barely felt it. Sabrina rushed to my side. "Lucian—"I held up a hand, stopping her."Don’t," I muttered, squeezing my eyes
Lucian's POV It was way past noon, yet the files on my desk hadn’t moved an inch. My eyes skimmed them, but none of the words stayed. My mind was elsewhere, lost in the echo of this morning.Alina.The way she looked at me—no, the way she almost stabbed me.I could still see her hand trembling, gripping the knife, the silver glint reflecting not just the light, but her fear.Something had happened.Something had propelled her to react like that.She had always kept me at a cautious distance, but that? That was different. There was more than fear behind those eyes. There was dread. Wounded resolve. And yet, my mind was a void.I racked my memories again. Cade had come in yesterday, stormy as hell, informing me the deal with Alpha Kendrick Harlow of Ironback Ridge had gone south. We'd saddled up to go confront the issue, to fix it the old-fashioned way. I remembered that. I remembered the road. But everything else—blank.A dense fog filled my brain, and each time I tried to reach deepe
Cade’s POV I couldn't stop the gnawing pit in my gut, the way dread coiled and uncoiled like a restless serpent each time I blinked. The worst scenarios flashed before my eyes like a cursed reel – Lucian returning to the packhouse, fresh from a bloodbath, unstable and violent. In that state, even the moon goddess couldn't control him. If he had gone to this room, and Alina was alone...Moon, no.My fingers twitched from the pain still throbbing in my side, where his claws had torn into me. But it wasn’t the ache that made my breath catch, it was the thought of her, possibly being on the receiving end of that same madness.I didn’t even realize my breathing had picked up until her hand touched my arm. She was now crouched next to me, her presence soft, careful.She managed a small smile, worn, but real as she pressed a bandage against my wound. “It’s nothing too deep,” she murmured, voice gentle. “You’ll live. You're the beta after all.”I studied her, unsure if I should believe her.
Alina’s POVThe moment I saw him crumpled like a fallen oak, my heart skipped a beat, then began a mad, erratic drumming inside my chest. My breath hitched, legs moving faster than my thoughts could process.“Cade!” I called, my voice strained as if it had to fight through the lump of fear lodged in my throat.I dropped to my knees beside him, my hands trembling as I reached out to touch him. Gently, I placed both palms on his shoulders, giving him a small shake. “Cade… please, it’s me… It’s Alina. Wake up.”His skin was clammy beneath my fingertips. The sharp fluorescent light above made the blood smeared across his chest glisten like a twisted constellation.“Cade!” My voice cracked as I pushed him again, harder this time, desperation bleeding through every syllable. “Wake the hell up!”A low groan escaped his lips. He shifted slightly, a pained wince folding across his face.That’s when I saw it.I gasped, my hand flying to my mouth as I stared at the massive, torn wound across hi
Alina’s POV Her brows pinched together. “Why would you say that?”I looked at her, really looked, into the parts of her eyes where honesty should live. “Because I can’t shake the feeling that you know something I should know.”She didn’t deny it. Just exhaled a soft sigh. “I understand you’re worried because of what happened with Lucian… but you shouldn’t be.”Her hand came to rest on my shoulder, warm, grounding. It should have comforted me, but it only brought a tinge of anxiety.“You don’t have to worry.” And with that, she left me in a silence louder than any scream.What could she be hiding that I was feeling so much?Moments later, I returned to the room. Lucian stood by the dresser, fully dressed, straightening the collar of his black shirt. “Um, breakfast is ready,” I announced, forcing my voice to stay even. “You can go first. I’ll have my bath.”“Sure. I’ll tend to some matters first, then we’ll have breakfast.”I nodded, watching him walk toward the door. But then he paus