LOGINAlpha Liam's POVI should have known it would end badly.The moment Jane arrived and found Caleb and me talking, I already knew the atmosphere would be awkward. Things between us had been hanging by a thread ever since I returned. Actually, a thread would have been generous. A thread still connected two things.Whatever Jane and I had now felt like a rope that had already snapped.She spoke to Caleb while she ignored me. She looked at Caleb while she ignored me. She answered Caleb while she ignored me.Every time I opened my mouth, I felt like a stranger standing in my own house.I didn't like it. I hated it but I was trying to endure it. I was trying because Josephine had died. I was trying because Jane was grieving. I was trying because every time I looked at her, I remembered the things she said after the battle.If I knew your return would cause so much harm, I wouldn't have prayed for you to come back.The words still cut deep, but I endured them because she was hurting. And bec
Jane's POVThe irritation hit me the moment I saw her. To be honest, irritation wasn't even the right word. Irritation was too small and too simple for what I was feeling at the moment. What I felt whenever I looked at Dysebel was something much deeper than annoyance. And what I felt whenever I heard her voice was something akin to disdain. Josephine was dead because of her. Liam and I were barely speaking because of her. Everything around us was falling apart since she came here. As if that was not enough, this woman still had the audacity to walk around the house like she owned the place. And she always chose to appear at the worst possible moment."What are you all talking about?" she asked casually as she approached.The way she spoke made it sound like she already belonged to the conversation… Like she had every right to join whatever discussion was happening."Nothing that concerns you."The words left my mouth before I could stop them.Caleb glanced at me briefly. Liam looke
Jane's POVI didn’t expect to meet Liam there.The moment I turned the corner and saw him standing beside Caleb, my steps slowed automatically. For one painful second, my heart reacted before my pride could stop it. Relief rushed through me at simply seeing him standing there alive and unharmed.Then I remembered Josephine. Then I remembered the woman he brought back with him. And just like that, every soft feeling inside me hardened again.Liam’s eyes met mine immediately. I saw the way his expression shifted the moment he looked at me. First, he was hopeful. But then, disappointment replaced the hope when he noticed my face closed off.I hated that I still noticed little things about him. I hated that I felt bad for getting mad at him. But what was I supposed to do?Welcome him with open arms? Tell him Josephine's death was okay? Or tell him the woman he brought home wasn't getting on my nerves?“Jane?” Caleb called, breaking the silence between us. “Did Elder Thorne rise from the
Alpha Liam's POV The frustration boiling inside me felt unbearable.I had left Dysebel in my study before I said something I would regret, but walking away from her hadn’t calmed me down at all. If anything, it only made everything worse.Her words kept echoing inside my head.You don’t need Jane. She is emotionally weak. She is powerless. She can't help you politically. I clenched my fists as I walked through the hallway.How dare she speak about Jane like that? How dare she act like Jane was some obstacle standing in my way instead of the very reason I kept fighting through everything?And the worst part was that Jane herself refused to even listen to me. Every time I looked at her now, I saw distance, coldness and pain. I understood why she was angry. I truly did. But understanding it did not make it hurt less. If anything, it made it hurt more.I turned sharply into another corridor, needing somewhere quiet before I completely lost my temper. The servants I passed immediately l
Jane's POV Josephine’s garden felt emptier without her. Even the flowers looked like they were mourning her absence. Maybe they could sense that something has happened to their caregiver. As I walked through the garden, the soft scent of roses and herbs drifted through the air, but instead of bringing me comfort like it used to, it only made my chest ache harder. Everywhere I looked, I saw traces of her. The little clay pots she carefully arranged near the pathway. The vines she always trimmed herself because she claimed the servants “had no emotional connection to plants.” The wooden bench where she often sat while giving me advice I didn’t ask for but secretly needed.Now she was gone, and the garden definitely knew it.I sat on the stone edge beside the small fountain, my fingers trembling slightly as I wiped another tear from my face. I was tired of crying. I was truly tired, but grief did not care about exhaustion. It came whenever it wanted and crushed me whenever it pleased
Alpha Liam's POV There was something about running away from a problem to find temporary peace in solitude. That was the idea I had when I walked away from Jane. But the moment I opened the door to my study, the first thing that hit me was the scent that did not belong there.My jaw tightened immediately.Dysebel was standing beside one of the large shelves near the fireplace, casually running her fingers across the spines of my books like she owned the place already. I thought I had started seeing things but the moment she turned, I knew I was seeing reality, not imagination. “You have quite the collection,” she said calmly, as though she had every right to stand in my private space.I shut the door behind me harder than necessary.“What are you doing here?”“Getting familiar with the house,” she said with a smile that really got on my nerves. “This isn’t a guest lodge,” I said flatly.Dysebel tilted her head slightly, completely unbothered by my tone.“I know.”“Then why are yo







