MasukThe moment his lips crashed against mine, everything had stopped. No thought. No hesitation. No restraint. Just... him. And something inside me answered. It was as if my body had already made the decision long before my mind could catch up. My fingers curled into the fabric of his coat, pulling him closer without meaning to—without thinking—without stopping.And that was all it took. A low, rough sound slipped from him. It was something between a breath and a restrained groan like approval, like something he had been holding back for far too long. My heart slammed against my ribs. I knew I should have pushed him away. I should have... but I didn't.I couldn't.Because the moment his hand tightened at my jaw, steadying me, deepening the kiss just slightly, my wolf surged in recognition. In longing. In something that felt dangerously close to relief. My breath hitched against him, my grip tightening as if grounding myself in something real and solid or something I had lost too m
He didn't answer right away. That alone told me enough. Lucretius had never been a man who hesitated with words. He either spoke plainly... or chose silence with intent. And right now, he was choosing carefully.His gaze lingered on me, unreadable, as if weighing something far heavier than the question I had asked. Then, slowly, he leaned back in his chair."Because you were almost killed."The simplicity of it made my chest tighten.I let out a quiet breath through my nose. "That doesn't answer my question." "It does," he replied calmly. My grip tightened around the edge of the table. "No, it doesn't," I said, sharper this time. "It tells me what happened. Not why you brought me here."His gaze didn't waver. "You were not safe there." "And you think I am safer here?" I shot back. "Yes."The answer came too quickly. Too certain. It was as if there had never been another option. Something in me snapped. I let out a small, humorless laugh, setting my teacup down with more force
By the time I freshened up and finished dressing, the silence of the room had settled too deeply. It was the kind of silence that did not belong in an unfamiliar place. It lingered and waited. It was as if it already knew me. That thought alone unsettled me more than I cared to admit. I exhaled softly before reaching for the door. The moment it opened, a long corridor stretched before me. It was bathed in soft natural light that filtered through tall windows along one side. The air was cooler here, carrying a faint scent of polished wood and something faintly floral. I stepped out slowly and carefully. My gaze moved across the space, taking in every detail as I walked.The architecture...The arrangement of the furniture...The spacing between doors...There was nothing overly extravagant, yet everything spoke of deliberate design. Of quiet authority. My steps slowed as a faint crease formed between my brows as I continued forward, my gaze sweeping across the hallway again. This
Darkness came in fragments like memories, forcing itself to the surface all at once. Steel flashing under the sun. The sound of something striking bone. A breath stolen too quickly from my lungs. Another memory bled into it. A different place. A different body. I could feel the bitter taste of poison coating my tongue. Even my limbs were too weak to move. Too weak to fight. The ceiling above me was spinning as voices blurred into nothing but distant echoes. Another life. Another ending. Another moment where I had been forced to accept that I would die and be reincarnated again. Over and over. "No..." The whisper slipped from my lips, though I did not know if it belonged to the present... or to the past.The memories would not separate. They overlapped as they layered on top of each other until I could no longer tell which death was mine or which one I was reliving. Pain. Betrayal. Abandonment. And always an ending I could not escape. My chest tightened as if something unse
"My lady?"I blinked.The courtyard rushed back into focus. Voices overlapped. Footsteps echoed against stone. The stable rhythm of work returned all at once, pulling me sharply out of my thoughts.For a brief moment, I did not recognize where I was. But then, the trade house and shipments slapped me to reality.I inhaled slowly, forcing the lingering weight of my thoughts down where they belonged. "Yes?" I said, turning toward the voice. It was one of the senior handlers, his expression carefully neutral, though there was a faint crease between his brows. "We were waiting for your confirmation, my lady," he said, gesturing toward the row of crates beside him. Right. Work. I stepped forward, grounding myself in the familiar routie as I crouched beside the nearest crate. My fingers moved automatically as I began to check the seal, the latch, the markings burned into the wood. Everything appeared intact and unremarkable. As it should be."Open it," I said. The handler gave a qui
A few days had passed since the negotiation with the Silvermist Pack. And yet... it was not Marcelo's voice that lingered in my mind. Nor Seraphine's veiled insults.Those had already begun to fade were becoming nothing more than distant irritations buried beneath ledgers, reports, and the steady rhythm of work. Instead, my fingers paused briefly over the parchment before me."We could resolve the problem the same way we once discussed."His words kept echoing to my head. Uninvented. Unrelenting. I exhaled softly and forced my gaze back to the shipment report in front of me. Northern routes... Stable.Western deliveries... On schedule.Auction preparations... Progressing smoothly.Everything was in order as exactly as it should be. And yet, my thoughts refused to follow the same discipline. My wolf stirred faintly, feeling restless. It was as if she was expecting something that had not yet arrived. Or perhaps... someone.I pressed the tip of my quill pen lightly against the parchm
I didn't know how many times we had been doing it, but the last thing I remember before falling asleep was that my legs were too jaded to move. When I woke up, the outside of the window was already dark. Then, the horror etched on my face upon seeing the time was already seven in the evening."Did
When the dinner was over and the servants cleared the last of the plates, Romina was still giggling over Lucretius's shameless remarks to me until my face had gone red before she and Lorenzo had finally excused themselves for the night. Then, Redmund and Lilith followed soon after.The stiff smile
When Lucretius brought us to his private chamber, I was starting to feel my eyes getting heavier, my head already leaning on his shoulder. As soon as he gently lay me down on his bed, I struggled to fight off the drowsiness threatening to take over.His faint scent of sandalwood and smoke lingered
"My, my, the newlywed lovebirds have finally shown themselves."That was Romina's statement as soon as Lucretius and I showed up in the dining hall with our hands intertwined. This wasn't my idea, but Lucretius's. It was right after the maids had finished their business with me that he demanded I s







