Selene’s POV
I woke up to a stranger’s breath on my skin… and I panicked.
One second I was tangled in sheets, my head pounding, body aching like I’d been hit by a freight train. The next, I realized I wasn’t alone. A man stood at the edge of the bed, barely clothed, eyes like glacial death locked onto me with terrifying calm.
I screamed like my lungs might burst.
But the man just stood there, unmoved. No reaction. No flinch. Just those soul-piercing eyes...icy and merciless...watching me like I was nothing more than a bug he hadn’t decided whether to crush or ignore.
“Who the hell are you?!” I shouted, panic punching my chest.
His expression didn’t change.
It was only then that I noticed...my naked body tangled in the sheets, the mess around the room, his towel flung over the window rail like a forgotten sock. Rhiannon’s dress lay crumpled at the foot of the bed. My panties and bra? On the floor. The bed? Looked like a pack of wolves had torn through it.
And this stranger...this man...just stood there like a storm dressed in human skin, eyes as sharp as broken glass.
“I should be the one asking who you are,” he said coolly, voice low and controlled.
My hands instinctively clutched the sheets tighter around me. The weight of his gaze made the air feel colder, heavier, like the whole room had been plunged into winter.
“No, I...I should be,” I stammered. “You’re naked. And in my bed. This is my room.”
He tilted his head slightly, like I’d just told the punchline of a bad joke.
“My name is Lucian,” he said...every syllable firm, deliberate. “Now tell me yours.”
Long, razor-like claws started to extend from his fingers as he cracked his knuckles, slow and deliberate. My stomach turned.
“S-Selene,” I managed, my voice breaking. “I...I swear, this is my room. I was drunk. I came in to sleep it off.”
“You’re lying.”
“I’m not!” I cried. “I can prove it. I have the keycard.”
He stared at me, no trust in his expression...just calculation. But after a second, he stepped back and gave a small nod.
I scrambled around the wrecked room, heart pounding. It took a moment, but I finally spotted the card. Crumpled. Dusty. Shoved in a corner like trash. I snatched it up and held it out like it was a winning lottery ticket.
He looked down at the card. His expression didn’t change. But the second the sunlight hit his face, I froze.
Gods.
He was stunning. Jaw carved like marble, chest sculpted like a weapon. But those eyes… They didn’t belong to a prince or a man. They belonged to a predator.
He glanced at the card again.
“Is this a joke?” he asked, voice suddenly full of ice.
“What?” I blinked.
“This is room 320.” He held the card up. “Yours says 381.”
My stomach dropped through the floor.
“No… no way.”
“See for yourself,” he said simply and tossed the card back at me. I fumbled it like a klutz, feeling the heat of embarrassment rise in my face. I finally caught it and read the damn thing.
3. 8. 1.
My heart skipped a beat.
“This says 381.” I blinked hard.
“Exactly,” he said flatly. “And this...” he gestured around the room, “...is 320. So, tell me again... who sent you?”
My hands trembled. “This can’t be real.”
“You going somewhere?” he asked coolly.
“I… I need to check the door. Maybe this is all a mistake.”
“You’re naked,” he pointed out.
I froze, looked down, and wanted to disappear. I yanked the blanket around me and bolted for the door. One look at it was all any sane person needed.
It was 3. 1. 8.
“Oh no,” I whispered as reality slammed into me. I had wandered into the wrong room. I was the intruder here. In Fact if anything, I had downright taped him.
I turned to leave but Lucian’s voice, flat and cold, stopped me in my tracks.
“Now confess. Who sent you? Isolde?Theron? My father?”
“What...? No! I don’t know any of those people!”
I turned to face him again, panic rising like bile. “I swear to the Moon, this isn’t a setup. It was my birthday. I just wanted to relax. I went drinking with my sister after my boyfriend… after I saw him with someone else. I felt sick and dizzy, and I came to sleep it off. I must have… I must have gone into the wrong room.”
Tears welled in my eyes again.
“I wouldn’t… I would never use my virginity to manipulate anyone,” I whispered, voice cracking. “This was a mistake.”
He stepped forward, grabbed my face...not hard, but not gentle either. I flinched, thinking he might lash out. But his fingers stilled, and his grip loosened. His thumb brushed my cheek.
I didn’t realize I was crying until I felt the tear slide down and land on his hand.
He stared at it like it burned him.
Then, without another word, he turned away.
“You should go,” he said, voice lower now. Almost soft. “Don’t forget your card.”
I nodded quickly, scrambled into my clothes, and ran for the door. My legs shook as I stepped into the hallway.
I was barely ten feet from his room when I heard my name shouted.
“Selene!”
I turned to see them.
Rhiannon.
Corwin.
Together.
Their voices were loud and accusing. My name came out of Rhiannon’s mouth like a curse.
“What the hell are you doing here?” she hissed, eyes cold, face twisted into something I didn’t recognize.
“I...”
“What are you doing in a hotel room?”
“Did you sleep with someone?” Corwin cut in sharply.
“She clearly did,” Rhiannon snapped. “Look at her hair. Her face. How could you do this to Corwin?! He loved you!”
“You were lucky to have him at all,” she continued. “He chose you...an omega with no wolf...and this is how you repay him?”
The scene exploded. Their voices echoed off the walls. People peeked out of rooms. A crowd started to form.
That’s when I saw him.
Room 381. The fat old nobleman who’d always stared too long, complimented too much.
He stepped out of the room meant for me.
And everything clicked.
The setup. The forced drinks. Rhiannon’s insistence. The way she rushed me through the crowd and handed me a keycard without letting me read it.
And then...on her wrist.
That Bracelet.
The one I saw on the girl Corwin was screwing.
The one she claimed to throw away.
It was right there. Smiling at me from her damn arm.
“It was you,” I whispered, numb.
“What did I ever do to you?” I asked, voice cracking, tears burning down my cheeks.
“You betrayed Corwin!” Rhiannon yelled to the crowd like she was some self-righteous Luna. “She’s crying because she got caught!”
I opened my mouth to speak...but I couldn’t.
I just stood there, breaking, drowning in betrayal and humiliation.
Corwin started to say something, but the hotel door slammed open behind me. Hard.
Lucian stepped out.
The whole hallway fell silent.
Chapter 74 – A Collapse at the PalaceSelene’s POVThe doctor’s cottage sits nestled at the edge of a sloping hill, framed by a riot of tangled foliage and thick vines that twist around the crumbling stone walls like possessive arms. The roof is shingled with age, half-eaten by moss and time, and a wooden sign swings loosely on a single rusty nail. There’s something ancient and forgotten about the place—like it belongs to a story from long ago rather than the world we know now.As soon as we dismount, I don’t wait. The garden is in full disrepair, and if we’re to earn the doctor’s trust, this is where I need to begin. I move around the back of the house, where the garden sprawls untamed beneath a sky streaked with pale clouds and summer light.Rows of plants have withered into skeletons. Weeds sprout aggressively between cracks in the stone path. The earth is dry and unyielding. I find a pair of stiff, faded gloves dangling from a bent hook on the shed door—leather, cracked from the s
Chapter 73 – The Reason He Chose MeSeleneI never expected a breakthrough to come from a dusty, half-torn journal buried under other forgotten records. I had only taken it on a whim, hoping to find a footnote, a symptom, anything that could shed light on what was happening to Eira. She’d been fading too quietly, too slowly. It was like death had taken up residence inside her but was too polite to knock.I flipped through the fragile pages, my fingers careful not to tear the brittle edges. Most of the writing was cramped and hurried, like the writer had been racing against time. I almost missed it. In the lower corner of one page was a faded illustration of a five-petaled flower. The petals were long and wispy, curling inward in a spiral, and the ink used was faint, almost as if the flower didn’t want to be noticed.My eyes locked onto it. Something about the shape nagged at me until I suddenly remembered where I had seen it. It was the same pattern I had noticed beginning to form on
Chapter 72 – PosionedNarrator POV (Unknown)I have existed for as long as she has, quietly bound to her but never seen. I have no form in her world, no voice to speak with, no presence she can acknowledge. I am the shadow that rests in the furthest corner of her consciousness, unseen and unheard. I have known only silence, only isolation. While she walked and spoke and laughed, I remained buried beneath layers of thought and instinct, watching her live a life that was meant to be shared. My prison was not made of walls or chains, but of the very nature of her mind. A barrier sealed me away, a barrier I could not penetrate, no matter how hard I tried. And believe me, I tried. Every day, for years without end, I clawed and scraped and pushed, feeding off the smallest fragments of energy I could gather. It was a slow, thankless task, but I endured.Then came the fall.She was falling, tumbling from a great height. I felt the terror pulse through her veins, and something within me respon
Chapter 71 – It feels like truth Selene’s POVThe gardens behind the palace are quieter than I anticipated... too quiet, almost like they’re holding their breath. The soft shuffle of our footsteps along gravel paths is the loudest sound, save for the distant murmur of fountains and the occasional rustle of wind through hanging blossoms. I expected laughter or music, maybe the hum of life from a royal estate. Instead, there's a stillness that feels... watchful.Elowen walks between Darian and me with a graceful authority that betrays her title of “princess.” She’s not just decorative royalty; she carries herself like someone who’s used to making decisions that matter. Each time she exchanges a glance or a passing comment with Darian, there’s a flicker of understanding between them... one that’s layered and growing.As we pass beneath an arbor laced with moonflowers, I find myself learning more from their casual conversation than any formal announcement could provide. Her father, I gat
Chapter 70 – New kingdomSelene’s POVThe parchment trembles slightly in my grip, though I try to steady my hands. The ink is still fresh, a small corner curling as if it too resists being bound to its content. I stare at it in disbelief, my mind struggling to piece together the meaning behind the words."You want to what?" My voice is quiet, breathy with disbelief, but sharp enough to cut through the silence between us. I glance up at Lucien, seeking an explanation in his eyes. “You want to marry me again?”He doesn’t flinch. His face is carved from stone, all softness vanished, all warmth long extinguished. If I didn’t know him, I’d have thought he was indifferent to the question. But I do know him. And I know when he is hiding something."Don’t misinterpret this,” he replies. His voice is low, measured, as if each word has been reviewed and chosen with care. “This has nothing to do with affection or feelings. That part of us… it’s no longer relevant.”I start to respond, my mouth p
Chapter 69 – Ties That BindThird povThe sound came softly at first, barely noticeable beneath the steady rhythm of the rain. But then it was unmistakable—a delicate metallic clink that sliced through the air like a whispered secret. Lucian and Selene froze. Both pairs of eyes fell to the ground at the same time, drawn by something shining faintly through the drenched grass. There, half-buried in the mud, lay a silver ring.It wasn’t just any ring.The rain seemed to hush around them as the air thickened with recognition. The glimmering band, dulled slightly by time and weather, remained untouched by the years in its design and sentiment. Selene moved first, her breath catching as she reached forward to retrieve it. But Lucian moved faster. His hand closed around it with swift finality, fingers curling tightly as though he feared it might vanish if he let it go.For a long, agonizing moment, he did not speak.His gaze rested on the ring, and the expression on his face was not easily