登入Ariel POV The quiet in the house felt heavy, almost unnatural. I could still feel the lingering joy from the wedding, but beneath it was a tension I couldn’t ignore. Something was coming. I knew it, and my instincts screamed at me to stay alert. Damien was by my side, calm as ever, but I could feel the subtle shift in his aura. His hands rested lightly on mine, but every muscle in his body was coiled, ready. I leaned against him slightly, letting his presence ground me. “Relax, Ariel,” he whispered, brushing a lock of hair from my face. “Whatever it is, I’ll handle it.” I closed my eyes for a moment, trying to steady my racing heart. But then a ripple of energy brushed the house — sharp, deliberate, and unmistakable. Lily. She was here. My chest tightened. The powder she had applied earlier — I could sense its effect on Ethan, making him pliable, weak to her will. But Damien and I had each other, and that gave me courage. “I know she’s here,” I murmured. “I can feel her.” Damie
Ariel POV I woke up to the weight of Bruce on my stomach and a howl of regret jabbing at my head. The room was quiet except for the small animal breathing against me. The curtains let a soft gold come through. For a moment I let myself breathe, thinking maybe, just maybe, last night had fixed something. Maybe the roughness had been a bridge. Bruce yawned, rolled over, and his paws rubbed against my thighs. He was warm and innocent and made me want to smile, but the smile broke the moment I felt a body move beside me. Damian. His hand found my shoulder and he leaned down, careless like a man who believed the world still belonged to him. He pressed his lips to mine—gentle at first—then held me there for a breath long enough to make my knees weak. “Was I too rough last night?” he asked into my mouth, voice low and half asleep. I froze. For a second I tasted the safety in his mouth, remembered the fierce closeness we had when he was only mine and the world was less cruel. Then image
Ariel's POV: I had him so close. So damn close that I could feel every breath he took against my skin. His chest rose and fell, slow and steady, but I knew what was running through his mind. The same thing that haunted mine — us. The memory of what we used to be, and the ache of what we’ve become. His eyes dropped to my lips, and I swear, my whole body froze. The air around us was thick, tense, like one wrong move could make everything explode. For a second, I wanted to give in. I wanted to forget the fights, the betrayal, the hurt. I wanted to melt into his arms and pretend none of it happened. But then I remembered everything — every tear, every silence, every word he said that broke me a little more. So, while he was still lost in thought, still caught between guilt and longing, I did the one thing he never expected. I kicked him hard, right on his sensitive spot. He let out a low grunt, his grip instantly loosening as his eyes widened in shock. I snatched my wrist free a
Damian’s POV: After work, I waited for Ariel to arrive home. I sat in the living room, my jacket off, my sleeves rolled up, the clock ticking louder than usual. She had been acting strange lately, so I told the butler to go pick her up from work. I wanted to know what was really wrong with her. I wasn’t going to pretend I didn’t notice her anger, her silence, or the way she avoided my eyes whenever we crossed paths. I kept checking my watch. The sound of it mocked me — tick, tick, tick — reminding me how long she was keeping me waiting. A part of me wanted to call her, to demand where she was, but another part of me wanted to see how far she would push me. When I finally heard the sound of her car outside, I stood up, leaning against the stair railing. My eyes fixed on the door, my heart beating fast. I didn’t know if it was anger or something else burning inside me. Maybe both. The door opened. Ariel stepped in, her steps confident, but her eyes cold. She looked tired, her make
Ariel POV: I held my phone, my eyes wide open, my head shaking in disbelief. “No... no... no. Damian won’t betray my trust. He won’t disgrace me,” I muttered under my breath as a stared at the pictures on my screen. But the pictures on my screen were too real. Too painful. His body pressed against hers. That familiar hand — the same one that used to hold my waist so tightly. I couldn't believe it was now holding someone else. Then another message came in. The massage read: "Ariel, you thought you had his heart, right? How naive of you. Hahaha." The message ended with a laughing emoji that made my blood boil. I felt my throat tighten. My chest burned as if fire had settled inside it. I threw the phone on the bed and let out a shaky breath. “No... it can’t be true.” I picked the phone again, dialing his number with trembling fingers. My heart was beating so fast I could barely breathe. It rang once… twice… five times… ten times. Still, no answer. I waited, staring at the sc
Ariel's POV That night I came home early. The house felt bigger and quieter with just us. I poured tea with hands that still shook. The day's little displays - the pen moving, the addicting hum under my skin - made me feel like I was on the edge of falling off something high. Damian came down the stairs silent, the way only a man who owned a building could be. He watched me while I closed the kettle lid. "You tried to lie to me today," he said. "I did not," I snapped. The flames in the kettle hissed. "You did," he said, his voice flat. "I could smell it. Your fear, your hiding. Don't do it." I turned, proud and small. "You can't control everything." He stalked forward, the space between us closing. Up close, he was a presence that breathed heavy with power. His jaw clenched, then he stepped in until his chest touched mine. "Then admit it," he whispered, the smell of cedar and fire strong in his nose. "Admit what you are." "I am me," I said. "Not your experiment." His thumb
EVELYN — POVThe moment Lucien’s voice fell silent outside the door, the world inside the cabin went dead still.My pulse felt too loud, pounding in my throat, in my ears, in the tips of my fingers.“Evelyn and her mother must never learn the truth.”The sentence replayed itself over and over, each
The door was still vibrating when silence swallowed the cabin whole. The blanket around my shoulders felt suddenly too heavy. Too warm. Too tight. Like I was wrapped in the echo of Lucien’s aura and couldn’t crawl out from under it. My heartbeat still hadn’t slowed. Rowan stood near the table,
Azazel.Even in my mind, the name felt like cold fingers around my spine.Rowan’s kettle hissed over the fire, but it didn’t calm the shaking under my skin. I kept my hands hidden beneath the blanket, pressing them against my ribs as if I could physically contain the panic.My body still felt wrong
“I won’t cry again,” I whispered into the dark.For a long moment, the only answer was silence — the heavy kind that presses against your ribs like it knows all your secrets. My eyes stayed fixed on the trees outside the window. Rain dripped from the branches like the forest was trying to catch its







