CHAPTER 19

LILLIAN POV

Josh dropped his phone on the polished mahogany table, to display the screen on his phone with the news alert for all to see and my blood ran cold….

“Breaking news: Surveillance devices found in Luxembourg apartment linked to executed rogue scientist.”

My mother’s apartment.

The teacup slipped from my shaking fingers, it’s fragments scattering all over the room. Lydia froze with her eyes wide in shock and Salome inhaled sharply.

“They are watching her,” I whispered.

Lucas materialized at the entrance, his usual playful smirk absent. “It’s confirmed.” He announced. “Three listening devices. All Eastern pack tech.”

My blood turned cold and my fingers found the hidden dagger at my boot—Lucas’s gift after the abduction—as if the cool metal could steady my shaking hands.

“And Andre?” My voice strange to my own ears.

“Already moved her to secure location.” Lucas’s amber eyes rested on my white knuckled grip. “Drake doubled the guards.”

Salome’a calm voice sliced through the panic. “This is not random. They are sending a message.”

The obvious truth settled over us like a fog….my father’s secret had claws, and they are reaching out for my mother’s throat.

And mine.

Josh squeezed my shoulders tightly and said, “She is safe, Lily. Andre won’t let anything happen to her.”

“That is not the point!” The words tore from me before I could stop myself. “They are using her as bait to get to me. To whatever my father—”

Lydia’s phone buzzed and her face turned white as sheet as she read out the screen. “Eastern pack just issued a statement.”

She turned the screen towards us and a familiar face filled the display—Elias, the agent who had kidnapped me, his cold eyes staring directly into the camera:

“The rogue’s daughter knows where her father hid the research. Hand her over, and we spare the mother.”

My vision blurred. The garden, my friends, the scent of roses—all faded in my eyes.

Lucas snatched the phone and said with all seriousness. “Drake needs to see this. Please excuse me.”

As he disappeared into the house, Lydia’s claws popped out with a slack. “They are declaring war on us.”

Salome pressed a steaming mug into my hands and said calmly, “Breathe, Lily. This change’s nothing about your decision.”

My decision.

The weight of it pressed down in my heart until I couldn’t breathe.

Night had fallen by the time I found myself on that balcony—the same one where Drake had asked if I wanted Andre. The same one I had wanted to give him my answer before we were interrupted. The memory of his lips on mine, his hands trembling against my skin, sent heat curling low in my belly despite the chill in the air.

Below, the tournament grounds lay quiet, the lanterns casting golden shadows on the empty training fields. Somewhere behind those borders, Drake was securing our territory, protecting my mother and being the Alpha I secretly know only he could be.

The door creaked open behind me.

Salome stepped out, her platinum braids gleaming in the moonlight. “He is back. Fixed the breach at the northern border.”

I didn’t turn, with my eyes planted on the grounds below, I asked, “Any casualties?”

“Minor. Three security guards with scratches.” She leaned beside me, her healer’s hands steady on the railing. “The Eastern wolves retreated after Drake took out their commander.”

A shudder ran through me. “They will come back.”

“Probably.” She nudged my shoulder. “But not tonight. Tonight, you have a different battle to fight.”

The unspoken question hung heavily between us….Drake or Andre?

My fingers traced the railing where his hands had gripped me yesterday. “It was never really a choice.”

Salome smiled knowingly at me and said, “Then why do you look like you are marching to your execution?”

Before I could answer, the balcony door opened again.

“I told you to rest.”

Drake voice rolled over me like thunder before a storm. Salome silently slipped away with a wink as he came to stand beside me, close enough that our sleeves brushed together. The scent of him—oud and winter frost mixed together to create something uniquely Alpha—wrapped around me like a chain.

“You are hurt.” I said softly as I reached for the cut on his temple without thinking.

He caught my wrist, his calloused thumb stroking my pulse. “It is nothing.”

The simple contact sent sparks flying up my arm and we stood frozen, his gray eyes searching mine.

“My mother—”

“Safe,” he interrupted. “Andre is with her.”

I turned to study his profile—the stubborn set of his jaw, the faint scar above his brow from a long forgotten challenge. Moonlight caught the gold flecks in his eyes, making them glow like Liquid metal.

“You protected her,” I whispered. “Thank you.”

He replied croakily, “I protect what is mine.”

The words hung between us, heavy with meaning.

When I didn’t respond, he exhaled sharply. “The tournament starts tomorrow. There will be…..

expectations.”

“Like?”

“Like Andre presenting you as his mate.” His knuckles whitened as he gripped the railing tightly. “Unless you have other intentions.”

The challenge in his voice was loud and obvious.

I reached out before I could stop myself, tracing the scar on his brow and he froze under my touch, his breath catching.

“Ask me again,” I whispered.

His eyes burned wolffish bright in the dark as he breathed, “Do you want him, Doc?”

This time, my answer came easily.

“No.”

The growl the ripped from his chest shook the foundation of the pack house. His hands found my waist and with a force, he pulled me against him.

“Say it,” he demanded, his voice rough with need. “Say you are mine.”

I rose to my toes and used my lips to brush the shell of his ear. “I have always been yours Drake.”

The kiss that followed was nothing like our first—not hungry, or desperate, but sure. A claiming. A homecoming.

When we finally broke apart, he rested his forehead on mine and whispered, “The tournament—”

“Will have to survive with a spectacle,” I murmured. “Unless you plan to challenge Andre publicly?”

He smirked boyishly and asked, “Would you like that?”

I nipped playfully on his lower lip. “I would like you to stop talking and kiss me again.”

He did.

And as the moon showered us in silver light, the Eastern Pack, the tournament, the ghosts of our past—all of it faded away. There was only this. Only us.