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Chapter Seven – A Warning in Blood
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2025-08-11 18:06:00The silence in Adrian’s private wing was heavier without him in it.
I paced the length of the room, the crackle of the fire the only sound. He’d said do not open that door — and while part of me wanted to defy him just to prove I could, another part of me… knew better. Because whatever Adrian Blackthorn considered dangerous was the kind of thing that didn’t leave survivors. Minutes bled into nearly an hour before I heard the low rumble of voices outside the door. One was Adrian’s, deep and steady; the other was unfamiliar, tense. The door swung open. Adrian stepped in first, still in the same suit but with his tie gone entirely now, the top buttons of his shirt undone, and a faint smear of something dark — blood — near his cuff. Behind him came a guard carrying a long, narrow box. “What happened?” I asked immediately. He didn’t answer right away. He simply dismissed the guard with a flick of his hand, then set the box on the bed. “Open it,” he said. I hesitated, glancing at him before lifting the lid. Inside was a single, black-dyed wolf pelt — the fur matted with fresh blood. I froze. “Is this—?” “A message,” Adrian said flatly. “From whoever attacked the Whitmore estate.” I stared at the pelt, bile rising in my throat. “Why would they send it here? To you?” “Not to me.” His gaze locked with mine, unreadable but sharp. “To you.” The words sent a cold shiver down my spine. Before I could process them, the door banged open again — this time without knocking. Lucas stormed in, his jaw tight, eyes blazing. Clara followed, her face pale and pinched. “You brought her here?” Lucas demanded, pointing at me like I was some kind of criminal. “Do you have any idea—” “I have every idea,” Adrian cut in smoothly. “Which is why she’s in my wing, under my watch.” Lucas stepped closer, ignoring his father’s warning tone. “If you think parading her around and keeping her here will make me jealous—” “Lucas,” Adrian interrupted, his voice deceptively calm, “you’re not the one I’m trying to provoke.” For a moment, the air in the room seemed to shift. Lucas’s anger faltered, confusion flickering across his face before he masked it again. Clara tugged at his sleeve, whispering something I couldn’t catch. Adrian turned back to me. “This isn’t just about revenge anymore. Whoever is behind these attacks… they’ve made you a target.” Lucas scoffed. “Then send her away. Out of the kingdom. She’s not worth—” The sharp crack of Adrian’s glass hitting the table made everyone freeze. “Finish that sentence,” he said softly, “and I will make sure you regret it.” Lucas’s mouth snapped shut. Clara, for the first time, looked at me with something other than disdain. Fear. Adrian stepped closer to me, so close I could feel the heat of him at my side. “From this moment forward,” he said, his voice low but carrying enough weight to feel like a vow, “you do not leave this wing unless I am with you. You do not open the door for anyone but me. And you do not speak to anyone I have not approved.” Lucas made a sound of disgust, but Adrian’s gaze was still locked on me. “Do you understand?” I nodded slowly. “Good,” he said, his hand brushing lightly over mine — a touch that was possessive without being forceful. “Because the next time they send a message… it won’t be a pelt.” The room went silent again, the only sound the crackle of the fire. But I could feel it — the storm building outside these walls. And in the middle of it all, I was no longer sure if I was Adrian Blackthorn’s pawn… or his prize.
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Tempting the Alpha’s Father Chapter 72 – Traps in the Dark
The following days unfolded like a twisted game of chess, every move calculated, every silence louder than words.Lucas didn’t accuse me anymore. He didn’t raise his voice, didn’t question where I went, or why my phone lingered too long in my hands. Instead, he began to notice.I found my jewelry box slightly shifted one morning, as if someone had been counting the time it took me to return. My phone charger unplugged, but neatly coiled. My perfume bottle tilted just a fraction to the left, the kind of detail only someone desperate for answers would notice.He was tracking me without saying it. Waiting for me to slip.And the worst part? He wasn’t wrong.Adrian, on the other hand, was no longer content with stolen hours.He summoned me to his private chambers more frequently, his messages short, commanding: Come. Now.The man was fire and storm combined, and every time I tried to resist, he pulled me in deeper.
Tempting the Alpha’s Father Chapter 71 – Silent Schemes
The house had turned into a battlefield of silence. Lucas no longer asked me questions. He no longer confronted me with accusations or desperate pleas. Instead, he moved through the rooms like a ghost—present, but unreadable. That frightened me more than anything. Before, I could measure his suspicion in his words, in his tone. Now, there was nothing. His eyes lingered on me too long, his touch absent when it should have been there, his movements deliberate. He was watching. Waiting. Plotting. I woke one night to the sound of footsteps outside the bedroom door. My heart hammered as I listened—measured steps, slow and steady—before they faded into silence. When I opened the door, the hallway was empty. Lucas hadn’t gone back to bed. Downstairs, the faint glow of the living room lamp revealed him sitting in the armchair, staring at nothing. He didn’t even look up when I descended the stairs. “Luc
Tempting the Alpha’s Father Chapter 70 – The Breaking Point
The drive back from the cabin was suffocating. Lucas didn’t speak a single word. His hands gripped the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles blanched, his jaw set in a line so sharp it looked painful.I sat in the passenger seat with my body rigid, my palms slick with sweat. The silence between us wasn’t empty—it was a weapon, sharpened and aimed squarely at me.When we finally reached home, Lucas didn’t storm inside or slam doors like I half-expected. Instead, he walked calmly into the living room, sat down, and gestured for me to sit across from him. The calmness was worse than fury.“Emma,” he said finally, his voice too quiet. “We need to talk.”My throat went dry. “About what?”His eyes narrowed slightly, the blue of his gaze cutting through me. “Don’t do that. Don’t play dumb. You know what this is about.”The weight of his stare pinned me to my seat.“I saw the way he touched you,” Lucas continued, his voice tightening. “The way he looks at y
Tempting the Alpha’s Father Chapter 69 – Shattered Calm
The cabin felt smaller after Adrian’s arrival, as though the walls had shifted closer, trapping us inside a suffocating cage.Lucas stood rigid near the window, his fists still clenched, his jaw tight with restrained fury. His calm mask had cracked—just enough to let me see the storm boiling underneath.Adrian, on the other hand, looked utterly unbothered. He moved across the room with that same unshakable authority, pouring himself a glass of whiskey from the bottle on the counter as though he had every right to be here.“What the hell are you doing here?” Lucas repeated, his voice rougher this time, darker.Adrian took a slow sip, then set the glass down with deliberate care. His eyes flicked to me before settling back on Lucas. “Protecting her.”My breath caught.Lucas’s face twisted. “Protecting her? From what? From me?”Adrian’s smile was sharp, dangerous. “From the weight you put on her shoulders. From your suspicions. From your weakness.”“Stop
Tempting the Alpha’s Father Chapter 68 – The First Trap
The air in the house had shifted. It was no longer just tense—it was sharp, like walking barefoot over glass. Every movement, every word, felt like a test.Lucas had grown quieter in the last few days. Not withdrawn, but deliberate, as though each silence was a carefully chosen strategy. He didn’t accuse me outright. He didn’t raise his voice. Instead, he began to watch. To wait. To set traps that felt too subtle to resist until I was already caught in them.It started with something small.One evening, he walked into the bedroom holding a pair of earrings I had left on the bathroom counter.“These aren’t yours,” he said calmly.I froze. They were mine—Adrian’s gift, delicate gold hoops that burned my skin like evidence.“Yes, they are,” I replied quickly, forcing a laugh. “You must’ve just forgotten. I bought them months ago.”Lucas’s eyes lingered on me for a long moment, and though he said nothing, I could see the doubt tightening his jaw. He set them
Tempting the Alpha’s Father Chapter 67 – The Net Tightens
The morning sun spilled through the curtains, but its warmth did nothing to soothe the icy dread twisting inside me. I lay in bed staring at the ceiling, the memory of last night haunting me—Adrian’s mouth on mine, his hands commanding every inch of me, and then… the shadow outside the door.Lucas.Had he seen? Or had my mind simply conjured a nightmare from the guilt that consumed me?When I finally dragged myself downstairs, Lucas was already at the table, sipping his coffee, the morning paper spread before him. His smile when he saw me was gentle—too gentle.“Morning,” he said. “Sleep well?”The question was too casual. My chest tightened. “As well as I could,” I replied carefully, avoiding his eyes.He folded the paper neatly and set it aside. “I thought we could take a drive today. Just the two of us. Out of the city, maybe. You need a change of scenery.”My stomach lurched. A drive sounded harmless enough, but there was something in his tone—a caref
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