登入RONAN'S POVThe bullet went straight into the Beta's skull, and the light left his eyes instantly. His body went slack, slumping against the floor like all the fight had drained out of him in that single moment. He was gone. It was over.But I didn't stop. I couldn't stop. I kept pulling the trigger, emptying every bullet the magazine held into his body, into his chest, his stomach, his head, over and over until the gun clicked empty and the only sound left was my breathing and the ringing in my ears.I stood there for a moment, the gun still in my hand, my body trembling with exhaustion and pain. I had won. But it didn't feel like victory. It felt like the end of something I hadn't fully understood until now.I let out a long, shaky breath and walked back to the couch, collapsing onto it. I stared at the ceiling, and I laughed. A low, broken sound that echoed through the wrecked living room. I laughed until my ribs ached, until the tears started streaming down my face, and I couldn't
CHAPTER 88 - RONAN'S POVThe Beta lay on the floor of my office, his body twitching, his hands clawing at his chest where the silver bullet had lodged itself deep inside him. He tried to shift, his body contorting, bones cracking, fur sprouting, but the silver was too much. It was stopping him. He couldn't complete the transformation. He screamed, a raw, guttural sound that echoed through the wrecked room, and tried again. Nothing. He was stuck. Human. Weak. Defeated.I watched him struggle. He clawed at the wound, trying to dig the bullet out, trying to stop the burning, trying to do anything to regain control. But it was useless. The silver was doing its job, spreading through his system, paralyzing him, bringing him down to a level I had never seen him at before.He collapsed onto his back, his chest heaving, his face pale and slick with sweat. And on his face, for the first time, I saw something I had never seen on him before. Defeat. Pure, undeniable defeat. He lay there, still a
RONAN'S POVI know he's going to come for me. I just don't know when.Ever since Elara called me and told me she had taken the pill, I knew the Beta would come for me. It was inevitable. I was the one who gave her the abortion pills, and there was no way in hell he wouldn't have figured that out. Knowing how restricted Elara had been, he would know that I was the only person who could have gotten those pills for her. That meant he would figure out that I had been sneaking into the estate, meeting her in secret, giving her the means to destroy Kael's child.So now he was going to come for me. To prove a point. To kill me. Or to just beat me to a pulp. I didn't know which one it would be, but I knew it was coming. And I was waiting for him.I had been looking for a way to get to him ever since he attacked me in the hospital. I had tried to find evidence, something that would expose him to Kael, something that would get him arres
ELARA'S POVWhen my eyes slowly opened, everything was white. The light was too much, blinding and harsh, and I immediately closed them again, the brightness searing into my brain like a physical pain. I decided to use my other senses to figure out where I was, to piece together the fragments of reality that were slowly coming back to me.I could hear voices. Distant, muffled, overlapping. Someone was yelling, but I couldn't make out the words, couldn't tell who they belonged to. Everything was overwhelming, the noise, the light, the ache in my body that I couldn't quite place. I slipped back into my mind, letting the darkness pull me under again.When I opened my eyes again, I didn't know how much time had passed. It could have been seconds, or hours, or days. I had no way of knowing. But everything was a bit clearer now. I turned my head slowly and saw that there were tubes and wires inserted into my arms, monitors beeping softly beside me. I was in a h
ELARA'S POVI couldn't bring myself to abort the baby. Every night I lay in bed, my hand reaching for the pills on the nightstand, my fingers brushing against the container like it was the only hope I had left. I wanted to take them. I dreaded taking them. I loved the baby growing inside me, this tiny life that had done nothing wrong, this innocent thing that had no say in any of this. But I hated the man who had put it there. I hated everything the baby represented—a life I never wanted, a future I couldn't see, a chain binding me to a man I was trying to destroy. I loved my life, the parts of it that were mine, the parts I had fought so hard to build. But I hated the life the baby would be born into, the life it would have to endure, the life I would have to endure alongside it.The contradictions were endless, and they were eating me alive.For days, I went through the motions. I woke up, I let Kael take care of me, I ate the food he brought, I smiled when he expected me to smile
ELARA'S POVI drove home with the Beta's car close behind me, his headlights a constant presence in my rearview mirror that I couldn't escape no matter how fast I drove or how many turns I took. The sun was high in the sky, the afternoon light harsh and unforgiving, and I wish I could see his face clearly through his windshield— I'm sure he would have looked calm, patient, utterly certain that he had won. He followed me all the way to the estate gates, and then, without a signal or a wave, he turned off and disappeared down a side road, leaving me alone to face the house I didn't want to enter.I parked the car and walked inside like a ghost, my feet heavy, my heart heavier. The hallways were quiet, the servants going about their afternoon duties, and I made it to my room without seeing anyone. I closed the door behind me, locked it, and then I fell onto the bed and cried. Not the quiet kind. The ugly kind. The kind that tore through your chest and left you empty and gasping. I cried
ELARA'S POVKael looked at me, his eyes moving over my face like he was trying to read something written there. "Hi," I said again, because I didn't know what else to say."Where have you been?" he asked. "You look flushed."My smile grew smaller. I just stood there, feeling the weight of his gaze
ELARA'S POVI woke up with so much energy I could barely stay still. My body was humming, my hands were steady, my mind was clear. I felt like I could run a thousand miles or tear down a building or both. I tried to act normal at breakfast, but Kael kept looking at me across the table, his head til
ELARA'S POVI waited until the house was completely still. Not the kind of stillness that comes right after everyone goes to bed, but the deeper kind, the one that settles in around two in the morning when even the guards have stopped pacing and the only sound is the wind outside my window. That w
ELARA'S POVI run through the trees. The folder is tucked under my arm, pressed against my chest. I can't risk losing it. Can't risk anyone finding it. This is everything. Names, dates, connections, every piece of information Ronan has gathered over the past weeks. I hold it like it's keeping me al







