Stayed up late to write this. Will try for more chapters later as I doubt I'll be able to write for the rest of the week. For the readers who haven't left this book a review, could you do that pretty please?🙏🏻 Happy new month, sweethearts.😊
ReedHe came.Rayne came.My entire body sagged with relief. Like I’d been holding my breath for three days straight and could finally exhale. The moment Rayne stepped into the hallway, it was like the whole world shifted.Even in the dingy lighting of the jail, he looked like royalty— untouchable, invincible. The way his shoulders squared, the precision in every step. The subtle fury behind his silence. Gods, he’d never looked more beautiful to me. Or more terrifying.I wanted to weep.No—I nearly did.My Rayne. My Alpha. My husband.I staggered to the bars, bandages brushing metal, voice raw and hoarse. “Rayne…”He didn’t look at me. Not yet. His gaze was fixed on Captain Voss.Captain Voss straightened so fast it looked like someone yanked a leash. His spine locked in place, his eyes darted to mine, then to Rayne, and back to mine again—full of warning.“Alpha Hunter,” Voss said with a stiff bow. “We weren’t expecting—”“Let him out.” Rayne commanded.His voice was flat. Emotionles
ReedThree days.Three long, hellish days had passed since the courtroom, since the blood, since Eden.I’d spent them handcuffed to a hospital bed in the penitentiary wing, my body a mess of bruises, cuts, swelling, and agony. Bandages wrapped my ribs so tight I could barely breathe. My right eye wouldn’t open properly, and my left wrist had a hairline fracture. My mouth still throbbed from the tooth I lost, and every time I blinked, I could feel Eden’s punches echo through my skull.But the worst part?It wasn’t the pain.It was the silence.No visitors. No calls. No Rayne.He didn’t come.Not even once.Not to check on me. Not to scream at me. Not to see if I was still breathing.And yet, even with every cracked rib and splintered nerve, I clung to the same stubborn belief that had gotten me through seven years of lies and manipulation:He would come.Because he loved me.Because he had to.When the doctor finally cleared me for transfer, I was wheeled out like trash—barefoot, bruis
Rayne I came to like waking up from a nightmare, only this one wasn’t over. I didn’t open my eyes—I snapped back into my body.My first breath was sharp and jarring, like surfacing from water I’d been drowning in. My chest heaved, and my knees buckled. I fell against the doorway, barely catching myself.The first thing I saw was chaos.The living room was in complete disarray—shattered furniture, a broken bookshelf half-splintered against the wall, its contents flung everywhere. Books, glass, torn cushions, and shattered frames littered the floor like the aftermath of a war. The table was overturned, the TV cracked straight down the middle. The coffee table? Obliterated.But none of that made my heart stop.What did... was the blood.There was blood on the walls. On the floor. Smears, splatters, thick streaks like someone had been dragged. My stomach turned. My heart started pounding in my chest.The scent hit me next. Sharp. Metallic. Familiar.Reed.It was his blood.I staggered bac
ReedHe took another step.I twitched back, too late.“You got one thing right.” His voice was venom.“I would sully my hands. I would burn the world to the ground and trample on the ashes just to protect my mate—”He was in front of me now, towering. His body buzzed with power, muscles tight, trembling from the restraint he barely held.“—my precious Omega that you tried to destroy!”His foot slammed into my stomach.WHAM.I doubled over like I was folding in half. The wind was punched out of me in one brutal burst. The pain was instant, like fire catching dry brush—my organs compressed, my spine screamed, bile rushed up my throat.I choked, gagged, vomited bile onto the floor.Before I could even slump to the ground, his hand shot out—fistful of my hair, ripped straight from the scalp.I screamed. It wasn’t even a scream I recognized. It was animalistic. High-pitched. Embarrassing.He dragged me upright like I weighed nothing. My feet barely touched the ground as he yanked my head ba
ReedThe impact knocked the air out of my lungs.I crashed against the nearest wall with a sickening crunch, the sound of my bones meeting plaster ringing in my ears. My spine screamed. My head snapped back. My teeth clacked together hard enough to send sparks behind my eyes.My lungs burned, trying to drag in oxygen that refused to come. I gasped like a man drowning, every breath a fight against the pain radiating through my ribs from the impact. My spine screamed in protest, nerves buzzing, blood roaring in my ears like a warning siren.But it wasn’t the physical pain that broke me.It was what I saw in front of me.Rayne was gone.The man I knew—the man I loved—was nowhere to be found behind that face.All that was left was Eden.His wolf.That primal, monstrous presence I had only encountered once and never forgot.The irises that used to glow with forest green now blazed crimson—pure, blinding, animal rage. There wasn’t a trace of mercy in them. No humanity. No warmth. Just the p
ReedI was shaking by the time the Uber slowed to a halt in front of our mansion. My hands were ice cold, clenching and unclenching over and over in my lap. I told myself it was nerves. That it was just the natural anxiety that came before a confrontation. My thoughts raced in tight, frenzied circles as I tried to think of how I’d explain everything to Rayne—how I’d beg, cry, fall to my knees if I had to. I’d been rehearsing the apology the entire ride home, running through every possible emotion I could milk, every line I could weaponize with sincerity.“I have no excuse, I understand now... I never meant to hurt you... Rayne, please... I love you—”But the second my eyes landed on the front porch, all the air in my lungs vanished.Bags.Four of them.Neatly packed. Lined up like fucking tombstones.My bags.I knew them instantly. The tan leather carry-on I only used for vacations. The monogrammed duffle Rayne bought me after we got married. The charcoal Louis Vuitton with the worn z