Lahat ng Kabanata ng Mated To Valentine : Kabanata 91 - Kabanata 100

The cell is suffocating.The air is stale, thick with the scent of damp stone and my own misery. The walls press in around me, their silence louder than any scream. Days—or weeks, I can’t tell anymore—have passed in isolation. No one comes. No one speaks. It’s just me.Me and my thoughts.And they are louder than the silence.Finn’s face haunts me. His voice lingers in the corners of my mind, whispering accusations I don’t have the strength to deny."You did this, North!""You got me killed!"I squeeze my eyes shut, pressing my fists against my temples as if I can keep his ghost away. I know he wouldn't ever think that, but my guilt manufactures his voice louder.I deserve this.Maybe this is what justice looks like. Maybe this is my penance.I inhale sharply, trying to push down the weight in my chest, but it’s crushing, suffocating—And then I feel it.A pull.A thread of something warm and alive cutting through the darkness."Valentine."I don’t think. I don’t hesitate. I reach f

I don’t mean to fall asleep.But the moment my body touches the cold, hard cot, exhaustion swallows me whole. The weight of everything—the drugs, the pain, the hopelessness—drags me under.I dream of nothing.For the first time in weeks, my mind is silent. No whispers, no chains pulling me toward Valentine. Just stillness.When I wake, I know something is different.The haze is gone.I blink up at the dim ceiling, my limbs lighter, my head clearer.The drugs.They’re not in my system anymore.I sit up too fast, my head spinning, but the realization keeps me grounded.They’ve either forgotten to dose me or—they want me lucid for now.Either way, I don’t waste time.I reach for the bond.It’s there.Open.A sharp breath escapes me, my pulse roaring as I push through the connection, shoving past the barriers that once held me back.And then I call out to Valentine."Val!"His presence slams into me like a storm.But he’s wild.Unhinged.A hurricane of chaos and fury, burning through my

I don’t know how long it’s been.Days, maybe.Time stretches and folds in on itself, each moment blending into the next. The walls of my cell feel smaller, the air thicker. I pace, restless, waiting.The last I heard, the hybrids had been taken down.Achilles and Valentine did what I knew they would.Which means they have my scent now.They’re coming.They have to be.I press my back against the cold wall, exhaling slowly. The anticipation is unbearable. My body aches from hunger, from exhaustion, but I don’t care. All that matters is getting out of here.A sudden buzz crackles through the air.The door to my cell unlocks.I snap to attention as it swings open, and two figures step inside.Arik.And—I blink, caught off guard. "Ellie?"She looks… awful.Pale. Hollow. Like a ghost of the girl I once knew.My stomach knots.What is she doing here?Is she volunteering to be turned into a hybrid too?She shifts on her feet, eyes darting away. She can’t look at me.Arik smirks, stepping f

The room is deathly quiet except for the steady hum of the overhead lights.Dr. Kane stands in front of me, his expression eerily calm, as if we’re discussing something mundane instead of the horrors he’s about to unleash."You should feel honored," he says, hands clasped behind his back. "Your blood has done what centuries of failed experiments could not. We have created the perfect army."I don’t react. I won’t give him the satisfaction.His lips curl into a smile, amused by my silence. "In a matter of weeks—days, even—the vampire species as you know it will be wiped out. The old ones, the ones who can’t withstand the sun, will be the first to fall." He tilts his head, eyes gleaming with something close to reverence. "And then all that will remain are your kind—the ones who can walk in the daylight."I clench my jaw, the anger in me simmering just beneath the surface. "You act like I should be grateful."He exhales, as if my resistance is exhausting him. "North, you are the next ste

I can’t remember the last time I felt warm.The cold is constant now, wrapped around me like a second skin. They take my blood, vial after vial, draining me until I’m barely holding on. My head is heavy, my limbs feel like stone. I am slipping—slowly, steadily—into something I know I won’t come back from.And then, just as the last of my strength gives way, the darkness swallows me whole.When next I open my eyes, I am home.Not the sterile walls of the lab. Not the endless nightmare of my imprisonment.Not Valentine's mansion, no.Home.The smell of coffee lingers in the air, mixing with the faint scent of newspaper ink. Sunlight streams through the windows, painting golden squares across the wooden floor.And there she is.My mother.She’s hunched over the kitchen table, exactly as I remember her—one elbow resting on the surface, her chin propped up in her palm, eyes scanning the pages of the newspaper. She always read the crime section first, always muttered about the world bein