All Chapters of Fated Vengeance: A Mate's Reckoning : Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

Lucian’s words lingered in the air long after he departed, a specter whispering in the recesses of my mind.“Gabriel is getting ready for war already.”"Not to save you. Not to win you back.""To destroy you."I walked up and down the room, my heart beating hard against my ribs, my brain a war zone between denial, anger and something like fear.Gabriel wouldn’t do that.He wouldn’t return just to kill me.Would he?I wanted to think the answer was no. That even after everything—even after he cast me aside, treated me like dirt, like I had never mattered—that he wouldn’t look back and try to erase my existence.But doubt sneaked into my brain, filling my determination with poison.The truth was, I didn’t know Gabriel anymore.Not this version of him.Not the one who had picked power over me.I sucked in my breath, running a hand through my hair and forcing myself to focus. It didn’t matter what Gabriel planned. I didn’t have to see what Lucian wanted me to see.I was still here.And I

The room was too quiet.Too still.I could feel the squeeze of Lucian’s ultimatum clenching around my ribs like iron chains, suffocating.“Oppose me… and when Gabriel comes, I’ll have no choice but to return you to him in pieces.”“Or… you can join me, and we can burn him first.”The words remained lodged in my skin like venom, poisoning the air between us.Lucian was watching me.Not humorously, not condescendingly.But with patience.Like he already had some inkling how this would turn out.I made myself breathe, made myself keep my hands steady when my entire world seemed to break underneath me.I had been denying it, battling it, for the past few days — but the truth had been staring me in the face the whole time.Gabriel wasn’t coming for me.He was coming to kill me.I swallowed and said in a voice scarcely above a whisper. “Why would he do this?”Lucian breathed out slowly, his fingers beating against the table. “Because he’s scared of who you’re going to be.”I had grown to sc

The words hovered like a knife just above my throat.“He either dies … or you pledge loyalty to me.”Lucian had done what he always did.He’d backed me into a corner.But this time — I had more to lose than just my life.Kayden was down on his knees, his face bruised and his clothes shredded, but his silver eyes held mine with a silent beseech.Don’t do it.But how could I not?My heart raced as I glanced between them. Lucian — tranquil, collected, so confident I knew my next step. Kayden — vulnerable, waiting for me to determine his future.Before the words had left his mouth, Lucian had already won.Because there was no escape from this that didn't end in blood.And I wasn’t going to let it be Kayden’s.I let out my breath in a hiss, struggling to keep my voice even. “If I do this, he walks out of here alive.”Lucian’s lips quirked into a tortoise pace, satisfied smirk. “Of course.”I narrowed my eyes. “Swear it.”Lucian chuckled. “You have my word, Angel.”It wasn’t good enough.Lu

The night turned into day, day into night, in an unremitting cycle that felt endless, but every passing moment brought me closer to the inevitable. It was just that Lucian had stayed away, not out of mercy, not because he was doing me a kindness and giving me time, but because he was waiting — waiting for me to break, waiting for me to bend, waiting for the moment I stopped fighting and accepted him wholly. And the worst part? He wasn’t wrong.The unthreading of everything, slowly, inside of me, a little more every second, every breath, every moment with him wearing away the walls I had put in place. As much as I tried to resist it, my wolf was already done fighting. She wasn’t resisting the bond any longer. I was.The bond was an entity, drawing me, an irresistible force, toward him, murmuring that he was mine, I was his, that this was right even when I knew it was so, so wrong. I hated it. Hated that my body knew him before my mind bothered to follow, hated that I hated the way I re

Sleep never came. I lay there all night staring at the ceiling, thoughts I wanted to silence shouted in my mind, my body still vibrating in response to the bound we’d sealed. Lucian’s bite left behind a feeling, neither itch nor pain but a sensation that refused to fade, a brand not only on my skin but on something deeper I didn’t want to look at. My wolf had stopped the fighting, settled, both an embrace and a horror, and no matter how many times I shrieked in my head that this was still the nightmare I had to wake from, the truth remained. I wasn’t waking up. This was my reality now.When morning finally came I hadn’t even moved from where I lay on the bed, the fire in the hearth already long dead and cold, leaving the room chilling even more than it had before. My body was worn, my mind splintered, but I was still restless, as if something inside me was waiting for something else to break. I wasn’t surprised when the knock sounded on the door. Lucian never allowed me to be alone fo