Semua Bab The Alpha's Fated Desire: Bab 151 - Bab 159

{Dominic}All through the drive, I kept thinking about her. Not just about where she might be, but more about how I would look at her when I saw her again.I was angry at how much I still wanted her. I played it off to Varen that I only wanted her because she might be from a pure bloodline of mages, but deep down, I just wasn’t completely sold on losing her.It took us nearly thirty minutes to get to the safehouse, and by the time I turned off the engine, Isaac was half-asleep in the passenger seat with his hoodie pulled up.“Up,” I said, lightly tapping the steering wheel. “We’re here.”He yawned and blinked like a newborn pup. The safehouse was quiet and still, its gray bricks half-wet from the earlier drizzle. As I looked down, I quickly noticed deep, fresh tire marks scored into the mud like someone had been in a hurry. And not just any vehicle either, these grooves were wide and heavy. Definitely some kind of truck.“Stay close,” I warned, already sensing something off. The front

{Lyra}When I was finally sure no one was chasing me, I stopped running. My chest heaved, and I doubled over, panting like I’d just run a marathon.I waited for a good ten minutes behind a row of trash bins, my ears perked for footsteps or suspicious tire screeches. But nothing. Not even a bird. I wiped my face with the sleeve of my sweatshirt, then sighed and glanced back at the darkened road, the gas station was now a tiny dot in the distance.I felt a twinge of guilt as I thought about Dominic’s Jaguar just sitting there, abandoned like a shiny breadcrumb trail back to me, but what was I supposed to do? Driving something that flashy was basically begging to get noticed. I like to think that ditching the car had probably saved my life.Still, I had to get moving. I stepped back onto the road, tucking my hair into a bun. With no ride and no clue where I was, I started walking along the side of the highway. For about twenty minutes, I stuck my thumb out at passing cars like some na

{Dominic}I pressed the intercom button on Ryker’s desk and leaned forward. “Rachael, have the board convene in the boardroom conference room. I’ll be there shortly.”“Yes, Mr. Bloodhound,” she chirped, her voice warbling ever so slightly. She was probably already picturing every nightmare scenario that involved this sudden board meeting and me walking through the doors like I hadn’t ghosted this company for weeks.I opened the drawer with Ryker’s stupid brass wolf-head keychain still dangling from it and pulled out the mock merger proposal he'd spent two nights perfecting.With the paper in hand, I straightened my blazer, smoothed back my hair, and stepped out of the office.The boardroom was just across the hall, its long glass walls giving an unnecessarily perfect view of Crownshaven’s skyline. Inside, a handful of faces snapped toward me as I entered. Some looked pale, some looked eager, and some looked just plain confused.Mariela was perched at the end like a crow waiting to pec

{Lyra}I couldn’t stop thinking about her, floating in the middle of a ruin like she was caught between the mortal world and the supernatural world. Her eyes, her voice, it all felt so familiar.I wrapped my arms tightly around myself as I sat on my balcony that night, staring down at the quiet town square of Ravenshire. A few teens loitered outside the pizza place, someone’s dog constantly kept barking, and the bar sign across the street flickered happily, welcoming its next victims. But my mind was stuck in that burned-out shell of a house, staring into the glowing fragments where Odessa had vanished.I shouldn’t have even been thinking about it, but I couldn’t just let it go. I couldn’t ignore Odessa’s cry for help even if I wanted to.So the next morning, I brewed myself a cup of coffee, packed my hair into a simple bun, and stormed out the door with my laptop tucked under my arm. I needed to reach out, but I couldn’t do that with a traceable device. I was just starting to enjoy

{Lyra}The moment I read Isaac’s message, my heart stuttered. All reason and logic flew straight out the window. I slammed the laptop shut so hard it bounced, then I scrambled to my feet, nearly tripping over the rug on my way to the bedroom. Ten minutes later, I had stuffed a backpack with the essentials and was getting into my car. Before I went rushing back to Crownshaven, there were some things I needed sorted out first, and one of those things required me making a stop.My car drove through the iron gates of Victor Graves' manor, and I took a deep breath to calm myself as I parked the car right at the front door. I never once thought that I would ever come back here, but I guess fate had other plans.The whole house looked exactly the same. Cold, grand, and gray. I marched up the steps and knocked, loud and hard.For a second, nothing happened, then the door suddenly creaked open, and there he was. Victor.His eyes widened like he’d seen a ghost. “Lyra…?” he whispered in a rough