Semua Bab Second Chance with the Alpha King: Bab 21 - Bab 30

LYRA’S POVIt hurt.Everything hurt.I wondered how long I had been here. I tried to breathe, but my lungs felt thick, like cotton had been stuffed inside them. Not because of the trap clamped around my ankle—that had long gone numb—but because of the fever spreading through my limbs like wildfire.I had stopped crying hours ago. I was not even sure I had any more tears left to cry. I did not know anymore. My tears had dried up and I knew it deep within me…No one’s coming.I was going to die here. “Alina?” I whispered.‘I’m here, Lyra.’ Her voice was weak. Even my wolf was fading.“How bad is it?” I asked her inside my head, trying to stay calm, though my teeth were chattering.‘Bad.’ she said “Really bad”She didn’t elaborate and she did not need to.I did not want to die. Not like this.Not alone.The wound throbbed, pulsing with every heartbeat. The poison was crawling inside me and Alina tried to fight it off, but I could feel her energy draining. Fast.Tears welled up in my e

VALRIK'S POVShe was too quiet. Too still in my arms.I moved fast—faster than I should’ve, considering my arm was still bleeding, but I didn’t care. Not about the pain. Not about Joaz’s voice still ringing in my skull. Not about anything except the girl going limp against my chest.Lyra.She burned.Her skin was too warm. I could smell the poison now that I was close. Goddess, why hadn’t I gotten to her sooner?I clenched my jaw and kept moving as the hospital came into view. Then… she whimpered.“Water,” she mumbled, “Thirsty...”I looked down as she shifted in my arms.Another whisper: “Hurts…”Her fingers twitched against my chest, and then, before I could brace myself, her lips brushed against the side of my neck..l froze mid-step.The contact seemed so innocent it might’ve been accidental. But it wasn’t. Not to my body; it felt like a jolt fired through me. Down my neck. My spine. Lower.I gritted my teeth.Her lips touched me again, against the pulse in my throat. I swallowed

VALRIK'S POVDamn. She was burning up in my arms.Every step I took toward the spring felt heavier than the last, but I didn’t slow. Couldn’t. I didn’t feel the rocks beneath my boots or the freezing wind that tore at my skin. All I felt was her; her shallow breathing, the fever radiating off her and the feeling of her unconscious body curled into mine like she belonged there.And she did belong there.She was not mine. That was the worst part of it.Because no matter how hard I tried to shove the feeling down, to bury it beneath duty and logic and the damned mate bond, it was still there—undeniable, unrelenting, like a hook behind my ribs pulling me to her.I leapt into the water without hesitation.The cold hit like a wall. It felt like a living thing with teeth.It clawed at my lungs, ripped the breath from my chest, but I held her tighter. Her skin, even against the freezing water, still burned like fire.I was in the deepest part of the spring, the one with no ledges or foothol

LYRA’S POV“I saw Joaz before I blacked out—I think I saw him, or maybe I thought I did, because everything was spinning, and it was dark, and my head was pounding so hard that I couldn’t be sure, but I really thought—”“Don’t say his name again.”His words were quiet but felt like a slap. The way he said it wasn’t loud, but it was dangerous, and I had never heard him sound like that before. So, I snapped my mouth shut.I didn’t understand why he was so angry, not really, not until it hit me. My hands reached for my lips. They were wet, swollen. My eyes widened immediately and I took a staggering step back. Back in the spring, I had said things, horribly embarrassing things, and worse—worse than that—oh goddess, I had kissed him.“Oh gods,” I breathed. “I kissed you.”His silence confirmed it.“I kissed you,” I said again, lower this time, because saying it once hadn’t made it feel any less real, and maybe if I said it quieter, it wouldn’t sound so reckless or shameful.“Yes,” he sa

LYRA'S POVValrik tore his gaze away from me and looked down at my injuries one last time and his brows furrowed a bit. “It has started to scab.” He confirmed. I nodded, that was a good thing. However, before I could say anything else he reached forward and scooped me into his arms so suddenly that I let out a yelp. “W-what are you doing?” My face had immediately flushed red and I felt tingles going up my spine. I was already mortified from everything that had already happened, like it didn't help matters that I had kissed him or cried in front of him or come this close to dying in his arms.I didn’t want him to carry me. Goddess help me, I didn’t want him to carry me.I didn’t want to feel his arms around me again, didn’t want to be pressed against his chest with his heartbeat pounding steady beneath my cheek, didn’t want to smell the cool sharpness of the spring water still clinging to his skin, didn’t want to feel how careful he was being with me.“I'm fine you know…I can walk,