جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 50

Abbey's point of view.Jeremy let his gaze settle on my face for a lingering moment before giving a curt nod. He straightened his posture, squaring his shoulders as he turned to address the guards standing stiffly in front of him.“Is everything secured? No threat?” His voice came out sharp and firm, stripped of the warmth he had shown me earlier.The guards shifted uneasily, but it was Ezekiel who answered for them. “She’s fine.” His tone was clipped, mirroring Jeremy’s. His rigid stance betrayed the rough morning he’d endured. “She won’t hurt Abbey. If anyone, she’ll lunge at me—or maybe at Jeremy. But I’ve already handled that issue.” He adjusted his stance, his boots grinding against the floor.Jeremy’s eyes narrowed. “And how do you know that?”Ezekiel snorted, lifting one shoulder in a shrug. “I got creative. You’ll see when we get to her room. She’s not very happy about it.” His mouth curved into a humorless smirk as he tilted his head toward the hall. Pushing himself off the w

Abbey's point of view.The moon looked beautiful that night, glowing like a soft lantern in the vast dark sky. Its silvery light spilled over the clearing, bathing the world in a calm hue that almost managed to soothe the chaos clawing at my chest. For a fleeting moment, I let it comfort me. I dragged the back of my hand across my face, trying to rub away the sleep clinging to my swollen eyes. My tears had dried hours ago, long after Jeremy stormed out of the pack house.The journey back to his house had been cloaked in silence. I had tried—tried until my throat burned—to reason with him, to plead through my tears, but every word fell on deaf ears. He had offered nothing in return, no reassurance, no softness. Just the slam of a door, the click of a lock, and the presence of guards outside my window to remind me that I wasn’t free.At first, sadness crushed me. But as the hours dragged on, sadness hardened into fury. Rage that this was how he handled conflict—by shutting me out, by sh

Abbey's point of view.Jeremy really did fear rejection, more than I had ever realized. It wasn’t just about authority or keeping control—it was about what I thought of him. Charity’s words had struck him deeper than I’d expected, cracking his carefully built dictator’s facade. For the first time, I saw him not as the unshakable Alpha everyone feared, but as a man standing on fragile ground.I must have taken too long to process my thoughts. I lay silently beneath him, torn in two by feelings I couldn’t yet name. Jeremy’s expression soured in that silence, his jaw clenching as if my quiet had given him the answer he dreaded. He shifted, his weight pulling away from me.“I’ll sleep in the guest room tonight. You can stay here.” His voice was clipped, harshly restrained. He didn’t meet my eyes.Panic flared in my chest, stronger than I expected. “Wait—no.” My voice broke the silence with more urgency than I meant, and before I could stop myself, my hand shot out to grab his forearm. The

Abbey's point of view.Charity jumped from her spot on the bed, sitting upright the moment I walked in. Her blonde hair was damp, no longer matted with grime but still wild around her shoulders. If not for the fresh batch of black ropes wound tightly around her waist and wrists, I might have thought she was simply resting here by choice, not held captive in a guarded room.“Hi,” I smiled, quickly making my way closer to her. The anxiety that had clawed at me yesterday was gone. The worst had already passed. She knew about Jeremy and me—there were no secrets left between us.The mattress dipped under my weight as I sat across from her, tucking my legs beneath me. “You look much better,” I said, letting the warmth in my voice linger.Charity rolled her eyes dramatically. “Better? That psycho wouldn’t let me take a bath alone. He actually tried to stay in the bathroom with me.” She gestured wildly, making the ropes dig into her skin. “It wasn’t until I started hurling bottles and soap at

Abbey's point of viewMorning came quicker than I expected, the soft rays of light pushing me awake before I was ready. Still, I found myself moving with purpose, slipping into a sweater and deciding to return to the daycare to help Liza out."Are you sure you want to go back?" Jeremy asked, his voice edged with the same mixture of concern and impatience that had accompanied his question the last three times. His arms crossed firmly over his chest, though his eyes narrowed in that way he did when he was trying to read me.I gave a short nod, brushing my hair back from my face."Liza was fine before you came," he reminded me, stepping forward to hold my forearms gently, grounding me in place as though his touch alone might convince me otherwise. "I am positive she can last another day or two without you."It was obvious he wanted me to take the day off, to rest, to stay tucked away at home where he could keep an eye on me. But the guilt of the last few days weighed heavily on me. I had