Semua Bab Fate Or Mates: Bab 151 - Bab 160

ANGELA’S POVI was swimming up through something thick and black, like oil on water. There was no gentle drifting. It was just nothing, and then it was everything. A crushing, throbbing pain right at the base of my skull, and a low, persistent ache everywhere else.The light hit first. It was harsh and blurry. I winced, squeezing my eyes shut tight."Angela? Sweetheart?" It was Mom’s voice, close by. It was trembling with a fear I’d never heard in her before.I forced my eyes open, blinking against the blur. Her face slowly came into focus, leaning over me. She looked terrible. Her mascara was smudged into dark, tired circles under her red-rimmed eyes. Rainey hovered beside her, pale and fierce, her usual brightness completely washed out by worry."You’re awake," Mom breathed. Her hand came to my cheek, her touch so light. "Oh, thank God.""Wha…" My voice was a dry crackle, barely a whisper. My throat felt packed with sand. "What happened?"The last clear memory was the festival. The

ANGELA’S POVMom gasped, clutching my hand. “Sweetheart, what is it? Is the pain worse?”I shook my head. Tears leaked from the corners of my eyes, hot and silent. “She was supposed to be gone,” I whispered. My voice was raw with a grief I thought I’d buried. “I changed everything. But she… she’s still here.”Rainey’s face contorted with fury. “She won’t be for long. Aaron has her. He’ll make sure she never hurts anyone again.”But that was the other half of it, the chilling truth I could barely hold in my hands. Last time, I’d died alone on a rooftop. This time, I’d woken up in a soft bed, with my family around me and the fierce, protective pulse of my mate’s bond thrumming in my chest.I hadn’t just changed my fate. I’d armed myself.Kimberly might have been an unchanging constant, a venomous thread in the tapestry. But I was no longer the same fabric. I was stronger now. Protected. Loved.This time, she wasn’t just facing a lonely, betrayed woman. She was facing a King.The thought

Angela’s POV“Not today,” he said finally, his voice rough. “You will rest. You will heal. You will eat everything Elara puts in front of you. And when she tells me you can stand on your feet without swaying, when your mind is clear and your strength is back, then I will take you to her myself. You will ask your questions. And I will be the wall between you and her venom. Do you understand?”It was a compromise, forged in the fires of his fear and my resolve. It was permission, and it was a plan.“Yes,” I whispered. The tension drained from me, leaving only exhaustion and a fragile, burgeoning peace.He pulled me closer, his forehead resting against mine. “We face our ghosts together,” he murmured. “But we do it on our terms. When you’re ready.”I nestled back against him, and the hard knot of unresolved terror in my chest began, for the first time, to loosen. The war outside was coming. But first, there was a quieter, more personal reckoning to be had. For the first time since the fe

ANGELA’S POVAaron didn’t take me back to our rooms. Instead, he led me through a maze of quiet hallways, his silence a steady thing beside me. We ended up in his private study. It was all dark wood and tall shelves, the air smelling of old books and that clean scent of his. He guided me to a leather chair near the empty fireplace and knelt in front of me, his hands wrapping around mine.“Breathe, Angela,” he said, his voice low and firm. “Just breathe.”I tried. The air came in ragged at first, but slowly it evened out. The sharp shock was fading, leaving something hollow and clear behind. The ghost had a name now. She had a history, one tied right to my own blood. Kimberly wasn’t just some jealous ex-friend. She was my father’s secret. His living regret. And she’d turned all that pain into a weapon.“All this time,” I whispered, looking down at our hands. “He was so good to her. I thought it was just kindness, you know? Because she was my best friend. Or some old sense of duty. But

ANGELA’S POVHonestly, that whole thing with Kimberly just emptied me out. I was running on fumes, mentally and every other way. Walking back to our wing with Aaron was quiet, but it was a good quiet. He was just this solid, warm presence beside me, and I practically leaned my whole weight on him. My mind was blank. I had done what I had to do, and now a tiredness deeper than anything physical settled into my bones.When we got to our room in his quarters, I went straight to the window. I stared out at the garden, all lit up by the moon. Somewhere in this huge, sprawling Pack house, my world was getting broken apart and glued back together all wrong. I could not get the picture out of my head. My dad, looking so hollowed out, walking to tell my mom the lie he had lived for over twenty years.“Try to rest, Angela,” Aaron said softly. He came up behind me, his hands on my shoulders, his thumbs working at the knots there. “There is nothing more you can do tonight.”He was right, I knew t