جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 38

The dawn had barely broken when Lia awoke to an unsettling stillness. The safe house, usually a sanctuary, felt constricted, like the walls were closing in. The black feather from the night before rested on her dresser, a dark reminder that the world beyond the walls was far from safe. Damien had already left before she stirred, leaving only a folded note on the table, written in his precise handwriting: “Do not leave the house today. Not alone. I will return soon. —D” Lia frowned. His message was short, but it carried weight. Every word was measured, controlled, and yet it conveyed the same intensity she had come to expect from him: protection, warning, and an unspoken promise. She tucked the feather into her pocket and traced her fingers along the edge of the note. Her mind raced. The woman from the forest—the one with the silver hair and deadly calm—was still out there. And she had sent a warning that was far more than just intimidation. It was a challenge. Lia had never backe

The city felt different at night. Dark corners whispered secrets, and every streetlamp flickered like it was holding its breath. Lia’s pulse wouldn’t slow. She followed Damien through the deserted alleyways, every step echoing off the brick walls, every shadow a potential threat. He was silent beside her, but the tension radiating off him could have sliced steel. “Tell me,” she said finally, unable to hold the question back. “Who is behind this? Who wants to hurt us so badly?” Damien didn’t answer. Not at first. His jaw was tight; his eyes scanned every rooftop, every doorway. It was the Alpha in him—the predator always alert to danger. But Lia knew that look too. It was more than caution. It was fear. “Not just one,” he said at last, his voice low, almost a growl. “A network. A shadow inside the pack… and outside. Someone with power, patience, and a taste for control. Someone who… enjoys watching me lose everything.” Lia swallowed. The words didn’t fully register at first. Then

The wound burned.Not enough to cripple her but enough to remind Lia that she was no longer standing on the edge of danger.She was inside it.The warehouse had been left behind, but its echoes followed them through the night. Sirens wailed somewhere far away. Damien drove fast, one hand on the wheel, the other gripping the edge of the seat so hard his knuckles had gone white.Neither of them spoke.Lia pressed a cloth to her shoulder, teeth clenched, refusing to let the sting show. Pain had always been a companion to her. What unsettled her was not the injury but the look in Damien’s eyes.He was furious.Not loud. Not reckless.Controlled fury the most dangerous kind.When they reached the safe house, Damien didn’t even turn off the engine properly. He was out of the car in seconds, opening her door, lifting her without asking.“I can walk,” she protested weakly.“No,” he said. One word. Absolute.Inside, he set her down on the couch and immediately went for the med kit. His movemen

The night didn’t end with applause. It ended with silence. A heavy, fractured silence that spread through the clearing as wolves slowly began to disperse, whispering among themselves, eyes darting between Damien and Lia like they were witnessing something unnatural. A human. Chosen. Protected. Publicly. Lia could still feel Damien’s hands on her face. Could still hear his voice echoing in her chest. I choose you. Not as a claim. Not as a command. As a truth. And somehow, that made it more dangerous. As they walked back toward the Alpha house, the forest felt alive in a way Lia had never sensed before. Every rustle of leaves, every distant howl, every flicker of movement in the dark made her pulse quicken. She was no longer invisible. She was no longer tolerated. She was marked. Damien said nothing as they walked. His jaw was set, his posture rigid, the Alpha energy rolling off him in waves. When they reached the house, he shut the door behind them with a quiet finali