HOTTIE NEXT DOOR のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 81 - チャプター 90

Arielle's POV Pain speared through my stomach, sharp and cold, like ice water dropped straight into my veins, and I knew instantly that Ysolde had started whatever she had planned. "There's nothing to talk about," I heard Victor say, his voice tight with barely controlled fury, but Ysolde only raised one hand, calm and unhurried, and the green light filling the chamber pulsed brighter in response. "This won't take long," she said, her tone light, almost bored. "I only need a moment of her attention." "Get away from her." Victor's voice cracked like a whip. "I'm not touching her," Ysolde said, her pale eyes never leaving my face. "I'm touching what's inside her. There's a difference, though I understand why you wouldn't want to make it." I felt another wave of pain rising in me and clenched my teeth to silence a scream, determined not to give her that satisfaction. Sweat was beading on my forehead, and my hands quivered uselessly against the chains that held me fast to the ston

Victor's POV We hit the tree line at a dead run and found Julian on one knee, blood streaming down from a gash above his eye, six guards closing in a loose circle around him. "A little help," he called out, his voice tight with pain, one hand still tracing frantic shapes in the air, "would be extremely appreciated right about now." "Down!" I didn't wait for him to answer before I attacked the guard standing nearest to us and pushed him into a tree hard enough to make him pass out. Arielle was already on the move, too fast for my liking and driving her elbow into the second guard's throat before I could even think to warn her to stay back. Fear for her safety burned in me, useless and sharp, because there was no time left to argue with her about it. My father took down the third guard with a move I remembered learning from him years ago, his body clearly running on stubbornness alone at this point. The four of us sent the circle scattering, guards tackled or unconscious

Victor's POV I had Gideon backed against the stable wall before he'd even finished his sentence. "That's not an answer," I said, my voice hard. "That's a dodge with extra words in it." "Victor, I swear, it's nothing." "You've said nothing three times now. Each time you've looked less like you believe it yourself." Gideon's eyes flicked past me, toward the house, toward anywhere that wasn't my face. "Clara's been through a lot. I don't want to make things worse by having you interrogate her over instinct." "I'm not interrogating her. I'm asking you why you've been covering for a woman who insisted a little too hard on riding into a rescue mission for someone who wasn't actually missing anymore." "You weren't even there when she said it." "I don't need to be there to hear it secondhand and think it's strange." "It's not strange, it's—" He stopped himself, his jaw working, and I watched him choose, right in front of me, not to finish that sentence. "It's not what you think." "T

Arielle's POV Marcus' hands wavered an inch above my stomach. Not quite making contact, but close enough and the crease between his brows only deepened. "There's residue here," he said finally. "Old and dark. Whatever was causing the contractions left a trace." "You can clean it?" Victor stepped forward and stood close enough that his shoulder pressed to mine. "I can try. Give me a minute." Marcus's hands drifted to a silver shimmer and moved in lazy circles in the air. I bit back a breath and froze in place, afraid to breathe wrong and let whatever precious thing he was doing slip away. Minutes passed and the glow brightened, flickered, brightened again and finally Marcus sat back with a sigh of frustration. "That's strange." "Strange how?" A cold thread of fear wound through my chest. "Give me a second. I want to be sure before I say anything else." "Marcus." "A second, Arielle. This isn't the kind of thing I want to guess." He frowned harder, studying the empty air abov

Victor's POV I hit the tree line three seconds behind him and found nothing but empty dark. "Renner!" My voice echoed off the trunks and came back to me alone. "I know you're out here." Silence. Then, from somewhere off to my left, a voice answered, unhurried and amused, "You are louder than I thought you would be. You don't have a lot of subtlety in you, do you?" I whirled toward it, and there was still no one there, only the changing shadows and the glow of the fire to my back, and my own pounding pulse in my ears. "Come out." "Why would I do that? This is working out fine as it is." "You walked into a pack celebration wearing a stranger's face." "Yes. It's a message." His voice shifted again, closer now, impossible to pin down. "I could have reached her tonight. I didn't. I want that noticed." "Noticed by who?" "By you. By her. By whoever decides, eventually, whether I'm worth trusting." "Trusting you isn't on the table." "Everything's on the table eventually. You