All Chapters of The Ex-Luna's Return: No Longer His Doormat: Chapter 81 - Chapter 90

~ 81 ~~ Mia ~The next few days passed in a strange, quiet blur.I sat at the desk in my private office, organizing diagnostic slides, when the door creaked open. Nick walked in, holding a small notebook under his arm, his face glowing with a wide, excited smile."Mom," Nick announced, pulling up a chair and sitting down right beside me. "I need to tell you something, but you have to promise you won't get mad."I set my pen down and turned toward him, raising a single eyebrow. "That usually means you did something against protocol, Nicholas. What is it?""I didn't break any rules!" Nick protested quickly, though a guilty blush crept up his neck. "Well... not really. I was talking to a few kids from my science class yesterday.""About what?" I asked, keeping my voice calm."About the neural lab," Nick admitted, leaning in closer as if sharing a top-secret state file. "I told them how you let me help label the specimen slides, and how you showed me the high-resolution mapping screens.

~ 83 ~~ Mia ~My eyes flickered open, but the world remained a blur of gray shadows and blinding pain.A sharp, stabbing ache throbbed behind my temples. Every muscle in my body felt heavy, sluggish, and deadened by the lingering chemicals in my bloodstream. I tried to move my hands, but a harsh metallic clinking sound echoed against stone.My wrists were locked behind my back in heavy iron cuffs, chained tightly to a rusted ring in the wall.The moment my brain registered the tight, oppressive boundaries of the space, a blind wave of panic detonated inside my chest. It was a cold, windowless room—small, damp, and completely enclosed. The claustrophobia clawed at my throat instantly, threatening to finish what the chloroform had started.Breathe, I told myself, fighting for air against the closing walls. Lili, breathe."Hey," a shaking voice whispered from somewhere to my left. "Can you... can you hear me?"I blinked hard, forcing my vision to clear.A few feet away from me, slumped

~ 85 ~~ Darian ~"What are you doing with a phone?" Ryker snapped, leaning in close, his dark eyes narrowing in suspicion. "You said you had a way to track her!""I do," I muttered, my heart hammering violently against my ribs as I opened the tracking application.I held my breath, tapping the emergency locator activation icon.For two agonizing seconds, the screen remained blank, spinning with a gray loading circle.Please, I prayed, my wolf whimpering in a dark corner of my mind. Please let her still be wearing the necklace.A digital chime rang out from the speaker.A glowing red dot blinked violently to life on the holographic map, pulsing steadily somewhere far to the east, deep within the lawless hills of the rogue territory."You have been tracking her movements?" Ryker asked, looking at me with judgmental eyes as he realized what I was doing.Everyone, including Nick, stared at me with that same judgmental look, but I couldn't care less. My obsession with Mia has at least giv

~ 87 ~~ Darian ~I stood just inside the heavy iron-reinforced door, my left shoulder burning and my side throbbing where the silver rounds had torn through my tactical vest. Warm blood soaked steadily down my shirt, pooling inside my boots.Across the room, the lead rogue grinned, pressing the tip of his dagger harder against Fanny's throat."Look at you," the rogue mocked, shaking his head with a cruel chuckle. "The great Alpha of East Lake. Bleeding out like a stray dog, walking into a trap without a single weapon to your name.""You have what you asked" I said, my voice low, harsh, and steady. I forced myself to take a slow step forward, keeping my hands raised and open. "The perimeter is locked. The guards are standing down. Take the payout and let them both go.""Oh, no, Alpha, that's not how this works," the rogue laughed, his eyes flashing with sadistic pleasure as he enjoyed every second of his control. "The client gave us very specific instructions. The ransom money is nice

~ 89 ~~ Mia ~I stood against the far stone wall of the cold cellar, my hands still bound tightly behind my back with heavy iron cuffs. The air in the room was thick with smoke, sweat, and the heavy metallic smell of fresh blood.I watched it all happen right in front of me."Take Mia, let Fanny go."The strange thing was how quiet it felt inside my chest. It was just a clean, final snap — like a bone I had been favoring and protecting for years finally giving way under too much weight.For months, I had told myself I expected nothing from him. I had convinced myself that Darian Lancaster was nothing more than a ghost from a past I had survived. Yet, looking at him standing there in the dim light, I learned a bitter truth: some small, foolish, buried piece of me had still been hoping.And in that exact second, I felt that last piece die.I thought back to everything. The elevator at the hospital when he held me in the dark. The Family Day picnic where he stood up to Fanny in front o