Chapter 157
Chapter 157
Riley’s POV
+8 Pearls
I stood at the window, fingers curling around the edge of the heavy curtain, peering through the narrow gap. Rain streaked down the glass in thick sheets, blurring the world beyond, but even through the downpour, I could see Kael
He was kneeling in the mud, soaked to the bone, his posture wild and desperate. His mouth moved in broken, frantic patterns. I couldn’t hear a word–my world had gone quiet long ago–but I didn’t need to. His face said everything.
Remorse. Rage, Guilt
But I’d seen this show before.
Kael wasn’t new to apologies. Every time he knelt, every time he cried, it was always the same script. One minute, he’d weep for what he did to me. The next, he’d raise his voice and defend the very people who broke me–especially her.
And every time, I was expected to forgive.
Not anymore.
My expression remained still, carved from the frost that clung to my bones. Whatever flicker of empathy I once felt for Kael had long since turned to ash.
He wasn’t here for me.
He was here for her. For Scarlett. His precious little sister, rotting in a prison she earned.
He hadn’t come for justice.
He’d come because his conscience bit back for the first time.
A cold smile tugged at my lips. The kind that held no humor, only quiet, worn–out contempt.
I turned away from the window. There was only one person in this house who mattered to me now.
Lucien
It was because of me that he got into a fight with Kael in the first place. And Lucien had a curse–one older than most wolves could remember, one that forbade him from claiming his true ntate… unless she fell hopelessly in love with him first.
And I–goddess help me–I was dangerously close.
I hurried toward the bedroom door, my weakened leg dragging slightly behind me, but I didn’t stop. My heart pounded harder with each step as I raced down the stairs.
Then the door creaked open
Lucien stepped into the manor, framed by the storm behind him.
He looked like something out of a fever dream. His black shirt clung to his body, soaked through, revealing every sculpted inch of his chest and abdomen beneath Rain dripped from his hair, tracing rivulets down his jaw and collarbone. Even drenched, he moved like a king–silent, elegant, and deadly.
“Lucien I gasped, my voice catchung.
I rushed toward him, but I misstepped–my bad leg gave way
4 sudden drop Weightlessness I fatted as the world tipped sideways.
But before I hu the ground, arms caught me
ms mes
Strong Steady Familiar
Chapter 157
+8 Pearls
Lucien
His scent wrapped around me–pine and storm and something darker, more primal. He cradled me effortlessly, my body pressed against his chest, his heartbeat loud and thunderous under my palm.
For a moment, there was only us. The storm faded. The house vanished. All I could feel was the heat of his skin, the tension in his muscles, and the emotion swimming in his eyes as he looked down at me.
“Are you hurt?” he asked, voice raw with concern.
I shook my head, still breathless.
He eased me down, but didn’t let me go. His hand lingered on my lower back, the other trailing down to my wrist, where my pulse fluttered like wings.
And then, slowly, deliberately, he pulled off the silver ring from his finger.
The one he’d worn since the day I met him.
My breath hitched as he slid it onto mine.
The cold metal kissed my skin.
Right over my middle finger.
My lips parted, but no words came out
Tears pricked the corners of my eyes–not because I was sad, but because something inside me cracked open, something I thought had died long ago.
Outside, Kael was still shouting into the storm, his face contorted in agony as he knelt in the mud, begging forgiveness that would never come.
But I couldn’t hear him.
Because in this moment, my world was quiet.
And Lucien’s heartbeat was the only sound I needed.