Chapter 153
153
Riley’s POV
The silence came back like a ghost I thought I’d buried.
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It started as a distant numbness–a soft ringing in the back of my skull–but quickly swelled into the kind of silence that pressed against my eardrums like a scream I couldn’t hear. No footsteps. No wind. No voices. Just the cruel quiet I thought I’d left behind in prison.
Lucien had come in.
But I hadn’t heard it. Not the creak of the hinges , not the sound of his boots on the floorboards. Nothing. His mouth had moved, his brows furrowed like he’d said something sharp. Urgent.
But I hadn’t caught it.
Because I couldn’t hear him.
My hearing had been failing more and more lately–especially when I was exhausted, when my wolf Nyra was too weak to hold it together. The beatings in prison had left more than scars or my skin. Sometimes it was like my ears just.. stopped working. And tonight, they had.
I didn’t want Lucien to know. Didn’t want to see the pity in his eyes, the way everyone used to look at me like I was broken beyond repair .
So I forced Nyra to rise , even though she barely stirred. I tapped into the dregs of her power , enough to make out fragments of sound –a muffled syllable here, the low hum of Lucien’s voice there–but nothing clear.
It wasn’t enough.
So I fell back on what I’d trained myself to do since prison: watch. Study. Read lips like my life depended on it.
Because it had.
And still does .
Lucien’s lips moved again, and I focused hard, catching the shape of his words even as the world around us blurred into nothing.
I think he was asking if I was okay ..
I didn’t answer .
Couldn’t
Not with the way my throat closed up, the way my chest constricted.
Then I heard it–sharp and sudden, slicing through the void.
Karl
His voice wasn’t always clear to me these days, but when he screamed, when he spat poison into the air, somehow it still reached me
accurse that refused to die.
car to the Goddess Riley Vale! Keep whoring around with that Stormridge Alpha , and one day when you die in his bed, don’t expect the Ebondlaw Pack to claim your corpse! We won’t bury your shame!”
His voice thundered through the nighat, wild and unhinged, shattering the silence like claws raking across stone. I didn’t need to look out the window to know he was outside. I could feel his rage pulsing through the walls like a storm begging for something to destroy.
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But I didn’t thuch. Not this time
Not when Lucien’s arms were suddenly around me, grounding me with a steadiness I didn’t know I needed His hand was pressed firm but gentle all of my back, holding me
against the close–too close. I could feel every inch of him through the flimsy fabric of my sleep shirt. The heat of his body, the power in his frame, the tension simmering just beneath his
He looked down at me, his gaze sweeping over my lace.
And I… I just stood there. Watching him. Breathing him in. Trying to pretend the whole world wasn’t tilting underneath
Irel
I shouldn’t be here .
Not when I now knew exactly who he was.
Lucien Duskgrave.
The infamous Alpha of Stormridge.
The male with the curse in his blood and a body count in his past. The one they whispered about in Ebonclaw Pack halls like
a warning. A predator wrapped in velvet, cursed to bring ruin to every she–wolf who ever dared love him.
I knew now. The signs were too obvious. The surname. The stories. The rumors l’il once scoffed at and dismissed as campfire tales.
But he was real.
And he was holding me like I was something fragile. Precious.
And Goddess help me.. a part of me felt happy.
Happy
Even though I should’ve been terribed. Even though every instinct in me–every broken shard of logic–screamed that
was the moment to run.
Because this was the Stormridge Alpha with bloodied hands and a dark legacy.
But instead of fear, there was this flutter in my chest. This ridiculous little flicker of something I couldn’t quite name.
Fate
No.
Something softer.
My heart raced like it wanted to leap straight out of my chest.
His scent was everywhere–cedarwood, smoke, and something darker , more dangerous. A scent that shouldn’t have been. comforting, but was I hated how safe it made me feel. How easily my body leaned into him , like I didn’t know better. Like 1 hadn’t been taught what happened when you trusted the wrong male
Th–thank you” I murmured, barely louder than a breath–though whether he actually heard it or only saw it on my lips, I
didn’t know
Lucien didnt say anything
I tried to step back, but my body wouldn’t obey My legs were trembling, unsteady–especially the right one That old injury from prison was flaring up again, like at always did when I was on edge. I lost my balance for a moment.
Laren caught me instantly
He pulled me tighter against lum, enveloping me in warmth and something stronger–something that felt like protection. Not the kind that locked you in a cage for your own graad The kind that stool between you and the rest of the world and
darest it to try agai
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† was small compared to him, almost swallowed by his broad frame. My lace was buried against his chest, only my wide. startled eyes visible as I stared past his collarbone.
He didn’t loosen his grip.
Didn’t move a muscle.
Lucien exhaled sharply, his breath brushing my hair as he pulled me closer, cradling me like I was something wounded but
The warmth of his embrace burned against the ice buried deep inside my chest.
I didn’t want this. I couldn’t want this. Not from him. Not from anyone.
Because no one stays
Because no one means it.
But Goddess, it felt good. To be held like this. To be looked at like I wasn’t broken beyond repair.
He must’ve known what I was thinking . He always seemed to
But then–just as I thought he’d release me–be didn’t .
Instead, he shifted closer and let his lips brush against the side of my throat .
Tune stilled.
A jolt shot through my entire body like lightning on a dry night. My breath hitched. My fingers clenched instinctively in the fabric of his shirt, trying to anchor myself, trying not to unravel completely
Lucien didn’t kiss me–not really
It was a touch, a breath, a claim made without words.
And it set my whole boily on fire.
I could barely breathe.
Downstairs, Karl’s shouting had fallen silent—at least for a moment. But I knew he was still there. Watching-
Judging
This rage would only grow worse after this. He would twist this into something vile, something shameful.
But for once. I didn’t care
For once. I wasn’t afraid of what they thought
Not when Lucien held me like I was worth fighting for
his
Not when las presence was louder than their cruelty
Still, reality crept back in
I pulled away slightly. finally finding my voice, my shame, my trembling sense of control
Marien I whispered staring up at hun “you you can let go now.”