Chapter 53
53 Closer to the Edge
Henry’s POV
Something was wrong with Aubrey.
*** Finished
When I returned to her room with the anesthetic, she had already begun stitching herself up. I watched, frozen, as the needle pierced her skin–her brows knitting in pain, but her lips twisting into something disturbingly close to a smile. Pain and pleasure tangled across her face in a way that made my spine go cold.
There was no doubt she was hurting. I could see it in the way her lips pressed tightly together every time the needle sank into her flesh. Each bloody pull of thread made her tremble slightly.
She wasn’t numb–she was just enduring it.
That realization unsettled me more than I cared to admit. This wasn’t the Aubrey I used to know. She used to be stubborn, fragile, proud–but still breakable. Now? Every trace of weakness had vanished. What was left was sharp and unyielding.
And it all started after that night. The night I found her covered in bruises. What exactly had happened to make her change so completely?
If I’d paid more attention… If I’d noticed sooner… would she still have ended
up
like this ?
My chest tightened with guilt. A life sentence and mutilation almost felt like too light a punishment for those two animals.
“If it hurts that much, just use the anesthetic.”
I handed her the syringe. I couldn’t stand watching her do this to herself any longer.
Her forehead was damp with sweat, and her eyes shimmered with the haze of pain. When she looked up at me, it knocked the breath from my lungs.
“No need.”
She kept stitching, and I didn’t stop her. I just sat there, silently watching every movement of the needle as it slipped through her torn skin. For a moment, it felt like the pain was mine.
Finally, a soft whimper escaped her tightly sealed lips–and I couldn’t take it anymore.
I reached out and grabbed her arm, my voice flat and tense.
“If you need to bite something, bite me.”
Just stop torturing yourself like this.
Aubrey paused, catching her breath/Then she looked up, and there it was–an unmistakable flicker of amusement in her tear–glossed eyes.
“If you’re that worried about me, she said softly, “why don’t you kiss me?”
My thoughts stumbled. My body didn’t.
Before I could stop myself, I leaned down toward her pale lips.
13:57 Tue , 12 Aug 0
53 Closer to the Edge
But just as I got close, she raised her gloved fingers and gently pressed them against my mouth .
She smiled–gorgeous and wicked, a little feral.
“You’re being very obedient tonight, Alpha. Did you fall for me? ”
I froze.
Fall for her?
Aubrey looked right at me and gave a slow, knowing smile.
“If you don’t love me, then why did you try to kiss me?”
“I…”
I frowned hard, at a loss .
Before I could come up with an answer,
she gave one
for me.
“Because you’re unwilling,” she said softly. “You’re used to being the one who pushes others away. But now someone who once loved you more than life itself–doesn’t want you anymore. It’s a challenge to your pride. You don’t like being abandoned. So, you want to draw me back in. Isn’t that right, Alpha?”
It was brutal. Too close to the truth.
But even as her words cut deep, I knew–this wasn’t just wounded pride. What I felt was deeper, darker, more primal.
I wanted her. I wanted her beneath me. I wanted to break through that armor, see her come undone beneath me. I wanted to see those piercing eyes mist over with desire–because of me.
The thought startled me.
I wanted her.
Not out of guilt. Not out of some bruised ego.
I wanted her.
But I couldn’t say it aloud. All I could manage was a rough, strangled whisper.
“Let me do the last stitch.”
I pulled on a pair of gloves and took the needle from her hands. Carefully–painstakingly–I guided it through the open wound.
Her body trembled. Even her breathing hitched slightly. I forced myself to move gently, not to let my hands shake. I finished the final stitch and tied it off.
Blood bloomed softly over her skin, like red plum blossoms across snow. Her chest rose and fell rapidly, and I-
I couldn’t stop myself.
I kissed her closed eyes, still wet from pain.
13:57 Tue, 12 Aug 9
53 Closer to the Edge
The air between us turned hot. Too hot.
I stared down at her lips, my throat tight, breath uneven.
Finished
But then she looked up. Not with longing–but with curiosity. Testing me. Measuring whether I’d dare lean in again.
Damn it.
I tore myself away from her.
Her calm stare felt like a slap. I couldn’t stand being the only one caught in this heat while she stayed untouched. Unmoved.
But even back in my own room, her eyes still haunted me–those wicked, misted eyes.
I glanced down at the glove, where a smear of her blood clung faintly. S~ᴇaʀᴄh the Findηʘvel.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access s of novels early and in the highest quality.
I stared at it for a long time.
And then, like I was possessed… I licked it off.
What the hell is happening to me?
30