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    Third Person’s POV


    Lucien held Riley close as they stepped out of Moonthread Den, only to find Ronan still standing nearby.


    A flicker of annoyance passed through Lucien’s eyes. He wrapped his coat tighter around Riley, shielding her facepletely from view.


    Riley’s heartbeat thundered in her chest. She clutched the edge of his coat with white knuckles, her nails digging into her palms.


    “Alpha Lucien,” Ronan called out, stepping forward with an air of forced politeness. “Leaving so soon?”


    Lucien didn’t hesitate. His voice was steady,manding. “My mate isn’t feeling well.”


    At those words, Riley’s heart skipped a beat. The title rolled off his tongue so naturally, yet it sent a tremor through her soul. Her face burned as she pressed closer to Lucien, her ear against his chest, where his heartbeat matched her own–fast, strong, and protective.


    The tension was palpable. Even the air seemed to thicken with the weight of dominance and threat.


    Lucien narrowed his eyes, a dangerous glint flickering in their amber depths. “She’s not in a condition to greet anyone, especially not you.”


    With that, he effortlessly scooped Riley up into his arms.


    Startled, she instinctively wrapped her arms around his neck, burying her face in his shoulder.


    Lucien opened the car door in a swift motion and gently ced her in the back seat, his frame hovering protectively above her.


    Their breaths mingled in the narrow space between them. Riley could feel his warmth against her skin, hist scent grounding her.


    He lowered his head slightly and murmured near her car. “Don’t be afraid. I’m here.”


    His voice, soft and resolute, soothed the turmoil inside her.


    Then he stood, closed the door, and turned to face Ronan.


    The air shifted.


    Ronan took a step closer, a gleam of suspicion in his eyes. He couldn’t see the woman’s face clearly, but something about her scent tickled his memory.


    Lucien’s stance stiffened. His posture was no longer just defensive. It was territorial.


    If there’s nothing else, I’ll be going,” Lucien said, his tone now unmistakably frigid.


    Ronan hesitated.


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    There was something nagging at him. A scent–familiar, almost maddeningly so.


    He inhaled again.


    The scent was buried beneathyers of Lucien’s Alpha pheromones, but still faintly there. Riley.


    Finished


    But… no. That couldn’t be. Riley had been scrawny, hollow–eyed, with bruises under her skin and despair in her bones.


    Yet the woman Lucien shielded was nothing like the ghost of the prisoner he remembered.


    This one was fuller now, curves soft and healthy under the folds of Lucien’s coat. Her once dull skin now glowed with quiet vitality. Even the air around her shimmered with new strength, the kind that came from being cared for–not pitied, but protected. Loved.


    Lucien had given her that. And Ronan didn’t recognize what he’d once broken because she was no longer


    broken.


    But instincts were instincts.


    Ronan moved.


    With a sudden motion, he yanked open the car door.


    A cold gust swept inside.


    Riley flinched, shrinking back.


    Ronan leaned in, eyes seeking her face-


    But he never got the chance.


    Lucien’s fist collided with Ronan’s jaw, sending the other Alpha stumbling back several steps.


    Ronan wiped the blood from his lip, stunned. He was rarely touched–and


    Fury overtook him.


    ever like this, not in public.


    He lunged.


    The sound of fabric tearing echoed through the street as both men began to shift.


    Bones cracked. Muscles contorted. Flesh tore as fur erupted from skin.


    Lucien’s form expanded–sleek midnight fur, like woven obsidian under sunlight. He was bigger than Ronan remembered, more solid, with a terrifying, quiet strength. His eyes zed with golden fury.


    Ronan’s wolf emerged secondster,rger in height perhaps, with a brutish, bulkier frame and a coat of storm–gray. But size alone meant nothing.


    Lucien moved like a shadowe alive. Precise. Lethal.<ol start="16"><li>16.</li></ol>


    They collided with a snarl.


    ws shed. Fangs snapped.


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    The street became a battlefield.


    Riley sat frozen in the car, both hands clenched to the door frame as the two Alphas fought like ancient titans.


    Each time Lucien was hit, her heart stopped. Every blownded on him felt like itnded on her.


    She could hardly breathe.


    None of this would have happened if not for her.


    Lucien-


    The man who had treated her not as a burden, but as a person.


    He had apologized the moment she coughed from the smoke in his study and never smoked near her again.


    When she’d tried to take her own life, he’d stopped her. When she was half–dead from alcohol poisoning, he rushed her to the infirmary and paid her medical fees without question.


    He never asked anything of her in return. Not even gratitude.


    Why?


    Because Lucien wasn’t like Ronan. He wasn’t a monster with a charming smile. He was good. And he was being punished because of her.


    Tears burned in her eyes.


    Ronan had ruined her once before. In prison, he’d sent wolves to “discipline” her.


    For years, even the sound of his name triggered tremors in her chest. The scent of his cologne made her flinch. His voice could shatter her from the inside out.


    But not now<b>. </b>


    Not anymore.


    Something shifted inside her–something fierce and primal and unbreakable.


    Lucien’s kindness had done what therapy and time could not: it had made her feel safe again.


    Not weak. Not broken.


    She wasn’t the helpless girl Ronan had locked away.


    She was Riley.


    A survivor. A white wolf.


    She clenched her fists, nails drawing blood.


    And this time, she wouldn’t let him win.


    <b>Send </b><b>Gifts </b>


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