Third Person’s POV
+8 Pearls
All those years of pain, injustice, and silent despair finally erupted like a dam that could no longer hold. Riley’s sobs echoed within the room, <b>raw </b>and shattering, each cry dragging shards of anguish to the surface. Her shoulders trembled violently as she copsed over the embroidery table, her fingers still stained with blood from the earlier prick, crimson blooming across the silk fabric like a cursed omen.
Unbeknownst to her, Lucien Duskgrave had been standing quietly behind her for a long while.
He had not announced his presence. He didn’t need 10.
As <b>Alpha </b>of the Stormridge Pack and heir to one of the oldest Lycan bloodlines, he had walked through fire, war, and political deception. <b>But </b><b>none </b>of those battles had ever pierced him as deeply as the sight before him now–Riley, a she–wolf already <b>wounded </b>far too many times, finally crumbling under the weight of her grief.
He reached out, instinctively wanting to pull her into <b>his </b>arms. But his hand lingered in the air, frozen.
He didn’t <b>know </b>if she would wee the contact. Would it soothe her or push her further into darkness? She couldn’t hear him. Her world <b>was </b><b>silent</b>. And in that silence, she wept.
Lucien’s chest ached. Not from helplessness–he had long since learned to move past that emotion–but from fury. Fury at a world that had allowed her to be broken this way. Fury at the Ebonw Pack. Fury at the so–called “parents” who had treated her like nothing more than a vessel–an organ donor to <b>be </b>gutted and discarded.
Soft, broken cries escaped from between her arms.
“What did I do wrong?” she choked out, her voice hoarse and cracked. “Why did they treat me like this?”
“You knew I wanted to belong… to have a family. And yet you used that against me. Am I really… so unlovable?”
<b>Lucien’s </b><b>hand</b>, still suspended, slowly lowered back to his side–then clenched into a tight fist. The skin around his knuckles turned white as bone.
He bent down slightly, whispering–uselessly, but with <b>all </b><b>the </b>quiet conviction he could muster, “You are not unlovable.”
“<b>You’re </b>everything they aren’t. Strong. Brave. Worthy,”
“We all <b>see </b>it. We <b>all </b>see you.”
“They’re the monsters. Not you*
But she couldn’t hear a word of it. Her sobs continued, gut–wrenching and starp, as if each one was being torn from her soul.
The room filled with the sound of her crying. <b>And </b>just outside the open door, <b>three </b>women <b>stood </b>frozen in
in ce.
Matriarch Duskgrave, usually <b>as </b>steady andposed as the mountains surrounding Stormridge, now stood with tears pooling in her ancient <b>eyes</b>. The regal silver in her hair shimmered faintly in the light, but even her long–<b>held </b>strength faltered in the face of Raley’s sorrow.
Beside her, Mrs. Beck and <b>Mia </b>stood shoulder to shoulder, their expressions mirroring the same raw, maternal ache.
Not far off in the sitting room, Duke and Theo <b>had </b><b>heard </b>it too.
Duke’s hands slowly curled into <b>fists</b><b>. </b><b>His </b><b>normally </b>tired <b>eyes </b>were now sharp with unfiltered rage. He gritted his teeth, jaw tight. Those fucking parasites, he muttered under his breath. “How dare they…
All thoughts of rest vanished from his <b>mind </b>Fury <b>burned </b>through his veins, scorching away any remaining fatigue. In the next breath, he turned, storming out of the manor with thunder in lus steps. The ck SUV’s door mmed behind him, <b>and </b>
the engine, the car tore down the gravel path, leaving <b>only </b>a fading roar and a cloud of dust in his wake
Back inside. Then stood rooted to the floor
350 PM p p.
e tu boles
His lungs felt crushed. The room itself seemed heavier. saturated with something dark and unbearable. The sound of Riley crying so full of heartbreak and helplessness–<b>was </b>like a de driving deeper into his chest with each passing second:
His thoughts spiraled. He had mocked her before. Doubted her. Caught her with Kael when she was trying to escape her hellish <b>family</b>. <b>And </b>now, every cruel word, every condescending nce, came back to haunt him.
A <b>wave </b>of <b>shame </b>rolled through him.
He had been blind Willfully blind.
<b>And </b>Riley…she had suffered <b>all </b>of it in silence.
Without saying a word. Theo turned and left the sitting room. His steps were swift and unsteady, his throat dry, his heart pounding <b>with </b>a shame he couldn’t <b>shake</b>.
In the embroidery room, the light shifted as clouds slowly covered the sun. The once warm morning had turned grey, mirroring the storm <b>within </b>Riley’s heart.
She still clutched the fabric, tears now streaking freely down her cheeks. Her entire frame trembled as her sous softened into hoarse, broken gasps. She wanted to disappear. She wanted to scream. She wanted someone toe tell her that this–this entire nightmare–wasn’t real.
But no such relief came.
Only the warm, unmoving shadow of Lucien Duskgrave behind her. Silent. Resolute.
He could do nothing to erase the past.
But he would burn the future to the ground before letting anyone hurt her <b>again</b>.
Send Gifts
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