Chapter 9
986 Words
Lelia POV
I had just finished twisting the ends of my damp hair when the sound of a door slamming made me jump. Kevin’s door. Loud. Hard. Like an explosion of tension ripping down the hall.
I barely had time to scoop up my dirty clothes before the adjoining door to his bedroom flew open—splinters cracking off the frame.
Kevin stormed in.
Bare-chested, bloodied, a storm of fury and raw power. He looked like he'd been through a war. Thick gashes streaked across his face—claw marks. Fresh. Still oozing. One carved straight down his jaw like a red canyon.
I froze, heart thundering. His scent hit me first—lemons, salt, something darker. It wrapped around me like smoke, choking the words from my throat.
“What the hell was that?” he barked.
I stood still, like a rabbit sensing the wolf.
He wasn’t wearing a shirt. His chest heaved. Blood dripped slowly from his chin. I could see where his skin hadn’t even started healing yet. That wasn’t normal.
“Y-you’re bleeding…” I whispered, stepping forward instinctively. “Your face…”
I reached up without thinking, fingertips brushing the edge of one wound. He flinched—but didn’t pull away. His skin was hot, almost feverish. I met his eyes—icy blue and unreadable.
“What are you doing?” he rasped.
“I just… wanted to make sure you were okay,” I murmured, surprised by my own softness.
He stared at me like I was speaking a foreign language.
And then something inside him snapped.
He slapped my hand away—hard—and in the same breath, his hand clamped around my throat and slammed me into the wall.
The drywall cracked beneath my back. My toes left the ground.
Choked air wheezed out of me as I clawed at his wrist, but he didn’t flinch. His face was inches from mine, eyes burning.
This was my mate. My “true” mate. And he was choking me.
I didn’t fight. I didn’t scream. I just looked at him—silent.
Maybe that’s what shook him.
He dropped me.
I collapsed to the floor in a heap, gasping. My lungs burned. My vision swam. I barely registered the words spilling from his mouth.
“If I needed help,” he spat, “I’d go to the goddamn pack doctor. Not some skill-less slut who mindlinked me while she was fingering herself in my shower.”
My heart stuttered.
He knew.
My cheeks flamed. Every nerve in my body lit with humiliation.
“You… what?” I managed.
“You distracted me, Lelia. I got injured because you couldn’t keep your legs shut for five minutes.”
He was smiling now. Not kindly. Cruel and sharp.
“Sweet girl,” he murmured.
The same voice. The same words. From the shower.
It had been him. He’d whispered in my mind. Watched me come undone.
And I let him.
My body curled in on itself, shame wrapping tight around my ribs. But then—
Lia surged forward.
Not in a slow bleed. She took over.
I felt it—the shift, the grounding weight of her stepping into my bones.
She stood. We stood.
And for the first time, she faced him.
“You’re the reason wolves go extinct,” she said flatly.
Kevin blinked.
“Sometimes the person destroys the wolf,” she continued. “And you—Kevin Edwards—you are a coward wearing a crown.”
His nostrils flared.
“I’ve watched Lelia get beaten and dragged through hell while you play king. I’m done letting her bleed in silence.”
She took a step closer, fire blazing in our chest.
His face flickered—shock, fury, then something stranger: curiosity.
And then—without warning—he grabbed us again.
Not to hurt. This time, he pulled us into his arms. Crushed us to him. Held us.
My breath hitched. Lia tensed. But he buried his face in our neck.
“You smell so good, Lia,” he whispered, breath ragged.
He kissed us—softly—just beneath the place a mark might go. It wasn’t violent. It was possessive. Tender, almost.
But it made my skin crawl.
Lia growled.
“Why haven’t you dealt with him yet?” she hissed to Deo.
“I’m trying…” came the tired reply.
Kevin’s fingers skimmed the bruise blooming on our neck.
“If this leaves a mark—”
“It will,” Lia said coolly. “And it won’t heal for days.”
He stepped back, wary now. Studying her. Studying me.
“I don’t know how that mindlink happened,” he said, “but I’m guessing it was you, Lia.”
Lia smirked.
“Scared the big, bad wolf, didn’t I?”
His hand twitched. A muscle in his jaw ticked. He didn’t hit us again. He didn’t move.
Smart.
Finally, his voice dropped back into Alpha mode—cold and authoritative.
“Lelia, we’ll go over your duties. Your wages. The household rules. If you can stop the circus act for five minutes.”
The moment fractured. Lia stepped back, letting go. My body felt heavier without her.
I blinked. He was already walking toward the door.
My stomach growled.
He paused.
“When did you last eat?”
“I… had some dinner,” I said quietly.
He gave a sharp nod. “We’ll get you food. Then go over everything.”
Then he was gone.
I sat on the edge of the bed, my pulse still pounding. The room smelled like him now—sweat, citrus, blood.
Lia curled up inside me again, quieter now.
This isn’t over, she whispered.
I nodded.
And then I stood. Bruised. Shaken. But standing.
Because whatever this was—whatever this bond was becoming—it wasn’t breaking me.
- Writer
