Chapter 483
Chapter 483:
I turned in his embrace, framing his sharp jaw with my hands. After the devastating emotional whiplash of the ghost pregnancy, I desperately needed the quiet isolation of The Moonlit Peaks Wellness Retreat to reset my mind. “It’s just a few days, Kain. I need to breathe p>
His golden eyes flashed with dark reluctance, but he forced his beast to yield for my sanity. He pressed a heavy, encrypted satellite phone into my palm. “Keep it on. Always.” After a bruising, possessive kiss that left me breathless, he personally escorted me to the rooftop helipad.
Three days later, the crisp mountain air of the retreat had done wonders for my frayed nerves. I had just finished a deep meditation session and was wandering down a secluded, shaded path behind the main lodge. The damp, mossy earth muffled my footsteps beneath the towering pines.
Suddenly, a cloying, sour human scent sliced through the clean forest air.
Dr. Chloe Monroe stepped out from the heavy shadows of the trees. She was wearing an ill-fitting groundskeeper uniform, her hair disheveled, her eyes burning with a manic, exhausted obsession.
𝘙e𝖺d 𝖿𝗋𝘦𝘦 n𝘰𝘷𝘦𝗹s 𝗈𝘯
My dormant White Wolf bristled with instant, queenly indignation. I stopped, my hand slipping into my pocket to grip the emergency panic button Kain had insisted I carry.
“You are violating a supreme Pack and federal restraining order, Chloe,” I said, my voice a glacial void. “Leave now, or I will have the Warriors drag you out p>
Chloe let out a shrill, unhinged laugh. “Call them! I don’t care if I rot in a cell. I came here to make sure you know exactly what kind of monster you’re sharing a bed with p>
She took a frantic step forward, her shoes crunching on the loose gravel. “You think his suffocating protection is romantic? You think his Shadow Network and his obsession are because of your precious Mate-bond?” She sneered, her face twisting with malicious glee. “When his mother died, Kain didn’t just grieve. His Lycan snapped. He went into complete Feral Madness p>
My breath hitched. Feral Madness was spiritual suicide for a wolf — a total, violent fracturing of the soul.
“He tried to tear his own flesh apart,” Chloe hissed, each word striking my chest like a physical blow. “The Pack Elders had to chain him to the stone floor with lethal silver just to keep him from slaughtering himself. He has severe, crippling PTSD, Adelina. He’s a broken, shattered beast terrified of losing his anchor. He doesn’t love you. He’s using you to survive his own mind. And I am the only doctor in the world who can actually cure him p>
The revelation hit me with the force of a freight train. The image of my invincible Lycan King chained in agonizing silver, tearing at his own soul, made my heart bleed. The realization that his absolute dominance was born from a desperate, agonizing terror of shattering again was devastating.
But I refused to give this vile woman a single drop of satisfaction.
I forced my spine straight, burying my heartbreak beneath the absolute, icy dominance of a Luna. I looked down at her, letting a cold, mocking laugh fall from my lips.