Chapter 156
Chapter 156:
His voice broke the silence. It wasn’t the commanding rumble of a Lycan King. It was a quiet, hesitant whisper, laced with a profound, aching loneliness I had never heard from him before.
“Yes?” I breathed.
I heard the rustle of sheets as he shifted closer to the pillow wall. “Adelina… if I wasn’t what you believe I am… if the contract, the titles… if none of that was real… could you ever see me p>
My chest tightened. The vulnerability in his tone was heartbreaking. He was a King, yet he was trapped in a life where he had to hide his true heart. He was asking whether I, his contracted beard, could look past the terrifying Lycan facade and accept the man who was secretly in love with his Beta, Fletcher Banks.
I wanted to be a good ally. I wanted him to know he was safe with me.
I turned my head slightly toward the dark silhouette of his broad shoulders. “Kain, you can’t change who you are. Your nature… it’s a part of you. And I… I accept it p>
The reaction was instantaneous.
Kain’s massive body went completely rigid. The intoxicating warmth radiating from his side of the bed vanished, replaced by a freezing, terrifying void. The scent of ancient cedar, which had been laced with a fragile, desperate hope just seconds ago, turned to absolute ice.
𝘈сt𝘪𝘃е co𝘮𝘮𝘶𝗻і𝘁y 𝗈𝘯
He didn’t say another word. He rolled over, turning his broad back to me, putting as much distance between them as the mattress would allow.
I lay in the dark, staring at the ceiling. The physical barrier of the pillows suddenly felt like an impenetrable fortress of ice. I pulled the duvet tighter around my shoulders, feeling a strange, hollow sense of accomplishment at having supported my friend — completely unaware of the devastating silence echoing on the other side of the bed.
Adelina POV
The freezing silence on the other side of the pillow wall eventually dragged me into a restless, suffocating sleep. But the sanctuary of the yacht’s Master Suite quickly dissolved, replaced by the cold, damp darkness of my deepest trauma.
I was twelve years old again, trapped inside the Silvermoon estate’s heirloom vault.
The heavy oak door was locked from the outside. I pressed my small hands against the walls, screaming for help, but the moment my skin made contact, a violent, agonizing hiss filled the cramped space. The walls were lined with pure silver. The toxic metal seared my flesh, flooding the air with the sharp, rotting stench of burned skin and metallic blood.
Deep within my chest, a fragile, beautiful presence — my unawakened Inner Wolf — let out a high-pitched, terrified whimper. The silver toxicity was suffocating her, tearing her apart before she could even fully form.
From the other side of the heavy door, Kira’s cruel, childish laughter echoed through the darkness.
“Even the Moon Goddess doesn’t want a wolfless runt like you!” Kira taunted, her voice dripping with malice.
“Please!” I sobbed, sliding down the burning walls as the presence inside me grew fainter, dying under the weight of the silver and the sheer terror of the dark.