Chapter 362
Chapter 362:
The realization struck me with the devastating force of a physical blow. The library tilted around me. A fragmented, agonizing memory exploded through my mind — the screech of twisting metal, the blinding flash of a silver weapon, and the desperate, tearing agony of a severed Mate-bond.
He had known me. Seven years ago, we had been Mates. And he had been looking me in the eye ever since, lying to my face, pretending we were strangers.
The heavy oak doors creaked open.
I shoved the Polaroid deep into my cardigan pocket just as Grant stepped into the library. He stopped, his golden eyes instantly locking onto my pale face and the hand hovering defensively near my pocket.
“Carmella,” Grant murmured, his voice a dark, hypnotic rumble.
He closed the distance between us with the silent, terrifying grace of an apex predator. The atmospheric pressure seemed to drop. His rosemary and rain scent thickened, turning aggressively dominant. I couldn’t suppress the terror spiking in my own scent. I expected him to ask what was wrong — but instead, a dark, calculating gleam flashed in his midnight eyes. He was inhaling my fear, and to my absolute horror, his Lycan was savoring it as a victory. He had left that album open on purpose. It was a test — a cruel gambit designed to see whether my subconscious would bleed.
“The dust in here,” I stammered, forcing a lie through my tight throat. “It’s making me feel sick p>
Grant didn’t call out the lie. He stepped into my personal space, his massive arms wrapping around me in a suffocating, inescapable embrace, pressing my face against his chest and trapping me entirely within his aura.
𝗧𝗵e 𝘣𝖾𝗌𝘁 rе𝗏i𝘦w𝘀 о𝗇.с𝘰m
“Let’s get you out of here,” he whispered, his lips brushing the top of my head. “A walk in the gardens will clear your mind p>
I nodded numbly against his shirt. I was caught in a spider’s web woven by a Lycan King’s brother. I had to play along, survive the garden walk, and find a way to escape back to Manhattan to unearth my medical records — before he completely devoured my soul.
Carmella POV
I survived the garden walk with Grant by retreating deep into my own mind, playing the fragile, exhausted human until the arrival of his brother finally demanded his attention. The moment Grant’s suffocating rosemary and rain scent faded toward the main foyer to greet Kain and Adelina, I bolted.
I found Adelina an hour later in the glass conservatory at the back of the estate.
The air inside was warm and heavy with humidity, thick with the sweet, cloying scent of blooming exotic orchids. Sunlight filtered through the massive glass dome, casting fractured shadows across the marble floor. Adelina sat in a white wicker chair at a glass-topped iron table, a delicate porcelain tea set resting before her.
“Carmella?” She stood immediately, her eyes widening at my pale, trembling form. “What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost p>
“I am the ghost, Adelina,” I choked out, my voice cracking.
I practically collapsed into the wicker chair opposite her. With shaking hands, I pulled the yellowed Polaroid from my cardigan pocket and shoved it across the glass table.