CHAPTER 53

 Beatrice's POV.

That evening, the suite was strangely quiet.

Perhaps because it was our final night here.

Perhaps because neither of us wanted to admit that truth.

I watched from my bedroom window as sunset turned the ocean into brilliant orange and crimson. It was a view to behold, like art ripped from a canvas, but the radiance of it all felt bittersweet.

Reality was waiting for us.

And neither Xander nor I had the courage to mention it.

There was a smell of salt and blooming jasmine, a combination of the sea and the villa’s gardens. Usually the waves crashing against the shore would be a soothing comfort, their rhythmic lull welcoming, but tonight they only enhanced the quiet tension that still wrapped around me.

I had become accustomed to the quiet here. The weird, delicate bubble we’d created around ourselves. But then tomorrow, that bubble would burst.

Would all of us, everything between us, disappear with it?

I was startled by a soft knock on my door.

My heart slammed in my chest as I turned, only to see Xander standing in front of me.

Tonight he had a… different presence.

He wore a black buttoned shirt with the sleeves up to show his forearms, casual but devastatingly refined. He didn’t have his typical cool demeanor. Instead, there was a softness to his features, an unreadability. His piercing eyes raked over me, pausing just one second longer than needed.

His gaze skimmed over my dress — a simple but graceful blue thing I had slipped on without thinking much about. Or maybe I had. Perhaps I had always had an intuition that this night mattered.

Xander quirked his lips a little, but didn’t say anything.

“Come with me,” his voice low, he said.

I hesitated. “Where?”

Xander’s lips twitched, as if he’d be entertained by my suspicion. “You’ll see.”

And just like that he turned and went, leaving me no choice but to follow.

Under the Night Sky

As soon as I stepped onto the rooftop I just froze.

It was transformed.

Soft golden lights strung overhead lit up against the dark, star-speckled sky. In the center, a small, private dining table, draped in white linen, the silverware sparkling beneath the delicate lights. The tangy sea air was combined with the savory smell of food being made and it was almost too perfect of a moment.

For a moment, I was stunned.

I never pictured Xander—cool, remote Xander—as capable of anything so … considerate.

“This is…” I struggled to find the right words.

“Not bad?” he provided, amusement lacing his voice.

I gave him a look, but I couldn’t hide the little smile tugging at my mouth. “It’s beautiful.”

Something flashed in his expression, but disappeared too quickly for me to identify. He simply waved his hand toward the table.

“Sit.”

I did, still figuring all of it out.

Xander sat down opposite me, and for a spell, we ate in silence. But it didn’t have the same dense silence that typically lay between us — the silence brimming with unspoken words and tension.

This was different.

This was peaceful.

The candlelight danced, playing across Xander’s too-sharp features. There was something a little bit… intimate about it.” Sitting here with just the two of us, as if we weren’t two people from completely different worlds.

As though we weren’t entangled by complex feelings neither of us wanted to acknowledge.

Like, for one night at least the weight of everything else wasn’t hanging over you.

And that terrified me.

I wasn’t familiar with this side of him. The version that didn’t repel me. The one that made me want to hope.

Hope that perhaps… we weren’t just a passing mistake.

A Gift That Meant More Than Words

As I placed my fork down, Xander dug into his pocket.

I stiffened somewhat when he reached into his pocket to pull out a small velvet box and placed it on the table between us.

I blinked at it.

Then at him.

“What is this?” I asked cautiously.

Xander looked away, his face a mask of indifference. “Open it.”

I stopped short, then slowly lifted the box. The velvet felt soft under my fingers, my heart thumping against my ribs as I opened it.

Inside was a thin silver necklace.

The pendant was small but detailed—a single wolf carved from moonstone, its eyes gleaming in the candlelight. It was simple, yet stunning.

And something about it threw a lump right in my throat.

I swallowed, searching for words. “Xander, this is…”

“It made me think of you,” he said softly.

I looked up, heart clenching.

He wasn’t teasing.

He wasn’t smirking.

For a change, Xander Thane was deadly earnest.

I didn’t know what was more surprising — the present itself or that he had, of all people, thought of me when making the choice. That he had gone out of his way to choose something so … personal.

My heart pounding, I traced my fingers over the cool metal.

“You—”

“Do you like it?” he cut in, his voice deeper than usual.

I nodded slowly, running my fingers along the intricate details of the pendant. “It’s beautiful.”

His shoulders dropped a little. “Good.”

For a moment neither of us said anything.

Something unbearably still had sat between us the past few years. Something neither of us had the guts to call it.

I cleared my throat, disguising how my emotions threatened to erupt just under the surface. “Why a wolf?”

Xander’s gaze held mine. “Because that’s what you are.”

I frowned a bit, but before I could ask him what he was talking about, he leaned forward, elbows on the table.

“You think you’re weak,” he said, in a low voice. “You don’t belong, you’re always running from something. But you’re wrong, Beatrice.”

My breath caught.

“You’re stronger than you think,” he said, his voice steady. “You fight even when it’s likely a lost cause. You don’t break, even if the whole world tries to break you. And that?” His fingers touched the pendant gently. “And that’s what this represents.”

My throat tightened and I swallowed hard.

I’d been told my whole life that I was nothing. That I was weak, disposable. And now here was Xander — hearing me in a way I had never allowed myself to hear.

I didn’t know what to say.

So instead, I unhooked the necklace and extended it toward him.

“Put it on me?” I asked softly.

For a fraction of a second, Xander looked almost… shocked. But then he got up and walked behind me.

When the chain looped elegantly around my neck, his fingers grazed my skin and made me shiver.

“There,” he murmured.

I touched the pendant, reaching up.

It was warm.

Or maybe that was just me.

I look to him, our eyes meeting in the dark of the room besides the candle light.

The words were all gone

But perhaps, in this moment, we didn’t need them.

A Night of Unspoken Words

The weight of the moment bore down on me, thick and oppressive.

I knew what this meant.

Xander clear for no reason man who gave gifts.

This was important to him.

This was… real.

And that terrified me more than anything.

I had been living for so long in the mind in which this — this thing between us (whatever it was) — was temporary. That I was just a moment to him as he was to me. That one day, we would walk away and act like none of this had ever happened.

But now…

And now, with this necklace pressing against my skin, with the way Xander was looking at me, intense and unreadable, I wasn’t sure how much longer I could keep lying to myself.

My hand went up, fingers brushing the cool silver of the pendant. The wolf’s carved features were delicate and yet powerful, as if it’d been made with purpose. Like Xander had picked this with intention.

My chest tightened.

He saw me.

He looked at me as no one ever had before.

And that terrified me.

For that meant I could no longer hide from him.

Because it meant, perhaps, that I hadn't been hiding from him at all.

I swallowed, turning my head from his gaze as I reached for my wine glass. My hands were far from steady, but I prayed he wouldn’t see.

But I couldn’t.

Because deep down, I already knew the answer.

This place, this moment … it wasn’t reality.

Tomorrow, we would go back to ours.

Xander would return to being the ruthless Lycan King.

And I would return to being nothing.

A rogue. A mistake. A woman who was never supposed to be in his way.

I looked over at him, at the way the wind tossed his dark hair, at the way the candlelight flickered across his skin.

He looked different tonight.

More human.

More mine.

And that was the most lethal illusion of all.

I swallowed and said in a near whisper.

“Xander… what’s gonna happen when we get out of here?”

His fingers gripped his glass tighter.

I think tonight, for the first time, I saw something crack in his expression.

Something hesitant.

Something afraid.

I waited.

But he said nothing.

And, deep down, I already knew why.

Because Xander Thane hadn’t had an answer.

And perhaps that was the worst part of all.

The night loomed between us, packed with the words we weren’t ready to say.

And I had this awareness—I don’t know what, for the first time—

This moment was getting away from us.