Not entirely accurate. She still had everything stored on a server located in a city east of their location. But she doubted she would be able to travel there soon. So, in the meantime, whenever she was awake and Jake wasn't present (which was infrequent), she seized the opportunity to explore the house. She spent some time in Jake's room, examining the contents of his computer, which she found intriguing. That was the extent of her exploration. --- "You're snooping." Lila stiffened but didn't turn around. "I'm just looking." "Looking through my personal files?" Jake's tone was amused as he leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed. She smirked, clicking through a few folders on his computer. "If they were truly personal, you'd have a better password." Jake walked over, resting a hand on the desk beside her. "You cracked it that fast?" She shrugged. "You used your birth year. How original." He chuckled, shaking his head. "And? Find anything interesting?" Lila tapp
Lila’s fingers hovered over the keyboard, her pulse steady despite the storm raging inside her. The screen before her flickered, revealing rows of surveillance footage, all of them focused on one subject—her.“So, this is what you do in your free time?” Her voice sliced through the silence, controlled yet laced with mockery.Behind her, Lucas’s presence loomed. She didn’t need to turn around to know he was there. She had felt him before she had even entered the room, his energy like a force of gravity pulling her in.He stepped forward. “You shouldn’t be here.”“And you shouldn’t be watching me.” Lila’s gaze remained fixed on the screens, refusing to give him the satisfaction of meeting his eyes. “You’ve got quite the collection. Every move I make, every breath I take, you’ve recorded it.”Lucas’s tone was unreadable. “You sound surprised.”Lila let out a dry laugh. “I knew you were obsessed, but this? This is another level.” She leaned back against the desk, arms folded, tilting her
"You killed my father."The words landed like a blow, sharp and precise. Lila watched as Lucas froze, his body tensing against her own. His eyes, usually so unreadable, flickered with something unspoken—shock? Confusion? Guilt? She couldn’t tell, and that only fueled her anger.Lucas didn’t step back. He stayed exactly where he was, his grip on the wall firm, caging her in. "Say that again," he demanded, his voice eerily calm."You heard me," she hissed. "You killed Anthony Liams."Lucas’s expression didn’t change, but something in his gaze darkened. "Anthony Liams?" he repeated, as if testing the name on his tongue."Don’t pretend you don’t remember him," she snapped. "You executed him. Like he was nothing. And now you act like—""I’ve killed a lot of people, Lila," he interrupted. "That name doesn’t mean anything to me."Her heart pounded in her chest. Was he lying? Or did she truly mean so little to him that her father’s death was nothing more than a forgotten detail? The thought
"You’re running yourself into the ground, you know that, right?"Jake barely acknowledged the voice behind him as he sprinted along the treeline, his breath coming in ragged gasps. The damp soil beneath his feet did nothing to slow him down, and the cool night air burned his lungs. He had been running for hours, pushing his body to the limit, but the weight in his chest never lightened."Jake." Lucas’s voice was firm now, cutting through the silence of the woods. "This isn’t going to change anything."Jake skidded to a halt, his hands resting on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. His brother’s figure emerged from the darkness, arms crossed, his expression unreadable."What do you want me to do?" Jake snapped, straightening up. "Sit inside and pretend everything’s fine? Because it’s not."Lucas let out a long sigh. "I never said it was. But exhausting yourself isn’t going to make it any easier."Jake wiped the sweat from his forehead and shook his head. "I don’t know how to dea
Jake flinched slightly but said nothing. Lucas remained calm, though his grip on the edge of the table tightened. "I’m not asking you to forget," Lucas said evenly. "I just want to talk." Lila tilted her head, studying him. "Talk?" she echoed. "Alright, let’s talk." She leaned forward slightly, her voice lowering. "Are you sorry for killing Anthony?" The question hit the room like a knife to the throat. Jake’s breath hitched, his fingers twitching against the table. Lucas didn’t move. For a long moment, he simply stared at Lila, his expression unreadable. Then, his jaw tensed. "No." Lila’s lips pressed together, and a cold, bitter smile touched her face. "Of course not." Jake shifted uncomfortably, his gaze darting between them. "Lila—" She held up a hand, silencing him. Her attention remained on Lucas. "I just wanted to hear you say it. Just in case I had any doubt left." Lucas inhaled slowly. "You asked for the truth." "And I got it," she murmured. She pushed h
Lucas didn’t flinch at Lila’s words, but the weight of them settled in the air between them. "Are you sorry for killing Anthony?" she asked again, her voice sharp, unyielding. Lucas exhaled through his nose, his expression unreadable. "I regret that he was your father," he said evenly. "But I don’t regret killing him." Lila’s nails dug into the edge of the table. "That’s not an answer." "It’s the truth," Lucas replied. "I won’t lie to make this easier." Lila let out a bitter laugh. "Easier? You think any of this is easy?" Jake’s eyes flicked between them, his grip on his fork tightening. He had known this conversation would be brutal, but he hadn’t expected it to feel like this—like something irreparable was breaking between them. Lucas met Lila’s glare head-on. "I avenged my parents. I did what had to be done." Her chest rose and fell with shaky breaths. "And what about me, Lucas? Did it ever cross your mind what would happen to me? That you weren’t just killing a man
Jake exhaled, rubbing his temples as the silence stretched between them. "What if she never comes back?" Lucas didn't answer right away. He stared at the door, his expression unreadable. Jake leaned forward, his voice tight. "I mean it, Lucas. What if she decides we’re not worth it?" Lucas’s grip tightened on the edge of the table. "She won’t." "You don’t know that," Jake shot back. "She just walked out. What if she keeps walking?" Lucas shook his head, his voice firm. "She won’t." Jake let out a bitter laugh. "And how can you be so sure? After everything we’ve put her through?" Lucas finally turned to him, his gaze steady. "Because no matter how much she fights it, she feels the bond just as much as we do." Jake looked away, doubt clouding his features. "I don’t know, man… she seemed pretty damn sure she wanted nothing to do with us." Lucas leaned forward. "She’s angry. She’s in pain. But that doesn’t mean she’s gone for good." Jake shook his head. "And what if sh
"You don’t belong here." Lila flinched, the voice from her past echoing through her mind like a cruel reminder. She sat on the edge of her bed, staring at the floor, her hands gripping the sheets. The room was dimly lit, the air heavy with silence, but inside her head, memories roared like a storm. "He’s gone. There’s nothing left for you here." Her breathing hitched. She could still remember the orphanage’s cold hallways, the way they dragged her away from the only home she had known. Anthony had promised her forever, but forever had been ripped from her hands the moment he was killed. She squeezed her eyes shut, her chest tightening. “No one wants a girl like you.” She forced a deep breath, pushing back against the weight of those words, but they clung to her like shadows. Even now, sitting in the safety of her room, surrounded by walls that weren’t hers, she felt like an intruder in her own life. Her gaze flickered to the mirror on the dresser. Her reflection stared b
Lila’s words lingered in the air like a challenge.“Let’s make a new plan. Because something tells me Rikkard isn’t the only ghost who’ll be showing up.”Jake gave her a cautious look, sensing something unspoken underneath her defiance. “You’ve been thinking about this for a while, haven’t you?”She didn’t answer right away. Instead, she walked back toward the small table near the window where her satchel lay. She reached inside slowly, fingers brushing past the notebook she’d been scribbling in since they arrived in Venut. But it wasn’t the notebook she was after.It was the small, battered silver device hidden beneath it—no bigger than a deck of cards. It hummed faintly in her palm, the casing warm to the touch.Jake’s brow furrowed the moment he saw it. “What is that?”Lila looked at him, then at Lucas, her eyes steady. “I wasn’t just sitting here waiting for you two to come back. While you were keeping Rikkard busy, I was busy too.”Jake crossed the room in two strides. “Lila—what
Jake didn’t move until the elevator doors slid closed behind Rikkard.Lucas let out a breath that was more of a growl. “He’s gone. For now.”Jake ran a hand down his face. “That was too close.”Lucas turned to him, voice sharp. “We need a plan, Jake. If he gets even a hint of the truth—about her—he won’t stop until he finds her.”“I know,” Jake muttered. “That’s why we’re going to give him something else to chase.”Lucas raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”“A misdirection,” Jake said, already walking toward the lounge bar where a bottle of aged scotch was quietly calling his name. “He’s desperate. He wants answers. We give him just enough to feel like he’s getting somewhere, but not enough to lead him to Lila.”Lucas followed him warily. “You want to lie to him.”Jake poured a finger of scotch and downed it. “Yes. I want to lie so well that he doesn’t think to look any closer.”Ten minutes later, they found Rikkard leaning against a column in the hotel lobby, like a man half-expect
“You’re joking, right? Please tell me this is some twisted prank,” Lucas muttered under his breath, his eyes never leaving the figure lounging by the fireplace.“I wish it were,” Jake replied quietly, jaw clenched. “But that’s him. That’s Rikkard.”Lucas swore under his breath. “Of all the days… why the hell would he show up in Venut?”“I don’t know,” Jake admitted, hands fisted in his jacket pockets. “But we need to play this smart. We can’t let him know about Lila.”Lucas inhaled sharply and nodded. “You sure he hasn’t seen her?”“Positive. He only saw us. Let’s keep it that way.”The plush lounge of the hotel was dimly lit, scented with expensive cologne, polished leather, and cigar smoke. Rikkard was seated casually on a velvet couch, legs crossed, swirling amber liquid in a crystal tumbler. His demeanor was relaxed, almost amused—but Jake could see it. The glint of calculated menace in his eyes.Jake took a breath and approached with Lucas, every step deliberate. They stopped jus
“Tell me you’re joking,” Lucas muttered, his voice low and edged with tension.“I wish I were,” Jake replied, running a hand through his damp hair. “But he’s here. In Venut. I saw his convoy near the North Quarter twenty minutes ago.”Lila blinked. “Wait, Rikkard? As in—the Rikkard?”Jake gave a grim nod. “The Mad Alpha himself.”Lucas straightened from where he sat beside Lila on the hotel bed, his entire body going rigid. “How the hell did he find out we were here?”“Doesn’t matter,” Jake said. “What matters is that he’s here. And if he’s sniffing around, it’s not just to catch up over drinks.”Lila’s face lost all color. “You told me he wasn’t a threat anymore.”“I told you what I needed to so you’d sleep,” Jake said quietly, shame flickering across his expression. “But clearly, I was wrong.”“Perfect,” Lucas growled. “Just what we need—another lunatic Alpha throwing his weight around.”“Not just another lunatic,” Jake said, voice clipped. “He’s the lunatic. The one who ripped out
“…She’s alive,” Lila repeated, quieter now. “I just don’t know where.”Lucas’s hand tightened briefly on her shoulder before he let go, stepping back to give her space even as his eyes lingered with worry. Jake returned to the window, gaze hard and focused.The silence that followed was the kind that spoke louder than words.Then—Knock. Knock. Knock.Not soft. Not tentative.The kind of knock that didn’t ask permission.Jake’s head snapped toward the door. Lucas was already moving—one hand reaching into the drawer beneath the minibar, where he’d hidden a blade and compact gun. Lila rose too, pulse leaping as the door handle turned despite the locks still being in place.Click.“Jake,” Lucas said, tone sharp.Jake strode toward the door and yanked it open an inch just as the locks disengaged, bypassed from the outside.The man who stepped in didn’t belong in any polished hotel suite. His mere presence dimmed the luxurious lighting, as if shadows followed him in.Rikkard.He was as unm
“I didn’t mean to wake you,” Lucas murmured, brushing a strand of hair from her face.“You didn’t,” Lila whispered back, her voice still drowsy. “I was already half-awake. I just didn’t want to move.”“You were sore,” he said gently, guilt flickering across his features. “I can feel it in your muscles.”“I’m fine,” she said, but he was already moving, sliding from the bed with careful grace.Jake’s voice floated in from the other room. “She’s not fine if she’s wincing in her sleep.”“I wasn’t wincing,” Lila muttered, rolling her eyes even as her cheeks flushed. She tried to sit up, only to wince slightly at the sting between her thighs. Damn it.Lucas was already wetting a towel from the tiny sink across the room. “Don’t lie to me, little wolf,” he said with an affectionate smile that didn’t quite mask his concern. “You’re strong, but you’re not indestructible.”Jake appeared in the doorway, arms crossed, his eyes scanning her with that piercing protectiveness that made her squirm mor
A Morning of Warmth and Wariness:“Lucas… your knot’s still in,” Lila mumbled, voice raspy with sleep.“I know,” he murmured against her shoulder, lips brushing her skin. “Didn’t want to wake you. You were peaceful.”“I’m not now,” she grumbled, stretching slightly and wincing at the soreness spreading through her hips.His arm tightened around her waist. “Sorry. I lost control.”“You didn’t.” She turned in his arms to face him. “I gave it willingly. Don’t take that away from me.”He searched her face, his eyes dark with concern. “You’re sore.”“I’m alive,” she said with a soft smile. “And I’m with you. That’s enough.”Lucas exhaled, brushing a strand of hair from her face. “Still… I should’ve been gentler.”“You’ll make up for it,” she teased, and for a moment, the heaviness in the room eased.The cabin bedroom was dim, the blinds half-drawn against the gray light of morning. Somewhere beyond the walls of this quiet space, the engines hummed low and steady. But here, wrapped in warm
“You’re safe now,” Lucas whispered, his knot still pulsing deep inside her.But safety was only one part of it.Lila trembled, her body molded against his, the fullness of his knot keeping her grounded and overwhelmed in equal measure. Her breath hitched, shallow and stuttered, as her inner muscles clenched around him again—an aftershock, or maybe the prelude to something more.Lucas didn’t move.Didn’t demand.He simply waited.And that, more than anything, unraveled her.“I can’t move,” she breathed, eyes clenched shut.“Yes, you can,” he murmured, brushing hair from her face. “You’re not broken, Lila. You’re not fragile. Not anymore.”Her fingers dug into the armrest, breath catching.Lucas leaned forward, his lips at her ear. “I want you to move. I want you to ride it. Take what you need from me.”Her heart stuttered.This wasn’t a command.It was a gift.Her legs ached. Her body throbbed. But still, she shifted—slowly, hesitantly—testing the taut pressure where their bodies remai
Lila’s breathing had slowed, her body molded to Lucas’s as though it belonged there—because it did. But the storm inside him hadn’t yet passed.Not even close.The feel of her, bare and vulnerable in his arms, only fueled his craving. His wolf still paced beneath his skin, restless and territorial, demanding more—demanding all of her. Every breath. Every sound. Every submissive gasp she hadn’t dared give anyone else.Lucas’s voice was low against her ear. “Up. On your knees.”She blinked in surprise.Still curled in his lap, wrapped in the thin barrier of his jacket, Lila hesitated.Lucas didn’t raise his voice. He didn’t need to.His fingers skimmed under the fabric, trailing down her spine. “Don’t make me repeat myself.”Her heartbeat kicked harder, not out of fear—but recognition.She moved. Slowly. Carefully. She slid from his lap and turned, positioning herself between his legs, kneeling. The soft carpet beneath her knees contrasted with the burn in her chest. The jacket slipped