Chapter 20

LEAH

The letter slipped from my hand again, landing silently on the floor like it had given up on me too.

I couldn’t move.

I couldn’t speak.

Everything I thought I knew about Dante, about myself, about this world I had been thrown into was crumbling around me like a sandcastle caught in a rising tide. The words from the parchment still echoed in my head, burning themselves into my mind.

“Leah Waters… key to breaking the lycan curse…”

It didn’t make sense. None of it made sense. I didn’t have a wolf. I didn’t even belong in this world—not really. And yet, somehow, I was a thread in a prophecy too ancient to comprehend. A prophecy that had claimed the lives of women just like me. Women who looked like me. Women who had all died the same way.

Poisoned.

Used.

Discarded.

The sound of the door creaking behind me should’ve made me jump, but I was already numb. Already drowning. The only reason I knew who it was without turning around was because of the silence that came with him. That bone-deep stillness Dante carried like a second skin.

I didn’t turn to face him.

Not yet.

“Leah…” His voice was low, careful like I was something breakable, I was. I raised my finger without facing him, demanding him to keep shut.

I turned slowly, my eyes locking with his. For a moment, neither of us spoke. The silence between us was heavy. Suffocating.

“Why?” My voice trembled despite the anger boiling beneath my skin. “Why didn’t you tell me?” I looked at him with disgust written all over my face, I couldn't stand him.

His eyes, those dark, tormented eyes, searched mine. “I wanted to. I was going to tonight. I set up everything to tell you. I just… I didn’t know how.” I knew my head backwards as a small wicked smile falls on my face.

“Didn’t know how?” I repeated, my voice sharper now. “You had all this time, Dante. All this time to tell me that I’m some kind of cursed key or whatever twisted reason you had to bring me here. And instead, you lied. You made me feel insane for suspecting anything, when all along, I was right.”

“I wasn’t lying to hurt you. I was trying to protect you.”

I laughed, cold and bitter. “Protect me? Is that what you call it? Is that what you called it when those other women died too?”

His jaw clenched, guilt flickering across his features. “It’s not what you think. Those women…”

“… are dead!” I shouted, cutting him off. “And they looked just like me! You kept files, Dante. Files. Like we were nothing more than research subjects. Like we were expendable, one after the other, and the other three? What happened to them? Or they still under experiment somewhere I don't know?”

He stepped forward. “It wasn’t like that.”

“Then what was it like?” I asked, my voice cracking. “Tell me! Make it make sense because right now, all I see is that you’re no different from Darren. He used me for power too.”

Dante froze, the comparison like a slap across his face, but it was the truth, I couldn't see the difference between them

And I wasn’t done.

“I thought you were different,” I whispered, my voice shaking with betrayal. “Even after everything, I thought… maybe, just maybe, you’d treat me like a person. Not a prophecy. Not a cure. But you’re all the same. Power-hungry monsters.”

“I never wanted power,” he said quietly. “Not like that.”

“But you took it anyway,” I snapped. “You took me anyway, made me believe I was just being insane wife interested in dead people, and I was seeing things, but I was just going to be like them one day”

Something in me cracked open then. The weight of the letter. The ghosts of the women who came before me. The life I’d never asked for. All of it poured out in a flood of anguish. I didn’t wait for him to speak again.

I turned and stormed past him, the cold hallway air brushing against my skin like ice. I didn’t know where I was going, only that I had to leave. I couldn’t breathe in this place anymore. Not with the scent of lies and betrayal seeping into every corner of it.

I reached the stairs and kept going, my steps quick and uneven. A few guards at the bottom glanced up confused, but I didn’t stop for them. They didn’t matter. None of this did.

All I wanted was to run.

To disappear before whatever fate was written for me could catch up.

I reached the front door and yanked it open, stepping into the crisp evening air. The sun had dipped below the horizon, casting the sky in deep indigos and orange. My heart thundered against my ribs, loud and desperate.

“Where are you going?” Dante’s voice rang out behind me, closer than I expected.

I didn’t answer.

He moved in front of me, blocking my path. “Leah, stop. Just talk to me…”

“I’m done talking,” I hissed. “Get out of my way.”

“No.”

I scoffed and tried to step around him, but he mirrored me. I moved again. So did he.

I gritted my teeth. “You don’t get to stop me. Not anymore.”

His eyes searched mine, pained. “You’re angry. I get that. You have every right to be. But if you leave like this—”

“What?” I snapped. “What happens if I leave, Dante? Will the curse fall apart? Will the prophecy fail? Or will I just be one more name in a folder tucked away in your storage room?”

His face twisted with pain. “Don’t say that.”

“Why not?” I demanded. “Isn’t it the truth?” I felt the absolute need to explode, to say more and I did.

“No,” he said firmly, stepping closer. “You’re not a name in a folder. You’re not just a prophecy. You’re… more.”

“Then why didn’t you treat me like it?” I whispered.

He ran a hand through his hair, frustration bleeding through “Because I was scared. Because I’ve waited for you my whole life, Leah. And when you finally came into it, I didn’t want to lose you before I had the chance to be worthy of you.”

“Then you should’ve been honest from the start.” my heart beat began to slow down as I wiped the tears off my face

“I know,” he whispered. “And I will be. From now on. I swear it.” I look at him and there was no difference between what he said and what Darren said which made me shook my head.

I pushed past him, brushing his shoulder hard enough to make a point. I couldn't stand the sight of him anymore and this was the end of it, but my pace came to an absolute halt when he caught my wrist.

His grip wasn’t rough, but firm. Desperate and, I whirled on him, glaring. “Let go of me.” I tried to pull away, but his grip was too tight, “I don't know what your problem is but you…"

“My problem? My problem is you, I'm sorry for everything and I promise not to hide anything away from you ever again” I let out a bitter laugh.

“You don't get it, do you? You both lie, you both make me believe that I would be cared for, for once in my life but at the end of the day, I was cheated on with some woman and then now I have you, and you're promising the same thing which clear evidence that I might die tomorrow, and I'm not the Leah in that scroll!” I snapped and I was suddenly pinned away the wall.

“Enough”

“Or what? You can't…" My voice died in my throat as his eyes met mine and I could feel the presence of his Lycan which sent chills down my spine.

His eyes were glowing now, bright, unnatural, full of something ancient and raw. His voice came low, thick with something primal which made me swallow, but it didn't do anything to calm the storm within.

He lowered his head as I struggle, and I could feel his breath against my neck while he pressed me to the wall tightly

“You don’t understand, Leah. I’ve dreamed of you my entire life.” a chill went down my spine and I went still.