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Chapter 26: Lucien’s Gamble
Last Updated:
2025-02-17 18:35:03
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Lucien’s body slumped forward, collapsing onto the cold, blood-streaked ground. His breathing was shallow, his once-unbreakable strength slipping away with every second. I barely had time to think before I was on my knees beside him, pressing my hands against his chest, feeling the warmth fade beneath my fingertips.“Lucien,” I whispered, shaking him. “Lucien, open your eyes!”He didn’t respond. His face, usually hard and unreadable, was disturbingly still. A streak of crimson ran down his temple, mixing with the dirt. My heart pounded in my ears.Behind me, my stepmother let out a sharp, wheezing laugh. “Foolish girl,” she spat. “Did you really think this would end with your happiness? You were never meant for anything but pain.”I turned to face her, rage and desperation colliding inside me. She was weak, barely holding herself upright after the battle, but she still dared to smirk. The woman who had stolen my mother’s life tormented me since childhood, and now—now she had cost me t
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"Don’t do this, Cassia."The voice was faint, barely more than a whisper, but I knew it was him. Lucien. The man I had fought against, hated, feared. The man I had begun to understand. And now, the man I was losing.I cradled his lifeless body against me, his blood soaking into my hands. His skin had already lost its warmth. His breath had stilled. His pulse had faded.“No,” I gasped, shaking him. “No, you don’t get to do this. You don’t get to leave me.”The battle had ended, but the war inside me raged on. My stepmother was dead, and her reign of cruelty shattered. But the cost—oh, the cost.Lucien had been the one to land the fatal blow, but her final curse had taken him in return. A cruel exchange, one life for another.I could feel the magic in the air, thick, heavy, waiting. It hadn’t disappeared with her death. It lingered, whispering to me, teasing me with possibility.I closed my eyes, inhaling sharply. The power inside me had been growing, breaking free of its chains. And no
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“Cassia… what have you done?”Lucien’s voice was raw, jagged—something unearthly twisting through it. His eyes, once a stormy gray, now glowed with an eerie golden light, flickering like fire trapped beneath the surface. His body trembled, his fingers curling into claws as he struggled against the power coursing through him.I stumbled back, my breath catching in my throat. “Lucien?”He let out a guttural snarl and fell to his knees, his hands clutching at his chest as though something inside him was tearing apart. The shadows around him pulsed, stretching toward me like living things.“I—” His jaw clenched, his breath ragged. “I can’t stop it.”A wave of dark energy rippled from his body, knocking me off balance. I hit the ground hard, the impact sending a sharp pain up my spine. The moment I lifted my head, his eyes locked onto mine, wild and unrecognizable.I had seen Lucien angry before. I had seen him cruel. But this? This was something else entirely.“What’s happening to you?” I
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The night air was thick with the scent of blood and burning wood. The battle had begun.“Lucien!” I shouted, my voice barely carrying over the howls of wolves clashing in the moonlight.Lucien stood in the center of the battlefield, his chest rising and falling in ragged breaths, his body covered in wounds. His eyes—once sharp, commanding—now flickered with something else. Fear. He was fighting something inside himself, something clawing its way to the surface.I sprinted toward him, my heart pounding. The rogue stood beside him, a wicked grin on his face. He looked so at ease as if the chaos around us were nothing but a show put on for his amusement.“You’re running out of time, princess,” the rogue taunted. “I’d choose wisely if I were you.”Lucien let out a strangled growl, staggering forward, his body trembling. His veins were dark, pulsing with whatever poison the rogue had unleashed into him. His skin burned where the darkness spread, his power fighting against it, but he was lo
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Lucien lay motionless, his breath shallow, his skin cold beneath my trembling fingers. My heart pounded against my ribs as I pressed my hand to his chest, willing the bond between us to spark, to pulse with life."Lucien," I whispered, my voice breaking. "Don't you dare leave me like this?"The battlefield around us was eerily silent, save for the distant howls of retreating rogues and the crackling embers of the once-thriving village now reduced to rubble. The war had torn through everything—our pack, our home, and now, it threatened to take him from me, too."He's gone, Cassia," a voice sneered behind me.I stiffened, my fingers curling into Lucien’s tunic. That voice. I knew it too well. Slowly, I turned to see my stepmother standing over me, her dark eyes alight with cruel satisfaction. Blood smeared her hands, but none of it was her own."You did this," I spat, my body trembling with rage. "You cursed him."She smiled, tilting her head. "Oh, sweetheart, I didn’t just curse him,"
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"Lucien—please, wake up."My voice trembled as I pressed my hands against his chest, willing him to move, to breathe, to come back to me. His body was still—too still—and for the first time since I met him, he looked fragile. The mighty Alpha, broken and silent before me.I had fought for this moment. I had fought for him.The battle had left scars, not just on my skin but deep within my soul. The rogue Alpha was dead, his reign of terror shattered, but the cost had been unimaginable. Lucien had collapsed after the final blow, his body drained, his soul slipping into darkness.I refused to accept it."Lucien," I whispered again, leaning in closer, and gripping his lifeless hand. His warmth was fading. My heart clenched. No. No, I wouldn’t lose him."You are not leaving me, do you hear me?" My voice cracked, but I didn't care. "You are too damn stubborn to die, Lucien. You made my life hell—don’t you dare abandon me now."A flicker. A twitch in his fingers.I sucked in a sharp breath.
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"Lucien," I whispered, barely able to make the words escape my lips, my heart heavy with the weight of everything I knew was about to happen.He stood before me, the air around us crackling with energy. His golden eyes locked with mine, and in that moment, everything I had ever feared and wanted collided. There was a fire in his gaze, a fire that burned for me, for us, for the world we were trying to save—yet it was tinged with sorrow, an almost unbearable sadness."Cassia," he replied, his voice low, almost a growl. "This is the only way. You know that, don't you?"I nodded, my throat tight with the grief I could no longer suppress. My body was trembling—not from fear, but from the deep sorrow of knowing that everything we had fought for, every moment we had shared, was leading up to this. Lucien was about to make the ultimate sacrifice, and there was nothing I could do to stop it."I love you," he whispered fiercely as if trying to etch those words into the very fabric of my soul. "
