BITTERSWEET PART 3 - ARMATA AND CALISTA

Levi / Armata

The sound of the door clicking shut behind me reverberates through my chest like a drumbeat, the sound of finality. I hear Liam’s footsteps recede, swallowed by the silence that cloaks the room like a heavy mist.

Every fiber in my being aches to call him back, to mend what’s shattered between us. But what’s done is done. There’s a debt I owe to the world, one I’m not sure I can ever repay.

I’m lost in this melancholy haze when the door swings open again. My body tenses, half-expecting Liam to return, but it’s Alpha Nikolaos who steps in, his eyes unreadable, and his powerful frame filling the doorway.

The chains around my wrists rattle softly as I push off the stone wall, rising to my feet. Respect is respect, Alpha or not, hexed or not.

Alpha Nikolaos steps in, his eyes betraying a glint of something—concern or pity, perhaps? His tall frame fills the doorway, silhouetted against the brighter light outside. “Levi, may I come in?”

“Do you need my permission, Alpha?” I a