Chapter 19
Lucas remained frozen, his hand rising slowly to touch his reddening cheek, stunned disbelief
written across his unshaven face.
“You’re… real?” he whispered, staring at her as if she might evaporate.
Aria had reached her absolute limit with this absurd day. She laughed–a sharp, brittle sound utterly devoid of humor.
“Real? Sure. Apparently I’m trapped in a real–life horror movie where my supposed death wasn’t enough to get you out of my life.”
Without deigning to look at him again, she pivoted sharply toward the staircase.
“Aria, wait–please!”
Lucas lunged after her, alcohol and desperation making his movements clumsy. As he grabbed for her wrist, the combination of his unsteady state and her quick evasion created disaster–her foot slipped on the polished marble step.
“Look out!”
Despite his impaired reflexes, Lucas managed to pull her against him as they fell, positioning his body to take the impact.
Their bodies hit the marble stairs with a sickening thud that echoed through the foyer.
Cushioned by Lucas’s intervention, Aria escaped with minor disorientation. Lucas, however, wasn’t as fortunate–a crimson stain began spreading across the white marble beneath his head.
“Alpha!” Davis’s horrified voice cut through the sudden stunned silence.
The household erupted into chaos. After fifteen minutes, both were being loaded into separate ambulances.
Several days later, with Lucas still hospitalized, Aria decided it was finally time to execute her
escape.
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Chapter 19
She packed her few belongings and headed confidently for the main entrance, only to find her path blocked by two she–wolf guards in business attire.
Aria’s expression immediately hardened into glacial contempt. “Move.”
The she–wolf exchanged uncomfortable glances. “Luna, we have strict instructions that you’re not to
leave the premises without Alpha’s authorization.”
A disbelieving laugh escaped her. “Are you seriously trying to hold me prisoner? That’s a bold felony
choice.”
Before they could formulate a response, she attempted to push past them toward the massive front
doors.
Caught between following their alpha’s orders and physically restraining a clearly unwilling woman, the guards hesitated to use force, instead trailing after her with increasing desperation.
“Ms. Collins, please reconsider–Alpha Thornwood was very explicit-”
Their pathetic pleas only accelerated Aria’s determined stride toward the gates.
Just as freedom appeared within reach, a black SUV with tinted windows glided to a stop directly in her path. The rear door swung open to reveal Lucas–pale and bandaged, but unmistakably present.
“Aria.” Her name emerged with an unsettling combination of relief and possession.
“Don’t call me that,” she snapped, actual revulsion contorting her features. “It makes my skin crawl hearing it in your voice.”
Since returning to The Thornwood Pack, Aria had meticulously prepared for an eventual confrontation with Lucas. She’d recognized the reality that neither she nor her family could match the Thornwood pack’s resources or influence.
Her strategy had been calculated avoidance–minimal contact, neutral responses if they did encounter each other, nothing that might escalate the situation or draw his focus.
What she hadn’t anticipated was how her careful restraint would be misinterpreted. Her silence read as invitation. Her avoidance as challenge. Her composure as consent.
At first, he’d merely attended her performances, sending messages she systematically ignored. When blocked, he’d found new channels, seemingly content that she remained somewhere within
his orbit.
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Chapter 19
Now, he’d abandoned even the pretense of boundaries–attempting to literally imprison her in his
den.
“Have you completely lost your fucking mind?” she demanded, years of suppressed fury finally breaking through.
Something in her uncensored rage seemed to please him. This raw emotional reaction felt more authentic than her recent detached composure.
After three years together, Lucas recognized this as the real Aria–passionate, defiant,
uncompromising. Not the carefully controlled she–wolf who had been evading him.
His smile was unsettlingly gentle, but his eyes reflected something darker. “I’m perfectly sane. I just can’t risk losing you again. Keeping you close is the only logical solution.”
His gaze moved over her face with disturbing intensity. “You have no idea what your death did to me. That’s when I truly lost myself.”
After Aria’s “death,” the whole Southern territory had witnessed Lucas Thornwood’s spectacular unraveling.
He had totally destroyed his friends‘ pack and his childhood sweetheart’s pack.
He had defied the pack elder’s objections, insisting on burying Aria with the Thornwood name and full pack honors despite their unmated status.
This lifelong skeptic had eventually consulted every witches in Southern territory, offering millions for just one opportunity to communicate with her beyond death.
By comparison, his current behavior showed remarkable restraint.
The Lucas of a year ago would have forced her into a mating bond the moment her mask fell away.
Instead now, he merely wanted to keep her confined to his immediate vicinity–in his mind, a perfectly reasonable compromise.
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