Chapter 56

Everything sounded wrong.

Loud, sharp voices cut through my head like broken glass. I couldn’t focus or catch a single word. My vision › lurred as Liam and Marcus shouted at me. They were furious, and I knew it was all aimed at me.

“ He can’t even hear us, ” a voice drifted into my fog.

I forced myself to push through the dark haze. Suddenly, sharp pain exploded in my jaw. Liam had punched me ight in the face.

I spat blood onto the floor.

“ Have you lost your damn mind? ” I roared. I lunged out of my chair, slamming my younger brother against the

vall by his throat.

“ Oh, look, he’s awake, ” Marcus said from the side, his voice full of dark amusement.

“ Alpha, please let him go, ” Beta Blake’s calm voice cut through my anger. I felt his heavy hand drop onto my

: houlder.

I released my brother. Liam choked, rubbing his bruised neck.

“ You’ve completely lost your head, Nathan! ” Liam wheezed.

“ I lost my head? ” I growled, shoving my finger into his chest. “ You just hit me out of nowhere! ”

“ I was trying to bring you back to reality! ” Liam snapped, throwing himself into an armchair.

“ Everyone, calm down, ” Marcus said, raising his hands to defuse the tension. “ We all need to talk. ”

They both stared at me.

“ Fine. Let’s talk. ” I dropped heavily into the chair behind my desk.

We were in my office at the residence, my home, but I had absolutely no memory of how I’d ended up there.

“ What is happening to you? ” Marcus asked, his sharp eyes drilling into mine.

“ What do you mean? ” I asked, my chest tightening.

“ You kissed Stella, ” Liam said with disgust.

“ Liam, calm down … ” Marcus warned.

Liam hissed; his voice dangerously low. “ Brother, you haven’t been yourself for two days. Let’s look at the facts. First, you claimed Emily. ”

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her soft legs, her delicate neck, and how fragile she felt in my arms. I remembered how she trembled, and how I finally admitted I wanted her. She was everything to me.

“ And then you made Stella your Luna, ” Liam continued. “ Well, almost. The ceremony isn’t finished. But every visiting Alpha already thinks she’s your Luna. ”

“ That bitch will never be my Luna! ” Asher, my wolf, roared in my mind. I flinched. It had been so long since I last

heard him.

But the dark memories of the ceremony started to bleed into my mind. The silver dagger. Stella was standing eside me. Her scent was so sweet, so unnaturally intoxicating.

Snap!

Marcus snapped his fingers in front of my face, pulling me back to reality.

“ And he’s gone again, ” Marcus muttered, stepping back and dropping into a chair across from my desk.

“ Nathan, how do you actually feel? ” he asked seriously.

I blinked rapidly, trying to clear the fog. I had to tell them the truth. “ Guys, I don’t know. Something is wrong

vith me. ”

“ We already figured that out, ” Marcus said. “ The good news is we noticed it before it was too late. ”

“ That depends on how you look at it, ” Liam sneered.

“ The bad news is we have to find out what is controlling you, ” Marcus added.

“ It’s Stella! Who else? ” Liam snapped. “ That bitch has bewitched him. It benefits her more than anyone. ”

“ Watch your mouth, ” I growled, a dark warning in my voice. “ Until we have proof, she is still a respected wolf of

his pack. ”

Liam glared at me with pure hatred.

“ Let’s run a test, ” Marcus proposed.

“ What kind of test?” I asked.

“ We watch your reaction to Stella. If it’s not her fault, Liam will apologize. ”

Looking at Liam’s furious face, I knew he would never apologize. But I needed answers. I was losing my mind, and

was losing Emily, too.

“ Okay. Bring her, ” I said, my voice still sounding raspy. “ Let’s see what happens when she’s in front of me. ”

“ No, ” Marcus cut me off sharply. He shook his head, leaning over my desk. “ We’ll scare her off that way. ”

I frowned. “ And? ”

He looked at me closely. “ We need to make this feel natural, ” he said quietly. “ She should come to you on her

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own. No pressure. No suspicions. ”

Heaned back in my chair, feeling a surge of irritation in my chest.

“ Speak clearly, Mareus. ”

Marcus crossed his arms over his chest. “ In one hour, call a pack council meeting. Use the excuse of finalizing the

Luna ceremony. ”

Liam smirked. “ She’ll come running p>

“ And you do absolutely nothing, ” Marcus continued, staring straight into my eyes. “ Don’t approach her first.

Don’t touch her. Don’t react. ”

“ I just stand there? ” I demanded, my anger rising.

“ And you observe. ”

Liam leaned forward, his eyes burning. “ And what if he … zones out again? ” He threw a tense glance at me.

I clenched my teeth until they bruised. “ I won’t zone out, ” I hissed.

“ We’ll see about that, ” Marcus replied calmly. He took a step closer, almost invading my space. “ But there is one

condition. ”

I looked up, my wolf pacing angrily inside me. “ What condition? ”

“ Let me step in. ”

Something in his tone made my blood run cold. “ What do you mean by that? ”

“ If I see that you are losing control again, ” he said softly, “ I will stop it. ”

Liam laughed darkly. “ And how the hell are you going to stop a feral Alpha? ”

Marcus didn’t even look at him.

“ Believe me, ” he said smoothly, keeping his eyes locked on mine. “ I have my ways. ”

A freezing chill slid down my spine. I hated it when anyone threatened me or spoke to me like that. But right now, wasn’t in control. I was a prisoner in my own body.

“ … Fine, ” I said slowly.

Liam let out a loud breath.

Marcus nodded. “ Then the plan is simple. ” He counted on his fingers. “ You will be cold and distant, just like you were before the ceremony. ”

“ He’s always good at that, ” Liam muttered.

I shot him a lethal glare but kept my mouth shut.

Stella stays right by your side, ” Marcus continued. “ We don’t change her position. It’s crucial. ”

Asher pulled back inside my chest, snarling in disgust.

“ Why? ” I demanded.

“ Because if she is the one pulling the strings, ” Marcus answered calmly, “ we need to see her magic in action. ”

Silence descended on the room again. Liam nodded slowly. “ And if it’s not her? ”

Marcus looked at him, his face deadpan. “ Then we’ll have to dig much deeper. ”

I hated everything about this. Every instinct screamed at me to tear something apart.

I stood up abruptly.

“ Enough talking. ” I marched toward the door. “ Call the council, ” I threw over my shoulder.

Liam smirked. “ With pleasure. ”

I ripped the door open and stepped into the corridor. Then a scent hit me – sweet, intoxicating strawberry. I could

never mistake it for anyone else. Emily.

My chest was violently squeezed. I didn’t even think. I spun around and stormed out into the main hall.

She was there.

She was walking. She walked up the grand staircase to the second floor. Her movements were quiet and graceful, and she didn’t look back. The voice came out much lower than I intended. It sounded harsh, almost dominant.

She froze on the steps. Slowly, she turned around.

What I saw in her eyes hit me harder than Liam’s fist ever could.

Hatred. Pure, cold, unadulterated hatred.

“ What else do you want, Nathan? ” her voice echoed in the empty hall. “ Haven’t you humiliated me enough? Do

you want to hurt me more? ”

Every single word sliced straight into my heart.

I- ”

I couldn’t finish. The words choked in my throat.

“ Exactly. You’ve already said everything, ” she continued, her voice trembling with agonizing pain. “ You said it in front of everyone. ”

She took another step up the stairs, moving further away from me. It felt like she was cutting the final bond

between us.

Thate you

My heart shattered in my chest.

She paused for an agonizing second, as if she wanted to say more. Then she turned her tear – filled face back to me.

“ No, ” she whispered, her gaze burning right through my soul. “ I despise you. ”

In that exact moment, something inside me snapped. The bond fractured.

She turned her back on me and walked away, disappearing into the shadows of the second floor.

I couldn’t move. I couldn’t call her name. I just stood at the bottom of the stairs, staring hopelessly at the empty pace where my mate used to be.

“ Well, what did you expect? ” Liam’s voice sounded right beside me. He clapped a heavy hand on my shoulder.

I forced myself to breathe. Every breath felt like inhaling broken glass.

“ I don’t even remember doing it … ” I whispered.

It sounded pathetic. It sounded worse than any lie.

I lifted my eyes back to the empty second floor. The fog in my mind was gone, replaced by a fierce, burning lesperation.

“ But I will fix this. No matter what it takes. ”

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Olivia Harris is an emerging author celebrated for her captivating romantic and steamy novels. With a talent for crafting deep emotional connections and fiery chemistry between her characters, Olivia’s stories offer readers an escape into worlds filled with passion, intrigue, and heart-stopping drama.