Chapter 14
I didn’t come here expecting comfort. But even with my expectations buried deep in the dirt, I still hadn’t thought my parents would stoop this low.
When my mother dared to look at me with pity in her eyes-pity for Lexie-I nearly laughed.
“Oh, she’s just young and doesn’t know any better? Really?” I repeated her words with bitte disbelief. “Lexie was born just a few hours after me. Does that make her a child and me the adult, expected to forgive all her sins like a saint?”
They stared, unblinking. I didn’t stop.
“She’s not a child, Mom. She’s a full-grown woman. A she-wolf who clawed her way into my marriage bed and laid there like she belonged. If you can look me in the eye and tell me that’s forgivable, then I hope the Goddess blesses you with the same kind of betrayal.”
My voice carried, sharp as a howl slicing through the wind. The temperature in the room dropped, the tension so thick even the guards looked uneasy.
Just a few words-that’s all it took to set my Alpha father off.
“Enough!”
Robert’s roar cracked through the air like lightning. The old Alpha instincts still clung to his voice, but I didn’t flinch. Not this time.
“What’s done is done. There’s no point in arguing over who’s right or wrong now.”
He stepped closer, still posturing like he had authority over me. But I saw through it. His influence meant nothing to me anymore. Still, he continued, arrogance dripping from every word.
“Avelyn, I’ll give you one last chance. Cut ties with that old man beside you. Come home with Alpha Darius, and live properly. We’ll pretend none of this ever happened. You can still be Daddy’s good girl.”
Daddy’s good girl.
Once, those words would’ve unraveled me. Once, I would’ve bled just to earn his approval. But now? They made bile rise in my throat.
1 felt sick.
I looked him in the eye, my voice quiet but unshaken.
“Dad, your good daughter has always been Lexie. The entire Moonveil Pack worships her according to your Alpha authority. I won’t stand in your way anymore.”
I paused, letting the silence settle, then said the words I had carried like a blade against my heart for years.
“If I’m so unwelcome here, then hear me now-I’m severing ties with this family. From this moment forward, we are strangers. I’m no longer your daughter, and you are no longer my parents.”
A cold, still silence followed.
No one moved. No one spoke. Even the wolves present-the ones who still carried their marks and respected bloodlines-seemed paralyzed. They hadn’t expected me to say it. But I had. And
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the moment I did, I felt something inside me break free.
Alpha Darius, ever the manipulator, grabbed my arm with force. “Avelyn, I know you’re angry. But don’t be impulsive. You’ve always relied on your parents, and after marriage, you relied on me. Without us, how do you plan to survive?”
I stared at his hand gripping me like I was property.
Then I peeled it off me and wiped my arm clean with a tissue until the skin turned red.
“Alpha Darius,” I said with pure disgust, “stop putting yourself on a pedestal. Everything I have, everything I wear, everything I’ve eaten-I earned. I built it on my own. Without any of you, I will live even better.”
I leaned in closer, lowering my voice so only he could hear it.
“And you? A man like you deserves to be hit by a truck the moment he steps outside. If karma has teeth, it’s going to bite hard.”
He blinked, stunned, then narrowed his eyes in a sneer.
“I really underestimated you, Avelyn. You married me three years ago. Whether this marriage ends or not… that’s not your decision to make.”
The possessiveness in his voice sent a chill down my spine.
“I don’t care where you’ve been these past few days or who you’ve been with. We can pretend it didn’t happen. But from now on… you’re mine again.”
My heart froze. I felt the shift in the air around us. Alpha Darius wasn’t just trying to manipulate me. He was trying to claim me again. As if he had any right.
“You’re insane,” I breathed, trying to pull away.
But his grip tightened. I twisted and fought, but he was stronger, and he knew it. He dragged me toward the door, ignoring my cries. My wolf snarled inside me, furious and restless, but the silver ring still bound her.
Chad took a step forward, but the Moonveil guards closed in like shadows, blocking him with calculated precision.
Alpha Darius turned to my parents and actually had the audacity to speak with gratitude. “Dad. Mom. Sorry for the trouble. I’ll take Avelyn home now.”
‘Darius, we’re divorced!” I screamed. “This is illegal detainment! I swear to the Moon, I will sue you!”
He didn’t care. This man-calm, charming, perfect Alpha Darius-had finally shown what lay
beneath the surface. Obsession. Control. Madness.
But my parents-those cold-blooded wolves who gave me nothing-still stood there.
Robert crossed his arms, his voice frigid. “Let him take her. We haven’t disciplined her properly over the years. Let him deal with her temper.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
Just when I thought I’d reached the end of their cruelty, they proved me wrong.
Chad, still held back, finally let his voice boom across the room like thunder.
“Ma’am Avelyn is now Riven Ashton’s fiancée! If you go through with this, you’re going against
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the entire Ashton bloodline!”
Chad’s voice thundered through the room like a battle cry, laced with authority and fury. The moment the Ashton name left his lips, a ripple of shock swept through the room-gasps, stiffened spines, clenched jaws-but no one moved. No one dared.
The silence was suffocating.
Then I heard it.
Not just a sound.
A warning.
A shot rang out-loud, sharp, and final. It cracked like lightning across the room.
Alpha Darius screamed a guttural cry that tore through the still air. He crumpled to the ground, howling like a dying wolf, his leg split open by a clean silver bullet.
He tried to reach for me again, but I was already falling-and into safe arms.
Arms that smelled of cedar, ash, and the storm.
Riven.
He caught me like he’d known exactly where to be. His eyes gleamed gold, and his aura blazed through the room like wildfire, demanding submission from every wolf present. Even Robert flinched.
Then Riven stepped over Alpha Darius’s writhing body, voice like ice forged in hellfire.
“The Nightbane Alpha thinks he can steal from me?” he growled. “Today, I’ll only take your leg.”
He raised his gun again and pointed it between Darius’s eyes.
“Try it again… and I’ll take your life.”
Chapter 14
7:03 pm
“Riven!”
Lucia Morh is a passionate storyteller who brings emotions to life through her words. When she’s not writing, she finds peace nurturing her garden.