Chapter 149

Chapter 149
Sofia Bliss.

I couldn’t breathe.

My body was at its limit, seconds away from shutting down. My arms strained above my head, burning where the silver ate through my skin from the inside, corroding whatever strength I had left. My body trembled on its own—weak, exhausted… broken.

But still, I didn’t close my eyes.
I couldn’t.

Because of what I was seeing—the person standing there—I had to be sure it was real.

Everyone froze when they saw him.

The men inside the cage, the council members, my grandmother, the governor… no one moved. It looked like they all felt the same thing I did—that something in that room did not belong to our world.

And even though he was there, right in front of me, only a few meters away, part of me was convinced it wasn’t real. That my mind had finally snapped. That it was just another hallucination created by fear, grief, and pain.

Because he looked so different—his appearance, his presence.

But it was him.
Some part of me knew without doubt.

I would recognize that look anywhere.
Even in hell.

My heart hammered so hard it hurt. All I wanted to do was run. Break free from the bed, rip off the restraints, ignore the silver burning through my body… run straight to him. Touch his face. Feel his skin. Make sure he wasn’t a lie.

“What… what does this mean?” the governor’s voice cracked, almost a scream. He stumbled backward. “You… you were supposed to be dead.”

Adrian didn’t move.
He only looked around, calm.

“Dead?” he asked, giving a crooked half-smile—that crooked, arrogant smile only he had. “Is that what you call dead?”

My entire body trembled harder.

The governor lost whatever thin control he still had.

“What are you waiting for?” he screamed at the men. “Shoot him!”

No one moved.

The armed men looked paralyzed, as if something unseen kept their bodies from lifting their weapons. I felt it too—that pressure, that invisible warning. Their instincts knew: aiming at Adrian was wrong.

Fatally wrong.

The governor snarled and yanked his own gun from his coat.

“You… you abomination!” he spat. “This is forbidden! Damn those D’arvens… only they could pull off something like this!”

Adrian laughed.

A low, heavy laugh filled with things I didn’t even understand.

“Abomination?” he repeated, tilting his head. “Forbidden? You really have the nerve to use those words…”
His eyes fell on me—tied down, wrists bloody from fighting, strapped to a bed.
“…while you keep a woman chained up to be abused?”

“Shut up!” the governor roared, stepping toward him. “This is for the good of all of us! For the birth of the true Supreme Alpha! Someone worthless like you would never understand!”

My heart nearly jumped out of my chest when he raised the gun.

Pointing directly at Adrian’s chest.

“Accept it and go back to the dead,” he hissed. “It’s where you should’ve stayed.”

“NO!” I screamed, using every ounce of strength left inside me.

I couldn’t watch it again.
I couldn’t watch him fall.
Not again.

The shot exploded through the room.

A sharp, deafening sound.

My eyes squeezed shut—I was so terrified for him.

When I finally forced them open, I saw Adrian stagger one step back.

My scream died in my throat.

But he didn’t fall.

He lifted his head slowly, as if the bullet had been nothing more than an annoyance. He brushed his fingers over his chest where it hit… and he smiled.

“This time…” he said, voice steady, “that’s not going to work.”

The governor went pale.

“Th-that’s impossible…”

And then—

Hell began.

Everything happened too fast.

Men appeared from every direction. I saw James—the cop. I saw Cael and Cedric. People I didn’t even know were still alive. And they weren’t alone. Others were with them, all determined, focused on fighting and ending that nightmare once and for all.

Luke and the men who had been inside the cage rushed out, trying to fight back, but the advantage was gone. The silver no longer protected them. Not against whatever Adrian had become.

I heard screams, crashes, the sound of metal, of bodies hitting the ground. I saw blood splashing across the floor.

I wanted so badly to help… to get off that bed.

But my body wasn’t responding anymore.

My vision started to fade, darkening at the edges. The silver was still draining everything out of me. My head spun, heavy, confused.

Then I heard a voice.

“Sofia!”

My heart jumped.

“Sofia, is that you?… Thank God!”

Letícia.

She ran toward me, desperate, her hands trembling as she tried to undo the restraints.

“Are you okay? They’re here… finally, we’re getting out of here!”

I tried to focus on her face, but everything seemed too far away, too muffled.

“Letícia?…” My voice came out weak. “Is it really you? Is this… is this real?”

She started crying.

“It’s real, Sofia. Adrian is here. They came… We’re safe… for real this time.”

I wanted to answer her. I wanted to believe it.

But everything went dark.

When I woke up, the first thing I felt was movement.

The soft sway of a car driving. A familiar scent.

I opened my eyes slowly and realized I was lying on someone’s lap. Dark-tinted windows surrounded me. The world outside felt distant, muted.

I tilted my head up.

Adrian was there.

His silver hair, his marked face, his eyes fixed on me with a mix of relief and worry.

“Finally,” he murmured. “I was starting to get worried.”

My hands trembled as I lifted them to his face. My wrists still ached from the restraints, but none of that mattered. I needed to touch him. Needed to feel him.

“You… you’re alive?” My voice cracked. “I… I saw you die…”

He closed his eyes for a moment.

“I know,” he said quietly. “And you’re not wrong. I did die.”

My chest tightened painfully.

“But I came back,” he continued. “I came back for you. Just like I promised. I’d do anything to save you.”

Tears rolled down my cheeks.

“My dad, Letícia… everyone else — are they okay?” I whispered. “Are they safe?”

“They are…” he said, pulling me gently into his arms. “You’re hurt now, but soon… once the silver wears off, everything will make sense. Just rest for now.”

I inhaled shakily, laying my head against his chest.

“So… we made it?” I asked, almost afraid of the answer.

He wrapped me tighter, protective, solid.

“For now, yes. Some of them escaped. But the Hines family… is finished.”
He breathed deeply.
“And from now on, no one will dare lay a finger on you.”