Chapter 24 Glitch

Chapter 24 Glitch
Skylar sat where she had been, her back supported by the headboard, the sheets gathered loosely in her lap as if she had forgotten to let go of them. The silence pressed in slowly, filling the space Benetta had occupied with something heavier, something harder to ignore.

The words circled in her mind, quiet but persistent, like something that refused to settle.

She drew in a breath, but it didn’t go deep enough. Her chest felt tight, not from pain this time, but from something she could not quite name. It wasn’t anger—not entirely. It wasn’t sadness either, though it brushed closed.

She told herself that this was nothing. Liam was never hers from the start, yet her fingers curled slightly against the fabric, grounding herself in something real, something she could control. The rest—his world, his choices, his future Luna—had never belonged to her in the first place.

So why did it feel like something was being taken away?

Skylar closed her eyes briefly, forcing the thought down before it could take shape. The sound of the door opening again didn’t startle her this time. She didn’t turn immediately.

The shift in the air gave him away long before his footsteps did—controlled, measured, carrying a presence that filled the room without needing to announce itself. Skylar lifted her gaze only when he stepped fully inside.

Their eyes met but neither of them spoke at first. Until Skylar did.

“When is your wedding?”

The question landed cleanly between them.

“Who told you that?” he asked like it wasn’t what Liam had expected. That much showed—not openly, not in a way most would notice, but in the slight pause that followed, the fraction of a second where his stillness felt… deliberate.

Skylar tilted her head just slightly. “Does it matter?” Her voice was calm.

Liam studied her more closely now, his gaze narrowing almost imperceptibly as if trying to find something beneath the surface that wasn’t there before.

“She shouldn’t have come here,” he said.

“She’s your mother, she has that right closer to your space.” Skylar let out a faint breath, almost sounded like a laugh. “So it’s true.”

He moved further into the room instead, his steps unhurried, his presence drawing closer until the distance between them felt intentional again—controlled, measured, just like everything else about him.

“It’s still under discussion,” he said at last.

“I hope she’s everything they expect her to be.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

Skylar met his eyes without flinching. “It means nothing,” she said. “This is my country; my territory; of course I want this land to be have a perfect mother queen.” And she almost made it sound convincing.

But something beneath it flickered—and  enough to disturb the stillness of the moment.

“You’re not in a position to comment on anything related to this,” he said. The edge in his voice returned, subtle but present.

Skylar didn’t react the way she had before. Just a small nod. “I know. Excuse my behavior, My Alpha.”

Liam’s jaw tightened slightly. This wasn’t the reaction he had expected. It unsettled something he couldn’t immediately define.

“You ran,” he said, his tone shifting again, lower now, more controlled. “You broke the terms of a contract you fully understood.”

Skylar didn’t look away, just a simple response,

“Yes.” The simplicity of it made his expression darken.

“And you think acknowledging it changes the outcome?”

“No.”

She held his gaze steadily.

“I don’t think it changes anything.”

The words settled heavily. Liam stepped closer, the space between them narrowing until it felt deliberate again, until the tension in the room sharpened into something almost tangible.

“Then explain why you did it,” he said.

“I was going to die.”

Liam’s expression didn’t shift, but something behind his eyes did—quick, restrained, buried almost immediately.

“That didn’t stop you from running into something worse,” he said.

“No,” Skylar agreed. Her gaze flickered, just briefly. “I didn’t expect the outside to be kinder.”

Liam watched her carefully now, as if trying to reconcile this version of her with the one who had argued, resisted, pushed back only hours before.

“You made a mistake,” he said.

“I know.”

“And?”

Her fingers moved slightly against the sheets, the only sign of anything unsettled beneath her calm.

“And I survived it.”

Something in Liam’s chest tightened unexpectedly. Something beneath it shifted, subtle and unspoken, like a current neither of them had acknowledged yet. Liam straightened slightly, pulling back just enough to restore distance.

“This doesn’t change anything,” he said.

Then, without warning, something sharp flickered behind Liam’s eyes. His posture stiffened almost imperceptibly, his hand tightening at his side as if something unseen had just struck him.

A faint crease formed between his brows. Skylar noticed.

Before she could stop herself—

“What’s wrong?”

The question slipped out, softer than she intended. Liam didn’t answer. For a second, his focus seemed… elsewhere. Like he was listening to something no one else could hear.

Then, just as quickly, it was gone, his expression reset like an automatic system.

“Nothing.” But the word came a fraction too late.

Skylar’s chest tightened again, that same strange pull surfacing without warning, like something inside her reacting before she could make sense of it.

She pressed her lips together, forcing the feeling down. Liam turned away slightly, as if putting distance between himself and whatever had just happened.

“You’ll remain here until further notice,” he said.

His tone had returned to normal.

“Of course.”

The door closed behind him. Just like that, the room fell quiet again. Skylar exhaled slowly, her body sinking slightly back against the bed as the tension drained out of her muscles.

But the silence didn’t feel the same as before. That strange, unexplainable pull still sat faintly beneath her ribs, quieter now but not gone.

She stared at the ceiling for a long moment, her thoughts slower, heavier, harder to untangle. Her hand lifted slightly, resting once more against her chest.

The feeling remained, and for the first time—Skylar wasn’t sure she could ignore it anymore.