Chapter 15 CHAPTER FIFTEEN**

Chapter 15 CHAPTER FIFTEEN**
CHAPTER FIFTEEN

DANGEROUS GAMES

ZARIAH NIGHTBORNE POV

Lucien moved through the crowd like a predator, his eyes never leaving mine.

He was different from Damien in every way that mattered. Where Damien was controlled fire, Lucien was an inferno waiting to consume everything in its path. His suit was custom-made, his presence commanding, and every wolf in the room felt the weight of his new title.

Alpha Don.

"Well, well," Lucien said as he approached, his voice smooth as silk and twice as dangerous. "My brother finally brought his pet to heel. How... domestic."

Damien's arm tightened around my waist. "Careful, brother. That's my fiancée you're insulting."

"Fiancée?" Lucien's smile widened, but it didn't reach his eyes. "How convenient. And here I thought she was too wild to be tamed. Tell me, Zariah, did he have to chain you to get you here? Or did you come willingly this time?"

The barb hit exactly where he intended. The memory of silver chains burned fresh in my mind.

"I go where I please," I said coolly, meeting his gaze without flinching. "And right now, I'm pleased to be anywhere you're not."

Something flickered in Lucien's eyes. Rage. Desire. Both twisted together in a way that made my skin crawl.

"Still got that fire. Good. I'd hate for Damien to have broken you completely." He leaned in closer, and I caught the scent of expensive whiskey and violence. "You know he'll disappoint you eventually, don't you? It's what he does. He pretends to be the good brother, the noble one, but deep down..." Lucien's voice dropped to a whisper only I could hear. "He's exactly like me. He just hides it better."

"The only thing hiding here is your jealousy," I said quietly. "You want what he has. You always have."

Lucien's jaw clenched. "Careful, Luna. You're not untouchable just because you're wearing his ring."

"No," Damien interjected, his voice cold as winter. "She's untouchable because she's mine. And you know exactly what happens to wolves who touch what's mine."

The two brothers stared at each other, years of resentment and competition crackling in the air between them.

Finally, Lucien stepped back, his smile returning. "Enjoy the gala, brother. But remember—everything you have can be taken. Even her."

He disappeared into the crowd, leaving tension thick enough to choke on.

"Are you okay?" Damien asked quietly.

"I'm fine." But my hands were shaking, and he noticed.

"Come with me."

He led me away from the main ballroom, down a quiet corridor, into what looked like a private study. The moment the door closed, I pulled away from him.

"I need a minute."

"Take as long as you need."

I walked to the window, staring out at the manicured gardens below, trying to steady my breathing. Seeing Lucien again brought everything back. The chains. The cage. The way he'd looked at me like I was property to be claimed.

"I hate him," I whispered.

"I know."

"I hate that he still gets under my skin. That he can make me feel weak just by existing."

Damien was quiet for a moment. Then: "He doesn't make you weak, Zariah. He makes you human. And that's what terrifies him."

I turned to look at him. "What do you mean?"

"Lucien's afraid of you. Has been since the moment you first shifted. Because you're everything he's not—powerful without cruelty, strong without breaking others." Damien crossed the room until he stood close enough to touch. "You scare the hell out of him. So he tries to make you doubt yourself. Make you feel small. But you're not small, Zariah. You never were."

The sincerity in his voice cracked something inside me.

"Why do you do this?" I asked quietly.

"Do what?"

"Say things that make me want to trust you again. Even when I know I shouldn't."

His eyes held mine, and I saw everything he wasn't saying written in their depths. "Because some part of me still hopes that one day, you might forgive me. Even though I don't deserve it."

The air between us shifted, charged with something dangerous.

"We should get back," I said, but I didn't move.

Neither did he.

"Zariah..." His voice was rough, strained. "If you keep looking at me like that, I'm going to do something we'll both regret."

"Like what?"

It was a challenge. A test. Maybe even an invitation I didn't fully understand myself.

Damien's control snapped.

He closed the distance between us in two steps, his hand cupping my face, his thumb brushing across my bottom lip. "Like this."

Then he kissed me.

It wasn't gentle. Wasn't sweet. It was years of want and regret and desperate need poured into a single moment.

I should've pushed him away. Should've remembered every betrayal, every lie.

But instead, I kissed him back.

My hands fisted in his suit jacket, pulling him closer, and he groaned against my mouth. His other hand found my waist, fingers digging into the silk dress, and suddenly I was pressed against the wall, his body hard against mine.

"Zariah," he breathed against my lips. "Tell me to stop."

"Don't you dare."

That was all the permission he needed.

His mouth moved to my neck, trailing hot kisses down to my collarbone. I gasped, my head falling back against the wall, and I felt his smile against my skin.

"I've missed this," he murmured. "Missed you. Missed the way you taste."

His hand slid up my thigh, finding the slit in the dress, and I bit my lip to keep from making a sound.

"We can't," I managed, even as my body betrayed me, arching into his touch. "Not here. Not now."

"I know." But he didn't stop. His fingers traced patterns on my inner thigh, teasing, promising. "But I need you to know something, Zariah. This? Us? It was never fake for me. Never just part of the plan."

I looked at him, my breath coming in short gasps. "Then what was it?"

"Everything." His eyes burned into mine. "You were everything. You still are."

The vulnerability in his voice nearly destroyed me.

I pulled him down for another kiss, this one slower, deeper. His hand moved higher, and I gasped into his mouth, my nails digging into his shoulders.

"Zariah..." His voice was wrecked. "If we don't stop now, I won't be able to."

"Then don't."

Something feral flashed in his eyes. "Do you mean that?"

"I don't know what I mean anymore," I admitted. "I just know I'm tired of fighting this. Fighting you. Fighting what I feel."

Damien kissed me again, softer this time, almost reverent. "I don't deserve this. Don't deserve you. But I swear, Zariah, if you give me another chance, I won't waste it."

"You're still a liar," I whispered against his lips.

"I know."

"Still a traitor."

"I know."

"And I still don't trust you."

"I know that too." His forehead pressed against mine. "But maybe someday you will. And I'll spend every day until then proving I'm worth the risk."

A knock on the door shattered the moment.

"Mr. Romano?" A voice called from the other side. "The servers are accessible now. You have a ten-minute window."

Reality crashed back in. The mission. The reason we were here.

Damien pulled away reluctantly, straightening his suit, his eyes never leaving mine. "We should—"

"Go," I finished, trying to steady my breathing. "We should go."

But as we moved toward the door, he caught my hand. "This isn't over."

"I know."

We slipped back into the gala, our masks firmly in place. To everyone watching, we were the perfect couple. Reunited. In love. Untouchable.

But inside, I was spinning. What had I just done? What was I doing?

I caught sight of Lucien across the room, watching us with an expression I couldn't quite read. And beside him, a figure I hadn't expected to see.

Kael.

My first love. My first betrayal.

He stood there in a sharp grey suit, looking every inch the dangerous man I remembered. But his eyes—those amber eyes—held something I'd never seen before.

Pain.

Our gazes locked across the crowded ballroom, and the world fell away.

He started walking toward me, cutting through the crowd with purpose, and panic seized my chest.

"We need to leave," I said urgently to Damien. "Now."

"What? Why?"

"Because Kael's here. And if he gets anywhere near me, this entire charade falls apart."

Damien's expression darkened. "Then let's give them a show they won't forget."

Before I could ask what he meant, he spun me into his arms, dipping me low in a move that looked spontaneous but was perfectly calculated.

Then he kissed me. Right there. In front of everyone.

The ballroom erupted in whispers.

And when he pulled back, his eyes held a challenge directed straight at Kael. "Mine."

I should've been angry. Should've called him out for the possessive display.

But watching Kael's face twist with jealousy and regret?

A dark part of me enjoyed it.

"Time to go," Damien murmured, pulling me upright. "I got what we came for."

We made our exit through the back entrance, and the moment we were in the car, the adrenaline hit.

"Did you see his face?" I asked, and then I was laughing. Actually laughing. "Did you see—"

"I saw." Damien was grinning too, looking more alive than I'd seen him in weeks. "Worth every second."

The laughter faded, and we were left in the quiet of the moving car, the city lights streaming past.

"What happens now?" I asked quietly.

"Now?" Damien looked at me, and there was no pretense. No games. Just honesty. "Now we go back to the compound. Analyze what I downloaded. Plan our next move. And try not to think about what almost happened in that study."

"And if I can't stop thinking about it?"

His jaw clenched. "Then we're both in trouble."

The rest of the drive passed in charged silence.

When we arrived back at the compound, Veda was waiting with Elara, both of them looking concerned.

"Did it work?" Veda asked immediately.

"Got everything we needed," Damien confirmed, pulling out a small drive. "Complete server access. Security protocols. Guard rotations. Everything."

"Good." Veda took the drive. "I'll start analyzing it. You two should—"

"I'll be in my room," I said quickly, needing distance before I did something stupid. "Let me know when you find something useful."

I walked away before anyone could stop me, heading straight for my quarters.

But I'd barely made it inside before someone knocked.

"Go away, Veda."

The door opened anyway.

But it wasn't Veda.

It was Kael.

He stood in my doorway, looking like a ghost from a past I'd tried desperately to bury. His amber eyes held mine with an intensity that made it hard to breathe.

"We need to talk," he said quietly.

"There's nothing to talk about."

"Really? Because watching you kiss my cousin tonight sure as hell gave me plenty to say."

Cousin. Right. Kael and Damien were related through their fathers' side. Another complication I'd forgotten.

"Get out."

"Not until you listen to me." He stepped inside, closing the door behind him. "I know I don't have the right to be here. Know I lost that right the day I betrayed you. But Zariah, seeing you with him—"

"Made you jealous?" I laughed bitterly. "Good. Maybe now you understand even a fraction of what I felt when you handed me over to Lucien."

"I never stopped loving you."

The words hung in the air like a weapon.

"Don't," I whispered.

"It's true. Every day. Every moment. You're all I think about." He crossed the room slowly. "And watching Damien put his hands on you tonight? Watching him kiss you? It nearly killed me."

"You don't get to feel that way. You don't get to be hurt."

"I know." He stood close now, too close. "But I can't help it. Can't help wanting you. Needing you. Even when I know I don't deserve it."

My chest tightened. "Why are you doing this?"

"Because I'm done lying. Done pretending I don't care." His voice dropped. "I love you, Zariah. I never stopped. And if there's even a chance you feel something—anything—for me still—"

"There isn't."

The lie tasted bitter on my tongue.

Because standing here, looking at him, I felt the echo of what we'd once had. The ghost of the boy I'd loved before everything went wrong.

"Liar," he whispered, echoing my own thoughts.

Then he kissed me.

And God help me, I let him.