Chapter 71

Chapter 71
The moment the message delivered, my anxiety worsened. I stared at the screen, my breath catching painfully in my throat as the minutes dragged by in agonizing silence. Absentmindedly, I played with the edge of my phone case, biting at my lower lip while my thoughts spiraled endlessly.

Then suddenly, a beep.

My entire heart skipped violently.

It happened every single time I texted him, every single time I convinced myself I no longer cared whether he replied or ignored me again, only for my body to betray me with hope and longing the second my phone lit up.

This time, it actually was him. I squeezed my eyes shut and reopened them just to be sure.

For a moment, my heart felt too big for my chest, emotions crashing into me all at once: relief, excitement, confusion, nervousness, hope, fear.

My hands almost shook as I opened the message.

Lucien: I have just one question to ask you. And you have to be very honest.

My stomach tightened instantly.

What else could he possibly want to know that he had not already accused me of?

Still, I knew I had to answer. At the very least, I owed him honesty, and I hoped that if I gave him that honesty, he would finally give me his in return.

Me: I will be very honest with you.

There was a long pause after that, and with every passing second my anxiety only worsened. By the time another message finally appeared on the screen, I already felt half sick with nerves.

Lucien: Did the Alpha of the Westbrook pack send you to me?

The question hit me like a punch to the chest, to the head, to every part of me at once.

I stared at the screen in complete disbelief, my mind struggling to process what I was reading. How could he possibly think that? After everything between us, after everything I had felt for him, how could he genuinely believe I had been sent to betray him?

Alpha? Westbrook pack?

None of it even made sense to me.

I barely understood this world at all. Half the time, I still felt insane just thinking about wolves, bonds, glowing eyes, and wolfsbane. How could I possibly be working for people I did not even know existed?

My thoughts raced as I typed quickly.

Me: No. No, believe me. Nobody sent me. I acted on my own suspicions.

I stared at the message for a second before typing again, emotions rising painfully inside me.

Me: How can you even ask me that? How can you think I would work with someone to hurt you? It seems like you never trusted me at all.

This time his response came quickly, almost immediately, and somehow that made it worse.

Lucien: Has this been your plan all along? To poison me? To destroy me? But how did he find out about this app? That’s what I want to know.

My chest tightened so painfully it almost stole my breath. Tears instantly filled my eyes as I reread the message again and again.

Destroy him?

How could he truly believe I wanted to destroy him when loving him was the very thing destroying me?

And who even was this so-called Alpha?

My fingers trembled against the screen as I typed back.

Me: No, I promise. I don’t want to destroy you. How could I ever want that? I don’t know any Alpha.

But even through the phone, I could feel the accusation hanging heavily between us.

Lucien: You knew the danger. You knew what wolfsbane could do to me, yet you still carried it.

A tear slid down my cheek as guilt twisted viciously inside my chest.

Because he was right.

Me: I swear I never wanted to hurt you.

Me: I could never hurt you. I just wanted to know if I was going insane or not because you kept denying everything.

The desperation in my messages was becoming painfully obvious now, but I could not stop. I needed him to believe me. Needed him to understand that despite everything, despite my fear, suspicion, and confusion, I had never wanted to harm him.

Me: Lucien, please. This is a misunderstanding. Can you see me so we can clear this up?

There was a pause before his next reply came through.

Lucien: A misunderstanding? Did you or did you not carry wolfsbane in your pocket that night?

My heart dropped heavily.

For one horrible second, I wished I had lied.

Maybe I should have denied it. Maybe I should have pretended I had no idea how it got there.

But it was too late for lies now.

I stared helplessly at the screen, my thoughts scrambling for the right words, but nothing felt good enough. Nothing felt capable of fixing this.

Lucien: You made a very wrong choice, Allison.

I swallowed hard as I read the message over and over, fear rising higher with each reread.

For a moment, I just stared blankly at the screen, my chest aching so badly it felt difficult to breathe.

Then slowly, almost against my own will, I typed the question that had haunted me since the night he let me step out of that car.

Me: Lucien… where does this leave us?

My fingers hovered over the keyboard for several seconds before I forced myself to continue.

Me: What are you going to do to me? Take my memory?

The words felt unreal even as I sent them, like they belonged to somebody else entirely.

But deep down, I needed to know.

There was a long silence after that. So long that I started convincing myself he would disappear again without answering.

Then finally, my phone buzzed.

Lucien: You were never supposed to find out now. You were never supposed to find out this way. But you don’t listen.

His words cut through me sharply, twisting painfully inside my chest.

Me: I’m sorry. I just wanted the truth.

My vision blurred again as tears gathered in my eyes.

Me: Because I love you, Lucien. I do.

I could barely breathe while waiting for his response after that. My heart pounded so hard it almost hurt, every second stretching unbearably long.

Then finally another message appeared.

Lucien: I doubt it.