Chapter 80

Chapter 80
What the hell was going on? My mind spun, trying to make sense of the chaos. Who was Jacob, and how could he do this? Nothing made sense anymore.

I stared at Lucien, my heart hammering as his cold gaze locked onto mine. There was something terrifyingly primal in it, a possessiveness that coiled through the air and sent a chill down my spine. He wanted me, and I knew he would go through anyone to get me.

“Let me out of here!” I demanded, turning sharply toward Jacob. I needed out. I needed distance before Lucien tore through them both.

“Allison, I can’t. He is going to kill you,” Jacob said, his voice strained.

“No. He loves me.”

The words came out fast, almost reflexive, as if saying them could hold the world together.

I moved toward Jacob, but he caught me in an instant, one hand bracing me while the other struggled to sustain the forcefield. At the same time, Sarah lunged.

Her fingers closed around my wrists like iron bands and yanked me back with brutal force.

“Don’t make him break the forcefield,” she snapped, dragging me down as though I weighed nothing.

“Use your brain,” she shouted as I struggled against her grip. “Jacob is trying to protect you. He’s the one who loves you.”

The moment fractured into chaos as we grappled, both of us screaming, each trying to overpower the other. I twisted hard, tearing myself free through sheer desperation.

“You slimy bitch!” I spat, slapping her across the face with a sharp crack that echoed through the room. Before she could recover, I grabbed her hair and pulled hard, fury stripping away everything else.

“Let me go!” Sarah cried out.

I struck her again. “I hate you, you male-centered bitch!”

Before the moment could spiral further, the air shifted.

Jacob’s shield flared into existence between us, solidifying in an instant. The impact threw us apart, forcing distance where there had been none.

I stumbled back, breath ragged, adrenaline shaking through my limbs. Jacob stood beside me now, hands still raised, the fading remnants of his magic shimmering faintly in the air.

“He is not good for you, Allison,” he said, his voice tight, almost breaking. “Why don’t you understand that?”

“And you are?” I snapped, turning on him. “I just walked in on you fucking my best friend. Don’t talk to me about what’s good for me.”

My voice shook, but I didn’t care. “I don’t need your protection. I just need to get out of here.”

“I wasn’t fucking her, and he wants your—”

“Enough.”

Lucien’s voice cut through the room like a blade, and everything stilled.

The air shifted before he even moved. He stepped forward slowly, placing a hand against the shield as his red eyes burned with restrained fury. For a brief moment, he only stood there, feeling the barrier beneath his palm before his gaze lifted to Jacob.

“You know this cannot keep me out.”

Jacob tensed immediately, both hands lifting now as he struggled to hold the forcefield together. The glowing barrier pulsed violently between them, its light flickering under the pressure of Lucien’s presence.

Then Lucien stepped back.

With a single motion, he struck the shield.

The forcefield shattered instantly, collapsing into fragments of light that dissolved before they could touch the ground.

Jacob barely had time to react before Lucien crossed the distance between them and seized him by the throat, lifting him effortlessly off the floor. Jacob clawed at Lucien’s wrist, choking as his feet kicked uselessly in the air, while Lucien held him there with terrifying ease.

His fangs caught the dim light.

“No!” The word tore out of me as I rushed toward them, and Lucien froze at the sound of my voice.

His eyes shifted to me, gold swirling with something dark and violent.

“He hurt you,” he said, his voice low and lethal. “He deserves to die.”

My heart pounded so hard it blurred my thoughts. “It’s fine,” I whispered, though my voice trembled badly. “Just let him go.”

As I moved closer, I noticed my flower clip lying shattered across the floor, broken during the struggle. My hair had come loose completely, frizzed and tangled around my shoulders, but it was the last thing that mattered. Carefully, I reached for Lucien’s free hand while the other still held Jacob suspended in the air.

The thought of watching Jacob die twisted something deep inside me. I did not understand what he was or how he could do the things he had done, but I did not want blood on the floor in front of me. I did not want death attached to my name.

Lucien’s grip tightened for the briefest second before a low warning growl left his throat.

“Stay away from what is mine,” he said quietly, his gaze fixed on Jacob. “If you still want your pretty head attached to your neck.”

Then, without warning, he released him.

Jacob crashed hard against the floor, coughing violently for air, but Lucien no longer looked at him. In the same motion, he turned toward me and lifted me into his arms, holding me tightly against his chest as he carried me out of the apartment.