Chapter 64 64
Venessa’s POV
I rose to my feet and left Denzel’s office without another word.
If I stayed a second longer, the fury inside me would have spilled out in a way I could not take back.
I went straight for the lake in the woods.
The moment I reached it, something inside me broke. I screamed emptied my lungs into the open air and then I fell to my knees by the water, sobbing uncontrollably.
“Please,” I begged, my voice tearing apart. “Please.”
I begged fate to let me live. To give me more than the cruel limit hanging over my head. To allow me to exist beyond a single year.
It wasn’t fair.
If fate truly balanced the scales, Jalisa should have been the one counting down the months not me.
What had I done? What was my crime?
I had served the damn tea.
“I fixed it,” I cried between broken breaths. “I stopped it. Please… let me live.”
“Venessa.”
Denzel’s voice reached me, and I knew he had followed me to the lake. This was one of the rare moments I wanted to be alone but I could not push him away.
He crouched beside me, wrapped his arms around me, and pulled me close. His lips brushed my neck where his mark should have been, his mouth lingering there as he kissed and gently sucked at my skin.
“I’m here,” he vowed softly. “And I’m never leaving you. You are my Luna chosen by the goddess herself. I will make everything that’s happened fade into the past. I swear it. I will never leave you. I will never forsake you.”
I cried out loud at that.
Because loving him for less than eight months knowing I would leave him shattered in the end was its own form of torture.
“What did they do to you?” he asked carefully. “Did they touch you?”
He meant the abduction.
“No,” I lied. “But I thought I would die.”
He held me tighter.
“You have to send them away, Denzel,” I said at last. “Jalisa and Tyrell.”
“The divorce will be finalized in two weeks,” he assured me. “They’ll leave.”
Two weeks.
An eternity.
More than enough time for them to destroy him from the inside.
“They’re dangerous,” I pleaded. “They don’t care about you. They don’t care about this pack. They only care about themselves. Please make them leave.”
He paused. Studied me. Then he stood and pulled me up with him.
“You know something,” he said quietly.
It wasn’t a question.
“Tell me.”
I shook my head and closed my eyes. I couldn’t bear to look at him.
“You have to tell me,” he demanded. “You hid their affair from me. What else are you hiding?”
His grip tightened, nearly shaking me.
When I opened my eyes, they weren’t Denzel’s anymore.
They were Nigel’s.
And he was furious.
“Tell me,” he growled.
The weight of his command crushed down on me. Nyla and I could have resisted but we didn’t.
“The last time the king visited,” I began, my voice trembling, “I overheard his conversation with”
“She isn’t your Luna anymore,” he cut in.
I nodded.
“He told her he would remove you in three months if she failed him. He gave her no extensions. He said Tyrell was already on his side and that he helped poison you and Rayon. Then he ordered her to bring Rayon into it too. If Rayon refused, he was to be taken out as well.”
Denzel released my hand and staggered backward.
“Jalisa is terrified of her father,” I continued. “She’ll do anything to please him. He said she would have no home to return to if she failed. She’s been on a clock for almost two months now.”
I swallowed.
“You need to send them away. They will kill you from the inside. And you need to screen every member of staff and security.”
He looked shattered.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked quietly.
I said nothing.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” he shouted.
I flinched.
“Because she was your wife,” I said, my voice breaking. “And I was the fated mate you were ready to reject for her. You wouldn’t have believed me. You would have thought I was scheming trying to separate you for selfish reasons. I had no standing. I was nothing. A refugee. A charity case.”
My chest burned.
“It would have been my word against your wife, your beta, and the king. I never stood a chance.”
And the truth was I hadn’t won.
I had lost everything.
Unlike him, my time had a limit. And every second dragged me closer to it.
Denzel stared at me, stunned. Then he bowed his head.
“You are my Luna,” he said hoarsely. “Never hide anything from me again. My life is in your hands.”
I cried because he was right, and because I had already been carrying that burden alone.
“Send them away,” I begged.
He shook his head.
“No,” he growled. “I’ll lock them up. I don’t need to prove anything to anyone. I’ll lock them up.”
Nigel surged forward fully.
I had never understood the depth of Denzel’s power until that moment. His rage pressed down on me like a physical force, pinning me in place, stealing my breath.
I had told him a truth that could destroy kingdoms.
And now, nothing would stop him.