Chapter 155 Chapter 155
Violet
"Elijah," I said softly.
He whirled around, and the fury on his face made me take an involuntary step backward. "I hate being so helpless. Every word out of his mouth was a calculated lie, and my father just stood there and let him spin his bullshit narrative."
"Relax…"
"And everyone believed him!" Elijah's voice rose, his control finally snapping. "They all just stood there and nodded along while he painted you as some obsessive psycho who destroyed his life. Like you're the villain in this story instead of the victim."
"Elijah, please!"
"And I can't do anything about it." He started pacing, his movements sharp and agitated. "I can't defend you without making it worse. I can't call him out without looking biased. I can't even beat the truth out of him because apparently that makes me the bad guy."
I watched him pace, my heart aching. This was my fault. If I hadn't come here, hadn't gotten involved with him, hadn't let Aurelia manipulate me into this impossible situation...
"You need to calm down," I said, moving toward him.
"Calm down?" He stopped pacing, staring at me incredulously. "How am I supposed to calm down when that bastard just stood there and lied about you? When he made you apologize to him for being assaulted? When my own father sided with him over you?"
"I know, but.."
"And in three days, he's going to marry Nicole and become even more entrenched in this pack. He's going to be family that will make him practically untouchable." Elijah's hands clenched into fists again. "And there's nothing I can do about it."
"You're doing plenty," I said firmly. "You're here, supporting me. You're not letting them gaslight me into thinking I deserved what happened."
He looked at me then, really looked at me, and some of the rage drained from his face. "How are you so calm about this?"
"I'm not calm." My voice cracked slightly. "I'm furious. I feel terrified, and humiliated. But losing control won't help. It'll just give them more ammunition to use against us."
"Against us," he repeated softly. He closed the distance between us in two strides, his hands coming up to cup my face. "That's what we are, isn't it? An us."
The tenderness in his voice, after all that rage, made my throat tight. "Yeah. I guess we are."
"I hate that you had to go through that," he said, his thumbs stroking across my cheekbones. "I hate that I couldn't protect you from it. I hate that my family is so focused on reputation and appearances that they'd rather believe a liar than admit one of their own is a monster."
"It's not your fault…"
"But it feels like it is." His forehead dropped to rest against mine. "Every time someone hurts you, every time you have to defend yourself, every time you're forced to smile and be polite to people who don't deserve your breath, it feels like I'm failing you."
"You're not failing me," I whispered. "You're the only reason I'm surviving this."
We stood like that for a long moment, foreheads pressed together, breathing in sync. I could feel the tension slowly draining from his body, could feel his heartbeat gradually slowing from its frantic pace.
"Why do you have this effect on me?" he murmured, his voice so quiet I almost didn't hear it. "Why do I feel so protective of you? So possessive? Like I'd burn the whole world down if it meant keeping you safe?"
I froze as my breath caught in my throat.
Those words…and that raw admission made me feel a weird kind of tightness in my chest. It was everything I wanted to hear and everything I was terrified of.
Because it meant Aurelia's plan was working. It meant he was falling for me, really falling, just like she'd ordered me to make him do.
"Elijah..." I started, but I didn't know how to finish. I didn't know what to say that wouldn't be a lie or a half-truth.
He pulled back slightly, just enough to meet my eyes. "Tell me you feel it too. Tell me I'm not alone in this."
I should have lied, should have pushed him away. Or should have started the process of breaking his heart like Aurelia had commanded to turn myself into the villain she wanted me to be.
But I couldn't.
Because the truth was, I did feel it. Whatever this was between us, it wasn't one-sided. It wasn't just me manipulating him or him protecting me out of some misplaced sense of duty.
It was real.
And that terrified me more than anything else in this entire nightmare situation.
"I feel it," I admitted, my voice barely above a whisper. "I'm scared of it, but I feel it."
"Scared of what?"
"Scared that I'll be the reason for your doom." The words came out in a rush, raw and honest. "You've already risked so much for me. Your relationship with your father, your own pack. And it's only going to get worse. Being with me, protecting me, choosing me…it's going to destroy you."
"That's not.."
"It is." I pulled back from his touch, wrapping my arms around myself. "Your father was ready to strip you of everything. Your mother watches us like she's waiting for something. Your sister is scared for you. And Nate is just going to keep pushing and lying and making things worse. I'm poison, Elijah. I'm toxic. And you need to stay away from me before I ruin your life completely."
He stared at me for a long moment, his expression unreadable. Then he closed the distance between us again, his hands gripping my shoulders gently but firmly.
"You're not poison," he said, his voice intense. "You're not toxic. You're the best thing that's happened to me in years. Maybe ever."
"That's just the adrenaline talking…" I tried to push him away, tried to talk some sense into him but then he pulled me closer and cut off my words.
Not with words but his mouth that came crashing down on me.
He kissed me.