Chapter 121
Lirael
The first time I woke, I was curled on a rough blanket in the corner, my body screaming. Sebastian's breathing came from somewhere in the darkness—ragged, uneven, still fighting even in sleep.
I tried to move. Everything hurt. My throat where he'd bitten me. The scratches across my shoulders. The burning ache between my legs. I squeezed my eyes shut and willed myself back under, because consciousness meant acknowledging what had happened.
The second time I surfaced, I was on the narrow cot with no memory of getting there. Sebastian was beside me again, still cold, and even unconscious his arms had found me. When his temperature started dropping, when his body began seizing, my hands were already moving to pull him closer before I could think.
When he took me again it was pure desperation, all instinct, and I bit down on my own arm because I refused to cry out, refused to acknowledge this was real.
The third time I woke, dawn was breaking beyond the barred window. Sebastian had finally collapsed in the corner, silver chains loose around his wrists, arms wrapped around the tattered blanket I'd shoved at him hours ago.
It hadn't worked. Fresh scratches on my hips told the story.
I forced myself upright. Someone had left a cracked basin and rags in the corner, along with a piece of broken mirror.
My reflection stopped me cold. Silver-grey eyes bruised with exhaustion. Hair matted with dried blood. But it was my throat—two perfect crescents of torn flesh at the junction of neck and shoulder, already scabbing. Around it, dozens of smaller marks spreading across my collarbones.
I turned away and started cleaning myself mechanically, each touch a reminder of exactly how I'd saved his life.
Movement from the corner made me check on him despite myself. His chest rose and fell steadily now. Skin warm instead of ice-cold. Pulse strong under my fingertips when I pressed them to his throat.
He'd live.
I picked up a piece of splintered wood from the floor, weighing it in my hand. One good strike to the temple while he was unconscious. Problem solved.
My hand shook. The wood clattered to the floor.
Damn it.
I grabbed the silver-grey robe Selene had left outside—traditional elven garb embroidered with lunar phases—and pulled it on, grateful for how it covered the worst marks. Then I dipped my finger in the water basin, let a drop of blood well up from a scratch, and wrote on the mirror's surface:
Used the most precious thing I had to pay your debt. We're even now. Goodbye.
I pressed my bloody palm beneath the words.
One last look at him sleeping there, clutching that ratty blanket like a lifeline, and something twisted in my chest. I shoved it down hard and walked out.
---
Selene was waiting in the corridor, leaning against the stone wall. Worn leather gloves lay at her feet—she'd been standing guard all night.
Our eyes met. Her gaze dropped to my throat and her pupils contracted to pinpricks. Silver fire ignited in her eyes.
"Lun'thera kas'vel," she hissed in our ancient tongue. "Vel'thra nos kael—have you lost your mind? You let a wolf defile royal blood?"
"He was dying," I said flatly. "My moon dew was the only thing that could save him. So I gave it to him. That's all."
"That's all?" Selene pushed off the wall. "You let him bite you. Create a blood bond. Do you have any idea—"
"He owed me his life. I gave it back. Now we're even and he doesn't get to control me anymore."
"Lirael—"
"I don't need to explain my choices to anyone. Including you."
Selene went silent. Then suddenly she pulled me into a fierce hug, her voice breaking. "I'm just... I'm terrified of losing you too. Sofia's already dead. I can't watch them destroy you too."
I stiffened in her arms, then slowly relaxed. "I know."
---
The lighthouse's main hall was barely more than a large room with a rickety table and mismatched chairs. Elwin paced while Selene and I sat, every muscle in my body protesting.
"We have to go back," Elwin said, voice tight with controlled fury, eyes red-rimmed but burning. "To Black Reef Island. There are still elven children imprisoned in that facility. And Sofia's body—" His voice cracked. "We can't just leave her there."
"Damian has intel on the facility's layout," Selene said. "And the Gray family has ships that could get us in quietly."
"Assuming we can trust—"
The door burst open. Marcus stood there, breathing hard. "My lord's decoy at the estate has been compromised. Victor Blackwood saw through it. He's dispatched the entire Onyx Guard to hunt for the real Sebastian."
My blood ran cold. "How long do we have?"
"Hours at most. We need to move now."
Selene was already standing. "Damian's safe house on the coast. It's the closest secure location."
"Agreed." I pushed myself up, ignoring how my legs shook. "We leave immediately."
---
We hurried down to the dock where a sleek speedboat waited. I was helping Elwin with the mooring lines when the sound of helicopter rotors cut through the morning air.
Everyone froze.
A black helicopter descended toward the dock's helipad, sending spray across the water. The door opened before it fully landed, and a woman stepped out.
She was striking in that predatory way unique to female wolves—tall and athletic, moving with lethal grace despite the elegant evening gown that seemed ridiculously formal for a rescue mission. Auburn hair swept back in a severe style, sharp cheekbones, eyes the color of aged amber that swept across the dock with cold assessment.
"Good morning," she said, her voice carrying an edge of absolute authority. "I'm Ava. I've been sent to collect a guest of the Blackwood family."
Her gaze locked onto me, and for a moment those amber eyes flashed gold. "I received an encrypted message. It indicated someone was staying in the lighthouse cell and required... extraction."
She produced a black obsidian token—the Blackwood family seal—and a sealed letter. "Authorization and recommendation from Victor, confirming my identity."
Marcus moved to verify the documents, his expression carefully neutral.
Selene leaned close to me, her voice barely audible. "That's Victor's newest project. Seems the Blackwood family has already selected a suitable wolf bride for their heir. How convenient."
My stomach turned. Of course. A proper match. Someone who could give Sebastian strong heirs without the complication of being the species his family had spent centuries exterminating.
Ava's security team fanned out across the dock, professional and efficient. One of them pulled out a stun baton when a dock worker hesitated to move aside, and Ava didn't even glance at the casual violence.
I looked away. Not my problem anymore.
"Come on," Selene said gently, guiding me toward our boat. "Let's get you somewhere you can actually rest."
I let her help me aboard, my body finally starting to give out. As the engine rumbled to life, I caught one last glimpse of Ava directing her team with crisp hand signals, every inch the Alpha female she'd been bred to be.
Perfect match for him, I thought viciously. Cold-blooded and ruthless. Both apex predators. They deserve each other.
"Lirael, you should go below deck," Selene urged. "You're dead on your feet."
"I'm fine here."
I wasn't fine. But I needed the wind in my face, needed the salt spray to wash away the memory of Sebastian's scent on my skin, needed the distance growing between us with every second.