Chapter 131 The Missing Piece
Adrian’s POV
I hung up instantly and bolted out of the closet.
“Kira!”
Her scream ripped through the suite like a blade…raw, agonized, the kind that makes your blood turn to ice.
She was thrashing on the bed, white fur rippling and stretching as bones snapped and cracked underneath it.
The shift was forcing itself on her, violent and brutal. Her wolf body bowed, spine arching like it was breaking in half.
A second scream tore out of her throat, half-human, half-animal, filled with so much pain it made my own chest ache.
I was across the room in one stride. I dropped to the bed and pulled her into my arms, wrapping her massive wolf form against my chest like I could shield her from the agony ripping through her.
“I’m right here, Princess. You’re alright. I’ve got you. Breathe. Just breathe.”
My hands stroked down her fur, over and over, trying to pour every ounce of calm I had into the bond. “You’re safe. I’m not going anywhere. Let it happen. I’m right here.”
Her trembling slowed the second my body pressed fully against hers.
The snapping of bones grew less frantic, like my touch was guiding them back into place.
I kept murmuring soft nonsense against her ear… “Good girl, that’s it, you’re doing so good”...while inside my head the worry was screaming. Is this normal? Why is it always like this for her? Every shift back feels like it’s tearing her apart. Other wolves don’t scream like they’re dying. What the hell is wrong with my mate?
After a few agonizing minutes watching her groan in pain, the fur finally melted away.
Her body shrank, bones settling with one last painful pop, and there she was…human again, naked and shaking in my arms. I grabbed the sheet and pulled it over her, then kept patting her damp hair, smoothing it back from her sweaty forehead.
“You did so good,” I whispered, voice thick. “I’m so proud of you, Princess. So damn proud.”
But inside I was unraveling. This wasn’t right. Shifts shouldn’t hurt like that. Not repeatedly. Not like she was fighting her own skin.
I held her tighter, cooing soft words against the top of her head. “Shhh, I’ve got you. Rest now. I’m right here. You’re safe. You’re with me.”
I shifted slightly, just enough to look down at her face.
Even in sleep, her brow was faintly pinched…like some part of her body is still in pain.
That made my chest tighten.
Slowly, carefully, I leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to her cheek.
“You did so good,” I murmured again, my lips brushing her skin.
She didn’t stir. So I kissed her again…this time at her temple, letting my lips linger there a second longer than necessary.
A quiet reward.
A silent thank you.
My hand slid up to cradle the back of her head as I pressed another kiss to her hair, breathing in the faint scent of her. Something warm and familiar that grounded the storm clawing inside my chest.
“You endured all that…” I whispered hoarsely.
My gaze drifted down her body, still curled against me, small and fragile in my arms despite the strength I knew lived inside her.
Carefully, I brushed my lips over the slope of her shoulder, the gesture instinctive… almost reverent.
The kind given to someone who had fought a battle and survived it.
“You’re stronger than you know, Princess. And even if your strength fails, you can take mine.”
My thumb moved slowly along her arm, tracing soothing circles against her skin as if trying to erase the memory of the pain her body had gone through.
Another kiss followed…light, gentle…just beneath her ear.
She exhaled and nuzzled into my neck, face buried against my pulse, mumbling words I could barely make out. They sounded like sleepy nonsense at first…half-formed, exhausted.
Then one clear sentence slipped out, quiet but razor-sharp.
“Mom…don’t worry… I’ll get my revenge on them. I’ll make them pay for killing you… and killing me…”
My blood froze solid.
What the fuck did she just say?
Killing you? Killing me?
Is she dead?
Hold on… Am I stupid? Why will I ask if she's dead when I'm holding her right here?!
Her mother was alive… Ariston’s queen… she's alive. Didn't they just visit my palace?
And Kira… she was right here in my arms, warm and alive. So what the hell did she mean by “killing me”?
My mind slammed back to early hours ago at the cemetery. The way she’d stood in front of that tombstone next to her friend’s grave.
The name on the tombstone was… Angel? No Angela Summers. Yes. That was the name I saw.
She’d whispered, “Mom, I’m here.” Like she was talking to her real mother.
The pain I saw in her eyes…the pain I heard from her voice…it felt really personal.
I stared down at her sleeping face, heart pounding so hard it felt like it would crack my ribs. Could this not be the real Arabella? Some kind of lookalike? A replacement?
But why? How?
The thought was insane, but the pieces were clicking together too fast to ignore. The black rose mark. The way she suddenly felt like someone else. The way she started talking back with so much confidence unlike in the past when she would scramble away in fear.
I fished my phone out of my pocket with one hand, still holding her close.
I’d been so carried away tonight I hadn’t even looked properly at the girl they buried today. My fingers flew across the screen. Google. “Summers Group.”
The first image that popped up hit me like a punch.
A family photo. Three people. Mr. Frederick Summers in a sharp suit. A young girl in a black princess gown, smiling bright. And a woman in red beside her…elegant, beautiful, clearly the mother.
My gaze locked on the girl and my heart started beating faster, harder, like it recognized something my brain hadn’t caught up to yet.
Why the hell am I reacting like this to a dead stranger? Why does her face feel… familiar…like my soul knows her?
I scrolled down. Articles flooded the screen.
The day the girl died.
“Summers Heiress Jumps from Building…Family Reports Signs of Insanity.”
They said she’d been refusing treatment at home. The day she was supposed to inherit her mother’s fortune, she jumped. Just like that.
Another photo loaded beneath it…the “new” Summers family. Mr. Frederick, his wife…and their daughter. All smiling.
My wolf surged forward, unsettled, growling low in my chest. Something is not right.
I went back to the article about the jump, still restless about what I was missing and my eyes caught the date at the top.
And I froze.
Wasn’t that…exactly the same day I almost lost the princess out of my own foolishness?
The same day everything changed?