Page 95

He lets go of my chin.

Lina stops crying.

I can almost taste my own blood in my mouth, and it doesn’t compare to the fear, the betrayal, and the anger thrumming in my veins.

I watch as Julian stands up and looks at my daughter with ire before he turns around to leave.

Call it adrenaline, call it my maternal instincts kicking in, but I realize two things.

One, my daughter needs me, and I'm her only savior.

Two, and the most important, the only way to get through to Julian is to be him.

To manipulate. To scheme. To get in his head.

“D-did you ever look for me after you left?” I ask.

Julian pauses in the middle of the room, his back to me and his hands in his pockets.

Swallowing the knot of bitterness in my throat, I continue with the lies that slip out of my mouth so easily they almost convince me too, “Because I saw you everywhere I looked. I missed you. Every time I looked in the mirror, I remembered how you used to hug me and tell me I was the most beautiful woman in the world. I cried for you for so many years. I still do, sometimes.”

He doesn’t look at me, but his shoulders turn rigid.

“What game are you playing, peaches?”

“Tell me if you ever missed me.”

“I’ve missed you every single second of my life, Lila. I love you. Still do. Always will.”

“But you cheated on me, and it hurt, and because of that, I slept with your uncle just to spite you. But Alaric…he was never you. I’ve tried to convince myself he’s you, but I’ve been lying to myself, Julian. I–I convinced myself that if I tried to love him, maybe I would move on from you. Maybe I would…”

“Did you? Move on from me, I mean?”

Yes! As soon as you cheated on me! As soon as you called our relationship a game, you fucking monster!

“No. I still want you, Julian Hells, and I hate you and myself because I do. If we were still together, would you have marked me? Because if you’d marked me, you’d be mine and I’d be yours forever. Not Alaric or anyone else would come between us.”

This time, he does turn around, and the Julian I once loved looks at me with the most genuine smile I’ve ever seen.

But I know better. I know his bad parts outweigh his good.

“I would have marked you even if you didn’t ask me to, Lila. That’s how much I loved and still love you.”

I swallow the lump stuck in my throat, wincing as the silver-threaded cuffs around my wrists scrape against the metal bars behind me. I can’t take a step forward, not when my ankles are tied and my body is practically bound to this rusty cage.

But I lift my chin anyway.

I shift just enough to make it look like I’m choosing him, to make him believe I still have a choice, even when he’s got me tied up. For Lina.

“Then mark me. Mark me so that Alaric knows I chose you and that you are the only Alpha I want in my bed.”

Seconds turn into minutes. Julian stands there with a suspicious expression and an undeniable gleam in his eyes.

I think he’ll see through my bluff.

But he proves to be as predictable as I had thought.

His eyes light up with sick triumph as he licks his lips and steps closer. “Your wish is my command, peaches,” he says, voice like oil on fire. “Come to me.”