bChapter 211 /b

    April; POV

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    Damon’s lips are warm against mine, steady and sure, as though he’s been waiting months for this moment. For a few stolen heartbeats I let myself melt into it, let myself believe that I can be wanted again, that I can belong again. His hand cups the side of my face, tilting me toward him, and I let my eyes close, swallowing the ache that threatens to tear me

    apart.

    A growl rips through the room, and it makes me tense.

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    It’s not a low sound, not a warning. It’s sharp, violent, guttural, and it shakes the walls. Before I can react, before I can even

    open my eyes properly, a blur of ck fur bursts into the room. The weight of it ms into Damon, tearing him away from me so fast I gasp. His body hits the ground with a crash, ws raking across his chest as the wolf pins him down. Damon shouts in shock, blood spraying, and my scream tears through my throat.

    I stumble back, my hand flying to my stomach. Instinct takes over. I curl around the swell of my belly, covering it with both

    arms as though I can shield the baby with nothing but my body. My heart ms so hard it hurts, and tears blur my vision.

    “Stop!” I sob, my voice breaking. “Please, don’t hurt me, don’t hurt the baby!”

    The wolf’s head snaps toward me, teeth bared, and for a terrifying second I think he might lunge at me too. But then the fur shifts, the snarl fades into the sound of bones cracking and reshaping, and the wolf straightens into a man.

    Xander.

    I blink, choking on my own breath. My vision swims, but there’s no mistaking him. His broad shoulders, his eyes sharp with fury, his chest heaving as he res down at Damon.

    “You?” My voice shatters as I scream at him. “How could you do this? How could youe here and attack him like this?”

    Xander doesn’t even look at me at first. His eyes stay fixed on Damon, his jaw locked tight. “He lied,” Xander snarls. “He

    told us you were alone. He told us you weren’t letting anyone close. That’s what we were told, what he made us believe

    and all along he was making moves.”

    My body shakes violently. I clutch my stomach harder, sobs wing their way out of me, “You think that gives you the right? You think Eryx has the right to iknow /ianything about me after what he did? After he rejected me, after he told Damon

    to throw me to the rogues and let Rnd rip me apart?”

    Xander finally turns, his expression faltering at my words. For the first time, uncertainty flickers in his eyes. “What did you

    say?”

    “You heard me!” I scream, my voice raw and breaking. “Eryx said to give me to Rnd. He told Damon to let me burn, to let his child burn. He didn’t want me! He wanted me gone!” My body shakes so violently my knees nearly give out. “So don’t you daree here and act like he deserves to know anything. Don’t you dare!”

    The silence that follows is broken only by bDamon’s /bragged breathing under Xander’s hold. Xander’s head turns back toward him, his voice a low growl, You never told us that.”

    Confusion tears through me. My sobs stutter, faltering, and I look between them desperately. “What… what does he

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    mean?”

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    Damon’s lips curl, blood glistening on his teeth. Slowly, he drags his hand across his mouth, wiping away the smear bof /bcrimson, and then he smirks. The calmness of it chills me to my bones.

    “I did what needed to be done,” Damon says. His voice is steady, sure. “I made sure iyou /iforgot him. I made sure iyou /ibelieved he was a monster. Including telling you he wanted to burn his baby, when I never even told him.”

    The air leaves my lungs in a rush. I stare at him, my entire body trembling, unable to believe what I’m hearing. “You–you lied?” My voice cracks apart. “You lied about everything?”

    Damon shrugs as best as he can with Xander’s weight pressing him into the floor. “It worked, didn’t it? You stayed. You looked at me instead of crying yourself to death over him. You started moving on. That’s all I wanted. iTo /imake you mine.” His smile twists cruelly. “And it was working.”

    My vision blurs, rage and betrayal crashing through me. My hands shake as I cover my mouth, muffling the scream that

    tears out of me.

    Xander’s body trembles above Damon, his teeth bared, his voice a feral growl. “You dared to twist her like this? To make her believe he betrayed her?”

    Damon onlyughs, the sound wet with blood. “And what are you going to do about it, old man? You came toote. She’s already half yours and less than half of his. Nothing you do changes that.”

    Xander snaps.

    The sound of bone cracking fills the room as he shifts back in an instant, his massive wolf form erupting once more. He lunges, jaws wide, and before Damon can even scream properly, Xander tears into him. The sound of flesh ripping, bones crunching, fills the room. My scream breaks loose, raw and uncontroble, as Damon’s body thrashes under him.

    Blood sprays, sttering across the floor, warm and metallic. Damon ws at Xander’s fur, fighting desperately, but it’s useless. The wolf is too strong, too furious, too merciless. His teeth sink deeper, and with a violent jerk, Xander pulls, and

    Damon’s head tears free.

    The body goes limp beneath him, twitching once, twice, before falling still. Blood pours across the floor, the scent thick and suffocating.

    I copse to my knees, clutching my stomach, sobbing so hard I can barely breathe. My vision spins, my heart breaking in ways I can’t evenprehend. Damon’s lies, Damon’s betrayal, the sight of his body lying broken on the floor, it’s all too

    much.

    Xander stands over the corpse, his chest heaving, blood dripping from his jaws. Slowly, shakily, he shifts back, his skin. slick with sweat and gore. His eyes burn as he looks at me, but I can’t meet his gaze. I can only stare at Damon’s lifeless body, my hands shaking so badly I can’t even wipe the tears from my face.

    “He lied to me,” I whisper, my voice hoarse, breaking. “All this time, and you let me believe…”

    Xander steps closer, his voice rough, ragged. “April. He was poison. He twisted everything. He-”

    “Don’t.” My scream rips out, shaking the walls. “Don’t tell me what he was! Don’t tell me what any of you are! All I’ve been

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    is used. Lied to. Thrown away. I can’t–I can’t-”

    The sobs take over, wracking my body as I curl in on myself, clutching my stomach as though I can shield my baby from all of this. From the blood, the violence, the betrayal. From the truth I can’t escape anymore.

    Xander kneels, reaching for me, but I flinch back violently, shaking my head. “Don’t touch me! Don’t you dare touch me!”

    He stops, his hand trembling in the air before he lowers it, his jaw tight. His chest still heaves with fury, with grief, with rage, but his voice when he finally speaks is low. “Then hear me, April. Damon is dead because of what he did to you. And Eryx-” He swallows hard. “Eryx never said those things. He never wanted you gone. Damon lied. That’s the truth, whether you want it or not.”

    I shake my head, the sobs choking me, but the words nt themselves deep in my chest anyway. They burn there, tearing open wounds I thought had already scarred over.

    And for the first time since Eryx rejected me, I don’t know what to believe anymore.