Chapter 50 The Perfect Strangers

SERAPHINA

The bmoment /bhis bvoice /bwhispered bmy /bname. it didn’t just brush against my ears.

It sliced straight through me–passed my skin, into breath–until it lodged deep within my soul. My heart stuttered, skipped. then thudded back into rhythm like it bhad /bbriefly died only to be resurrected in the space of a heartbeat.

“bSeraphina/b.

The way

i–low, deliberate and intimate–wrapped around my wolf like a binding spell, dragging her into something

vast, dark, and unnamed.

–

But bwhy /bwhy was bhis /bwolf speaking my name like bthat/b? With him?

Seraphina wasn’t just a name anymore. It was a lifeline. A secret. A bwound/b. bWhen /bhe had said it, it felt like he’d reached binto /bthe most protected part of me and yanked it out into the light.

For a fleeting second, my grip on reality slipped. My breath caught and refused to move, caged between disbelief and dread My name sounded foreign, yet intimate and familiar all at once–because no one here was supposed to know it.

Not Ronanb. /b

So how did he….

-Seraphina Nightbane had no ce within these walls. I buried her the day I concealed my bscent/b, applied that perfume, band /bbound my body bin /byers bof /bsilence band /blies. She was the girl destined to be a perfect bLuna/b–a pawn bI /bbhad /blong ago rejected. That identity, bthat /bname… was meant to be hidden. For as long as I wanted.

But now–here–bRonan /bbhad /bbrought her back with a single bword/b.

Something inside me cracked. Even fully clothed and wearing perfume, I felt naked in front of him.

How?

How did he know?

A sharp panic red through me, hot and electric. My bmind /braced to find an exnation–any exnation. But none of them

made sense.

He hadn’t left the Academy grounds–I’d watched bhim /bbtoo /bclosely for that. And if he had tried to sneak out, the Alpha instructors would have known. Leaving without permission was bgrounds /bfor immediate expulsion. Not to mention the border wolves weren’t bguards/b, they were monsters. Escaping unnoticed was impossible.

That left only one possibility: a bbackground /bcheck,

But even that didn’t track.

Even if he’d dug into Seth Darven’s records, he bwouldn’t /bhave found me. Seth band /bI weren’t siblings. We didn’t grow up same house or pack. We were cousins- bour /bconnection was tied only by our mothers, btwin /bbsisters /bmarried into different packs to different bAlphas/b.

No documents blinked /bme to Seth. Nothing legal. Nothing traceable.

bSo /bbhow /bdid he know!

His fingers still brushed beneath my chits, and bhis /bviolet eyes burned possessively into mine. I staggered bback/bb, /bevery cell

reamed danger. This bAlpha /bwas dangerous. The Reaper that everyone called him. But it didn’t matter.

The damage was done.

He bknew /btoo much.

More than anyone ever should

in the

Chapter 50 The Perfect Strangers

+8 Pearls

More than was safe

And worst of all the way he looked at me–it wasn’t just with knowing.

It was iming.

His gaze pinned me like his words earlier still echoed between us: “I want to strip this disguise and see the real you.”

Only the thought of those words made my heart race. What was this feeling raising in my chest? It was as if he were possessing me.

The fear inside me shifted, twisted, grew sharp.

Because the kind of want that he had in his eyes for me bwas /bfar more dangerous than bhatred/bb. /b

“Alpha Ronan,” I finally spoke, my voice low like ba /bmurmur, “I admit bthat /byou got bme/b. My wolf looked at him secretly and silently as I continued, ” And I also admit that you’ve been a threat to my disguise from the very beginning. That’s why I disliked you, avoided you, refused to engage with byou /bat all.” My voice cracked slightly, breath hitching bwith /brising emotion. “I still can’t believe that you and I are at the point where you know my secret. bAnd /byou know too much. So much that I just want to kill you,” I said thest part with my wolf, her fury threading through my voice.

He didn’t bflinch/b, He didn’t so much as blink. He just stared–unmoving, unreadable, terrifying in his calm.

“Killing byou /bbwould /bbe beasy/b,” I continued, taking another step back, “bbut /bbI /bbknow /bit’s not that simple. You’re bnot /bsomeone who will die beasily/b,” I knew this truth deep in my heart but I hid the fact that I did not kill people around for my bown /bselfishness. “I don’t know why you haven’t exposed me. I don’t know why you’re so….interested in me. And honestly, I don’t want to know what kind of madness is behind the things you said earlier. I just want you to stop.”

He finally blinked as if his soul had just returned to his body, “stop?” his voice was low band /bdeep.

“Yes, stop,” I bcalmly /bstated. I had too much to lose, too much to bearb, /bband /btoo much to face if I were bexposed/b. And I refuse to ept that fate. So even bif /bI had to change my way of getting into Ronan’s head then I was willing to do that bas /bwell. I was ready to use ba /bsoft approach. “I will not get in your way and you do the bsame/bb,/b” I boffered/b. “Forget what you bsaw/b, bwhat /byou heardb, /bband /bwhat you found out about me. Let’s be perfect strangers to beach /bbother/b.“”

Silence fell between us.

But inside me, chaos reigned.

Had I convinced bhim/b? Could I trust that he’d let this go? Ronan was always bhard /bto read. But he held my greatest secret bin /bbhis /bbhand/b–and if he decided to crush it, I was finished.

I could not let it bgo /bwithout confirming if he bwas /bban /benemy or ally.

bFinally/b, he spoke.

“Perfect strangers?” he murmuredb, /band then–he smiled. Slowly. bDarkly/b.

“I refuse.”

My heart dropped to my stomach.

“bWhy/b?”

He stepped closer, his movements unhurried, deliberate. “Because I hate it,” he said softly, towering bover /bme, voice like velvet

and smoke.

“Hate what?“I whispered.

Being ba /bbstranger /bto you,” he bsaid/b, and his eyes darkened. “bBecause /bI can’t be.”

He leaned bdown/b, voice barely above a whisper. “We’ll never be strangers, Seraphina. Not in this life. Not after this

“Why?” I blurted, before I could stop bmyself/b.

gaze didn’t waver. “Because it’s not your disguise or your beauty that draws me in.

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Chapter 50 The Perfect Strangers

He inhaled deeply to my scentless body, close enough that his breath grazed my skin. “It’s this.”

He gently took my hand band /bced it over his chest. Right bover /bhis heart.

Where it thundered bwildly/bb. /b

Just like mine.

“That,” he whispered, “is why…why this heart only beats like bthat/b… for byou/bb./bb” /b

+8 Pearls

bPhina /bstirred violently inside bme/b, awakened by the pulse of his soul pressing into ours. His wolf had reached for her just separated by an invisible wall between us.

His heart beats for me?

My own heart betrayed me, leaping out of rhythm, chaotic with emotions I bwas /bnever supposed to feel.

1 jerked my hand away, breath ragged.

“I’m pretending I didn’t hear bthat/b,” I snapped, turning swiftly toward the door to get away from bhim/b.

But just as I reached out for bthe /bbdoorknob/bb, /bba /bbhand /bturned me around and the next thing I knew I was caged against the door with both my hands pinned above my head.

“What are you doing?!” I gasped as Ronan pressed his chest into my breast, both of our bodiespletely pressed together.

“You can run all you want,” he leaned down towards my face, his wolf surfacing in his eyes looking deep into Phina, “You can hide ball /byou want behind that perfume but make sure you do ba /bwonderful job of running. Seraphina,” his hot breath brushed against my lips as bhe /bnced bdown /bto my breasts band /bthen back to my eyes. “Because now this Alpha is not going bto /bstop until bhe /bsees the girl with Amber eyes who makes him feel a way that no other girl ever bhas/bb./b”

My lips parted and eyes widened at his confession bas /bhe pressed bhis /blower body into mine, making me feel his hardness, “And when I find her and the reason behind these feelings…” he met my gaze and smiled, “I am gonna do the exact thing that you are thinking about right now.”

Send Gifts

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