Chapter 312
Chapter 312:
The word was a growl that vibrated through the chassis of the car. Before I could blink, Dallas slammed on the brakes. The tires screeched against the asphalt as he swerved the massive vehicle onto the gravel shoulder of the empty scenic road.
Dust billowed around us as the car jerked to a halt. Dallas unbuckled his seatbelt and turned to me, his dark eyes burning with a ferocity that made my breath hitch. Ragnar, his Lycan beast, was close to the surface, his pupils dilated until the irises were barely visible rings of obsidian.
“D-Dallas?” I stammered, shrinking back against the door.
“I can hear it, Adella,” he rasped, his voice rough with suppressed rage. He reached out, his large hand cupping my jaw and forcing me to look at him. His touch was hot, branding. “I can hear your thoughts spiraling. You are pulling away from me. You think you are tainted because of a madman’s delusion p>
“He watched me for ten years, Dallas,” I whispered, tears leaking from my eyes. “He made me. Everything I am p>
𝖣𝘰𝗇’𝘵 𝘮іs𝘀 ո𝗲w 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝖾𝖺𝘀𝖾ѕ 𝗼n ѕ.с𝘰𝗺
“No!” His roar filled the small space, making me flinch. “He did not make you. Pain made you. Survival made you. And the Moon Goddess made you for me p>
He leaned in, his forehead resting against mine. I could smell the storm in him — ozone, cedar, and the terrifying scent of a predator ready to kill for what was his.
“Listen to me,” he commanded, his thumb stroking my cheekbone and wiping away a tear. “Strip away the fear. Strip away the past. Strip away the gratitude you think you owe me.” His gaze locked onto mine, piercing through every wall I had built. “When your soul is screaming, Adella, whose name does it scream p>
The question hung in the air, absolute and demanding.
I closed my eyes and searched the darkness inside me. I looked for Braydon’s shadow, but it was dissolving, burned away by the heat radiating from the man in front of me. Deep within, something I hadn’t known existed until now — a quiet, steady certainty — rose up and filled the void.
“Yours,” I choked out, opening my eyes. The truth rushed out like a broken dam. “It screams your name, Dallas. Only yours. It’s always been you p>
The tension in Dallas’s shoulders snapped. He didn’t speak — he simply crashed his lips onto mine. It wasn’t a gentle kiss. It was a claiming, a desperate and hungry affirmation of life. He kissed me until my lungs burned and the taste of his power washed away the phantom bitterness of the graveyard.
“Good,” he growled against my lips, pulling back just enough to look at me with possessive adoration. “Then we are done with the past. I am taking you to the lake house. My den. No one will touch you there p>
He shifted back into the driver’s seat, the car roaring to life as he merged back onto the highway. My heart was still racing, but for the first time in hours, it beat with hope instead of dread.
We drove in comfortable silence for a few miles, the road curving along the edge of a steep embankment that dropped off into a dense forest below.