Chapter 32
_Lisa’s POV_
I turned slowly to face Kael. My fingers were trembling, and my heart thundered in my chest. His hand was
still wrapped tightly around mine, but I could barely feel it. Numbness had seeped through my limbs.
“Please,” I whispered, my voice low but firm, “let me go.”
He shook his head. I could see the desperation flashing in his eyes. “Lisa, come back home. You don’t
know how everyone has been worried. Your parents…” his voice cracked, “they searched everywhere for
you.”
I clenched my jaw, pretending not to understand. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said coldly.”
You’re mistaking me for someone else.”
“Don’t do this,” he said and stepped closer. “I recognize your scent, Lisa. It’s you. Please… just listen to me.
Come back home.”
That was the last straw.
I yanked my hand from his grasp, violently this time. Fury was burning through me like wildfire. “Go to hell,” I snapped. “You don’t get to tell me what to do with my life! You don’t own me, Kael! You rejected me. You made your choice. And now you think you can just show up and order me around like I am some object you threw away and decided to pick back up?”
He flinched as if I had slapped him.
“I will do as I please,” I spat. “You’re nothing to me now.”
I turned sharply and marched toward the waiting car. Alexandra was already at the door, holding it open, urging me in. But before I could reach it, Kael grabbed my arm again, pulling me back forcefully.
“Let me go!” I shouted while struggling against his grip. His arms were strong…too strong. I couldn’t break
free.
“Let her go!” Alexandra shouted, grabbing his arm and trying to pull him off me.
The commotion had drawn attention. Footsteps pounded toward us and voices rang through the air.
“Lisa!” someone called.
I turned my head just as Jared appeared, his eyes flaring with fury. He stormed forward and ripped me out of Kael’s grasp.
“Are you alright?” he asked while steadying me with both hands.
I nodded shakily. “Yes… thank you.”
Jared turned on Kael. “You need to behave yourself. This is not how you treat someone.”
And then I heard it.
A voice like thunder wrapped in silk. “What’s going on here?”
Rylan.
He strode toward us with long, powerful strides. His eyes were sharp and full of concern. When he saw the expression on my face, smeared with fear, anger, and panic, his own hardened.
He came straight to me and looked me in the eye. “Lisa. Are you okay?”
I swallowed hard and nodded. “Yes,” I said. But inside, my thoughts were screaming: Oh my God. What
now? What am I supposed to do?
This was spiraling into something big. Too big.
The worst was yet to come.
“Alpha Rylan,” Jared said. “When I arrived, I saw this man” he gestured at Kael, “harassing Lisa. He wouldn’t let her go.”
Rylan’s eyes narrowed. “Is that so?”
I glanced at Alexandra. She gave me a slight shake of her head. A silent warning: Be careful. He’s going to
find out soon.
Rylan turned to Kael and without hesitation, grabbed him by the collar. “How dare you put your hands on a
lady? What has she done to you?”
Kael didn’t fight back. “I wasn’t harassing her,” he said. “I just… I just wanted her to come back home.”
Rylan’s voice was ice. “What home? She lives at my pack with me. She is under my protection.”
Before Kael could reply, another voice cut through the tension like a blade. “What are you doing to my son,
Alpha Rylan?”
Alpha Alexis had arrived. His cold eyes landed on Rylan’s grip around Kael’s collar, and his presence alone sent ripples through the growing crowd.
And then…
“Lisa!”
My mother.
She shoved through the circle of people, her eyes brimming with false emotion as she rushed toward me.
She grabbed me by the shoulders. Her face was full of fake relief.
“Oh, thank the Goddess! You’re safe! We were so worried. You just disappeared without saying anything.”
My father was close behind her. “You have no idea how much trouble you caused. Running off like that…how irresponsible.”
They were such liars and hypocrites. They hadn’t care when ent. mey others, they were putting on a show.
I couldn’t speak.
I didn’t want to speak.
Rylan had released Kael and now turned to me. His voice was gentle but edged with suspicion. “Lisa… who are these people?”
I couldn’t answer.
My mouth opened, but nothing came out.
Then, my father stepped forward, his chin raised. “We are her parents.”
Rylan’s expression shifted. “Her parents?” His voice was flat.
“Yes,” my father said. “She belongs to the Nightshade Pack.”
Recognition dawned in Rylan’s eyes.
And then fury.
“Oh,” he said coldly. “So you’re the ones who stood by while her mate rejected her. She told me everything.
VI
A tense silence fell.
And then I saw her.
Roxanne.
She stood behind our parents, glaring at me like I was filth. Hatred burned in her eyes, clear and sharp. To her, I wasn’t a sister. I was a threat. One she thought she had eliminated.
Alpha Alexis stepped forward. “My son rejected her,” he said firmly, “for the good of our pack. She would never have made a strong Luna.”
Rylan’s hands clenched at his sides. His voice dropped. “I don’t want to hear anyone speak a word against
Lisa.”
He stepped in front of me, shielding me from them all.
“She is under my care now,” he said. “And no one…no one….will take her against her will.”
Then Rylan turned to Alpha Alexis with a cold smile. “Oh, wait a minute,” he said slowly, his voice laced with mockery. “Your son was the one who rejected her, right? And you just confirmed that he is your son.” He pointed directly at Kael.
Alpha Alexis stiffened. “Yes. Kael is my son.”
The words had barely left his mouth when Rylan’s fist connected with Kael’s jaw in a brutal punch that
echoed across the territory.
Kael staggered backward. He was caught off guard completely and crashed to the ground with a grunt.
A collective gasp spread through the crowd.
“Rylan!” I gasped. I was shocked by the sudden violence.
Even the guards tensed. They were unsure of what to do.
Rylan didn’t even blink. He stood tall, his expression unreadable, his body coiled with anger. “That’s for breaking her, you arrogant bastard.”
