Chapter 139: Tension

An acute, searing pain burned through my soul.

I buried my face in his chest, trying desperately to numb my thoughts—trying not to remember how I had envisioned this exact moment over the last five long years. How I had played out our reunion in my head, imagining him speaking these exact words. Imagining him realizing the horror of what happened and begging for forgiveness.

I had always sworn to myself that if this day ever came, I would hold my head high, turn my back, and walk away without a second glance. I had convinced myself I possessed enough fury, enough accumulated venom, to leave him with nothing.

But now, holding him, I realized I couldn’t do it.

I lacked the strength to pull away even a fraction of an inch from his chest. The stark realization that I might stop feeling his scent struck through my nerves like white-hot steel, filling me with a sudden, suffocating panic. A sheer dread that he might be the one to loosen his hold and let go first.

I felt ready to weep at the bitter truth of my own utter helplessness before him. I had spent five endless years despising him for my agony—never once suspecting that he, too, had been bleeding inside. Never believing that I had ever truly mattered to him, or that I held any place in his heart... not in the dark depths where resentment lived, but in the tender sanctuary where love resided.

***

I lurched awake to the deafening sound of swearing booming from the first floor, bolting off the mattress so fast I tangled myself in the blanket and nearly crashed to the floor. I had no recollection of the exact moment I had drifted off in his arms, but outside the window, the night was still pitch-black. I shot a glance at the glowing digital clock on the bedside table.

2:00 AM. I had been asleep for barely an hour.

Another heavy crash echoed from downstairs. Rushing out into the hall, I started down the staircase, only to freeze dead in my tracks.

In the foyer below, Askold had Magnus pinned violently against the wall, his fist bunched tightly in the fabric of Magnus’s shirt. A massive floor vase lay shattered into a hundred jagged pieces across the tile. The heavy double doors leading to the living room had been torn off their frame, hanging uselessly by a single hinge.

Magnus’s lower lip was split and bleeding, though Askold looked equally battered. They looked like two feral animals locked in a battle to the death, the ambient pressure of their overlapping Alpha auras so crushing and destructive that I had felt its suffocating weight all the way back in the bedroom.

"What is going on here?!"

I rushed down the remaining steps, but a broad-shouldered man I didn’t recognize—likely a warrior from Magnus’s pack—stepped into my path, catching me firmly by the arm to keep me from getting between them.

"Jane, go back upstairs. Alpha Rainn is leaving," Askold spat, his voice laced with venom, his eyes never leaving Magnus’s face.

"I am not leaving without my woman," Magnus cut in, his tone dropping to a dangerously flat, icy calm.

"Then I’ll throw your corpse out myself."

"Enough! Both of you, stop it!" I shouted, my voice cracking. "You’re going to wake Matthias up and terrify him!"

I yanked my arm free from the guard’s grip and marched into the wrecked living room, where two figures were pacing nervously: Sayan and Adam. The moment Sayan caught sight of me, he froze mid-step, his eyes locking onto mine in sheer disbelief.

"Hello, Sayan," I said softly.

"Hey... You look damn good for a corpse," he offered with a strained, awkward chuckle, his gaze dropping briefly to the fresh mark blooming across my throat.

Magnus and Askold stalked into the room right behind me. They took seats opposite each other, the air between them thick with a volatile, suffocating tension. Their glares were like blades drawn and aimed at each other’s throats; every line of their bodies screamed that a single wrong word would ignite another bloodbath.

"What’s happening?" I asked quietly, looking between the two of them.

"He wants to take you and Matthias and drag you both back to the Upper District. I refused," Askold growled, flashing a murderous look at Magnus, who merely bared his fangs in response.

"I don’t give a damn about your refusal," Magnus replied, his voice a low, absolute rumble. "My true mate and my son are coming with me. That is not up for negotiation."

"They are in danger with you!"

"They are entirely safe with me. I have more than enough power to guarantee their protection."

"Magnus," I interrupted, stepping forward. "We need to discuss this in private."

I glanced at Askold, knowing my brother would stand his ground until the bitter end. But Magnus wouldn’t back down either. I could feel the absolute finality radiating from every cell of his body.

"You’re not going anywhere alone with him!" Askold snapped, turning his glare onto me. "Enough, Jane! You two were already alone, and now he thinks he can just haul you off! Rainn, take your men and get the hell out of my house."

"Askold, please. Let me speak to Magnus alone," I said softly.

My brother clenched his fists, staring at me with a look of utter betrayal and confusion. Truthfully, I barely understood myself in that moment. I didn’t even know what words I was going to use, because everything inside me was humming, raw and feverish under the scorching weight of Magnus’s gaze—a gaze that was currently tracking down the length of my bare legs beneath my short shorts.

"You have ten minutes. Then he gets the fuck out of my pack house."

Askold snapped, rising abruptly and turning his back on us as he stormed out. Adam and Sayan watched in dead silence, neither daring to intervene; both knew it would be utterly useless.