Chapter 0161


    But as I stood here looking at all the men, knowing how messed up all this is. I knew one thing for certain, we were all tied together because of Neah.


    All of us.


    I stare at the beast that was once Salem. I don''t hear the voice I know. I don’t smell his scent. I just see an angry beast. Was I always supposed to be


    rejected by him? Was this the n for me? Was I always supposed to have Damiene into my life?


    My eyes shift from Salem to Damien


    “Are you okay?” Damien whispers to me with a frownN?velDrama.Org exclusive content.


    “Yes.” I mutter. “The smell is a bit much, I just need some air.


    Liar’ Midnight mumbles


    Damien starts to follow me. I shake my head at him. “Stay, help Dane get answers. I’ve heard all I need to hear. I will just be outside.”


    His frown deepens, but lets me go. I feel his eyes burning into the back of my as I hobble away on the crutches.


    I drop on the grass outside, rubbing my bandaged thigh beforeying back under the warm evening sun. I had been so angry at Salem for so long,


    but in there, standing in front of him. I felt nothing for the man I once loved.


    I had spent so long trying to get over him when in reality, there was nothing for me to get over. He had made his choice.


    I feel someone''s weight drop on the grass next to me.


    “Are you okay?” us asks.


    “Just questioning a few things.”


    “The Moon Goddess?” He asks curiously.


    I prop myself up on my elbows and tilt my head to one side. “How did you know?”


    “I would too, if I were in your shoes. And because I did.”


    “Moonshine wanted a contract long before they asked for it. They had already started turning humans at that point. All because Roan discovered


    Neah when she was a pup.” I tell him


    He nods his head at me."I had thought that was the case. Have you ever considered that this is what the Moon Goddess''s n was. To try and right


    something that Neah''s family did to her? To give her a better life?” He pauses and puts his hands behind his head, staring up at the blue sky.


    ‘I''ve had the same questions as you, Raven. The Moon Goddess can’t control what we do with our lives, that’s freewill, but she can put things in our


    path and alter our journeys. She can test us. But look at me, my parents bound me once and if Dane hadn’t brought me here, I would be living the


    same shitty life. She put Dane in my path and I''ve never once regretted it.”


    “Thanks us.” I smile at him. “You have always been good at reassuring my mind when Midnight can''t.”


    He winks at me and gets to his feet. “d I could be of some help. Do you want some help getting up?


    “No, I’m just going to lie here and enjoy the evening sun a little longer.”


    It''s not long before I’m hit with Damien''s scent. His framepletely blocks the sun as he stands over me.


    “Did you fall down?”


    “No."


    “Do you need help?


    “No."


    “Just give her a few minutes.” I hear Jenson shout from nearby. “She’s weird like this.”


    ‘I''m not weird.” I shout back, remembering how Salem always referred to me as a weirdo before roughly mming his lips against mine.


    Damien is Still looking down at me.


    with his ￠ dark eyes, and for a brief


    moment, I was d he hadn''t ￠


    marked me yet. I didn’t need, im to


    hear what was going on in. iny head.


    He holds a hand out to me as I sit up. Pulling me to my feet with ease. Hisrge hands quickly find my waist as he holds me against him


    We hadn''t had more than a few minutes alone together since I had woken up in the hospital and the tension between us was just that; tense.


    “Did he say anything else?” I ask quietly while bathing in his sweet vani scent


    “He''s just going around in circles. I


    think, in some ways, he is too far.


    gone tebe able to have a ~


    straightforward conversation. We


    are nly hearing snippets of his


    thoughts and knowledge. " Content


    bélongs to  ~


    “Are you going to kill him?”


    “No. Dane wants him to live for a little longer. He wants Mallory to talk to Salem.”


    “Mallory?


    “She was the one who helped me.


    I stumble back, almost out of his?


    grip, briefly forgetting that I needed


    to use crutches. He keeps his ands


    on ny ‘hips, stopping me from ‘falling


    any y further.


    I don’t know why I didn’t see it sooner. “You fed on Wolves?”


    “It''s not something I''m proud of.” His voice is low as his dark eyes stay focussed on me.


    “How? How were you able to turn back?”


    “Desire.”