Chapter 8
Lucien burst through the door, his usually immaculate suit covered in dust, blood streaking from his temple. His breathing was labored, and his eyes widened with alarm when he saw the two women strapped to explosives
It was the first time Mira had ever seen this coldly composed Alpha looking so desperate.
He had clearly discovered their disappearance immediately after the crash and mobilized every resource to track them down, finding them in record time.
With the bomb timer showing less than a minute remaining–only enough time to disarm one device–Lucien made his choice without hesitation.
He moved straight to Saela.
Working quickly on her bomb, he spoke to Mira without looking up: “Mira, I’ll get her out and come right back for you.”
Mira smiled. Not the pained smile of a heartbroken woman, but the resigned smile of someone who’d expected nothing less. Her heart was already dead–how could a corpse feel pain? The tears that slipped down her cheeks came from somewhere else entirely, some final release of what once was.
After freeing Saela, the countdown showed only twenty seconds remaining.
Saela clutched Lucien’s arm, her eyes darting to Mira with barely concealed triumph beneath her panic. “Luc! We need to get out of here now! There’s no time!” Her grip tightened, trying to pull him toward the exit, her intent clear as day to Mira–this was her chance to eliminate the competition permanently.
For the first time, Lucien pushed her away, ordering her to leave immediately before turning back toward Mira.
But Mira caught his hand firmly and pushed him back. Her voice was unnervingly calm, almost serene despite the tears in her eyes. “Just take her and go,” she said with quiet finality. “And remember this–from today forward, I don’t need you anymore. My life or death has nothing to do with you. Plenty of wolves would treasure what you’ve thrown away.”
She smiled as she spoke, as if bidding farewell not just to him but to the woman she once was–the one who had chased him for six years.
Lucien froze, truly shocked by both her words and the peaceful certainty behind them.
Saela dissolved into hysterics behind him. “Are you kidding me right now? Let’s GO! If you’re staying, ther staying too!” Her voice carried a manipulative edge that only Mira seemed to hear.
With seconds ticking away, staying meant all three would die together.
At the critical moment, Lucien lifted Saela into his arms and ran for the exit.
Mira closed her eyes, her fingers working rapidly over the bomb mechanism–she’d taken an explosives course
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Click.
In the final second, she successfully disconnected the detonator.
Yet an explosion still erupted somewhere in the building.
As the blast wave threw her across the room, she caught a glimpse of Lucien’s figure returning through the doorway.
When Mira opened her eyes in the Pack Medical Center, her arm burned with searing pain.
Lucien sat beside her bed. Seeing her awaken, he immediately pressed her shoulder down. “Don’t move. You just finished the skin graft for Saela.”
“…You did what now?” Her voice was barely a whisper.
For a moment, she thought she must be hallucinating from pain medication.
After an uncomfortable silence, Lucien’s voice carried an unusual hint of guilt. “Saela’s arm was burned in the explosion. She didn’t want scarring, and your skin tone matches hers best, so we took a graft while you were
unconscious.”
Mira stared at him in disbelief. “Are you actually serious right now? You harvested my skin without even asking me? What the hell is wrong with you?”
“I’ll make it up to you,” he said, as if that solved everything. “You’ve always wanted us to go on a real date. After you’re discharged-”
“Screw your compensation!” She yanked out her IV needle, blood streaming down her hand. “Six years wasn’t enough? Now you need pieces of my body too?”
Lucien looked genuinely startled.
“The price of loving you is just too damn high, isn’t it?” Mira’s voice cracked as tears spilled over. “Saela is your precious moon, and I’m just spare parts, is that right? You’ve used my feelings to take everything–my dignity, my time, and now literally my skin?”
She couldn’t continue, choking on a sob.
Lucien felt a tightness in his chest as he recalled what she’d said in the warehouse:
Plenty of wolves would treasure what you’ve thrown away.
As he opened his mouth to speak, his phone rang.
His Beta’s urgent voice came through: “Alpha, that limited–edition Diana necklace Saela’s been obsessing over is up for auction in France tonight. Should I book the jet…?”
“Yeah, Ryder. Handle it,” Lucien replied before ending the call.
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Pocketing his phone, he turned back to Mira: “I’ll be out of the country for a few days. I’ll bring you something when I get back.”
After a pause, he added: “Don’t worry about the date. I promised, and I’ll follow through.”
With that, he strode out the door.
The moment it closed behind him, Mira finally broke. She curled into herself, wrapping her arms around her body as tears streamed down her face.
“We’re even now,” she whispered to the empty room. “If loving you was my life’s greatest crime, I’ve paid for it in full–with my heart, with my dignity, with my very skin. We’re done, Lucien Ashmorne.”
