A Broken Alpha Heiress' Revenge (Riley) novel Chapter 331

Chapter 331

Aria’s POV

I never should have agreed to this.

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A day had passed since I smuggled Lucien into my bedroom, and already the walls felt too close, the air too heavy. My sanctuary–the one place where I was untouchable–now carried his scent. It clung to the blankets I’d given him, faint traces of iron and smoke laced with something wilder, something that stirred my wolf in ways I couldn’t name.

He didn’t move much the first night. His body still fought the remnants of poison, his strength only beginning to return. But tonight, as the moonlight spilled through the window and brushed against his skin, I could see the way his chest rose stronger, steadier. His wolf was healing.

And I hated the way that reassured me.

I sat at my desk, pretending to sharpen blades that didn’t need sharpening, while my eyes betrayed me–sliding toward him, drawn again and again to the golden gleam of his eyes. Even dimmed by exhaustion, they were fierce, catching every flicker of light like molten fire.

He caught me staring once.

I snapped my gaze away, jaw clenched, but my wolf betrayed me with the faintest thrum of interest, a restless energy in my blood. It was the same hum I’d felt in my dreams.

Dreams that would not leave me alone.

Last night I had seen us–him and me–standing at the edge of a battlefield, his hand gripping mine, our wolves circling each other like twin shadows. His voice had whispered my name, not the one the world knew, but something softer, buried deep, as if he had known me all along. I had woken with my heart hammering, my lips tingling with the ghost of a kiss that had never been.

Even now, remembering it, heat pooled in my

chest.

I pressed the thought away, but Lucien spoke, his voice low, rough with something unspoken.

“You’re restless.”

I froze, then forced myself to glance at him. “You’re imagining things.”

He shook his head, golden eyes narrowing as if he could see straight through me. “No. I can

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9:08 Fri, Sep 12

Chapter 331

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feel it. The way your wolf shifts when you look at me. You dream, don’t you?”

My throat tightened. He shouldn’t know that. He couldn’t.

“You presume too much,” I said coldly.

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But his eyes softened, the hard Alpha edge giving way to something raw, something that stripped the air bare between us. “I know because I dream too. Of someone I lost.”

The words struck like a blade. I turned toward him fully, unable to stop myself. He leaned forward slightly, his body taut with restrained emotion, every muscle alive with it.

“I had a mate,” he said, voice breaking on the edge of memory. “Or at least, I thought I did. She was my light, my anchor. And then she was gone. Taken from me. My wolf has never been the same.” His hand flexed against the blanket, claws threatening to break through. “Every night I see her face in the fire. Every night I hear her scream.”

Pain lanced through his words, so raw it made even my wolf still. I should have stayed silent, let him drown in his own grief. But instead, I found myself whispering, “What was her name?”

He looked at me then, truly looked at me, and for a moment his eyes widened as if he saw something there–something he dared not believe. He didn’t say her name. He only swallowed hard, his voice shaking. “She had eyes like mine. And she never feared the dark.”

The room was too quiet. My pulse thundered too loud in my ears. My wolf pressed against me, restless, uneasy, and I forced myself to stand, to put space between us.

But the moment I turned, fragments tore through my mind.

Flashes of gold. A hand clasped in mine. A voice–his voice–calling me by a name that wasn’t Aria.

I staggered, gripping the desk, breath shallow. It wasn’t a dream. Not entirely. My body remembered something my mind refused to yield.

Lucien’s scent brushed against me as he rose unsteadily to his feet. His wounds were still raw, but he moved with Alpha determination, his wolf clawing back control. He came close–too close–and I felt the heat of him at my back.

“You felt it too,” he said, low, dangerous, not quite a question.

I whipped around, my hooded cloak shifting with the motion. “Stay back.”

But he didn’t move. His eyes burned, not with dominance, but with desperate need. “Tell me I’m wrong, Aria. Look me in the eye and tell me you don’t feel the bond scratching at the

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