The Lycan King’s Mark (Nevara) by Tiffanie L. Campbell novel Chapter 154

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Chapter 154 What Was Always There

Nevara

For a moment, I didn’t understand what he’d said.

Not because I hadn’t heard him.

But because my mind refused to let it make sense.

Your brother was one of us.

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The words didn’t land all at once. They echoed instead, bouncing around inside my head like something searching for meaning it couldn’t find.

My brother?

No.

That didn’t fit.

Didn’t align with anything I knew. Anything I remembered. Anything I had built my life around.

I stared at Brent, waiting for the correction that didn’t come.

Waiting for the explanation that would make it less absurd.

It never did.

“You’re wrong,” I said finally, though the conviction didn’t feel as strong as I wanted it to.

Brent didn’t argue.

That was what made it worse.

He simply watched me, calm and patient, like he’d seen this reaction before. Like he’d expected it.

Of course he had.

“You were close,” he said.

It wasn’t a question.

It was a statement.

And it hit harder than anything else he’d said so far.

I swallowed.

“Yes.”

“Then think,” he continued, his tone measured, almost… gentle. “Not about who you believed he was. Think

about how he lived.”

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Chapter 154 What Was Always There

My brows pulled together slightly.

“I know how he lived.”

“Do you?”

Something in his voice made my chest tighten.

“Think carefully, Nevara. How often did you see your brother use any form of technology?

The question felt strange.

Irrelevant.

And yet-

My mind reached for an answer anyway.

I opened my mouth.

Paused.

Closed it again.

Because suddenly… I wasn’t sure.

Brent didn’t move, didn’t rush me. He simply waited, giving the silence space to do what it needed to do.

And slowly-

Uncomfortably-

Pieces began to shift.

“He…” I started, my voice quieter now. “He didn’t like bright lights.”

The memory surfaced before I could stop it.

Soft.

Familiar.

“He always said they hurt his eyes.”

I could see it clearly now.

The way he would dim the lamps.

The way he preferred the glow of candles over overhead lighting.

The way he would laugh it off like it was nothing.

I swallowed.

“He said the softer light was easier,” I murmured, more to myself than anyone else.

Chapter 154–What Was Always There

Brent’s voice cut through the quiet.

“Lanterns,” he said. “Candles.”

My stomach dropped.

“It was there,” he continued. “Right in front of you.”

The room felt smaller suddenly.

Tighter.

Like the walls had shifted inward just enough to make it harder to breathe.

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“No,” I said, shaking my head once. “That doesn’t mean anything. That’s–people have preferences.”

“Of course they do.”

Brent didn’t disagree.

“He also despised your bond.”

That hit harder.

My head snapped up.

“What?”

“He hated the idea of you being tied to a Lycan,” Brent said plainly. “He believed it was wrong. Unnatural. A

dilution of what wolves were meant to be.”

My pulse pounded in my ears.

“No,” I said again, but this time it came out weaker. “He never–he didn’t-”

“He didn’t say it outright,” Brent finished for me. “No. He wouldn’t have.”

Because then I would have questioned him.

Because then I would have seen it.

My chest tightened painfully.

“We all had a hand in it,” Brent continued. “Ensuring you and Tobias were married.”

The words landed like a blow.

I forced myself to hold his gaze.

“Did Tobias know?”

There was a brief pause.

Then-

“Not entirely,” Brent admitted. “He didn’t believe in our way of life. Not fully.”

Chapter 154 – What Was Always There

Of course he didn’t.

That would have required honesty.

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“That’s why your brother was so valuable,” Brent added. “He was our connection. Our influence. The one

who could guide Tobias… slowly.”

My jaw tightened.

“You mean manipulate him.”

Brent didn’t correct me.

“Integrate him,” he said instead.

I let out a sharp breath, disbelief and anger tangling together.

“And when Nickolai died-”

“Murdered,” I cut in.

My voice was sharper now.

Controlled, but not soft.

“He was murdered. By his wife.”

Brent waved a hand dismissively.

“A matter of perspective.”

My stomach turned.

“No,” I said coldly. “It’s not.”

He didn’t argue.

He didn’t care.

“And when he died,” Brent continued as if I hadn’t spoken, “we lost that connection. The bridge between

our packs.”

Something ugly settled in my chest.

Cold.

Heavy.

“And then,” he added, his gaze shifting between me and Thoren, “you ran.”

My jaw clenched.

“I left,” I corrected.

“You ran,” he repeated calmly, “straight into the arms of the one man we had spent years trying to keep you

< Chapter 154 – What Was Always There

from.”

Silence stretched tight.

“And ruined everything.”

The words were quiet.

But they carried weight.

I felt Thoren shift beside me, his presence steady, grounding–but even that couldn’t quiet the storm building under my skin.

Tamsin stepped forward slightly, her eyes still locked on me.

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“While I would have preferred a more… personal form of justice for my brother,” she said, her tone cool,” my husband saw something more valuable in the situation.”

Brent’s mouth curved faintly.

“Opportunity.”

My stomach dropped.

“To unify the packs,” he continued. “To bring them under a stronger, purer way of life.”

Thoren’s voice cut in, low and dangerous.

“And stopping the wedding was part of that plan?”

Brent inclined his head slightly.

“It became necessary.”

“By kidnapping a child?” I snapped.

There it was.

The crack.

The thing that finally pushed past the disbelief and into something sharper.

Something that burned.

Brent didn’t flinch.

“I mean… it worked, didn’t it?”

The casualness of it made something inside me snap tight.

Cold rage settled in, replacing the confusion.

“No,” I said quietly. “It didn’t.”

His gaze held mine.

Chapter 154 – What Was Always There

“On the contrary-”

“You think this ends well for you?” I cut in, my voice steady now, dangerous in a way that surprised even

1. me. “You think taking him–taking Noah–gives you leverage?”

Brent studied me for a moment.

Then-