< Chapter 230: You actually care about me, right?
Chapter 230: You actually care about me, right?
Chapter 230: You actually care about me, right?
(Sophia Rivers’s POV)
+25 Points
I picked up my compact mirror with trembling hands. The reflection staring back at me was a shadow of my former self. My left ear still couldn’t hear properly, and the bruises on my face had turned an ugly yellow–green color.
But I couldn’t let Marcus see me like this. Not completely broken.
I applied lipstick with shaking fingers, trying to restore some semblance of dignity. The bright red color looked garish against my pale, injured face, but it was better than nothing.
Even in this pack enforcement facility’s medical wing, even as a prisoner, I needed to face him with whatever composure I could muster. This might be my last chance to reach him, to make him remember what we once had.
The pack nurse approached my bedside. “Miss Rivers, you have a visitor.”
My heart hammered against my ribs. After all this time, he had finally come.
The nurse drew back the privacy curtain, and there he was. Marcus Blackwood stood in the doorway, his imposing Alpha presence filling the entire space. His devastatingly handsome features seemed even more commanding than before, if that was possible.
Those golden eyes surveyed the scene with calculated coldness. No warmth. No recognition of our shared past. Just the detached assessment of an Alpha evaluating a fallen pack member.
I forced a bitter laugh, trying to mask the desperation clawing at my chest. “I thought you wouldn’t come.”
He remained silent, his expression unreadable.
“They say you have a terminal illness,” I continued, unable to stop the words from spilling out. “I’ve been wondering if it’s some kind of Moon Goddess’s retribution.”
The hint of dark satisfaction in my voice surprised even me. If I was going to suffer, why shouldn’t he?
Marcus stepped closer, unmoved by my words. His Alpha authority radiated from him like heat from a flame.
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< Chapter 230: You actually care about me, right?
+25 Pointe
“You look like you’ve suffered quite a bit in detention, haven’t you?” he countered, his voice. cutting through my pretense like a blade.
His words hit their mark. I could feel my carefully constructed facade beginning to crumble.
For a moment, I was stunned into silence by his presence. The sheer force of him, the way he commanded the room without even trying. It reminded me of everything I had lost, everything I had thrown away.
Desperately, I reached out to grasp his hand. “Marcus, you actually care about me, right?”
His hand was warm and strong, just as I remembered. For a brief moment, hope flared in my
chest.
“We’ve known each other for so many years, we shared something real,” I pleaded, my voice breaking. “I believe you wouldn’t have changed if it weren’t for Elena!”
I had to make him understand. Had to make him see that she was the problem, not me.
“I admit, I regret it,” I confessed, the words tumbling out in a rush. “I regret not fighting harder for you back then. But I had no choice.”
My grip tightened on his hand. “When I returned to the Northern Territory and saw Elena by your side as your Luna, I was consumed with jealousy. I just couldn’t accept losing to her!”
But his gaze remained indifferent. Devoid of any mate bond warmth or pack loyalty. The golden eyes that once looked at me with something resembling affection now held nothing but cold assessment.
My hope began to fade as I slowly released his hand. The Alpha’s complete emotional detachment was like a physical blow.
Marcus dismissed my claims with Alpha finality. “I was never your destined mate, so there’s no changing involved.”
He paused, his golden eyes boring into mine. “If not me, wasn’t there Felix Xavier?”
My face stiffened. The blood drained from my features as his words hit home. “You… you know everything.”
How could he know about Felix? About Oliver? I had been so careful, so secretive.
“It wasn’t a waste of time to investigate for so long,” he confirmed, his voice carrying the authority of an Alpha who had methodically uncovered every deception within his territory. Panic rose in my throat like bile. “When did you find out…?”
2/5
< Chapter 230: You actually care about me, right?
25 Points
“From when I learned about those schemes between you and Nathan Sterling,” he replied, linking my betrayal to the Sterling family heir.
His golden eyes held no mercy as he continued to dismantle my illusions piece by piece.
“I didn’t tell him about the pack’s private matters!” I protested desperately, trying to distance myself from Nathan’s involvement.
Marcus chuckled coldly. “I didn’t say he was the one who told me.”
The implication sent chills down my spine. If not Nathan, then who? How extensive was his intelligence network?
Marcus continued with calculated precision, each word a dagger to my heart. “Nathan Sterling only helped you because he harbors an ancestral grudge against the Blackwood family.”
He paused, letting that sink in. “Perhaps even he didn’t expect that by orchestrating such elaborate schemes, he would eventually develop genuine feelings for Elena.”
My world tilted on its axis. Nathan had feelings for Elena? But he was supposed to be helping
me!
“You thought you were using him for your own revenge,” Marcus continued relentlessly. “But you never considered that he was holding back information from you. I became suspicious when I realized he wasn’t your primary backer in this conspiracy.”
The Alpha’s words cut through me like silver blades. Every secret I thought I had kept, every scheme I thought was hidden – he knew it all.
“Back then, your adoptive father fled the Northern Territory with gambling debts,” he recounted with Alpha authority. “And you were studying abroad in the Southern Territory, living in an affluent werewolf community.”
My breathing became shallow. How could he know these details?
“Someone from your humble pack background, even with academic scholarships, wouldn’t be able to afford a residence in such an exclusive area, right?” His golden eyes never left my face. “If I’m not mistaken, that was Felix Xavier’s territory abroad.”
I trembled violently under his relentless exposure. His gaze felt like silver daggers cutting through my flesh and bones with supernatural intensity.
“Marcus, I…” I stammered, desperately seeking forgiveness from the Alpha I had betrayed. “How you ended up mated to Felix Xavier now, I no longer care,” he cut me off dismissively,
3/5
< Chapter 230, You actually care about me, right? his Alpha authority final and absolute.
425 Pants
My heart clenched painfully. Tears streamed down my face as I cried out hysterically, “I don’t believe it! If you didn’t care about me, why did you protect me from pack justice time and time again!”
I clung desperately to this last hope. He had protected me before. That had to mean something, didn’t it?
(Elena Blackwood’s POV)
I had just reached the healer’s station in the intensive ward when I overheard Sophia’s desperate confession. My enhanced werewolf hearing picked up every word through the partially open door.
I stopped in my tracks, my heart hammering against my ribs. Through the gap, I could see Marcus with his back to me, facing Sophia who was in complete emotional ruins.
After a long, tense silence that seemed to stretch through the pack bonds, Marcus spoke with emotionless Alpha finality.
“How could I let you escape justice?”
His words hinted at something deeper, more calculated. A game of pack politics and territorial control that I was only beginning to understand.
“What do you mean…?” Sophia asked, bewildered and terrified.
Marcus smiled with predatory satisfaction. “I’ve waited this long just to uncover who was truly pulling the strings behind your schemes.”
My breath caught in my throat. He had been playing a longer game all along.
“Now that I know it’s Felix Xavier and the conspiracy reaches into the Sterling family, even if I don’t act directly, where can you possibly escape within werewolf territories?” His voice carried the calculated precision of an Alpha who had been methodically planning. “Now that you’re no longer useful to Felix, will he still protect you from pack justice?”
“Marcus!” Sophia completely broke down, her entire body shaking with terror. “You can’t do this to me! We’re both werewolves, we’re pack!”
“You should experience the same suffering you inflicted on David Blackthorne,” he delivered the final blow with Alpha justice.
Even I was stunned by this revelation. Finally understanding the full scope of Marcus’s strategic patience and the depth of his investigation into the conspiracy against our family.
4/5
Chapter 230 You actually care about me, right?
My Alpha mate had been methodically dismantling our enemies‘ network all along.
+25 Points
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