BloodMoon: Captivated by the Forbidden Lycan Alpha
Chapter 191: SIPPING VINEGAR

Chapter 191: SIPPING VINEGAR

{"The jealous are troublesome to others, but a torment to themselves."}

The cell door slammed shut behind us like the end of a trial, no verdict, just silence. We stepped into the night, and the salt-heavy wind slapped against my skin. For a heartbeat, I let the air clear my head. Cold. Clean. A sharp reminder that we were still standing.

Then Wave turned, and his fist crashed into my face. Crack.

Pain exploded across my cheekbone, my head snapping sideways. My boots scraped the gravel as I staggered back, nearly hitting the wall behind me. "What the—Wave!" I shouted, clutching my face.

The copper tang of blood hit my tongue. My mate had just punched me like I was the enemy. Commander Belle didn’t move. She didn’t even blink. Just folded her arms and watched like she’d been waiting for it to happen. Wave’s chest heaved with fury; his jaw was tight. His voice shook not with weakness, but with the force of holding everything back. Everything he couldn’t say without breaking something.

"You hesitated, Spark," he snarled. "You froze like she still mattered. Like she wasn’t standing over the body of a traitor."

"She did matter," I snapped, voice rising. "She still does! You think this is easy for me? She was family before all of this! Before Sam twisted her up and dragged her down with him!"

"She’s not family anymore," Wave hissed, stepping close, eyes locked on mine. "She’s a traitor. And when I looked over, I didn’t see a Beta. I saw a mate who couldn’t decide which side he was on."

His words hit harder than his fist, and I stared at him, heart pounding, heat flaring in my chest not anger, not exactly. Something messier. Something deeper.

"You think I didn’t feel every damn second of it?" I said, voice low and shaking. "You think I wanted to hesitate? You think I don’t hate myself for it already?"

The Waves didn’t respond right away. His fists were still clenched. His eyes—those eyes that usually steadied me were wild with something that looked a lot like fear.

Commander Belle finally exhaled, cool and unimpressed. "This is the cost of bonding young. Emotions get in the way of instinct."

I glared at her, blood still dripping from my nose. "With all due respect, Commander, you don’t know a damn thing about what’s between us."

She arched her brow, but said nothing and then walked away, leaving the two of us outside the jail cell. Wave took a step back, chest still rising and falling like the tide inside him hadn’t called yet.

"I need to know you’re with me," he said, quieter this time. "When it counts. Not just as my Beta. As my mate."

I looked at him and the pain behind his anger. The fear was buried under the fury. The weight he carried alone because he wasn’t sure if I was still beside him or behind him.

And despite the blood and the ache, I reached for him and whispered, "I’m with you," I said. "Even when it hurts."

We walked in silence, and it was not the easy kind that used to fill the space between us when words weren’t needed. No, this one was sharp. Stiff. A silence that scraped like gravel under boots. The stars above the Bay Shifter cliffs were cold tonight, scattered like broken glass across the sky. And still, the only thing louder than the wind was the echo of Wave’s fist cracking against my face.

My cheek still throbbed. Not from the pain, but from what it meant, and he hadn’t spoken since. Neither had I, and as we walked side by side, not touching. Not even brushing shoulders. Mates, bonded by blood and soul, but in that moment, the distance between us felt like a canyon. I glanced at him just once, and his face was locked down, unreadable. Focused on the path ahead, as if he looked at me, he’d unravel all over again.

"You didn’t have to hit me," I said finally, voice low.

He didn’t answer right away. Just exhaled, long and tired.

"I did," he said. "Because words weren’t getting through anymore."

I nodded slowly. Fair. Not wrong. Still burned, and I could feel the guilt threading through my ribs, heavy and tight. Not just for Lily. Not even for Sam. But for hesitating to give Wave even a second of doubt that I wouldn’t be by his side when it counted most.

"I was trying to feel something other than rage," I murmured. "Didn’t expect to feel your knuckles."

The Waves stopped walking, and I stopped too. He turned to me then, eyes sharp with too many unsaid things. "I can’t lose you to sentiment, Spark," he said. "Not now. Not when we’re this close to the edge."

I searched his face. My throat felt thick. "You haven’t lost me," I said. "But I’m not going to stop being who I am. I can be yours and still feel. But please understand that I am still the Beta of the pack and care about everyone in the Bay shifter pack. "

Wave stared at me for a long second... and then nodded, just once, and we started walking again.

The house was dark when we got back, just the soft creak of the front door as it opened, the sound of boots crossing the wooden floor, and silence thick enough to choke on. Wave walked straight through the front room, down the hall, and out the back door like he couldn’t breathe indoors anymore. Like the walls would press in on him if he stayed.

I stood there for a moment. Just listenin,g and the echo of our steps still rang in my head. The feel of his punch. The cold way his voice had cut through me. But worse than all of that... was this distance. This silence. I moved slowly through the house, each step deliberate, uncertain. I didn’t know if he wanted space or if he was waiting to see if I’d come after him.

The back door creaked open, and there he was sitting on the porch, elbows on his knees, head bowed. The night wrapped around him like Armor. His chest was rising and falling in uneven waves, every breath too loud in the quiet. So, I walked behind him. Dropped to the porch floor. And slowly, cautiously, I slid my arms around his torso and pulled him back against me.

He stiffened at first, but he didn’t pull away and I pressed my face into the curve of his shoulder, breathing him in. The familiar scent of salt and lightning, wind and battle my mate, even when everything between us felt fractured.

"I’m still here," I whispered.

His hands gripped mine where they rested across his chest. Tight. Like he didn’t trust his voice not to break. We sat like that for a long time. Just breathing. It was hours later when I felt his body finally letting go. The tension that had locked his shoulders and stiffened his spine slowly melted, little by little, until he was leaning fully into me. The night had grown deeper, quieter, like even the wind knew it wasn’t supposed to interrupt.

Then... he turned his head and his cheek brushed mine, and when I looked down, his eyes found me.

And held me.

Gods, those eyes storm-coloured, shadow-soft, always hiding more than they said. But tonight, they were bare. Tired. Raw. And they looked at me like he’d been drowning in silence and only just now surfaced. I lowered my head and, without a word, I pressed my lips to his. Soft. Slow. Reassuring. One kiss. Then another. Then another, each one slower than the last, not full of hunger, but of promise. A vow written in skin and breath. A reminder that I was here, with him, still his.

He exhaled against my mouth, and I held him tighter, letting my hands rest over his heart.

"I’m yours, Wave," I whispered, the words barely sounding, but heavy with truth. "Always."

Wave exhaled,long and shaky, like something inside him had finally cracked open and then he turned fully, his hand sliding up the back of my neck, and he kissed me again.

But this time...It wasn’t soft nor careful, but hungry.

He deepened the kiss with a rawness that stole the air from my lungs, like he’d been holding back too long and couldn’t anymore. His mouth crashed against mine, all heat and teeth and need, and gods, I felt it—him—everywhere. I groaned against his lips, and he answered with a low sound of his own, deep in his throat, desperate and aching. His fingers curled into my shirt like he needed to hold me there, to anchor himself to me, body and soul.

There was no space between us anymore. Just heat, breath, and the thunder of blood pounding through every kiss we poured into each other. When the kiss ended, Wave whispered "Spark, you belong to me. If you don’t want to see me go crazy, don’t ever show your feelings or care about anyone else. ".

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