My Alphas' Dark Desires
Chapter 220: Escaping Riven

Chapter 220: Escaping Riven

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Chapter 220

~Valerie’s POV~

My first thought was...

What the hell is Riven doing here?

Was he stalking me again?

The second thought came more quickly and sharply. Had it been his hand and side profile I’d seen just now?

My eyes darted up and down, scanning his features—his jawline, the curve of his wrists beneath the black coat, the way his shadow fell across the cobblestones.

I exhaled through my nose, slowly. No. It wasn’t him.

But the tension didn’t leave my shoulders.

Riven stood there beneath the Gothic arch of the courtyard gate, like a statue carved from moonlight and silence, his long coat fluttering faintly in the wind.

The hood cast half of his face in shadow, leaving only his ice-blue eyes visible, sharp and cutting as ever.

That ever-present stormy aura curled around him like sentient smoke, trailing tendrils of cold air and darker thoughts.

"Hello, Valerie," he greeted in his usual calm, threaded with something unreadable. "What are you doing out here?"

I blinked as adrenaline still thrummed beneath my skin. "I... I was just walking."

It wasn’t exactly a lie. But it wasn’t the truth either.

His gaze narrowed, faintly skeptical. "At midnight?"

He stepped closer, the sound of his boots too quiet for comfort. "Valerie Nightshade," he said again, slower this time, "what exactly are you looking for?"

The way he said my name sent a chill down my spine. Not because it sounded threatening, but because it didn’t. It sounded... curious, and that scared me more.

I swallowed and tried to regain my composure. "I thought I saw someone. I... might’ve imagined it."

"Imagined?" Riven repeated, his voice tinged with scepticism.

I nodded quickly, lying faster than I could think. "Yeah. Probably a trick of the moonlight or something. Not important."

But Riven wasn’t the type to drop things.

He tilted his head down slightly, forcing me to look up to meet his eyes. And there it was again—that unrelenting pressure of his presence.

"What did you see?" he asked. "If it were real, I could help. My vision reaches farther than most. Even werewolves."

"I lost the scent," I said too fast. My throat tightened. "It’s probably nothing. But for a second, I thought..." I hesitated, then finished in a whisper, "I thought I saw my mother."

That made him pause. Really pause. His eyes flicked ever so slightly, like something clicked into place.

"Your mother?"

"I said forget it, Riven." I took a step past him. "Not now."

He didn’t move aside.

I walked around him, boots crunching on the gravel as my heart hammered, but behind me, I heard him follow. Of course, he would.

"If this is about the letter," I snapped over my shoulder, "I take it back."

I stopped, turned halfway, and faced him head-on. "No—wait. I don’t because I never sent that in the first place."

My voice was sharp, too loud for the night, but I didn’t care.

"I don’t take it back. But I will say this once, clearly, so your paranoia can let it go. I did not send that message. It was probably all just a mistake or someone playing a weird, annoying prank on me, and all but Riven, you do not have to like me."

Riven stared at me for a long moment. Then...

"I know," he said simply.

I blinked. "You what?"

"I know," he repeated. "I checked the metadata. I traced the digital path. It was planted. You didn’t send it."

My mouth went dry. I had expected denial. Blame. Cold accusations. Not... this.

But then again, this was Riven. He was chaos in a suit and code. One moment steel, the next shadow.

"Then why the hell didn’t you say anything?"

"I wanted to see if you’d lie to me," he replied calmly.

I stared at him like he’d grown two heads.

"You’re an actual... urgh bighead."

He didn’t deny it. "Perhaps. But you passed."

I turned away, muttering curses under my breath. I couldn’t deal with him right now. Not tonight. When I was already unravelling.

I didn’t get far before I felt him when the shift in air brought an ache in my chest.

And then his scent, storm and stone, sharp like the sea, filled my nostrils.

Dristan.

My spine stiffened as I caught sight of him ahead, near the entrance to the Training Hall’s garden wall. He stood there like a ghost, backlit by the moon, his blond hair tousled from wind and tension.

For a moment, I almost kept walking, but then his voice broke the silence, letting me know he caught me.

"Valerie."

I didn’t stop. I didn’t even blink.

"Valerie, please wait."

My steps faltered for a heartbeat, and Dristan took it as permission. He moved closer, slowly but certainly, like he was approaching a wounded animal. And maybe I was.

"Hey Val..."

I shut my eyes briefly but said no word.

"I’m sorry," he let the words sink in first and then continued, "I know words cannot change what has been done, but... I didn’t mean for any of it to happen the way it did," he said quietly.

Then raked a hand through his hair. "Our makeout, what I did to you and her... The silence afterwards. The way I didn’t come to you."

I folded my arms tightly, staring at the stone path. "Then why didn’t you?"

"I was scared," he admitted, voice cracking just slightly. "I was scared I’d already ruined whatever we could have been."

"You did," I said flatly. "You did ruin it."

His breath hitched.

"But that doesn’t mean it can’t be rebuilt," he said gently now. "I’ll do whatever it takes. Say whatever you need to hear. Just... don’t shut me out forever."

I looked up, finally meeting his eyes. And gods... they were soft. Full of regret and hope and guilt, all woven into one.

But I wasn’t ready for this or him.

"I can’t," I stated softly... "Not now, Dristan."

His face fell.

"I don’t hate you, Dristan. But I don’t trust you either. And that... that matters more than whatever feelings we keep pretending we aren’t drowning in. I wanted to build trust with you. I thought I had, but..."

He stepped back and gave me space. "I understand, but Valerie, I’ll be waiting. Even if it takes forever."