Chapter 112

Skylar

A rush of wind seems to swallow me whole while everything around me shifts. I feel like I’m in the eye of a tornado, the world spinning in mind-bending circles. A sickening lurch makes my stomach roil, but I try to concentrate on Luca*’s last words to me – hold on to your reason for doing this.

Suddenly, the whirlwind stops, and I find myself standing inside my parent’s kitchen. Everything looks normal. The question is: how much time has passed this time?

The answer comes when I hear someone gasp. I whirl around and spot a shirtless Lucas staring at me from the door opening. He doesn’t look older, but what do I know?

I walk over to him and reach up to his face. He hasn’t shaved, and I squint up at him. “How long have I been gone?”

“Uhh, a few hours?” he says, eyebrows furrowed. “You never came back from your date with Alpha Max, so we just assumed you slept at his place.”

Instead of answering, I blink up at Lucas like an idiot until I finally look out through the window. The sun is shining, hinting at it being morning.

“I see,” I whisper in fascination. “So I was just gone for a couple of hours?”

“Okay, you’re scaring me now,” Lucas says. “What the hell are you even on about?”

My attention travels back to him. “It’s a long story.”

He shrugs. “I have time.”

I laugh, a light chuckle that seems foreign even to my own ears. You have time….that’s funny…”

“Is it?” he questions.

“Uh-huh,” I sink my teeth into my bottom lip when he looks even more lost than before. Poor guy. I should probably end his misery by explaining the situation. “Okay, that’s enough fun for how. Lucas, we need to talk.” I gesture for him to take a seat at the kitchen table.

I sit across from him and start narrating everything. I tell him about Jinx’s visions, about Lucian and Alpha Max, and about my trip to the future.

His face turns into an unreadable mask when I reveal that I made his future self unlock his powers by being honest with him. about my past. I can’t tell what Lucas is thinking or feeling. There’s shock there, disbelief too, but he doesn’t interrupt me

even once.

Finally, when I finish talking about the time-traveling magic and how his older self sent me back here to change things, he leans back in his chair. There’s silence between us for a moment, and then Lucas lets out a shaky breath.

“You really traveled to the future?”

of different. You

I nod, chewing my lower lip. “Yes, Lucas. It was…different. And you were different. But it wasn’t a good kind of were pretty broken, and that’s understandable, considering that version of you had lost everything.”

He runs a hand through his dark, unkempt hair, the shock evident on his face slowly shifting to something akin to understanding. “So, you’re saying… I must accept what I am in order for us to survive?”

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Chapter 112

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“Yes,” I respond softly, reaching out to squeeze his hand firmly across the table. “It was terrifying, Lucas. The future I saw ! don’t want that for us.”

There is a moment of silence between us before he finally speak again, his voice low “So what do we do now? How am I supposed to just accept myself?”

I swallow hard as I gather my thoughts, looking down at our intertwined hands. “Well I don’t really know

“What do you mean?! Jinx hisses at me. ‘Open up to him, you coward! Tell him why you rejected him in the first place all those years ago!”

Hush, it isn’t that easy!”

“What has changed?!” Jinx demands.

I don’t respond.

My eyes travel back to Lucas, and my heart makes an involuntary jump when he looks at me. I love it and hate it at the same time-how deeply I’ve fallen for him.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” he inquires, his eyes searching mine for an answer.

I open my mouth but close it again. My first instinct is to lie and run away, hide the truth. It’s all I want to do: make up excuses or lie about what’s on my mind.

But that must come to an end.

It’s time to be brave..because I never was before.

“Lucas?” I say his name even though it’s silly. We are already talking to each other, but I need his response to become braver than I was yesterday.

“Yes?” His voice is soft, open, and inviting in a way that almost brings tears to my eyes.

I take a deep breath and squeeze his hand, bringing it to my heart as if to emphasize the weight of what I’m about to share

“Lucas,” I begin, my voice faltering. “I…this isn’t easy for me.” I fumble, my heart pounding a wild rhythm in my chest.

“Take your time,” he tells me, and despite the confusion written on his face, his tone remains patient. He is calm and patient amidst the storms of life, just like he always is.

“1…” I begin again, wondering how to put feelings into words when they’re so wild and so vast they threaten to consume whole. “I rejected you because…because I was scared.” The confession hangs heavy between us.

He blinks at me, clearly taken aback. “Scared?” he echoes, tilting his head. “Of me?”

you

I take a deep breath and nod. “Yes…but not just of you. I was afraid of every man. I still am,” I dare to meet his eyes, and even though it hurts, I smile. “For years, I’ve been trying to suppress the truth. Mash it down and not think about it, but the truth is that Alpha Aron…” I trail off and laugh when tears run down my face. “F*ck, why is it so much harder to tell you the truth right now?”

“Hey,” Lucas says gently, his large hand engulfing mine completely. “It’s okay. I’m here.”

I chuckle faintly and wipe away a tear from my cheek with my free hand. “Alpha Aron…he used to visit the orphanage a lot, and one night, he came inside my room. I thought he came to comfort me, seeing I had just lost my parents. But he had other plans. He took off his belt and then-“I sink my teeth into my lip, tears blurring my vision. I can’t finish my sentence.

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Chapter 112

or I’m going to break.

And I don’t want to break, not in front of the man I’m crushing on and not for the billionth time in this miserable life of

mine.

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Fri, May 17