Chapter 289

AURELIA’S POV But still, he released me. I straightened slowly, my scalp throbbing where he’d pulled, but my spine unbending. I refused to look away. The air between us felt like a storm before it broke—his power pressing, my wolf clawing, my heart hammering but steady. “It would be more fun to break you now,” he smirked, his voice dripping with dark amusement. I tilted my head, forcing myself to stand tall, my hands curling into fists at my sides. The fear was there, but so was something else—something that had been growing stronger every day inside me. “Get in line then,” I retorted, my voice sharp, cutting through the charged air. “You’re not the first one who tried. And you’re not the first one who failed.” The words hung between us like a blade. For a flicker of a moment, the smirk slipped from his face, his eyes narrowing as though he were seeing me for the first time—not as a possession, not as a pawn, but as a threat. His words landed like a cold stone. “But…I do wonder who is