Chosen By The Cursed Alpha King (Emilia) novel Chapter 165

ADELE’S POV

His hands on my hips tightened, fingers digging in like he was afraid I’d vanish if he loosened his grip even a little.

The air between us felt thick, too hot, too heavy. I could feel his heart pounding against my back, fast and unsteady, matching the frantic beat of mine.

Lucien’s whole body went rigid when those words left my mouth-reject me. I saw it happen: the way his jaw locked, the way his eyes darkened with something raw and terrified. For the first time since he’d dragged me into this robm, the smug mask slipped completely. He looked… wrecked.

He moved suddenly, strong hands shifting me on his lap so I was facing him fully now, my bare legs straddling his thighs, my chest pressed to his. I didn’t even have time to fight it. One second I was half-turned away, the next I was staring at those stormy brown eyes.

“Don’t you ever talk about rejection, Adele,” he said, voice low and rough, shaking with pain that hit me like a punch to the chest. “Don’t you ever talk about leaving me. Ever.”

The way he said it…God, the way he said it made something inside me squeeze so hard I couldn’t breathe. It wasn’t an order from the powerful, untouchable Lucien everyone feared. It was a plea, cracked open and bleeding.

His voice carried so much weight, so much emotion, likethe mere thought of breaking our mate bond was ripping something vital out of him. I didn’t understand it. I’d spent months feeling like I was nothing to him. Like I was disposable. And now he looked like the idea of losing me was killing him.

I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. My throat burned. My eyes stung.

He leaned forward slowly, forehead almost touching mine, then shifted lower until his lips brushed the sensitive skin of my neck. His breath was warm, shaky.

When he spoke again, it was a whisper right against my pulse.

“You’re the only meaningful thing in my life, Adele. Please …please don’t leave me.”

The words broke something open in me. He didn’t sound like the Lucien everyone whispered about-the cold, ruthless beta who never showed weakness. He sounded shattered. Completely and utterly broken. His voice cracked on the last part, and I felt the tremor run through his whole body.

“Lucien..” I whispered, barely audible. My hands were on his chest…I didn’t even remember putting them there… and I could feel how fast his heart was racing.

He kept his face buried against my neck, lips moving against my skin as he mumbled over and over, “Don’t leave me, Adele… don’t leave me.” Each repetition sounded more desperate than the last. “I’ll try to bebetter, I swear. I’ll look for a way out…”

A way out?

My heart stuttered. “A way out of what?” I asked, voice small. Fear crept in cold and sharp. What was he talking about? What was so bad that even thinking about losing me made him fall apart like this?

He pulled back just enough to look at me. His hands came up slowly, cupping my face like I was something fragile he was terrified of breaking. His thumbs brushed over my cheeks, wiping away tears I hadn’t realized were falling.

For a long moment he just stared, eyes searching mine, mouth open like he was on the verge of telling me everything-the secret that had kept him pushing me away for so long.

I held my breath. Waiting. Needing to know.

But then his shoulders sagged, and whatever confession had been sitting on his tongue died. Instead, his voice came out raw and pleading. “Please tell me you won’t leave me. Please tell me you won’t talk about rejection again.”

I should have stayed angry. I should have shoved him away, demanded answers, told him he didn’t get to do this didn’t get to break me over and over and then beg me to stay without explaining why.

But looking at him like this-eyes glassy, hands trembling against my skin, voice stripped bare-I couldn’t. The fearin his face wasn’t just about losing me right now. It was deeper. Like he’d already lost too much and couldn’t survive losing me too.

I was lost in it. In him. In the way he touched me like he was trying to memorize every inch.

But underneath the heat, that fear lingered. His fear. And mine

Because he still hadn’t told me what he was so afraid of.

What “way out” he was looking for. What had made him push me away for so long only to cling to me now like l was his last lifeline.

“Don’t leave me,” he whispered one last time, so quiet | almost didn’t hear it.I didn’t answer. Couldn’t.

Because part of me wanted to promise I never would.

And the other part-the part that remembered every time he’d made me feel small and unwanted..was screaming that I deserved the truth before I gave him anything more.

He pulled me closer, arms wrapping around me fully, holding me against his chest like he could shield us both from whatever was coming.

I let him. For now.

But the fear didn’t go away.

It only grew.