Fated to the Alpha Who Killed Me (by Sherry) novel Chapter 186

Chapter 186

“Has Daemon ever told you how he started pursuing Celeste?” I asked, abandoning any attempt at subtlety.

Evan’s eyebrows rose slightly. “Why are you asking about this now?”

“Just curious,” I said, which was perhaps the least convincing lie I’d ever told. “Did he say anything specific

about the beginning?”

He studied me for a long moment before shaking his head. “No. He never really talked about it in detail.”

Of course not. I took a sip of tea, hiding my frustration. If Evan didn’t know, then-

‘Did Daemon say something to you?” Evan asked carefully, his green eyes sharp with something I couldn’t

quite identify.

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In my previous life, I would have told him everything, would have treated him as a confidant because I’d

assumed he was going through the same thing I was. But now, knowing that his interest had been in me

rather than her, the dynamic had shifted entirely. The last thing I needed was to give him ammunition or

hope.

“No,” I said, matching his neutral tone. “Just a random thought that occurred to me.”

My phone buzzed against the table–Sienna’s contact photo lighting up the screen alongside a text: HOLY

SHIT. Violet, I got some intel from Lucian that changes EVERYTHING.

My pulse spiked. “Sorry,” I murmured to Evan, my eyes already scanning Sienna’s message. “Just give me a

second.”

Sienna: Okay so remember how Lucian helped Daemon with strategies for pursuing girls? Turns out he knows

WAY more about what happened between Daemon and Celeste than he let on.

Sienna: So yes, Daemon DID ask for Celeste’s contact info–because she reminded him of Aurora. BUT he never

actually contacted her first.

Sienna: Celeste somehow got Daemon’s number from someone else and SHE reached out to HIM, asking why

he’d requested her information. That’s how they started talking.

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Chapter 186

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Sienna: High–level hunter disguised as prey. Fucking brilliant actually. Lucian wouldn’t tell me more after that- said the rest was Daemon’s business–but I’m working on breaking him down. Will update if I get anything else!

I set the phone down slowly, my hands steady despite the way my entire understanding of the past two lifetimes had just inverted itself. Across from me, Evan watched with obvious concern, but I couldn’t focus

on his expression, couldn’t process anything beyond the implications cascading through my mind.

Celeste had made first contact. She’d been the initiator, the one who’d reached out and asked that perfectly

innocent–sounding question that had opened the door between them. And because I’d never known that

crucial detail, I’d interpreted everything that came after through a distorted lens–Daemon as the aggressor,

Celeste as the victim of his obsessive pursuit.

But if she’d reached out first, if she’d been the one to engineer that initial connection, then what else had

she orchestrated? That overly solicitous concern when she’d found me crying in McDonald’s–had that been

genuine sympathy or calculated positioning? That moment when she’d sent Daemon a message and then

performed anxiety when he replied? The entire narrative of her being overwhelmed by Daemon’s attention-

had all of it been theater designed for a specific audience?

Me.

“Violet.” Evan’s voice cut through my spiraling thoughts. “What’s going on?”

I looked up at him, this man who in another life had fought Daemon for Celeste’s affection, who had ended.

a decades–long friendship because he’d believed her story of being pursued and pressured by someone who

couldn’t take no for an answer. And I realized with stark clarity how she’d done it–how she’d played on his

protective instincts, his resemblance to Aurora that made him predisposed to see her as someone who

needed saving from the same fate.

“I’m wondering,” I said slowly, “what kind of person Celeste really is. Do you think she was genuinely forced

into a relationship with Daemon? Or is it possible she planned to get close to both of us from the very

beginning?”

The question hung between us, and I felt a chill crawl up my spine as I considered the implications. If

Celeste had deliberately approached me in McDonald’s with that apple pie, knowing exactly who I was… if

she’d carefully cultivated my sympathy while simultaneously inserting herself into Daemon’s awareness… if

every moment of seeming vulnerability had been calculated…

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Chapter 186

It was terrifying in its complexity.

:

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“I don’t know,” Evan said quietly, and something in his tone made me look at him more carefully. “But she’s

definitely not simple. I didn’t pay much attention to these dynamics before, but after you and I talked that

time, I started watching her more closely. She’s very good at performing whatever role the situation

requires.

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