From Betrayed Luna to Wolf Queen (Lillian) novel Chapter 4

Lillian's POV:

Julian showed up at the apartment long after I'd finally fallen into an exhausted sleep.

Chloe had left hours earlier. I'd refused to go home with her, so she'd gone back to her own pack's territory to arrange for someone to come check on me tomorrow.

I had just drifted off when the doorbell rang, sharp and insistent, slicing through the quiet.

Thinking Chloe had forgotten something, I dragged myself out of bed and shuffled to the door, my voice thick with sleep. "What did you leave behind this ti—"

The words died in my throat. Julian stood in the hallway, his expression stormy, droplets of rain glistening on his black leather jacket.

My face went blank, all traces of drowsiness vanishing. "How did you find this place?"

He looked grim. "What do you think?"

Seeing me in nothing but thin sleepwear, his anger seemed to spike. His gaze swept past me, scanning the apartment's interior. When he saw it was empty, some of the rigid tension in his shoulders eased slightly.

"Chloe said you... terminated the pregnancy." His voice was gruff. "It wouldn't be right for me not to be here."

As he spoke, he reached out on instinct, his hand moving to pull me into the familiar circle of his arms, just like he always did after a fight.

This time, I didn't melt into his chest.

I stood perfectly still, my gaze sharp and frozen as I watched him.

Meeting my eyes, a flicker of something like unease crossed his face, but it was quickly buried under a mask of forced placation. "Okay, alright. You lost the pup. I'm here to take care of you. Happy now?"

His tone practically screamed, "We both know you're lying about the miscarriage."

The fragile calm Chloe had helped me build shattered into a thousand razor-sharp pieces. I lifted my foot and kicked him hard, right in the solar plexus.

Julian wasn't expecting it. He took the blow with a pained oof, his grip falling away.

Seeing me standing there, rigid and defensive, he ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "You've had your scene for the day, burned your stuff... still not done?"

I stared at him in utter silence, nothing but arctic cold in my eyes.

Done? This rage of mine wouldn't be sated until there was a reckoning.

A soft, derisive sound escaped me, but I offered no words.

That contemptuous noise seemed to grate on his last nerve.

He massaged his temples, the picture of a man dealing with an unreasonable child. "Fine. My fault. It's all my fault. Now, come home with me."

He reached for me again.

I took a deliberate step back, breaking the possibility of his touch.

My withdrawal finally caused Julian's expression to darken completely. The air in the hallway thickened, turning frosty.

"Is that my home?" I asked, my lips curling. "The home whose deed has been in Hilda's name for how long?"

Hilda—Julian's younger sister, and Iris' closest friend.

The villa we had lived in had been quietly transferred to Hilda's name over a year ago.

The Graves Pack had always looked down on my origins—an orphan with no known pack lineage. Their condition for sanctioning our mating had been a private ceremony, no public claim. Any property Julian tried to put in my name was discreetly reclaimed by his mother, Eleanor, and signed over to one of his sisters.

That so-called home had belonged to Hilda for ages. They were terrified of me getting my hands on a single tangible asset of the Graves Pack.

"The house is Hilda's, but you call it my home. Don't you see how pathetic that is?"

Julian's gaze shifted, a telltale sign of guilt. "I'll have the title transferred back to you tomorrow. Okay?"

Hearing the impatient edge in his promise, I felt all desire to speak drain away. I started to push the door closed.

Julian's hand shot out, bracing against it. "Lillian, there's a limit to this acting out."

The coaxing was gone, replaced by the stern command of an Alpha.

"What limit would you prefer?" I raised a brow, my voice dangerously calm.

The emotions that should have been a whirlwind were now locked in a deep freeze. Even talking about him and Iris, my tone remained flat, detached.

"You and Iris have no boundaries, and you want my... acting out... to have a limit?"

Julian's chest rose and fell heavily. "Stop linking me to her. There's nothing going on."

"The whole city sees it. Ethan's gone, and you're the one suddenly at his widow's side. No one even knows you have a bonded mate. No one knows my name. And you claim that's 'nothing'?

"For six months, since the day Ethan died, you and Iris have been a public pair.

"Some are already whispering that the pups might be yours.

"There are even rumors you had a hand in Ethan's plane going down..."

When I mentioned the rumors, Julian went rigid. "You believe that garbage?"

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