From Rejected Luna To Lycan Queen (Eloise and Edward) novel Chapter 356

Chapter 356 Dirty Beast

Chapter 356 Dirty Beast

MADES

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I knocked before I could talk myself out of it. When he didn’t answer, I pushed the door open a crack.

The smell hit first. Paint thinner. Sharp. Chemical. It burned the back of my throat and cut through everything else in the room. The studio was a fucking mess. Canvases haphazardly leaned against walls, stacked on the floor, drying on every surface they could

balance on. Some were finished. Some half–ruined.

All of them were hers.

Zara, again and again. Different moods. Different versions. Anger in hard lines. Fear pulled tight around her shoulders Defiance sharp enough to cut. One that looked… like lust. I swallowed thickly. It made my dragon react.

I forced my eyes away to Malachi’s broad shoulders hunched over his current work.

Her face filled the canvas, tilted upward toward the rain. Her skin was dusted with freckles. Long lashes framing one visible green eye glassy and unfocused, staring up at nothing. Tears tracked mascara down her cheeks. Her red hair was soaked, plastered to her pale skin in heavy strands. Droplets of rain clung to her jaw, catching the light Malachi artfully painted. Her mouth tilted down, pouty in a way that made me think about how soft they might feel.

My heart thudded once.

Hard.

Some people look ugly when they cry. Broken.

Messy. Not Zara. The way Malachi portrayed her, she looked hauntingly beautiful. It made my chest tighten in a way I didn’t like.

Was this why Malachi had trapped himself in his studio for several days now? Trying to paint the emotions he’d felt leaking off Zara. Capture it on canvas. All to try and make sense of her before she swallowed him whole?

Being an empath wasn’t a gift.

It was a fucking burden.

If this were the version of her living in my head, I’d be losing my fucking mind. More than I already was,

I took my friend in properly then. His shoulders were hunched up around his ears, tension ridged into his posture. Paint streaked his face. His long hair was pulled back into a messy knot, strands slipping free.

He was already as obsessed with Zara as I was.

My little pookie.

“You hungry?” I asked over the low hum of music. “I’m heading downstairs. Thought I’d grab something. Blood. Food. Whatever.”

Malachi shook his head without turning.

The rejection was small. Still, it landed wrong.

“Okay, I’ll bring you a sandwich and a bottle of blood,” I said, shoving down how much his rejection hurt. The last thing I wanted

1/3

Chapter 156 Dirty Bead

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“was to force him to deal with my emotions too. He didn’t look back. Just kept painting, slow and steady, like the world outside that room didn’t exist.

It shouldn’t have mattered Malasaj didn’t mean anything by it. He never did. But something sharp and unwelcome twisted in my chest anyway, like a reminder that even in a bond, everyone carried their shit alone sometimes I shoved the feeling aside, where it belonged.

“Alright. I’ll be around if you need me”

Then i turned and headed for the door.

CASSIAN

My phone buzzed again.

Probably Hades. But I didn’t have time for him. He’d agreed with Dorian to wait shit out, he didn’t get to ask where the fuck I was. Hades and Malachi might care what Dorian said, but I didn’t really give a shit if he didn’t want me near Zara.

No one told me what to do.

I’d like to see him try to keep me away from my blood claim. Yes, Hades might have scented her first, but that didn’t make her any less mine. Even if she didn’t know it yet, she would, and soon too.

If I had a fucking say in it.

At least I’d waited three days. He should be happy I held back on my beast at all. That was no small feat for me. I was impulsive and quick to obsession. Especially when it came to my little vixen. I needed to know more about her. It was how I found myself inside her place while she worked a shift at Ray’s.

Her flat was smaller than I expected. A single open room, sparsely decorated. One crooked lamp. A couch that had seen better days. No photos on the walls. No knick–knacks. Nothing told me anything about her. I frowned. Lucien said she’d lived here for a year already. You’d think there would be some personal touches by now.

Still… it smelled like her. I drew in a slow breath, letting her faint fruity scent settle over me, seep into my lungs. My beast went ballistic instantly. Images flashed through my head of him. Her hands were buried in his hair, fingers gripping tight. His emotions were raw and unfiltered. Possessive. Feral. And believe me, I echoed the sentiment.

“You dirty beast.”

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