Lethal Temptation (by Michelle Ray) novel Chapter 25

25 A Little Repair

Mara

I sat down, still tense, every muscle wound tight.

Claim

Lucian sat beside me without hesitation, resting his hand on my thigh. It was meant to calm me,

and it worked–until his thumb began moving gently. Soothing. Warm.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t the time or place to be aroused.

I forced myself to focus just as Alpha Vander cleared his throat.

“Mara,” he began, his voice more measured than I’d ever heard it. “I owe you an apology. A deep one. I was wrong.”

I turned to him slowly, stunned. Even Martha looked like someone had slapped her.

“It turns out,” he continued, “that everything was a lie. Darian caught the photographer and the staff who took your underwear. You were set up.”

Relief surged through me so fast my chest ached.

Tears welled and spilled over. How many tears had I cried in this house? Too many. And yet these…

these were different. These were relief.

Lucian pulled me into his chest, wrapping his arms around me protectively. I let myself melt into his hold for a moment. It felt good to be believed. To be cleared.

Lucian asked what I was thinking. “Why would they do it?”

“They wouldn’t say,” Darian answered from across the table. “Not a word. But I think we all know

why.”

He looked directly at his mother.

The silence was thick.

Lucian didn’t hesitate. “We all know who put them up to it. There’s only one person here who’s hated Mara from the start–for reasons no one understands but her.”

His voice dropped a little lower, more serious. “If you don’t deal with the actual problem, Father, this house will never know peace.”

Alpha Vander nodded slowly. “I agree.”

He turned to Martha.

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“I’ll be sending you back to your hometown for a time of reflection. I can’t divorce you, but if this continues, I will strip you of your Luna title–even before Darian takes over.”

“You won’t dare,” Martha growled.

But her defiance didn’t move him. “Your things have been packed. You’ll leave after breakfast.”

She tried to speak again, but he cut her off with a single word: “Enough.”

“I need peace in this house. My sons need to focus. And you?” He gave her a pointed look. “You’ve done enough damage.”

He turned to Tiffany next. “I also know about the money you took from the Northwoods. There will be no wedding until paternity is proven.”

Tiffany stiffened. Her eyes welled with tears.

“Darian may be reckless, but he is my son,” Alpha Vander said. “And he’s been consistent–he says the child isn’t his. So we’ll test. Until then, there’s no wedding.”

Tiffany’s lips trembled. She rose quietly and left the table, tears slipping down her cheeks. Martha

tried to follow, but Tiffany shook her off and walked out without a word.

The silence that followed was thick, but it wasn’t hostile.

It was a kind of closure.

I sat there, still trembling slightly. Still waiting for the other shoe to drop.

But it never did.

For the first time in this house, something had ended in truth–and not destruction.

“Thank you, Alpha Darian,” I said quietly, offering him a nod. He smiled.

If he hadn’t investigated… if he hadn’t done something, his father would’ve kept seeing me as a

whore. The lie would’ve stuck. And I would’ve been ruined.

“When are you going to claim your wife, Lucian?” Alpha Vander asked, turning his attention to his

eldest son.

Lucian’s hand didn’t stop moving against my back–gentle, steady.

“We’re taking things slow,” he said, voice even.

My stomach turned.

The word claim hit too hard. Too permanent. We’d never even kissed. Never so much as touched outside moments like this, and even those had been more comfort than passion.

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With Tina still lurking in the background, the idea of being his–truly–felt like surrendering

something I wasn’t ready to lose.

After breakfast, we returned to the bedroom. The house was quieter now without Martha

slithering through its halls. Peaceful. Bearable.

I urged Lucian to head to work. He hesitated, then finally left.

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It had been a week since Martha’s departure, and the difference was noticeable. But some things hadn’t changed-Lucian still came home around 2 a.m. almost every night. I didn’t ask where he’d been. He didn’t lie, exactly–said he was working–but I didn’t believe it.

Not really.

Still, the messages from Tina had stopped. No more pictures. No more videos. He must have told her to back off. I was grateful, but I didn’t let it mean more than it should. I focused on my training.

I was in the middle of reading when my phone rang.

Darian.

I stared at the screen, already knowing what he wanted. I should have ignored it. But just in case…

“Hello?”

He didn’t say anything at first. Just breathed.

“Mara,” he said finally, my name sounding like something sacred.

Why now? Why did he suddenly care now that I was off–limits?

“Mara… please hang in there,” he said. “Don’t let Lucian claim you. I know Tiffany’s baby isn’t mine. Once that’s confirmed, she’ll be gone–and Lucian will have no choice but to annul the marriage.

Please. Just wait.”

His desperation annoyed me more than it moved me.

He was too much like Martha–blind to his own faults, always ready to rewrite the story so he

looked like the victim. Like the hero.

He hadn’t cared when it mattered. When I was standing there with feelings for him, waiting. He

was off sleeping around, knowing exactly how I felt. And now? Now that I belonged to someone

else?

Now I was his obsession.

“Darian,” I said calmly, “how do I like my

coffee?”

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Silence.

I knew that would throw him.

We’d had breakfast together every day for four years. We’d started drinking coffee at the same. time. I just wanted to know… had he ever really seen me?

He hesitated. “With… cream and sugar?”

I sighed.