Sold to Bastard Alpha after My Divorce! novel Chapter 52

Chapter 52: Chapter 52

Aria’s POV

The voice cut through the darkness like a blade.

I knew that voice. Would recognize it anywhere. In my dreams. In my nightmares. In the deepest parts of my soul that refused to let go.

Kael.

Marcus’s arms loosened around me. I stumbled forward. Caught myself on the car.

When I turned around, my breath caught.

Kael stood under the streetlight. His black hair was disheveled. His chest heaved. Those black-gold eyes blazed with something terrifying.

His pheromones flooded the parking lot. Ebony and frost. But sharper now. More dangerous. The scent of an Alpha on the edge of violence.

Marcus took a step back. Then another.

"I—I didn’t know she was taken." His voice cracked. High. Pathetic. "She never said—"

"I’m not going to repeat myself." Kael’s words were ice. Low and lethal.

Marcus’s face went white.

I’d never seen someone look so terrified. His earlier confidence had evaporated completely. His hands were shaking. His knees looked like they might buckle.

"I’m sorry." The words tumbled out of him. Desperate. "I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t mean—I thought she wanted—"

"Get. Out."

Two words. That’s all it took.

Marcus stumbled backward. His expensive shoes scraped against the pavement. He nearly tripped over his own feet.

"I’m going! I’m going!"

He turned and ran.

Actually ran.

His footsteps echoed through the empty parking lot. Faster and faster. Until he disappeared around the corner like the coward he was.

And then it was just us.

Me and Kael.

Alone.

The silence stretched between us. Heavy. Suffocating. The only sound was my own ragged breathing and the distant thump of music from the bar.

I pressed my back against the cold car. My legs were shaking. My whole body was shaking.

What just happened?

Kael had saved me. Again. Just like that night at the Nightfang estate. Just like he always did when I needed him most.

But he’d also destroyed me. Paid me like a whore. Told me to disappear.

My emotions were a tangled mess. Fear from Marcus’s attack. Relief that it was over. Confusion about why Kael was even here.

Because he’d come for me. He’d left Rebecca. Left the bar. Chased me into the parking lot.

That had to mean something. Didn’t it?

I looked up at him. Searched his face for answers.

He was watching me. Those black-gold eyes burned into mine. His jaw was tight. His hands were clenched at his sides.

He looked... tortured.

Good.

He deserved to be tortured.

But my heart didn’t care about justice. It just kept hammering against my ribs. Beating his name with every pulse.

Kael. Kael. Kael.

He lowered his arm. The jacket hung limply at his side.

We stood there. Staring at each other. The weight of everything unsaid pressing down on us.

I should leave. Should walk away. Should find Elara and go home and forget this night ever happened.

But my feet wouldn’t move.

And neither would his.

We were close. So close I could feel the heat radiating from his body. Could smell his pheromones wrapping around me like a familiar blanket.

My heart was pounding so hard I thought it might explode.

This didn’t make sense. None of this made sense.

He’d pushed me away. Destroyed me. Made me feel like garbage.

And now he was standing here, protecting me, looking at me like I was something precious.

I didn’t know what to say. Didn’t know what to think.

Part of me wanted to shove him away. To scream at him for all the pain he’d caused. To tell him to go back to Rebecca and leave me alone.

But another part—the part that had never stopped hoping—wanted to melt into his arms. Wanted to forgive him and start over and pretend none of the bad things had happened.

Which part was stronger?

I didn’t know.

"I—" I started.

Kael’s eyes lit with desperate hope.

But before I could finish—

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TWO DOING THERE?!"