The Messenge (Iva and Nick) novel Chapter 404

Summary for Chapter 404: The Messenge (Iva and Nick)

The Messenger werewolf novel Iva and Nick Chapter 404, by Elle Vintea read online Free PDF

The Truth I

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“Iva.”

She turned immediately, her expression cautious.

“I need you to come with me.”

Her arms tightened around her son.

“Where?”

“My office.”

Iva’s eyes narrowed slightly, and Caleb noticed the immediate calculation behind them.

“Why?”

“Because there are things we need to discuss.”

She glanced down at Youssef.

“I’m not leaving him.”

“I didn’t ask you to.”

Caleb turned toward the door and gestured toward an elderly Omega who had been waiting quietly outside.

The woman stepped into view, her silver hair neatly gathered beneath a simple white covering, her face lined with age but her expression calm and warm.

“This is Mara,” Caleb said. “She has worked in this castle for decades.”

Iva looked at the woman, then back at Caleb.

“You want me to leave my son with a stranger?”

“With someone I trust.”

Iva’s suspicion remained.

Caleb lowered his voice.

“Trust me. She’s safe with him.”

Mara gave Iva a gentle smile.

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“I will not let him out of my sight.”

Iva hesitated.

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Every instinct told her not to leave Youssef behind, but another part of her understood that Caleb could have simply ordered her to follow him.

He hadn’t.

He had given her a choice.

Finally, she carefully handed Youssef to Mara, watching every movement as the older Omega settled the baby comfortably against her.

“If he cries-”

“I’ll come for you immediately,” Mara promised.

Iva nodded reluctantly.

Then she followed Caleb.

The castle seemed even larger during daylight.

They walked through long corridors lined with portraits, enormous windows, carved pillars,

and polished floors that reflected the morning sunlight, while servants moved quietly around them and stepped aside whenever Caleb approached.

Iva kept several paces behind him.

She tried to concentrate on where she was going.

Instead, her eyes kept drifting toward his back.

There was something about the way Caleb walked that bothered her.

He did not look back to check whether she followed.

He seemed completely certain she would.

Not because he was forcing her.

Because somehow, impossibly, he trusted her to come.

The thought made her uncomfortable.

So did his words from earlier.

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The man who loves you.

Those words had stayed with her.

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She had replayed them repeatedly since he had spoken them, trying to understand why they

had affected her so deeply.

The man who loves you.

Not the man who owns you.

Not the man who captured you.

The man who loves you.

Iva frowned.

Her memories told her one story.

Her reactions seemed to be telling her another.

She looked at Caleb again.

Why did she feel safer around him than she had expected?

Why had she fallen asleep beside him in the convoy?

Why had she allowed him to hold Youssef?

And why had seeing him smile at their son affected her so strangely?

She had no answers.

Caleb finally stopped before a large double door.

He opened it and stepped inside.

Iva followed.

His office was enormous but surprisingly understated, with dark wooden furniture, shelves filled with old books, maps covering one wall, and a large desk positioned before another set of windows overlooking the castle grounds.

Caleb gestured toward a chair.

“Sit.”

Iva approached it cautiously and lowered herself onto the edge, keeping her back straight

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and her hands folded tightly together.

Caleb walked behind his desk.

For a moment, he said nothing.

Then he opened one of the drawers.

Iva watched him carefully.

He removed something.

A photograph.

He held it for several seconds before walking toward her.

“Have a look.”

He extended it.

Iva stared at the photograph without taking it.

“Why?”

“Because you need to see it.”

Slowly, she reached out.

Her fingers closed around the photograph.

Then she looked down.

Everything stopped.

The photograph showed her.

And Caleb.

Together.

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They were standing close, smiling at the camera, their expressions so naturally happy that

Iva’s stomach twisted.

Caleb’s arm was around her waist.

Her hand rested against his chest.

They looked comfortable.

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Familiar.

Like two people who belonged together.

Iva stared at the image.

Her breath caught.

“No.”

She shook her head.

“No, this isn’t real.”

“It is.”

She looked up sharply.

“It’s photoshopped.”

Caleb’s expression did not change.

Iva looked at the photograph again, searching for some obvious flaw.

There wasn’t one.

The image looked too natural.

Too intimate.

Too real.

“No.”

Her voice became louder.

“You are messing with my head.”

“I’m not.”

“What sick mind do you have to play these kinds of games?”

Caleb’s jaw tightened.

Iva stood abruptly, still holding the photograph.

“I know what happened to me.”

“Do you?”

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The question stopped her.

Iva stared at him.

“Yes.”

Her voice trembled with certainty she did not actually possess.

“I have a mate.”

Caleb went completely still.

Iva swallowed.

“His name is Nick.”

Something changed in Caleb’s face.

It was subtle at first.

A tightening around his eyes.

A darkening of his expression.

Then his entire presence seemed to shift.

The warmth disappeared.

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The restraint remained, but beneath it was something dangerous and barely contained.

Iva noticed.

For the first time, she saw what a Lycan’s anger truly looked like.

Caleb spoke slowly.

“Nick.”

Iva nodded.

“He told me the truth.”

Caleb’s hands curled into fists at his sides.

“What truth did he tell you?”

“He said…”

Iva hesitated.

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“He said you were dangerous.”

Caleb stared at her.

“And you believed him?”

“He is my mate.”

The words struck something in Caleb.

His expression hardened further.

Iva continued, almost desperately.

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“He told me about you. He told me what you had done. He told me I needed to stay away from you.”

Caleb walked toward the desk but stopped before it, as though putting something solid between them would help him control the rage rising inside him.

Iva watched him carefully.

Then Caleb looked at her.

“What if I told you that everything you know is a lie?”

Her face went pale.

The photograph trembled between her fingers.

“Everything?”

“Everything.”

“Nick lied to me?”

Caleb’s eyes remained fixed on hers.

“Yes.”

Iva shook her head.

“No.”

“You asked me to tell you the truth.”

“I didn’t ask you to destroy everything I remember.”

“I’m not destroying it.”

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His voice was controlled, but there was steel underneath every word.

“I’m showing you what was hidden from you.”

Iva looked down at the photograph again.

Her face stared back at her.

Happy.

Safe.

Loved.

She hated that the image made her question herself.

Caleb stepped closer.

Not enough to frighten her.

Just enough for his voice to reach her clearly.

“Let me tell you the truth.”

Iva slowly lifted her eyes.

Caleb held her gaze.

“The truth about you.”

A pause.

“The truth about me.”

Another.

“And the truth about Nick.”

Iva’s fingers tightened around the photograph.

Caleb’s voice dropped.

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“Because if you are going to decide who I am, Iva, you deserve to make that decision based on the truth.”

He reached for another photograph on his desk.

And Iva suddenly realized that the picture in her hand might only be the beginning.

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