The Messenger( Iva) novel Chapter 254

Warning-2

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A *general.*

To reach that level, to command armies, to lead wolves into battle against demons and rogue packs and threats that lurked in the darkness the power he must have wielded. The aura. The discipline.

Lori had read about him in the archives. The youngest general in a century. The highest marks in the military academy. The pride of the Scott family.

And now, he was hers.

The thought made her chest tight.

Physically, he was built like a mountain. Broad shoulders that blocked out the light. Arms thick with muscle, corded and strong. A chest that seemed carved from stone. Sometimes, when she stood beside him, she had the feeling that he could break her in two with just a squeeze of one arm.

It should have terrified her.

Maybe it did, a little.

But what made her choke with emotion-what made her eyes burn and her throat tighten-was not his

power.

It was his vulnerability.

Last night, he had laid himself bare before her. Had confessed his fears, his failures, the weight of a father’s disappointment that he had carried for years, He had told her about the engagement he never wanted, the political pressure that had suffocated him, the moment he realized that he could not-would not-go through with it.

He had looked at her with those dark eyes, usually so cold and controlled, and they had been raw.

Open.

Afraid.

And in that moment, Lori knew.

This was the moment she fell for him.

Not because he was an Alpha. Not because he was powerful or intimidating or built like a mountain. Not even because the goddess had tied their souls together with a thread she could not see.

She fell for him because he trusted her.

Because he showed her the parts of himself that he kept hidden from the world-the broken pieces, the jagged edges, the wounds that had never fully healed.

And he had let her hold them.

Fated mate or not-bond or not-that was what mattered.

1/3

<Warning 2

That was love.

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The bell rang.

Lori blinked, startled back to the present. Around her, students were gathering their things, shuffling toward the door, their voices rising in the familiar post-class chatter.

She had no idea what the professor had talked about.

No idea what notes she was supposed to have taken.

No idea how she was going to pass her exams if she kept daydreaming about dark eyes and searing kisses and the way his voice had broken when he said *I’m begging you.*

*Get it together,* she told herself, shoving her textbook into her bag. *You have a ceremony to attend. A castle to visit. A mate to…*

She didn’t finish the thought.

Her face was already too hot.

Lori was floating.

She was going to see him shortly as she would report for her role.

Attia.

Her mate.

The word still sent shivers down her spine, still made her heart stutter and her breath catch. But today, the shivers were warm. The stutter was sweet. The catch in her breath felt like anticipation rather than fear.

She was smiling. She couldn’t help it. Her lips kept curving upward, tugging at the corners, refusing to obey any command to look professional or composed.

She rounded the corner toward the headmaster’s building, already imagining the way his dark eyes would light up when he saw her. Already picturing the subtle shift in his expression-the barely perceptible softening that no one else would notice but that she had learned to read like a map.

Her phone rang.

She glanced at the screen, expecting Iva or maybe a reminder about her class schedule.

*Mom.*

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