The Messenger( Iva) novel Chapter 74

Fear-2

No protection.

No place to return to.

+25 Points

Suddenly, the air shifted behind her.

Not a sound.

Not footsteps.

Presence.

Power.

Iva’s entire body jolted, instincts snapping tight like a drawn bowstring. She spun around, heart leaping into her throat-

James stood only a step away.

Silent. Immovable. Watching.

For a fraction of a second she could not breathe.

Then heat flooded her face as realization struck.

He had heard.

Of course he had heard.

Werewolf hearing. Nothing private. Nothing hidden.

Just great… she groaned inwardly, humiliation burning sharper than fear. Her pain, her shock, her weakness – all laid bare without her consent.

She lowered her gaze, unable to meet his eyes, and forced her trembling legs to move putside the building

toward the car.

There was nothing left in that room anyway.

Nothing to return for.

Only wreckage.

Only absence.

Only proof of how fragile her attempt at survival had been.

A faint, desperate gratitude flickered in her chest – the safe deposit box. Her documents. Her small savings. Hidden away like a squirrel’s winter hope. If she had lost those too…

< Fear 2

+25 Points

She did not allow the thought to finish.

James opened the door without a word.

The quiet respect in the gesture made something inside her chest tighten painfully.

She slipped into the seat, hands folded tightly together in her lap, as if physically holding herself from coming apart.

The car started.

Silence filled the space between them –

space between them – dense, heavy, unspoken.

Outside, the world moved normally. Streetlights glowed. People walked. Cars passed.

Inside, her world had collapsed.

Her breathing grew shallow.

She stared at her intertwined fingers, watching them tremble despite her effort to still them.

I was doing fine… she whispered silently. I was surviving. I was holding everything together…

And then this.

Her throat tightened.

Another thought slithered into her mind – colder than the night air.

Who did this?

Her heart skipped.

Not theft.

Not random vandalism.

Destruction.

Systematic.

Personal.

Her stomach twisted violently.

And then came the worst realization.

What if she had been there?

す

What if she had been alone in that room when whoever did this arrived?

A cold wave of terror washed through her, so sudden and intense her fingers went numb.

Her hands clenched tighter together to stop their shaking.

Avalon’s presence brushed softly against her mind, warm and steady like a shield pressed gently against a

2.4

< Feat 2

wound.

“You are safe now. Good that our mate took care of us last night.”

But the words struggled to reach her through the rising tide of shock

Her composure cracked.

She tried to swallow it down.

Tried to breathe through it.

Tried to be strong the way survival had taught her.

But grief does not obey willpower.

+25 Points>

Silent tears spilled over, sliding down her cheeks in steady, unstoppable streams. She turned her face toward the window, hoping the darkness would hide them.

It did not matter.

James would know.

Everyone always knew.

She pressed her lips together to keep from making a sound, but her chest trembled with each shallow breath.

Not loud sobbing.

Not collapse.

Just quiet, breaking sorrow.

Everything she owned reduced to nothing.

Everything she built erased in a single night.

And beneath that devastation…

A fragile, terrifying awareness.

Someone was hunting her.

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