TRADING MY CHEATING HUSBAND FOR THE LYCAN KING novel Chapter 123

CHAPTER 82: DO YOU LIKE HIM?-1

EMBER’S POV

The SUV pulls away from the resort and something tightens in my chest, because this is the first time we’ve left the Summit grounds since we arrived and suddenly it feels too real, too fast, too much.

Knox is driving, his hands steady on the wheel, but I can see the tension in his jaw and the way his eyes keep flicking toward me like he’s waiting for me to shatter.

He’s worried. The Lycan King, who fears nothing and no one, is worried about me.

“Talk to me,” he says quietly.

I open my mouth to tell him I’m fine, but the words won’t come because I’m not fine, I’m the opposite of fine, and the closer we get to that restaurant the more my body seems to understand what my mind has been trying to deny.

I’m about to see Gale.

The thought hits me like a physical blow and suddenly I can’t breathe, my lungs are shrinking and my heart. is pounding so hard I can feel it in my throat and there’s a ringing in my ears that won’t stop.

My hands are trembling in my lap and when did they start doing that?

I press them flat against my thighs but they won’t stop shaking and now my vision is blurring and I realize with distant horror that I’m crying, tears leaking down my cheeks without my permission.

“Ember.” Knox’s voice sounds far away. “Ember, baby, look at me.”

I can’t.

If I look at him I’ll fall apart completely and I can’t fall apart, not now, not when I have to walk into that room and face the man who spent eight years breaking me into pieces so small I didn’t think I’d ever find

them all again.

The car stops.

I don’t know when Knox pulled over but suddenly the engine is off and he’s unbuckling his seatbelt, sliding across the console, pulling me into his arms like I’m something fragile and precious and worth protecting. “Breathe,” he murmurs against my hair, one hand cradling the back of my head while the other wraps around my waist, holding me together when everything inside me is trying to fly apart. “Just breathe, baby In through your nose, out through your mouth. Slow. I’ve got you.”

I try to follow his instructions but my breath keeps hitching, catching on sobs I can’t swallow down, and all I can do is cling to him and shake and hate myself for being this weak.

“I can’t,” I choke out. “Knox, I can’t do this, I thought I could but I can’t, I’m not ready, I’m not strong enough

CHAPTER

YOULIKE HIM) 1

“Stop” His voice is firm but gentle, and he pulls back just enough to cup my face in his hands, thumbs brushing away my tears. “Look at me, Ember. Look at me.”

I force my eyes to meet his and what I see there steals what’s left of my breath.

He’s looking at me like I’m the sun. Like I’m something miraculous and brave and infinitely precious.

Like he can’t quite believe I exist and he’s terrified of losing me.

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