TRADING MY CHEATING HUSBAND FOR THE LYCAN KING novel Chapter 204

CHAPTER 142: IT’S STUPID

EMBER’S POV

“Absolutely not.” I don’t even pretend to consider it. “You?”

“Not a chance.”

We look at each other, and there’s something light dancing in his eyes – actual humor, rare and precious

as the aurora itself.

Then he leans down and presses a kiss to my forehead, lingering there like he’s memorizing the moment.

“I don’t want to be overly cheesy,” he murmurs against my skin, “but you’re even more beautiful under the aurora. Just as radiant. Maybe more so, because she doesn’t look at me the way you do.”

I roll my eyes so hard it’s a wonder they don’t get stuck.

“Flattery will absolutely not get me to reveal my cards, Knox.”

He chuckles, low and warm. “Damn. I was really banking on that working.” He snaps his fingers in mock defeat. “Back to the drawing board.”

But the laughter fades, and he’s still looking at me. Still smiling, but it’s softer now, almost wondering.

“I mean it, though,” he says, quieter. “How did I get this lucky? I’m the worst fucking person. Genuinely. I’ve done terrible things. I’ve been cruel and cold and impossible, and yet here you are, standing next to me like I deserve it.” He shakes his head slowly, like he’s trying to solve a puzzle that doesn’t have an answer. ” You’re just… I don’t have words. I never have words with you. You make me stupid.”

My heart cracks open a little.

I reach up and kiss him, soft and slow, and he sighs into it like he’s been holding his breath all night.

It starts sweet, tender, but then his hand slides into my hair and he deepens it, pulling me closer until I can feel his heartbeat against mine, until the aurora above us is just a blur of color behind my closed eyes.

When we finally pull apart, we’re both breathing harder than we should be.

“I wonder the same thing,” I whisper, my forehead resting against his. “How did I get so lucky? A do–over. A second chance to breathe and live and…”

Love.

The word hangs unspoken between us, so close I can almost taste it.

Knox’s eyes search mine, hopeful in a way I’ve never seen from him. Almost vulnerable.

“And what?”

I shake my head, suddenly terrified.

< CHAPTER 1411

t’e stupid.”

try to step back, but his arms tighten around me, refusing to let me retreat.

“Tell me.” His voice is soft, almost pleading. “I want to hear it. Whatever it is, no matter how stupid. Please.

N

He sounds so young when he says it. So open. Like all that armor he wears has cracked just enough to let me see the man under- the one who’s been hurt so many times he doesn’t know how to hope anymore,

but is hoping anyway.

I can’t do it. I can’t say it and watch it destroy us both.

“I’ll tell you after this trip,” I say instead. “Give me until then. I’ll have worked up the courage.”

He stares at me for a long moment, something flickering behind his eyes – disappointment, maybe, or understanding. Then he nods slowly.

“Alright.” He brushes a strand of hair from my face, tucking it behind my ear. “I might do the same, then.”

My heart stumbles. “The same?”

“Tell you something I’m not brave enough to say right now.“,

I don’t know what that means. I don’t know if I’m reading too much into it, building castles out of sand and

wishful thinking.

But my pulse is racing, and there’s a warmth spreading through my chest that has nothing to do with

Rafael’s fur coat.

I clear my throat, desperate to break the tension before I do something reckless.

“I’m surprised you haven’t ripped this fur off my body yet,” I say lightly. “Considering its origins.”

Knox glances down at the coat, then back at me, his jaw twitching. “I’m exercising a little thing called restraint. The alternative is ruining the evening for everyone.”

I press a hand to my chest in mock shock.

“Since when is Knox Volkov socially aware? Should I check you for a fever?”

He shakes his head, but he’s fighting a smile.

“Since I watched you staring at the sky like it was the most beautiful thing you’d ever seen. Since you looked so peaceful I couldn’t bring myself to break it.” He pulls me closer, his chin resting on top of my head. “You come before my habitual growling. Always.”

His lips brush my hair, and we stay like that, wrapped up in each other, watching the lights ripple and dance across the endless sky. For a few perfect, stolen minutes, nothing else exists.

Then Rayana’s voice breaks the moment.

“Knox, darling. I need to borrow you for a moment.”

CHAPTER 14TH STUPID

I feel hun tense against me. I feel the reluctance in the way his arm tightens before loosening.

“It can wait,” he says.

“Actually, it can’t.” Rayana’s tone is light, but there’s something under it. Something urgent. “It’s about the bucket list. There’s something I need to discuss with you privately. It won’t take long.”

Knox looks at me, a question in his eyes

The urge to say stay rises in my throat. To insist that whatever Rayana needs can wait until morning, that I

don’t want to share him, that this moment is ours.

But there’s another part of me – the part that listened to Rayana talk about closure, about making things right before the end – that wonders if I should give her this.

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