Chapter 160 - 0160
Lorelei POV
It wasn’t until later that evening, after taking a long, warm shower, that everything finally caught up with me.
The truth was finally out.
Raven was here.
Hawke and Chelsea had been exposed.
For the first time in what felt like forever, I no longer had to carry those secrets alone.
Earlier that afternoon, Isaac had told me that Hawke and Chelsea were still being interrogated. Kaelen was handling it personally, and from the sound of it, he had shown them no mercy.
As brutal as his methods were, they had been effective. Under the weight of his fury, the two of them had already given up the names of two more staff members involved in the trafficking ring, along with a complete list of every Alpha who had purchased the women they had captured.
After changing into a loose, comfortable dress, I let my damp hair fall freely over my shoulders before finally stepping out of my room, where Paul was already waiting outside.
I asked him to take me to the execution grounds just beyond the main courtyard, while Isaac stayed behind to watch over Skye in case she woke up while I was gone.
The walk there felt longer than usual.
My thoughts refused to settle as we made our way through the endless hallways, down the sweeping staircases, and finally out into the cool night air.
Every step made my heart beat a little faster, though I couldn’t tell if it was because I was about to witness Hawke and Chelsea’s execution or because so much had changed in a single day.
The first person I spotted as we drew closer was Raven.
A smile almost found its way onto my face, but it disappeared just as quickly when I spotted someone standing beside her.
He was tall, broad shouldered, and facing away from me, but something about him felt strangely familiar.
My footsteps slowed, and I frowned, trying to make out his profile.
Then, as he shifted slightly, my breath caught in my throat.
No...
It couldn’t be.
"Cole?" I whispered, barely recognizing my own voice.
As if she had heard me, Raven turned around, and the moment she spotted me, a knowing smile spread across her lips. She reached over and lightly patted the man’s shoulder.
He turned, and the instant those familiar deep brown eyes met mine, the rest of the world seemed to disappear.
It really was him.
My heart lurched so hard it almost hurt.
Before I even realized what I was doing, my feet were already moving.
I broke into a run, rushing straight toward him without a second thought. I couldn’t stop myself. The overwhelming relief and joy crashing through me drowned out everything else.
"Lorelei..." he called, his voice rough with emotion.
Before he could say another word, I threw my arms around his shoulders and hugged him as tightly as I could.
"You’re alive," I whispered, the words tumbling out over and over as if I needed to hear them to believe they were true. "I... I really thought you were dead. Thank the Moon Goddess..."
Cole went completely still, caught off guard by the sudden embrace. I couldn’t blame him. The last time we’d seen each other, I had kept him at arm’s length, too suspicious to trust his intentions. Then I’d been forced to watch him charge headfirst into a pack of feral wolves while screaming at me to run for my life.
His hesitation lasted only a heartbeat.
The next second, his arms slid around my waist, pulling me firmly against him as he buried his face in the crook of my neck.
"I thought I’d lost you, Lorelei," he whispered, his voice cracking. "I’ve hated myself every single day for letting them take you. Raven and I never stopped looking. Not for one day. And now... you’re actually here."
"I’m here," I murmured, pulling back just enough to look at him with a small, genuine smile.
None of this felt real.
It felt like one of those dreams that seemed perfect until the moment you woke up. A part of me was terrified that if I blinked, everything would disappear, so I clung to the moment, trying to convince myself that this was real.
I lifted my hand and gently cupped Cole’s cheek, taking in every familiar feature as though I needed proof that he was truly standing in front of me. Then I turned to Raven and cupped her face too, my fingers trembling ever so slightly.
"It’s not a dream," Raven said quietly, as though she had read my thoughts, causing a breathless laugh to escape me.
A thousand questions immediately crowded my mind.
How had they found me?
Had they somehow tracked me all the way here?
Or had stumbling across this place been nothing more than impossible luck?
But before I could ask a single one of them, the unmistakable weight of someone’s gaze settled on me.
I didn’t even have to look to know exactly who it was.
Almost on instinct, my gaze snapped across the courtyard.
Standing a short distance away was Kaelen.
His expression was carved from ice, cold, unreadable, and completely devoid of emotion. The instant our eyes met, he looked away as though I wasn’t even there. His dark amber eyes settled back on the four bloodied figures lying on the stone floor, their bodies bound in thick silver chains as groans of agony echoed through the courtyard.
My attention drifted to the captives, eventually settling on Chelsea.
She looked absolutely miserable.
Her hair was tangled and stiff with dried blood. Purple bruises covered her swollen face, and her clothes now hung from her body in shredded strips where the burning silver chains had torn into her skin.
She was almost unrecognizable.
It was hard to believe this pitiful woman was the same arrogant brat who had gone out of her way to make my life a living nightmare. The same woman who would’ve happily seen me dead if it hadn’t been for Kaelen.
"He’s really not holding back, is he?" Cole muttered, shifting uneasily as he stared at the gruesome scene.
"No," a familiar voice answered before I could. "And why should he hold back?"
I turned to see Princess Nala casually making her way toward us, her blind guard following half a step behind her in complete silence.
The moment Cole’s eyes met her glowing, otherworldly gaze, all the color drained from his face.
"Y... you’re a..." he stammered, instinctively taking a step backward.
"A witch," Nala finished for him with a satisfied smile. "Ah. It is good to meet you, handsome one."
She suddenly leaned forward and let out a sharp, playful hiss, causing Cole to nearly jump out of his skin while Nala threw her head back, laughing shamelessly at his reaction.