Aurora's POV
The air in the room was thick and heavy, smelling of sweat and the fading scent of whiskey. As he pushed into me one last time, his body went rigid. He buried his face in the crook of my shoulder, his breath hitching in a way that felt far too human for a monster.
"I've got you, my Aurora," he whispered against my skin, his voice cracking with a raw, broken tenderness. "I've always got you."
I froze. My heart stopped beating for a full second. That specific phrase—the way his voice dropped on the 'my'—it was exactly how Oliver spoke to me when the world felt too heavy. The blindfold made it worse; in the darkness, the man holding me wasn't a masked killer. He was my Alpha. He was my home.
For a heartbeat, I almost whispered, Oliver? But then he pulled away, the bed creaking as he shifted, and the cold reality rushed back. Oliver was at the packhouse, probably hating me. This was Raymond. This was the man who had destroyed my life.
