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He doesn’t answer, so I strike again.

“What - afraid the mighty Vale family won’t approve?” I say, my voice low, now; taunting. “Afraid of what it’ll look like - the golden heir of the Alpha line sharing a nest with three other men?”

His entire body goes still, and thenvibrates.

There it is. The nerve.

I hit it.

And I feel it under my skin. Through the bond. A pulse like thunder before the storm.

“That’s it, isn’t it?” I whisper. “It’s not about me. It’s aboutthem. About the name. Aboutreputation.”

“I don’t give a fuck about what people think,” he growls.

“You do.”

He slams me back so hard the wall rattles.

Not cruel. Not pain -

Just rage. Just heat.

Justus.

“You’re getting far too mouthy for your own good.”

“Ouch,” I tease. “Did I hit too close to home, Lucian? Should I not have mentioneddaddy?”

His eyes darken impossibly, and I justknowI’ve pushed him too far. I glare at him anyway, seeing through the gorgeous shell and rigid posture and bullshit self-control he’s using to hide the storm inside.

“You’re not special, Rhea,” he says, voice low and vicious. “You’re notrare. You’re just a heat-drunk, unregistered omega who got desperate after suppressing too long and opened her legs for any alpha willing to look twice.”

My stomach lurches, but I feel it. The bond.Flickering- sharp and sudden and…

Guilty.

“You don’t believe that,” I whisper.

“I do.”

It flickers again, and my brow furrows. I’m still beyond angry - absolutelyfurious- and yet I’m fascinated, too.

Because I canfeel it.My bodyknowsthat he’s lying to me.

“No, you don’t.”

The lie in the bond pulses like a vein ready to burst.

“You let them knot you,” he spits. “Let them fuck you one after the other like you were a game. Like you didn’t care who it was as long as someone filled you.”

“Andyoudidn’t?” I shoot back. “You didn’t grab me by the throat and shove me against a wall? You didn’t bend me over the bed and fuck me so hard Isaw stars?”

He says nothing.

“Or did you forget thetasteof me?” I snap. “BecauseIremember the way yourcockfelt at the back of my throat while Ash was still knotted inside me. I remember the wayyougrowled when I wanted it. And I sure as hell rememberhow much you loved it.”

Lucian’s face twists. His hands flex at his sides like he’s holding himself back from tearing something apart.

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