Their Secret Obsession (A Reverse Harem) by Pippa Moon novel Chapter 253

Lottie POV

Seeing Knox on the floor, his face a mottled landscape of bruises and his lip split, I felt a surge of nausea. The healing process had begun, his supernatural nature knitting skin and bone back together, but it was slow, and the damage was extensive. His one eye swollen nearly shut, a deep shade of purple spreading like a storm cloud under the thin skin, and there were cuts that looked deep enough to have hit bone. It was clear he'd been in a brutal bar fight, one I knew he had started himself.

Dick!

"Or is it to get attention." Sage inserted moodily. But I knew she was forcing it; she was worried about him too because despite everything—the lies, the hurt he'd caused me—seeing him like this twisted a knot in my stomach. I couldn't enjoy his suffering; it just made me sick, and I knew she to felt the same; I could sense it.

With legs feeling like they were made of jelly, I walked over to him, each step shaky as my heart hammered against my ribs.

"What are you doing?" Liam seethed from my side. I didn't bother responding. My eyes focused on Knox's body, needing to get closer to him.

"Be careful, Lottie. Havoc is close to the surface." Sage's voice echoed in my head, her tone urgent while Liam's demands ebbed away to the back of my self-consciousness.

Knox's wolf, Havoc, was feral and wild, a stark contrast to the more composed Rolo. He'd always called us 'kitty', a term that irked her but amused me. Now, as Knox's sleepy eyes flickered open, the dangerous glint of Havoc's presence shimmered in his gaze, and I could almost feel the raw power emanating from him.

"Sage, wait," I murmured under my breath as an unexpected connection sparked at the back of my mind.

Could it really be Havoc? His primal consciousness surged forward, his presence a chaotic storm that raged through my psyche.

"My mate." He screamed through the bond I thought had been severed, his voice desperate and possessive, clawing at the edges of my heart.

"We are not your mates anymore," Sage countered fiercely, her anger tangible, a fiery barrier against his claims. But his words set off a tumult in my chest; if he still believed we were mates, did that mean there was still a thread of connection, a sliver of hope for reconciliation?

"Are you that stupid?" Sage's roar reverberated in my head as tears welled up in my eyes, each drop reflecting the shattered pieces of my heart.

"No, just in love," I whispered softly to myself, a confession that felt like a betrayal of my own wounds.

"I love only my Kitty. It's all a game, a trick... please, Kitty," Havoc pleaded, his voice rough with emotion, shredding through me like a knife. The idea that all our shared moments, the depth of what I felt, could have been mere pieces in a cruel game was devastating. It broke through me like a storm, ravaging my soul with both anger and an unspeakable hurt.