Free Web NovelChapter 233: Chapter 233
Aria’s POV
My wolf snarled in response, rage flooding my veins. I could feel the shift threatening to break free, bones itching, power surging. People who didn’t want to get involved sensed the danger and hurried away, unwilling to be caught between a mob and a cornered werewolf. ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm
Without thinking, I turned and ran.
The moment my feet hit the pavement, chaos erupted behind me. Shouts, curses, the pounding of too many footsteps, it all blurred together as my mind went completely blank.
My wolf surged forward, urging my body faster, stronger, but I couldn’t let her loose. These people weren’t thinking anymore. They were trapped in their own warped sense of justice, deaf to reason, blind to truth. Until “evidence” appeared, whatever that meant to them, I was already guilty.
If I slowed down, even for a second, they would tear me apart.
My lungs burned as I sprinted, my heels slapping hard against the street. The noise behind me didn’t fade. It grew louder and closer.
My heart went ice-cold.
“There she is!” someone shouted.
The words sliced straight through me.
I didn’t dare look back. My legs screamed in protest, muscles trembling, but I forced them to keep moving. My wolf snarled, furious at my restraint, furious that I was being chased like prey.
“Aria! Stop!”
The voice was too close, right at my ear.
“Ah!” I cried as a hand shot out from a dark alley and yanked me inside. My vision spun. Before I could fight, before my wolf could even bare her fangs, a hand clamped firmly over my mouth.
I froze.
The grip was rough but not cruel. It shifted almost immediately, careful enough to let me breathe through my nose. I blinked hard, my heart hammering, and forced myself to smell.
It was a familiar scent.
Silence closed around us, thick and suffocating.
Heavy footsteps thundered past the alley entrance.
“Where’d she go? She was just here.” “Maybe that way?” “Check over there!”
Male and female voices overlapped, frantic and aggressive, the sound of their pursuit scraping at my nerves. I pressed myself back, every muscle locked tight, my wolf coiled and ready to explode if they came closer.
But the footsteps moved on. The noise faded, swallowed by distance.
Only then did I sag in relief.
The hand left my mouth, and I sucked in a shaky breath. I turned, ready to thank he person who had saved me.
It was Amelia.
“I live nearby. Follow me,” she instructed hastily.
Her voice was cool, precise, almost mechanical. I stared at her in disbelief as she stood there in the shadows, straight-backed and composed, like she hadn’t just dragged me out of a mob’s jaws.
I wanted to refuse. I hated dragging her into my mess. But the chill in the air and the thought of being attacked by a mob made my wolf whimper.
“This is a garbage dump,” Amelia said flatly, glancing around. “I have hot water at home.”
Her gaze was calm, sharp as moonlight.
I swallowed and nodded. “Thank you.”
Her apartment was modest but spotless, every surface clean enough to soothe my frayed nerves. She handed me a brand-new white T-shirt and pointed toward the bathroom.
“It’s never been worn,” she said. “There’s a disposable towel inside.”
I took it like it was a lifeline. Clutching the soft fabric, I turned back to her, my chest tight. “Thank you, Amelia. Really.”
Amelia paused, her casual lean against the wall faltering just a little. She raised an eyebrow.
“You’re trending again.”
She held up her phone. The video played, video of me running, the crowd screaming, the chaos replayed from a dozen angles.
“They’re probably still out there,” Amelia added, pulling the curtain aside just enough to look. “And the media’s already swarming.”
Even outside her building, I could see them, paparazzi lurking like vultures, cameras ready.
I had underestimated how far this would go.
“You can stay here for now,” Amelia said.
I didn’t argue. My wolf, exhausted and snarling softly, agreed immediately.
I nodded and slipped into the bathroom, closing the door behind me. Steam soon filled the air, but it didn’t chase away the tension coiled under my skin.
While I remained hidden within Amelia’s apartment, licking my wounds and holding my beast at bay, the news of the street fiasco was already racing through the city.
Nathan’s POV
The top-floor office of the Hemsworth Group was unnaturally quiet, the kind of silence that made a wolf restless.
Collins stood across from me, his back straight, his expression unusually grave. That alone set my instincts on edge. I leaned against the desk, the cool glass barely grounding me, and stared at the tablet in my hand.
The images burned into my vision.
If not for the pursuit, Aria could have passed for a celebrity caught in some dramatic street shoot. Her hair flying, her expression fierce and vulnerable all at once, the crowd behind her distorted into a snarl of angry faces.
My wolf snarled low in my chest.
They had chased her.
The comments scrolled endlessly. Some cursed their luck for not catching her. Others praised the “cinematic quality” of the photos, as if my mate’s terror were nothing more than entertainment.
I set the tablet down slowly, my fingers curling against the glass desk. “Still no sign of her?”
