Free Web NovelChapter 73: "I Can Go Home Now"
She smiled. It was small, fragile, uncertain...but it was there.
"I can go home now," she whispered to herself, testing the words. Her voice was barely audible, but the brothers heard it.
Lucian’s entire body went rigid. He turned away sharply and walked to the window, his shoulders tense, his hands clenched into fists at his sides.
Sebastian’s grip on her face tightened for just a fraction of a second before he released her and stepped back. His jaw was working, like he was holding something back by sheer force of will.
Nicholas watched her smile, watched her relief and joy play across her face....and something in his expression shifted into something that looked almost like anguish.
He returned to his desk and sat down, his movements controlled but stiff. When he looked at her again, his voice was steady, but there was an undercurrent of something she couldn’t name.
"You will be going home at the end of the week," Nicholas said formally. "That’s in three days. So make sure you rest well and be in your best shape."
Lilith nodded, still riding the wave of relief. "Yes, Alpha. Thank you."
Nicholas turned away from her, looking out the window at the grounds beyond. "You’re dismissed."
Lilith turned and walked toward the door. Her steps were light, almost bouncing with the joy of knowing she was going home. She opened the door and stepped out into the hallway.
Behind her, the door closed.
In the silence that followed, Lucian was the first to move. He turned from the window and looked at his brothers.
"We lied to her," he said quietly.
Sebastian’s hands were shaking. He stared at them like they belonged to someone else.
"We lied to her," Lucian repeated, his voice rising slightly. "And she was happy about it."
Nicholas didn’t respond. He was still looking out the window, his expression unreadable, his body absolutely still.
Outside, Lilith walked down the hallway with Sera, already thinking about seeing her mother. Already thinking about home. She didn’t notice the way the brothers’ presence seemed to darken the halls she’d walked through.
She didn’t realize that she had just walked out of the office and left three alphas shattered in her wake.
She had no idea that she was supposed to stay.
***
Lilith woke to sunlight streaming through her window.
The quality of the light was different this morning....clearer somehow, sharper, like the sun itself had decided to offer her a gift. She stretched slowly, testing her body the way she had been for the past few days. The soreness was fading. The bruises were already turning from purple to yellow at the edges, their worst days behind them. Her muscles felt strong again. Her mind felt clear.
She lay there for a long moment, just breathing, just existing in this moment of relief. Two more days. Forty-eight hours and she would be back in Shadowmere. She would be home. She would see her mother’s face. She would return to the life she’d had before. frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓
The thought should have filled her with joy. ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom
Instead, there was something hollow about it. Something she couldn’t quite name.
Lilith pushed the feeling away and climbed out of bed.
The dress she pulled on was soft, one of the ones that had been left for her. She braided her hair with careful fingers, her reflection in the mirror showing her a girl who looked almost like herself again. The trauma was still there, written in the careful way she moved, in the way her eyes sometimes went distant when she wasn’t paying attention. But her body was healing. Her strength was returning.
Agnes knocked and entered with a breakfast tray, fresh bread, honey, berries, and tea. The older woman’s smile was warm, approving.
"You’re looking better every day," Agnes said, setting the tray down on the small table by the window. "Stronger. Soon you’ll be back to yourself completely."
Soon. The word hung between them.
Lilith ate mechanically, her mind elsewhere. She stared out the window at the grounds beyond, at the vast estate with its gardens and buildings and the distant tree line that marked the edge of the Blackwood territory. She’d spent her entire time here either in this room or in the brothers’ presence. She’d never actually explored. Never just walked around and looked at the place she’d been living for the past week.
An idea formed.
After Agnes left, Lilith stood and moved to the window. The day was beautiful, clear skies, a gentle breeze, the kind of day that felt like an invitation. She opened the door to her room and stepped out into the hallway, half-expecting to be stopped, to be told she couldn’t wander freely.
But no one appeared.
The estate was quiet in that early morning way, most of the household still sleeping or occupied with morning tasks. Lilith walked slowly through the corridors she’d only seen a handful of times. The walls were lined with art she’d never noticed before, paintings of wolves and mountains, of people who looked like they belonged to this place, like they were woven into its very foundation.
She found a side door that led outside.
The air hit her like a revelation. Cool and clean and carrying the scent of earth and growing things. The gardens spread out before her like something from a dream....roses still blooming despite the late season, hedges shaped into patterns, stone benches placed at intervals like an invitation to sit and think.
Lilith walked without direction, just following the pull of her own feet. She passed the gardens and found herself on a path that led away from the main house, toward the denser part of the grounds. The trees grew thicker here, older, their branches creating a canopy overhead that filtered the sunlight into patterns.
And then she heard it.
The sound of training. The crack of fists against pads, the grunts of exertion, the low commands being given. Combat sounds.
Her curiosity pulled her forward.
