Chapter 95: HE IS NOT GOING TO TOUCH LUMI’S SON

Chapter 96

Ren

We pulled into the pack station five minutes later. The heavy iron gates slammed shut behind us with an echoing, metallic clang that vibrated za thrcough the floorboards.

The lower holding facility was dead quiet.

I led Julian down the corridor until we reached cell door number four...a massive steel door with a barred slide window at eye level.

Sentinel Gabe was posted outside, his arms crossed over his chest. He straightened immediately and bowed his head as I approached.

"Is she quiet?" I asked, stopping outside the door.

"She stopped screaming about an hour ago, Alpha," Vance reported, his voice low.

"She’s just sitting on the bench." I turned to Julian.

"Go in first. Talk to her. She needs to hear from someone who isn’t ready to tear her apart."

Julian gave a firm nod, taking a deep breath as Vance unlocked the heavy iron latch.

The door creaked open, and Julian stepped into the shadows of the cell. I stayed outside, standing just beyond the doorway where the darkness concealed me, listening to every breath.

Inside, Neve was huddled on the narrow wooden bench, her clothes rumpled, her face blotchy and stained with dried tears. When she looked up and saw Julian, a broken sob tore from her throat.

"Babe?" she gasped, scrambling off the bench and throwing herself into his arms.

"Oh god, babe! You came! You have to get me out of here! Ren locked me up in the dark! He thinks I tried to kill Lumi!"

Julian caught her, wrapping his arms tightly around her, but his expression was heavy with pained restraint.

"Neve... stop. Just stop."

"I didn’t do it!" she wept against his shoulder, her hands clutching his shirt.

"I swear to you, I didn’t know Callum was going to hurt her! I was just angry! I was stupid!"

"I know you’re not a killer, Neve," Julian said softly, resting his chin on top of her head as tears welled in his own eyes.

"I love you. You know I love you more than anything in this world, and I will stand by you through whatever happens. But what you did... throwing Lumi out when she had nowhere to go, selling the apartment behind her back, helping a monster like Callum get to her... you set all of this in motion."

Neve pulled back, staring at him with wide, bloodshot eyes.

"Julian... please... not you too..."

"Your brother loves her, Neve," Julian said, his voice dropping into a solemn, heavy tone.

"The same way I love you. He loves Lumi with everything he has. Why couldn’t you just see that?"

Neve froze, her mouth trembling, unable to find a single word to defend herself.

Julian glanced toward the doorway.

"Ren. Come in."

I stepped out of the shadows and walked slowly into the cold room. The iron door stayed wide open behind me.

Neve shrank back slightly against Julian, clutching his arm, but the wild rage in her eyes was completely gone. Only hollow, crushing guilt remained.

I stood over my sister...the girl I had sworn to protect after our parents died, the sister I had built my entire life around safeguarding.

"Ren..." she whispered, her voice barely audible.

"I need you to listen to me, Neve," I said, stripping every ounce of hostility from my voice, leaving only the raw, bleeding truth.

"I need you to hear what I’m about to tell you, because I am only going to say it once."

She didn’t speak. She just stared at me, her hands shaking uncontrollably against Julian’s sleeve.

"You thought she took me away from you," I said softly.

"You thought she walked into my life and made me love her. But you got it wrong, Neve. I didn’t start loving Lumi because she forced her way in. I have loved her since before I even knew what the word meant."

Neve’s eyes widened slightly, a fresh tear tracking down her cheek.

"I loved her when we were kids," I continued, every word dragged straight from the deepest part of my chest.

"I loved her before I understood titles, before I understood packs, before I understood what an Alpha was supposed to be. Every single piece of my body, every breath I draw, belongs to her.

She is my mate, Neve. My wolf calls out to her. My blood burns for her. There is no other woman in this world for me. There never has been, and there never will be."

I took a step closer and dropped to one knee on the cold floor so I was eye-level with her.

"I’m not standing here because I want to destroy you," I said, my voice rough with emotion.

"I miss my sister. I miss fighting together with you the way we used to. Loving Lumi doesn’t mean there isn’t room in my heart for you. Your place in my life is permanent, Neve. Nobody can take that from you...not Lumi, not anyone. But you have to stop fighting me on this. It was Lumi from the beginning, and it will be Lumi until the day I die."

Neve stared at me, her chest heaving as my words sank into her soul. The cold wall of bitterness and jealousy she had built up over months finally shattered completely.

She dropped to her knees on the stone floor, burying her face in her hands, letting out an agonizing cry that echoed off the damp walls.

"I’m sorry!" she sobbed violently, her whole body shaking as Julian knelt down beside her, wrapping his arms around her frame.

"I’m so sorry, Ren! I was so scared of losing you! I was so jealous! I’m sorry! I’m so, so sorry!"

I reached out, placing my hand gently on the back of her head, pulling her forward until her forehead rested against my chest.

"I give you my word, Neve," I whispered into her hair. "If you tell me everything right now, if you help me fix this, Callum takes all the fault. I will shield you from the legal fallout, and we will put this monster down forever. But I need your help. Are you going to help me get the man who tried to kill my mate and your best friend?"

Neve lifted her face, wiping her eyes with the back of her trembling hand. She looked at me, then at Julian, and gave a sharp, resolute nod.

"Yes," she choked out, her voice suddenly steady with purpose. "Yes, Ren. Let’s get him together."

She grabbed my forearm, her fingers digging into my leather jacket like a drowning woman reaching for a lifeline. The terror in her eyes had shifted, replaced by a desperate, agonizing regret.

"How is she, Ren?" Neve sobbed, her voice cracking as fresh tears spilled down her blotchy cheeks.

"Please... tell me the truth. Is she going to be okay? What exactly did Callum do to her?" I looked at my sister, feeling the tremor in her grip.

"She’s still in the ICU, Neve. Callum forced poison down her throat with intent of framing it as a suicide. The substance was meant to kill her immediately. If I hadn’t been there on time, she’d have..." I couldn’t complete my sentence because the thought still terrify me.

"She’s fighting, but she hasn’t woken up." Neve gasped, slapping her hand over her mouth as a muffled, horrified scream escaped her.

She leaned heavily into Julian, burying her face into his chest as her whole body convulsed with deep, ragged sobs.

"Oh God... Lumi..." She wept, her voice muffled against Julian’s shirt.

"I did this to her. I pushed her out, Ren. I sold the apartment out from under her feet... I left her with nothing. I thought I was just forcing her to leave the territory. I didn’t know he was going to hurt her. I swear to God I didn’t know! If I’d known, I wouldn’t have..."

Julian held her tightly, kissing the top of her head while keeping a steady, grounding arm around her waist.

He looked up at me over her shoulder, his jaw tight, giving me a solemn nod.

"I know you didn’t want her dead, Neve," I said softly, resting my hand over her trembling fingers.

"But Callum used your anger. He manipulated you, and now he thinks he’s walking away clean with Theo." Neve snapped her head up, her eyes wild.

"What? What do you mean with Theo?"

"He brought human court marshals to the hospital half an hour ago," I said, my voice dropping into a cold, lethal register.

"He filed an emergency custody order claiming Lumi tried to kill herself. He took Theo, Neve. And right now, he’s heading straight for the airport to slip out of the state before I can tear him apart."

"No..." Neve whispered, rage suddenly flaring through her tears. She wiped her face aggressively with the back of her sleeve, her breathing coming in fast, sharp gasps.

"No way in hell. He is not taking that little boy. He is not going to touch Lumi’s son."

She scrambled to her feet, pulling Julian up with her. She looked at me with an absolute focus that I hadn’t seen in her since we were kids.