Chapter 82: Become His Obsession Again

Selene’s POV

The machine was ready for production.

The Alpha and the elders had signed off on it, keeping me anonymous. They said the Alpha had asked who the inventor was, but they told him it was a student who had successfully experimented with her own work. If the machine came out well and functioned as intended, they would reveal the inventor. That was the agreement.

I was happy with that.

It was a food processing machine ... one that stored food far longer than conventional methods. My only hope was to make a real contribution to Morvaine, to leave something behind that actually mattered.

The machine was successfully produced.

"This is such a brilliant idea. The goddess bless you for that wonderful inspiration," the head manufacturer said, his eyes wide with genuine admiration.

It was comparable to manufacturing a car or an automated system. The people involved kept talking about how much profit it was going to generate. But profit was never my motivation. I wanted to affect lives. So I stayed quiet about the whole thing and waited for the launch.

I had every reason to be grateful to everyone who had helped me reach this point. I couldn’t keep it from my boss, Ms. Ashlyn at the library. She deserved to know.

"Are you serious? You’ve gotten the approval already?" she asked when I told her, her expression shifting from calm to completely stunned.

"Yes. They’ve manufactured it already. We’re just waiting for the launch," I said.

"Oh, come here." She pulled me into a hug and held on tight.

"You have a brilliant mind and I always knew you were going to be great. This is your opportunity, Selene, and you are not going to miss it," she said firmly.

"Thank you, Ms. Ashlyn."

She sat me down, her expression shifting into something more serious. "Can I tell you something?"

"Yes, of course," I said.

"Everything you’ve been through is not coincidence. I’ve told you before ... you are a walking prophecy. You are the bridge meant to bring people together."

"Yes, you’ve said that before."

I wondered why she was bringing it up now, out of nowhere.

She continued. "The Nara that was inside you ... although she has left your body, she still has an effect on you."

What the hell did she mean by that?

"Nara possessed a rare and extraordinary intelligence. That was precisely why she was suppressed in her time. Her enemies didn’t want her to rise, so they framed her. That intelligence was passed down to you, Selene. That is your greatest gift. Don’t lose it. You are a special wolf," Ms. Ashlyn said.

I let that sink in. "So you’re saying I carry Nara’s intelligence alongside my own ... even though she’s no longer inside me?"

She nodded slowly.

It made sense. Before and after Nara left, I had been feeling a surge running through me that I knew wasn’t normal. A sharpness. A clarity that didn’t feel entirely mine. Now I had a name for it.

It was the after-effect of Nara.

"Thank you for the revelation, ma’am," I said quietly.

I didn’t let that moment make me idle. If anything, it fueled me. The hunger to research and make more discoveries kept growing stronger, and I threw myself back into searching for books I hadn’t yet read.

"Have you claimed the copyright for your product?" Ms. Ashlyn asked before I left.

"Yes. The head manufacturer helped me through the signing process."

"Good. Only you know how to operate that machine, and since you own the rights, no one will be able to launch it without your consent," she said.

It felt like an inevitable and unstoppable rise. Power. Influence. Impact. I was loving every single piece of it.

My books were the great love of my life after Lucian. He wasn’t beside me anymore, so I poured myself into reading and let the pages fill the space he left behind.

And it was never boring. The more I read, the more I uncovered ... layers upon layers of discovery, each one opening into something even deeper. My mind felt alive in a way nothing else could replicate.

---

Tessa’s POV

My husband was coming back.

They had my clothes and makeup ready, and by the time they were done with me, I looked breathtaking. Astonishingly beautiful. I wanted Lucian to walk through that door and not be able to keep his hands off me ... wherever he had been all day. Maybe he had been with Selene. I didn’t know. But tonight, I was going to make him mine. He already was mine on paper, but that wasn’t enough anymore. I needed to feel it.

I could already envision him inside me.

I didn’t want to wonder about it any longer. I wanted to go back to what we used to be.

I spiked every bottle of water in the room before he arrived. He didn’t drink much wine or strong spirits the way most Alpha males did, so water was the safer bet.

He walked in.

His expression wasn’t what I expected. He didn’t shout at me. He didn’t ignore me. He actually answered my greeting, and that alone stopped me in my tracks.

"How are you doing today, Tessa?" he asked. His eyes were calm but held something I couldn’t quite name ... disappointment, maybe.

"I’m fine, Lucian. Can I get you anything?"

"No," he said, moving straight to the fridge and pulling out a bottle of water.

He drank it all in one go.

Fuck. Someone had clearly gotten under his skin today. But that didn’t matter right now. I was here for him, and I had a plan.

"Why are you dressed like that? All that makeup?" he asked, his gaze trailing over me.

I smiled. He noticed.

"Do you like it?" I asked.

"It’s nice," he said.

I watched his eyes glaze slightly as he moved toward the chair and sat down heavily. The water was beginning to take effect.

Now was my moment.

"Are you okay?" I asked, keeping my voice soft and steady as I walked toward him.

I had been wearing a fairly modest ash gown. I slipped it off my shoulders, and what I had on underneath was an ash lingerie set ... the kind that used to drive him to the edge back in the days when things between us were different.

"What are you doing?" he asked, his voice barely above a murmur.

I didn’t answer. I crossed the room and settled onto his lap like I belonged there.

"I’m here to please you," I whispered.

I leaned in and kissed him. God, how long I had waited for this.

He kissed me back ... and the surprise of it nearly undid me. I didn’t stop. I pressed harder into him, our lips moving together with a familiarity that time hadn’t fully erased. He sank into it, slipping into that hungry, electric space between us, and I felt him shift beneath me.

I guided his hand to my ass and worked my fingers slowly over him, still through the fabric of his trousers.

We kissed for a long while. I started working the buttons of his shirt open, one by one.

"Yes ... yes, Selene, I want it. Give it to me," Lucian breathed, his eyes still closed.

I stopped for just a fraction of a second.

Then I kept going.

I wasn’t going to let a name break this moment. I locked my lips back onto his and kissed him until he couldn’t form another coherent thought.

We were still good at this ... devastatingly good, just like the old days.

I undressed him completely.

Then I pulled him toward the bed I had prepared. The sheets were fresh, the room set up the way he used to love it. Tonight, I was going to remind him of everything he had been denying himself.

"It’s me, Selene," I whispered against his ear, letting his fantasy carry him further in. "Fuck me while you have the chance."

He turned me over on that bed, gripped the strap of my G-string, pushed it aside, and slid inside me.

He started slowly. Deliberately.

The soft moans that escaped me felt like relief ... like breathing again after holding my breath for too long. It had been a while since I’d been touched like this.

He picked up his pace.

"Do you want me to go faster, love?" he murmured, still lost somewhere between reality and whatever dream was carrying him.

"If it would make you happy," I replied.

He went faster.

"Fuck me ... fuck me!" I moaned.

He was never going to get over this night. No one could give him what I gave him, and deep down he knew it.

I came before he did, and afterward we both lay there breathing hard against the soft sheets, chests heaving.

But I wasn’t done with him yet.

I reached for him and brought out my chest, full and heavy, and held his gaze.

"Come here, Lucian," I called softly.

He didn’t hesitate. He lowered his head and worked over me like I was something he had been starved of ... licking and sucking with a greed that sent heat spiraling straight down my spine.

My body had always been his obsession. And now I was being deliberate about reigniting that fire.

Tomorrow, when he woke up and realized what had happened, he wouldn’t be able to look at me the same way. He was going to watch me become everything he wanted again ... whether he was ready for it or not.