novelraw Chapter 167: A Return To Normal
Chapter 167: A Return To Normal
"You wanted to believe," Sera said, her voice cutting through Lachlan’s words like they were nothing more than snowflakes dancing on the wind.
He flinched at them, but she refused to soften her words.
Don’t get her wrong, she felt that connection to Lachlan, despite his betrayal. But he had to learn before it was too late. Did he forget that he turned into a blue zombie when he was pissed? Did he think that humans would just accept that and move on?
"Belief kills. It killed him." She flicked her eyes toward the roof without turning. "It will kill us if you let it through the door. If they saw us walking out there on one of our missions, what do you think they are thinking now? Now that they know that one of their men died when we didn’t."
"You’ve made your point," replied Lachlan, not meeting her gaze.
"Until you truly understand what life is like out there, I haven’t made a damn thing," Sera snarled. "The next time you want to invite people over to my house, my territory. I’ll leave your body by the door as a warning. Don’t do this again."
The pup skidded into the room then, claws clicking on polished floor, fur ruffled by the cold that had slipped down the stairwell.
It circled Sera’s legs and pressed its side into her calf, a small, insistent weight. She let her hand drop to its head. The animal went still.
Elias moved around the island and began putting away the utensils he had laid out for dinner. His hands did not shake. His movements were neat. Every piece had a place. Every place had a reason.
"We stay inside the discipline we wrote," he murmured, as much to himself as to them. "No lights on the roof. No mirrors. No signals. No doors opened for strangers."
Alexei tipped his head. "And movie night for morale. Generators at half hour, not an hour. We reward obedience like good dog trainers."
No one laughed. It was not the night for it.
Zubair’s gaze did not leave Lachlan. "You sleep in the living room," he instructed, voice level. "You do not take a watch alone. You don’t go anywhere alone. We hold this line until it sets in your bones again."
Lachlan nodded once, a short, tight motion that carried shame and anger in the same breath. He hooked the scope into the strap on the wall where it lived. He did not meet Sera’s eyes.
Sera let the pup herd her back toward the master suite.
Her pulse had steadied.
Her hands had shifted back into something much more human.
The shape of the penthouse came back into focus: the leather and stone, the honey in jars, the chocolate tins, the quiet flicker of fire, the soft weight of a king bed behind the door.
All of it hers because she had taken it, kept it, and refused to lose it.
She paused in the doorway and glanced once more at the men.
Zubair already had the door latches in his hands. Elias was cleaning a knife until the edge glowed. Alexei watched the room like a fox watches a field. Lachlan stood alone for a breath, then bent to unlace his boots with the same care he used when life still made sense.
The creature under Sera’s skin uncoiled and lay down, satisfied with the result on the ice. It pressed a thought that was almost gentle. Protect the den. Protect the pack. Kill what threatens what is ours.
She closed the door gently and crossed to the bed.
The pup leapt onto the blankets before she reached them, claws scratching once at the quilt before it found its curl. It lifted its face to her with eyes that did not ask questions no one could answer.
Sera lay down and let the mattress take her weight, stroking its head. "I’m going to call you Luci," she said at last. Her creature hummed in agreement. "It’s short for Lucifer, the woman who gave me everything when I had nothing. She is the reason why I am here now, why you are sitting in the lap of warmth and luxury of all this and not a den."
The pup licked her fingers as if agreeing with what she had said.
Sera didn’t know if the puppy was a boy or a girl, but either way, the name worked.
"Thank you, Hattie," she breathed out, getting more comfortable in her bed as she stared at the ceiling. The pup... Luci... crawled up on her chest and circled into a tight ball before going to sleep.
She let out the breath that she had been holding when nothing replied.
She went back to listening to the sounds the penthouse made when it got settled down.
The fire popped. The wind stroked the glass. Far above, bees whispered in their warm glass garden.
The city lay silent under ice and water, never being seen again.
Across the tundra, the tilted tower held its dead at the base of a broken window.
There would be no more talk of going over. There would be no more talk of letting anyone in. Elias had given the verdict that mattered. It matched the law she had already written in her blood.
Not human anymore.
Therefore, they didn’t need them anymore.
She was sure that Elias would have a hundred questions for her in the morning, but for the first time in a while, she wasn’t scared to answer any of them.
If the tower tried again, she would meet them on the roof and end it before the wind could. She would make sure the others watched through the glass. She would make sure the lesson held.
In the living room, Zubair’s steps marked a slow circle as he checked locks by touch. Alexei’s knife clicked into a sheath. Lachlan’s breath came long and unsteady, then shorter, then even. Elias closed a drawer with a quiet snap.
The pack settled.
The fortress held.
Sera closed her eyes, and for the first time since the glint, the penthouse felt like hers again.