Scarlett’s POV
I glared at Leo and Leonard one last time, the coldness in my chest turning into pure, boiling fury. I didn’t say another word to them. Turning on my heel, I stormed out of the office, slamming the heavy door behind me.
My heart was bleeding through the cracked bond, but I forced my legs to move faster. I had to find Liam.
I hurried down the dimly lit hallway of the residential wing until I reached his bedroom door. Pushing it open, I stepped inside and shut it softly behind me.
The room was completely dark. Liam was sitting on the edge of the large bed, his head resting in his hands, his broad shoulders shaking slightly. The powerful Alpha looked completely small and broken in the shadows.
Hearing the door, he slowly lifted his head. His green eyes were completely red, filled with a deep, silent agony that slashed straight through my soul.
"Scarlett," he whispered, his voice incredibly raw and rough. He let out a bitter, tragic laugh. "You shouldn’t be here. I know you probably don’t trust me right now. Go back to them. I don’t blame you."
The heartbreak in his voice made my wolf cry out. Without a second thought, I rushed across the room and threw myself onto the bed, wrapping my arms tightly around his neck. I pulled him against me, burying my face in his chest.
"I believe you," I said fiercely, my voice cracking with emotion as I held him with everything I had. "I believe you, Liam. Look at me."
He pulled back slightly, his eyes wide with a desperate, shocking hope.
"I know you didn’t do this," I insisted, cupping his face in my hands, my thumbs wiping away the blood still tracing down his chin. "I know someone is setting you up. This is a trap, Liam. The Shadow Pack wants to cause a rift."
A sudden, dangerous heat flared in Liam’s eyes, his alpha aura roaring to life for a split second. "I’ll kill them," he growled, his fists clenching tightly against the bedsheets. "I will go back out there right now and tear apart every single remaining warrior in that damn Shadow Pack until someone tells me the truth."
"No, don’t!" I urged, pressing my hands firmly against his chest to keep him grounded. "If you run out there now, Leo and Leonard will think you’re fleeing or trying to join the enemy. We can’t act blindly. We will look for a way to prove your innocence together. We just need to find the real traitor. The one who told the Shadow Pack the tactics."
Liam looked up at me, a heavy tear finally escaping his eye and rolling down his cheek. It broke my heart to see him like this.
"The things Leo said..." Liam choked out, his chest heaving as he struggled to speak. "Yes, he’s right about one thing, Scar. I want you all to myself. Yes, the thought of sharing you hurts sometimes, and I don’t want to do it. But I would never wish death on my brothers. They are practically my life. We grew up together. We fought together. Why would they even believe that? How could they ever think I would betray them and this entire pack?"
He looked so completely devastated, the weight of his own blood turning against him tearing him apart from the inside out.
I couldn’t stand seeing him in so much pain. I leaned forward, hugging him even tighter, burying my hands in his thick hair as I pulled him into a deep, desperate kiss. I poured every ounce of my love and loyalty into it, letting him feel through our cracked bond that I was completely on his side.
When I finally pulled away, our foreheads rested against each other, our breaths mingling in the dark.
"I believe you," I whispered again, kissing his eyelids, his nose, and the corner of his split lip. "And right now, that is all that matters. We are in this together, Liam. I won’t let them destroy you."
He let out a shaky breath, nodding slowly against my skin as he tightly wrapped his large arms around my waist, anchoring me to him.
"I’m staying here," I said softly, smoothing down his messy hair. "I’ll spend the night with you."
Liam froze. He slowly shook his head, a look of deep worry crossing his handsome face. "No, Scar. You can’t. It might really anger my brothers. If they see you sleeping in my bed tonight after everything that happened, it will make them completely lose their minds."
I let out a sharp, mocking scoff, rolling my eyes at him. "Since when do you care what people say, Liam? Since when do you care about angering them?"
Liam looked away, a dark, heavy shadow falling over his face as he stared at the floor.
"Well," he whispered, his voice dripping with a cold, terrifying reality. "Since I was accused of treason against my own blood."
His words hit like a bucket of ice water, showing me just how much this whole mess was breaking his spirit. But I wasn’t going to let him slide into the dark.
I reached out and clicked on the small bedside lamp, lighting up the room with a soft, warm glow. Liam winced slightly, blocking the light with his hand, but I gently pulled his wrist down so he had to look at me.
"Let’s sleep, Liam," I said, my voice soft but firm. "It’s already so late, and you are completely exhausted."
He let out a rough sigh, staring at the mattress. "I don’t feel like sleeping, Scar. My mind is spinning. I don’t think I can even close my eyes."
"You have to," I insisted, rubbing his tense shoulders. "Tomorrow, we are going to wake up early and look for a way to fix this. We need our energy to find the real traitor. So, no more arguing."
He looked at me for a long moment, seeing that I wasn’t going to back down, and finally gave a small, defeated nod.
I pulled him back onto the mattress, kicking off my shoes and crawling under the heavy duvet with him. He lay flat on his back, and I immediately moved closer, resting my head right over his beating heart. His large arms wrapped around me automatically, pulling me so close that there was absolutely no space between us.
He let out a long, shaky sigh into my hair. "Thank you for trusting me, Scarlett. Seriously... if you didn’t believe me right now, I wouldn’t have been able to take it. I think it would have killed me."
I nodded against his chest, tightening my hold on his waist.
"I love you," he whispered into the quiet room.
"I love you too," I answered softly.
I didn’t hesitate for a single second. The words flew out of my mouth naturally, completely straight from my heart.
Liam suddenly froze. His heart gave a massive, violent thud against my cheek. He seemed completely shocked, clearly not expecting me to say it back so easily. Before I could even blink, he sat straight up in bed, staring down at me with wide, disbelieving green eyes.
"What... what did you just say?" he asked, his voice shaking.
I couldn’t help but let out a soft laugh at his expression, sitting up with him. "I said I love you, Liam. I have been in love with you for as long as I can remember."
"Maybe," he murmured, his hands reaching up to cradle my face, his thumbs trembling against my cheeks. "But you... you never said it this way before. Not like this."
"Well, I am saying it now," I smiled gently, looking right into his soul. "And I mean every single word."
A beautiful, raw emotion washed over his face. Without another word, he pulled me into a deep, passionate kiss. This kiss wasn’t like the desperate one from before; it was full of pure love, relief, and a silent promise. It felt like he was memorizing the taste of me, holding onto my declaration of love like it was the only real thing left in his crumbling world.
"Thank you," he whispered against my lips when he finally let me breathe. "Thank you, my love."
We lay back down together, the heavy tension from the office finally melting away inside this small circle of lamplight. He pulled the blanket up over our shoulders, resting his chin against the top of my head while his hand gently stroked my back.
He pressed one last, sweet kiss onto my hair. Within minutes, the exhaustion of the terrible day caught up to him, and his breathing turned deep and even. Snuggled tight against his warm chest, I finally closed my eyes and let sleep take me, knowing that tomorrow, the real fight for his innocence would begin.
The steady, comforting rhythm of Liam’s heartbeat beneath my cheek slowly faded away as a harsh, chaotic noise dragged me out of my sleep.
I bolted upright in bed, my heart instantly hammering against my ribs. The morning sun was barely filtering through the curtains, but the packhouse was already in absolute chaos. Loud, angry shouts and the heavy stomping of boots echoed right outside the door, vibrating through the floorboards.
I reached out to my side, my hand brushing against cold, empty sheets.
"Liam?" I called out, my voice thick with sleep.
There was no answer. He was gone.