Where Soft Light Shines Darkness Fades From Tired Hearts by Evan Holt Crane 416

hapter 416

Third Person’s POV

Fred pulled up just in time, his heart racing at the sight. “Cassian, let it go! The broken mating bond is. eating you alive. If you keep pushing, your body is going to give out!”

Cassian violently shoved Fred’s hand away, the blood–red tint in his eyes nearly overflowing.

He let out a sound that was half–sob, half–howl. “I can’t wait anymore! It feels like our connection is being sawed apart piece by piece… I need her to say it to my face!”

Trista watched his chest heave with every ragged breath. Somewhere deep inside, in a corner she thought she’d locked away forever, she felt a tiny, involuntary twitch of pain.

She stayed silent for a moment before turning to the others. “Xander, Fred… just go.”

Xander understood. If Trista didn’t handle this head–on, this spiraling man would stalk her to the grave.

He reined in his aura, gave her a quiet, knowing look, and drove off with Fred.

The highway fell silent, save for the wind.

The moonlight was harsh, stretching their shadows across the asphalt.

Cassian, once a man of iron, looked like he was about to collapse.

He tried to speak, but the metallic tang of stomach acid and blood choked his throat.

Trista watched him with flat, detached eyes. “Alpha Cassian, if you have something to say, say it.”

The coldness in her voice cut deeper than any blade.

Cassian staggered forward, his eyes rimmed with red, and grabbed her shoulders. He leaned down, staring into her eyes with a look of pure, desperate madness. “Why did Elias give you something that expensive?”

Without waiting for her to answer, he started shaking her, his voice rising to a frantic roar. “Why would you take it? Why would you wear something he bought you?! Do you have any idea what that means? He’s hunting you, Trista! He wants you!”

Late at night, Trista stood at the roadside.

Her silence was a wall, a total erasure of their past. She looked at him as if he were a complete stranger:

She waited for the beast inside him to finish its tantrum before speaking in a low, level tone. Cassian. Ito single. I’m not bound by pack laws anymore. I’ll take gifts from whoever I want, and I’ll wear whatever 1 feel like. My life has absolutely nothing to do with you.”

Her voice wasn’t loud, but every word hit him like a sledgehammer to the skull.

Cassian couldn’t accept it. He shook his head violently, trying to find a spark of their dead connection in her denial. “No, that’s not true. You don’t mean that!”

12:07 pm W

He stared at her, his eyes wild with a sickly obsession. “I don’t care if the bond is broken. In my heart, you’re still my Luna. You’re the only mate I’ll ever acknowledge. I won’t allow you to take things from

other men!”

Trista’s lips curled into a smirk, her eyes full of contempt for this late–to–the–party possessiveness. “Cassian, I’m not your accessory, and I’m definitely not your property. I don’t care what you think. As far as I’m concerned, you’re just a rotting memory.”

Her defiance only made him spiral further.

He grabbed her wrist, dragging her toward him with a rough, frantic energy. He was vibrating with an anxiety so intense he looked like he might shift right there on the sidewalk.

“Elias is a shark!”

Cassian growled, his voice distorted by the discovery of a rival. “He’s older, he’s been mated, he has a son- you’ve barely met the guy! He drops thirty million on a dress and you don’t see his angle?”

Trista wrenched her arm back, her strength surprising him as she broke his grip. “Whatever his angle is, that’s my business. It has nothing to do with a wolf who means nothing to me!”

Cassian lost it. He lunged forward, wrapping her in a crushing embrace and burying his face in the crook of her neck, trying to force a spark of their old chemistry. “Trista, you’re mine! After everything we’ve been through, I won’t let you say those things!”

Trista fought him, clawing at his arms. The suffocating, heavy pressure of his aura made her feel physically sick, but he only held her tighter.

In a flash of desperation, she leaned down and bit him–hard–right through his suit jacket into his chest.

Cassian let out a muffled grunt of pain, but he didn’t let go. He couldn’t even feel the sting. Instead, he tightened his hold, burying his face deeper into her neck, greedily inhaling her scent even as it continued to fade.

The high–and–mighty Alpha pride was gone. He was broken. He sounded like he was begging. “Trista. please… just be good. Give the money back to Elias…”

Sensing her go quiet in his arms, a sudden, paralyzing fear gripped his heart.

He held her close, his voice dropping to a low, desperate lure, trying to re–thread a broken needle. I’ll give you everything. All my assets, my territory, whatever you want to buy. Just don’t take anything from him anymore, okay?”

Cassian waited for a response–a sigh, a nod, a spark of the old, submissive Trista. Nothing.

Panicked by the silence, he loosened his grip slightly, his voice a pathetic plea. “Trista, talk to me! Say something!”

12:07 pm W

The Heartbroken Luna’s Choice: Banish Love

Sara Lili

Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.