The Triplet Alphas' Curse: Rejected by the Wolfless Luna.

Chapter 181: Episode 181.

Jennifer Mckern, you are so much appreciated. ❤️

.....

It landed warm against Torak’s chest.

Torak felt them immediately. His entire body tightened. "Adele..."

She made a small frustrated sound before shoving weakly against him.

"I hate this," she whispered shakily.

Torak loosened his hold enough for her to pull back slightly.

Adele immediately turned her face away, humiliated again. Her lashes looked wet beneath the lantern light now.

Torak stared at her quietly. He had never seen anything more devastating.

Adele sniffed once more before laughing bitterly at herself. "This is pathetic."

"No."

"Yes." She wiped quickly beneath one eye. "Look at me."

Torak reached for her face gently before turning it back toward him.

Adele resisted weakly at first, then stopped.

"You are not pathetic." He told her, and he meant it.

She looked unconvinced.

Torak’s thumb brushed carefully beneath her eye, wiping away the dampness there. The tenderness of the movement nearly broke her composure again.

"You are exhausted," he corrected softly. "And frightened."

Adele’s expression hardened slightly. "I am not frightened." She argued immediately.

Torak held her gaze. He tilted his head softly. "You are, Adele. I see you."

Adele looked down suddenly. "You were not supposed to notice." She whispered.

The bruise was from the night Lucian visited, and her father hosted that humiliating dinner, and asked Torak to remain standing.

He had hit her for walking out of him.

Torak’s heart stopped. He swallowed once. "What did he do?" he asked softly.

Adele stiffened instantly again. "There is no he."

"Adele."

"My father is a good man." She defended him immediately.

The defense came too quickly, and too rehearsed.

Torak recognized it immediately.

Adele stepped away from him afterward. This time he let her. She folded both arms tightly across herself again, rebuilding her armour piece by piece.

"You know nothing about my family."

Torak watched her carefully.

Adele kept her eyes fixed somewhere beyond him now. "My father sacrificed everything for this family."

Torak remained quiet.

"He built our territory from nothing after my grandfather died."

Her voice steadied slightly the more she spoke. Repeating those facts helped her regain control again.

"He gave me education, status, and protection."

"As he should. He is your father." Torak’s jaw tightened faintly. "And what does he ask in return?" he asked quietly.

Adele looked at him sharply. "Obedience," she answered flatly.

Torak stared at her silently.

"See?" She spread her hands slightly. "Nothing unreasonable."

Torak’s voice lowered carefully. "And when you disappoint him?"

Adele froze. She hadn’t expected him to corner her that way. Now she felt so raw before him.

The silence afterward answered him louder than words could have.

Torak felt rage rise slowly inside his chest. The thought of someone making this woman afraid to disappoint them made no sense to him.

Adele noticed the shift in him instantly. "You will say nothing about this," she warned quietly.

Torak looked at her.

"I mean it. Surely, you’ll be asked how you got so close enough to notice a bruise in such a sacred place in a lady."

Torak dragged one hand slowly through his hair afterward before turning slightly away.

He needed a second. One second to think.

Adele moved up behind him. She rested her hands on his shoulders. Torak relaxed under her touch, but not entirely.

"Promise me, Torak." She urged. "I need your word that you’d say nothing about this."

Torak drew in a sharp breath. He turned to her, and took her hands in his. "I love you, Adele," he kissed the back of both hands tenderly before he went on. "I can promise you anything, but not this."

The lantern light flickered softly across her face while rain continued whispering faintly beyond the hidden walls.

Torak still held both her hands inside his own.

"Adele," he said quietly, "you asked me once what frightens me about you."

She swallowed softly.

"This."

Her brows furrowed faintly.

Torak looked down briefly at her hands before lifting his eyes back toward her again. "The fact that someone taught you pain is something to hide."

Adele’s expression shifted immediately. She got defensive again. "My father did nothing."

Torak’s jaw flexed sharply. "You flinched when I raised my voice."

He stepped closer instinctively. "And instead of anger, your first instinct was shame." His voice dropped lower now. "You stepped back from me like you expected worse."

Adele’s breathing turned uneven again.

"You do not understand people’s families," she whispered tightly.

"Then help me understand."

"He did not beat me." The words came too quickly. "He wasn’t himself."

Torak stared at her.

Adele hated that stare. She hated how quietly he watched her, and she hated how seen she felt standing before him now.

"He struck me once," she snapped suddenly, lying through her teeth. "Once. Gods, Torak, you speak as though he drags me through corridors."

Torak’s eyes darkened immediately. The fact that she thought that changed anything destroyed him.

He released one of her hands slowly before lifting the other carefully toward his mouth again. He pressed a kiss against her knuckles, but this time the gesture felt sorrowful.

"Adele Glinda Blackfen," he whispered roughly, "the first time should have been enough."

Her throat tightened violently.

Adele pulled her hand from his grasp abruptly before stepping away again. "Do not do that."

"Do what?"

"Do this," she whispered shakily, "Right now, you’re staring at me like something terrible happened to me."

Torak let out a soft sigh. Something terrible had happened to her and somehow she still believed she was overreacting.

Adele folded both arms tightly across herself again, trying desperately to rebuild distance between them.

"My father carries an entire territory on his shoulders," she said quietly. "You think powerful men remain soft forever?"

Torak’s expression hardened faintly. "My father never touched my mother in anger."

Adele laughed bitterly. "Congratulations to him." she said sarcastically.

Torak went still.

The bitterness in her voice did not belong to someone shocked by violence. It belonged to someone accustomed to excusing it.

"Adele," he said carefully, "if a man ever laid hands on you outside your family name, what would your father do?"

She frowned faintly. "He would kill him." That was a fact

"And yet he expects understanding for himself?"

That struck her, and Torak saw it immediately.

Adele’s lips parted slightly before closing again. Uncertainty crossed her face.

Torak stepped toward her again slowly.

"He taught you loyalty so thoroughly," he murmured, "that you defend the hand that bruised you."

Adele’s eyes burned instantly.

"No," she whispered sharply. "You are trying to twist this into something ugly."

Torak’s voice softened immediately. "I am trying not to."

She looked furious now. He now saw too much, and part of her knew he was right.

Adele’s eyes shimmered faintly again. She turned away quickly before he could see more.

Torak shut his eyes briefly. He inhaled slowly before speaking again. "You wanted to punish yourself tonight."

Adele froze.

Torak moved closer behind her carefully now. He stood close enough that she could feel his warmth.

"You were not trying to reclaim power," he said quietly. "You were trying to humiliate yourself before someone else could hand it to you first."

Adele’s breath caught painfully.

"And that terrifies me."

Adele spoke. "You make me feel weak."

Torak’s expression softened. He stepped closer before answering softly, "No, love."

The word slipped out naturally.

Adele shut her eyes instantly.

Torak’s voice lowered further. "You are exhausted. You’re not weak."

Her lips trembled once.

Torak crossed the remaining distance immediately before pulling her back into his arms again.

This time Adele did not stiffen immediately.

She only stood there breathing shakily against him while his arms wrapped around her carefully.

Torak rested his cheek lightly against her hair.

"I should not have yelled at you."

Adele swallowed hard.

"When you stepped back from me..." His voice roughened painfully. "Gods, Adele."

She shut her eyes tighter.

"I thought you feared me."

A soft broken laugh escaped her throat. "I did."

Torak’s heart stopped.

Adele’s fingers curled weakly against the front of his shirt afterward. She played with the fabric.

"You sounded like him."

The confession nearly brought Torak to his knees.

For several seconds he could not speak at all. His arms tightened around her. "I am sorry," he whispered against her hair. "I am so sorry."

Adele breathed unevenly against his chest.

Torak lowered his head slightly afterward until his lips rested near her temple. "I would cut my own tongue before speaking to you like that again." He promised.

Adele laughed weakly through the remnants of tears. "But you won’t promise not to say a word about this?"

"Not this."