All Chapters of Born to shine: Chapter 81 - Chapter 90

94 Chapters

81. For Now

🦊 Melanie POV I ran as if possessed—branches tearing at my face and hands, my bare feet hurting every time I stepped on a sharp stone. Howls followed me from behind. My pursuers were getting closer every second, but I did not look back. I needed to reach the clearing before they got to me. So I ran harder, faster, pushing my aching body beyond its limits. But it did not really matter—I was in human form, and they were wolves. Big. Dark. Hunting. Me. My heart was beating so loudly that I could not even register the sounds around me anymore. Then it happened—I was out of the forest, and the border of the nearest pack was almost within reach. I screamed for help. No one came forward. No one was going to save me. I felt the breath of the wolf behind me, just inches from my neck. My time was up. Suddenly—crash. Hard. A massive wolf’s body slammed into another. I came to a full stop. Didn’t turn around. Couldn’t. I was frozen in place, caught in the scent that hit me. I

82. River

🍃 Arria POV “We left her there as agreed,” Stone reported. “The border patrols chased after us. We could not stay behind and check what happened after we ran into the woods.” “She will be fine.” Fenrir’s conviction made my chest loosen a little. The worry was still etched deep in my heart, but it was bearable now. Fenrir turned toward Greg. “Keep an eye on the checkpoint. We will get a letter in three days.” He nodded once. “Tomorrow. Ten o’clock. Here.” Stone and Greg said goodbye and left the house. Silence settled for a moment. Too many things were hanging by a thread. Too many things could go wrong. Too many people—important people—were in danger. We were planning, preparing, and betting on the ones we trusted, but in the end, it still might not be enough. “Walk?” Fenrir asked. “Sure.” I slipped my hand into his. The difference in size was obvious. And simply perfect. His warmth seeped into me, and a small exhale left me. Everywhere, I thought. I would f

83. Bedtime

🌘 Fenrir POV “They betrayed me too,” she said softly. “But I still love them. That is what I want my rose to learn.” I said nothing. There was nothing to say. The things she described were too unfamiliar to me. A family. A real one. Natural closeness. Affection. Care. No hundreds of soldiers standing between a child and the rest of the world. No guarded corridors and whispers about power. Or palace walls built to protect me as much as to contain me. Just a little girl with red hair caught by the wind, green eyes full of trust, and a broken castle that mattered enough to make her cry. I had seen a glimpse of that girl. Just once. When she stomped her foot at me. The sheer offense in her eyes. The way she had acted on impulse, without caring what I would see or how I would react. My gaze focused back on her. Arria was curled against me, warm and soft, but still too cautious in ways that made my wolf restless. She had learned to fold herself small. To measure her words.

84. Help

🍃 Arria POV “Come on, Arria,” Greg said. “You are faster than this.” “I could two hours ago,” I breathed out, never breaking the series of evasive steps. “Now I can’t feel my legs or my arms.” He didn’t slow down. Of course he did not. I kept retreating, shifting my weight from one foot to the other, turning my shoulders just enough to avoid the next strike. Greg was not trying to hit me hard. He was trying to make me fail. And I was very close to giving him the satisfaction. My heel touched the wall. I realized it a heartbeat too late. Greg’s fist came forward and landed right beside my head, cracking into the plaster hard enough to send dust and tiny white pieces raining down over my shoulder. I froze. Then I placed one hand against his chest and pushed. Greg stepped back at once. I slid down the wall and landed on the floor, breathing like I had run across half the realm. “You are dismissed, Your Royal Cruelty.” Greg laughed. “I’ll take that as a compliment.

85. Opportunity

🍃 Arria POV“Less good,” he said.The water was running in the shower.The meeting at ten was in less than twenty minutes now.He had said everything.It had to be everything, because he was silent now.But he did not move. Did not step back. Did not lean in.He only held my gaze in a way that made my heart thump faster in my chest.Warmth spread under my skin.For a moment, I was sure he would kiss me.But instead, he took one sharp breath and retreated, leaving the bathroom without a word.I stayed there, my head empty and my heart full.Slowly, reality came back.The water was still running, and I was still sitting on the sink countertop.I slipped down unsteadily until my feet touched the floor, then pulled my clothes off.My reflection caught me in the mirror.My skin was flushed. The braid I had made that morning was barely recognizable anymore. But that was not what made me go still.It was my eyes.They were shining.Not the dull green they had become after Aron entered my li

86. Present

🍃 Arria POV Greg’s mouth tightened. He had probably already seen more than ten different ways to make Melanie’s presence there work in our favor. Ways to help her strengthen her position inside Oak Crest. But he kept it to himself. “Where does the loyalty of those thirteen packs lie?” Fenrir asked. “Practical,” Greg answered. “Not emotional.” Fenrir gave a slow nod. “Good. Practical loyalty is easier to predict.” Martha’s fingers tapped once against the table. “If we pressure them, we make ourselves look like the threat.” “We won’t,” Fenrir said. “We don’t threaten supply lines.” My breath caught. I had seen too many decisions made regardless of what they cost other packs. Not Fenrir. He named the dependence without turning it into a threat. “We strengthen them,” he continued. “We do not tell the communities that they need us. They already know that. We simply make it impossible for them to forget it, or underestimate our words.”Judging by Stone’s expression, he was a

Chapter 87. Let go

🍃 Arria POV They took the hint and left the moment I finished talking. “You are ordering them now?” Fenrir asked. I did not answer. Instead, I slipped my arm up his chest and over his shoulder until I had a hold on him. I pulled myself into his lap with my knees on both sides of his legs. His fingers twitched, but he let his hands stay relaxed on the sofa. Fine. My gaze moved up his arm, over his shoulder, and landed on his neck. It was flawless again, without a trace of the mark I had given him. I tilted my head slightly, considering whether to make him a new one or if the first had been pathetic enough. “I liked it while it lasted,” he said, his voice steady. Before I had to decide what to do with that information, he tilted his head slightly. The invitation was clear. And I would not refuse him. Or myself. I leaned in, my cheek brushing his. He stilled, and a small smile rose to my lips. The anger had made me bold, but his reaction to me made me bolder. I wanted t

88. The Exception

🌘 Fenrir POV Control was meant as protection. It was the wall between me and the world that kept others safe. That was the universal truth I had grown up with. But Arria had proved herself the exception. From the day I first met her until now, neither Alaric nor I had ever felt anger toward her. We did not feel threatened. Or challenged. Not in the way that triggered the curse. Every time she said no, Alaric purred ‘Cute’. If she provoked me, he heard it as an invitation to play. His destructive nature went quiet when it was just me and her in the room. So keeping my control intact when we were alone with her was more habit than objective need. And now… Now she was angry and had emptied the room just to take on the role of seductress. Her anger fueled her boldness. And that boldness made her willing to explore. I thought she was pushing for a reaction from me. I knew she was. ‘Let’s play.’ Right. Her physical proximity was waking another kind of beast in me. Not

89. The Deal

🍃 Arria POV I was still half-lying against his chest, my body soft and useless. Fenrir’s arms were wrapped around me—the left one resting on my thigh and the other making slow, steady, reassuring circles over my back. He was waiting for my reaction, worried about how I felt. He shouldn’t. Yes, embarrassment tried to slip in, but I pushed it away because he did not deserve that, and because I did not regret a single thing that had happened between us. “It was…” I wanted to break the silence, to let him know I felt content, but I hadn’t prepared the words. “Something,” I finished, for lack of another, more precise word. It sounded stupid. I knew that. But my mind was still mushy and lazy, and apparently that was the best it could offer. “Something?” he repeated, tasting the word, his tone carefully neutral. It did not sound enough to me either. “A very good something,” I added softly. His hand stilled on my back for a second, then continued. Okay. That hadn’t gone as I had

90. Last Defense

🍃 Arria POV After we had both showered, eaten, and pretended the office had not just become something entirely different, Fenrir returned to work while I headed to school to pick up Milena for some quality bonding time at the playground.“Arria.” I was so lost in my thoughts that I almost ran into Stone. “Sorry,” I said, already sidestepping him. But his serious voice came again. “May I have a moment?” I stopped mid-step, not entirely sure if I really wanted to speak with him or Greg at the moment. I hadn't lied when I told Fenrir I was not angry with him. But when it came to them… that was a different story. Stone caught my hesitation but didn't retreat. “I could walk with you wherever you are going.” “School. Twenty minutes,” I stated and resumed walking. “Thank you.” The way he said it stirred something in me. There was nothing different in his tone, and still, I would swear it sounded resigned. And of course, I felt guilty for making him feel bad. He had always fol

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