Chapter 350\u00a0<\/p>\n
Riley\u2019s POV\u00a0<\/p>\n
Finished\u00a0<\/p>\n
They said family was supposed to protect you. But as I stood in that sterile hospital room, every word out of Alaric\u2019s mouth twisted that lie a little deeper into my bones.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s a danger,\u201d he spat. \u201cAnyone who dares lift a knife against her own father will do it again.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Zara\u2019s voice was tight with hesitation, but she didn\u2019t argue. Not really. She never did when it involved Scarlett. Not when it meant choosing between me and her precious adopted jewel.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s your daughter too, Alaric,\u201d she whispered, voice trembling.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd exactly for that reason, she needs to be gone.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Gone.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Like trash. Like a burden.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Like a weapon they couldn\u2019t control.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They wanted to marry me off. To bind me to the Alpha of Stormridge Pack from Northhaven-because I was expendable, and they needed a business deal. That\u2019s what I was to them: leverage with a heartbeat.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Zara looked back at me before they walked out-guilt in her eyes, but no courage in her bones. She said nothing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cowards, all of them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They thought I couldn\u2019t hear through these thin hospital walls. They forgot I was a wolf too.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The second the door closed, I clenched my fists so hard my healing fingers throbbed in protest. My claws nearly pierced my own palm.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Alaric wanted to use me to broker a merger.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Zara just didn\u2019t want Scarlett to suffer.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And me?\u00a0<\/p>\n
I was just a pawn with a price tag.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Laughter burst from my chest, hollow and sharp. The kind of laughter that didn\u2019t bring relief-only a burning clarity.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Fine. If they wanted to use me, I\u2019d let them think they\u2019d won. But they\u2019d regret underestimating me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I slipped out of the room.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My leg was still dragging slightly from the injury, but the burn of betrayal gave me enough strength to limp through the corridor without stopping. I didn\u2019t know where I was going. I just needed to breathe.\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/3\u00a0<\/p>\n
14:58 Sun, Dec 28 G\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 350\u00a0<\/p>\n
I pushed open the stairwell door, expecting silence.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But there was someone already there.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A man leaned against the wall, half-shrouded in the shadows. The scent of smoke hung in the air-rich, dry. with a hint of crushed pine ash. Not cheap cigarettes. Something darker. Earthier.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My steps slowed as I looked up.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He stood on the upper landing, half a flight above me, but it wasn\u2019t the angle that made him look like a god.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was everything.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The way his suit clung to a tall, broad-shouldered frame built like it had been honed for battle. The subtle silver lining on his cuffs. The glint of a signet ring on his right hand. But more than that\u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n
His face.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Moonlight through the stairwell window sliced across sharp cheekbones, a defined jawline, and lips shaped like a cruel promise. His eyes, deep-set and impossibly dark, watched me like a predator sizing up something unfamiliar-but not uninteresting.\u00a0<\/p>\n
His aura was crushing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Not wild, not reckless-controlled. Deliberate. Dangerous.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He was the kind of man you felt before you saw.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And my wolf\u2026 stirred.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It blinked inside me. Awake. Alert. Curious.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I should\u2019ve turned around. Should\u2019ve excused myself and found another corner to suffer in peace.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But I didn\u2019t.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Because he was looking at me too.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Our gazes met across the stairwell. Neither of us moved.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Then his brow lifted just barely, and he exhaled another long stream of smoke. The scent curled toward me. invasive and heady. It made my lungs tighten.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I stopped halfway down the stairs, clutching the railing with a tremble I hoped he couldn\u2019t see,\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSorry,\u201d he said, his voice deep, quiet. Measured. Like thunder you only heard once it passed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He made a motion to put out the cigarette.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But something inside me-something sharp and bitter and reckless-snapped.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWait,\u201d I said hoarsely, \u201cDo you have another?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
His head tilted. His eyes didn\u2019t widen. He wasn\u2019t surprised.\u00a0<\/p>\n
2\/3\u00a0<\/p>\n
14:58 Sun, Dec 28 GA\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 350\u00a0<\/p>\n
Just intrigued.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThought you didn\u2019t like the smell,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t,\u201d I admitted. \u201cBut I need something to burn.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Finished\u00a0<\/p>\n
He studied me for a moment longer, then reached into the inner pocket of his coat and pulled out the silver tin. He tossed it to me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I caught it with one hand, wincing at the jolt it sent up my sore wrist.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He watched that too.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t look like you should be walking,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t look like someone who loiters in stairwells,\u201d I shot back.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He smirked. It was a small thing, but it was lethal.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t loiter,\u201d he said. \u201cI wait. There\u2019s a difference.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I pulled out a cigarette, lips trembling as I raised it to my mouth. I didn\u2019t even smoke. But I needed the taste of something bitter. Something that wasn\u2019t blood.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He flicked a flame for me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The fire caught.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And for a moment, our fingers almost touched.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I feel an unusual temperature at my fingertips.\u00a0<\/p>\n
788\u00a0<\/p>\n
W\u00a0<\/p>\n
3\/3\u00a0<\/p>\n
Joseph King is an editor and storyteller who ensures every chapter is clear, polished, and engaging for readers.<\/p>\n
Midnight Letters by Daniel Crowe 350 Chapter 350\u00a0 Riley\u2019s POV\u00a0 Finished\u00a0 They said family was supposed to protect you. But […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pack-princess"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20623\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}