The Pack's Daughter (Aysel and Magnus) novel Chapter 265

Chapter 265

Magnus’s POV

I was just returning from fetching Aysel’s cloak when I felt a presence shift beside me. Olivia Darkmoon stepped out of the shadows, eyes sharp.

“Looking for Aysel?” she asked, voice sweet but edged with claws.

I didn’t answer immediately. My arm rested lazily on the cloak, but inside, my wolf bristled at her intrusion. The blood of the pack thrummed in my veins; I wanted only to enjoy a rare moment with Aysel, the wind in her hair, the quiet in the mountains, and yet here came someone who didn’t understand boundaries.

I gave her a slow glance, letting the disinterest seep into my posture. No words. Just the cold patience of an Alpha who has learned restraint.

Her lips trembled, her disappointment obvious. “You really… like her that much? I thought you’d never care for anyone.”

She was clever, thinking she could read the wolf in me, but she didn’t know how deep the instincts ran. She could sniff desire, sure-but love? That belonged solely to Aysel. My wolf snarled at the thought of another pressing too close.

“Do I like Aysel? Is it that obvious?” I asked, voice low, teeth barely hidden behind a faint curl of my lips.

Her face drained of color. Typical. She thought passion was a gentle thing. She had no idea how consuming it could be-how territorial.

I moved past her, the cloak dangling from my arm, leaving a cold shadow in my wake. Aysel was out there, and the wind was sharp; I couldn’t risk her catching cold. My wolf growled softly, a low warning that any human who dared follow would pay.

“Magnus!” Olivia’s voice cut after me. She dared to raise it, spilling her desire into the night. “I like you!”

My stride didn’t falter. The wolf within surged, instincts screaming at me to protect my territory. She was not mine to take.

Redness flared in her eyes as she tried to intercept me, lunging with the boldness of a desperate hunter. “I’ve loved you since I was seventeen! Look at me! Why won’t you see me?”

I pivoted, swift and fluid, wolf senses guiding every movement, dodging her grasp with the elegance of a predator. My patience had limits, and she was testing them.

Damn it.

Her intrusion made me feel tainted, like a scent left on prey before I was ready. My eyes darkened, storms rolling beneath the surface. The Shadowbane blood in me warned her: overstep again, and there would be

consequences.

She stumbled, caught by her own momentum, crashing heavily to the earth. I stopped a step, letting her experience the vulnerability she had sought to impose on me.

“Is it my aunt Ivy?” she asked breathlessly, crimson staining her cheeks. “Is that why you won’t accept me?”

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I looked down, eyes narrowing, wolf teeth just barely bared in annoyance. “No, Olivia Darkmoon. I don’t like you. You are… irritating.”

The bluntness of it should have burned her, yet she trembled with disbelief. She had never faced such unvarnished rejection. My wolf growled, circling, scenting her fear, marking the boundary she had dared to

cross.

She spat out my rival’s name, trying to challenge me: “Where do I fall short of Aysel? Family, strength, reputation, grace-what makes her better than me?”

I stopped, eyes cold, and let a predator’s laugh escape. “You? Compared to Aysel? She needs no comparison. I love her because she is Aysel. No matter the merits of a thousand others, no matter her faults, my heart belongs only to her.”

“Olivia,” I warned, voice freezing with ice, wolf instincts sharpening every word. “One more move, and you’ll regret being born into this world.”

She shivered, sprawled on the ground, and I could smell the genuine terror flooding her scent. Wolves read fear as clearly as the wind reads the mountains. She knew I could and would act.

She tried one last play, biting back tears. “You’ve forgotten that night seven years ago? I saved you…

I froze, wolf senses alert but unmoved. She thought the debt could sway me, that a single act could bind an Alpha to her.

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