Defy The Alpha(s)

Chapter 277: Blurry Lines

If there was one trait Violet thrived on, it was being stubborn. And for the first time, she was glad for that. Violet Purple never left Asher’s room. No, she sat her ass right there. Asher couldn’t hide his own ass forever. Moreover, she had come here under the influence of his power.

Unfortunately, she wasn’t brave enough to return to the shack at this ungodly hour. It was three in the morning—she’d checked Asher’s phone, seeing as she came here with nothing—and the way back home was terrifying. Violet wasn’t a chicken, but there are just some stupid risks you don’t take.

Not all the wolves liked her, and she could still remember the phantom weight of those unseen eyes watching her on her way here. If she left now, any of them could take this opportunity to harm her, and no one would come to her aid. If Asher wanted her gone, then he should be the one to walk her back.

And if he wouldn’t? Well, then she’d sit her ass right here until morning when the path back would be safer. Damn the consequences of being seen.

Unfortunately, the night had already been rough so far, and sitting alone on that bed just staring up at the ceiling, waiting for Asher to come out, it wasn’t surprising that sleep eventually claimed her.

Violet jerked awake the moment she felt a hand wrap around her throat. The trauma from earlier was still fresh, and her eyes flew open in alarm at the contact. So imagine her shock when she saw Asher hovering over her again.

Violet would’ve panicked immediately, if not for the fact that his grip wasn’t as suffocating as before, and his eyes were fully alert, locked on hers with unshaking clarity. But there was something unsettling in the way Asher looked at her—like he wanted to kill her. Both in the literal and not-so-literal sense, if that made any twisted kind of sense.

It was the kind of look that said he was torn between silencing her forever to protect his secret and being unable to lay a single harmful finger on her. That inner battle played out in his hands, fingers tightening around her neck one moment, then loosening the next.

So Violet decided to make it easier for him. "You’re not going to hurt me," she said, calm and certain.

she believed it with a conviction so unwavering it was

wasn’t the type

hell he was, his hand tightened. That same suffocating pressure returned, cutting off her air inch

She just looked up at him, that unyielding trust swimming in her eyes. It rattled him.

in a monster like him. So, he tried to break it. He squeezed harder, pushed until her breath fled her

still, Violet didn’t

hands limp at her sides, her gaze locked with his as if

And then he broke.

soul. But he wasn’t done. Asher grabbed her again, this time pulling her onto his lap with a force that bordered on desperation, his voice exploding

your mind?!" Asher roared, eyes wild, and hand tight around her hip. "Don’t you know what I’m capable of?! You’re

unhinged, terrified even. Asher was furious, the veins in his neck taut, and those haunting, slitted grey eyes

laughed, breathless, raspy, alive, and

anything I can always trust, it’s that you, Asher Nightingale Nightshade, could never afford to lose

said his middle name. The one no one should’ve known. The

at her, stunned, and completely speechless for

molten, and charged. That invisible line they’d

time. Her fingers brushed against his face, slow and