Chapter 254

-Ava’s POV-

The question hung in the air, the world seeming to pause around us.

Rickon had just proposed.

Minutes after Grayson had clawed his way out of the earth–shocking everyone–Rickon had dropped to one knee and pulled out a ring.

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And yet, as crazy as it sounded, I knew my best friend. The chaos, the unpredictability, the sheer madness of this moment- this was exactly how Isabella would want to be proposed to. Rickon, knowingly or not, had done it perfectly.

Isabella blinked rapidly, rolling her head like she was physically shaking off the shock, “You’re asking me to marry you? Right now? Like, officially marry you?”

“Total screwup.” Elaine muttered under her breath.

But I knew better.

Isabella didn’t wait for an answer before she launched herself at Rickon with full force,“Yes!”

She crashed against him so hard they both toppled over, hitting the ground with a thud.

I screamed, bouncing on my feet, momentarily forgetting everything else. Isabella turned to me, yanking the ring from Rickon’s fingers before he could even slide it on. “Lilian, look! I’m getting married!”

Monica, still gaping at the scene, let out a half–laugh, half–hysterical noise, “You people are insane!” She declared, throwing her hands up, “And did you all just forget that Grayson literally rose from the dead?!”

Grayson.

The reminder hit me like a jolt, grounding me back to reality.

I met Elaine’s wide eyes at the exact same time. We both moved at once, scrambling to move our feet and sprinting back toward the mansion, pushing past the stunned pack members still standing there, gaping at us like we had collectively lost our minds.

I didn’t blame them.

A part of me still felt like I was trying to catch up with everything that had just happened.

Elaine reached the door first, hesitating only for a split second before knocking. Her voice was quiet, almost disbelieving, “Grayson? Are you in there?”

A pause. Then, from the other side of the door, his voice came–steady, composed, almost casual, “I’m dressing. Give me a

moment.”

I reached the doorway, staring at the wood like I could see through it.

I could go in. It wasn’t like I needed permission. We were us.

But after everything… after the sheer impossibility of what had just happened… a selfish part of me wanted more than just a fleeting moment now that we were not threatened to be pulled into oblivion. I wanted time. A long time.

So I swallowed that instinct down and took a step back, letting Elaine have the first moment with him.

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Chapter 254

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The air between us shifted immediately, the weight of everything thickening with silence. She glanced at me, awkwardness flickering in her expression. I looked away first, neither of us sure what to say until she finally broke the quiet now that everything had kind of settled.

“So… I shot Liam.”

blinked, caught off guard,“Oh.”

the best response, but my brain was

times,” She added flatly.

her again, “Is he… dead?”

laugh, but there was no humor in it. “Oh, no. He’s very much alive.” A shadow passed over her face, “But until I figure out how to get over how I feel for him after all that he

The door opened.

words died mid–sentence.

seen them–as she stared at the figure standing

moment, she didn’t speak. She didn’t

Grayson.

there. I too needed

that reality.

-exce

Looking at us with that familiar sharp now, there was something deeper in it. Something older, something

slightly, but no words came out. Her throat bobbed, her hands clenched at her sides then, in

waver, “I

of silence. Then, suddenly, Elaine moved.

She didn’t scream or cry or shake him to make sure

real.

took a single step forward and

She smacked him again, “-I mourned you!

sucked in a sharp breath, pressing a hand to her

had clawed his way out of

at him with glassy eyes, “Don’t ever-” Her voice wavered, “-ever do that

head

Another silence.

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the weight of the last week had finally crashed into her, Elaine let out a

now I’m not.”

narrowed slightly, You’re impossible.”

lifted–the closest thing to a smirk I had seen from him in what felt like an eternity, “Apparently.”

her nose, shaking her head.

“No, you don’t.”

at

hard, before stepping back and smacking his chest one more time for

“Welcome back, cousin.”

turned on her heel and stalked off,

Silence settled again.

watching them,

and

stretched between us.

searching, like he was trying to take in every detail of me all at once. Like he didn’t quite

at first, couldn’t.

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emotions I didn’t know how to voice–but none of them made it past my

I moved. I didn’t think, didn’t hesitate–I just went

arms wrapped around me.

Tightly.

was afraid that if he let go, I’d disappear.

into my skin. And finally, in a breath so quiet it barely left my lips, I whispered, “The curse

then slowly, he

Another silence.

one I hadn’t even fully realized I had been carrying but not everything was over.

enough to look up at him, “I don’t mean to

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Chapter 254

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