Their Secret Obsession by Pippa Moon

Chapter 0253

Lottie POV

Seeing Knox on the floor, his face a mottled landscape of bruises and his lip split, I felt a surge of nausea. The healing process had begun, his supernatural nature knitting skin and bone back together, but it was slow, and the damage was extensive. His one eye swollen nearly shut, a deep shade of purple spreading like a storm cloud under the thin skin, and there were cuts that looked deep enough to have hit bone. It was clear he'd been in a brutal bar fight, one I knew he had started himself.

Dick!

"Or is it to get attention." Sage inserted moodily. But I knew she was forcing it; she was worried about him too because despite everything-the lies, the hurt he'd caused me-seeing him like this twisted a knot in my stomach. I couldn't enjoy his suffering; it just made me sick, and I knew she to felt the same; I could sense it.

With legs feeling like they were made of jelly, I walked over to him, each step shaky as my heart hammered against my ribs.

"What are you doing?" Liam seethed from my side. I didn't bother responding. My eyes focused on Knox's body, needing to get closer to him.

"Be careful, Lottie. Havoc is close to the surface." Sage's voice echoed in my head, her tone urgent while Liam's demands ebbed away to the back of my self-consciousness.

Knox's wolf, Havoc, was feral and wild, a stark contrast to the more composed Rolo. He'd always called us 'kitty', a term that irked her but amused me. Now, as Knox's sleepy eyes flickered open, the dangerous glint of Havoc's presence shimmered in his gaze, and I could almost feel the raw power emanating from him.

"Sage, wait," I murmured under my breath as an unexpected connection sparked at the back of my mind.

surged forward, his presence a chaotic storm

He screamed through the bond I thought had been severed,

a fiery barrier against his claims. But his words set off a tumult in my chest; if he still believed we were mates, did that mean there

you that stupid?" Sage's roar reverberated in my head as tears welled up in my eyes, each drop reflecting the shattered pieces of

myself, a confession that felt like a betrayal

moments, the depth of what I felt, could have been mere pieces in a cruel game was devastating. It broke through

game?" I uttered, my hand instinctively resting on my belly in a protective gesture as much as a search for solace from the tiny lives

hope lacing his tone. Although

not trust him." Sage cautioned, but the realisation that Havoc might still see our connection as valid, combined with the manipulative games he confessed to, was overwhelming. It felt like a physical blow, each word from him a strike against the fragile

I groaned; the pain of his betrayal, mingled with the heartbreak of our separation, left me reeling. I felt angry, hurt, and utterly furious, the intensity of my feelings making it hard to breathe, as if each breath

weight of his deception felt as tangible as a yoke around my neck, heavy and suffocating. As I processed his words, the reality his treachery not only tainted the past but also darkened the path ahead, leaving me to navigate a

angrily, and I knew

things go wrong." I understood that; now, I was heavily pregnant, it was down to me

at the edges of my mind for some control, I shook

me. If he

mate, he won't