Chapter 114: Flynn fucking Ravenscroft.

July 18 2026, 10:14am.

The electric current of his touch made her breath hitch, trapping a ragged gasp in her throat. Rhys’s dark gaze traced the curve of her spine, heavy and possessive, sending a fresh cascade of shivers down her skin.

Being held this close to him felt less like a rescue and more like falling willingly into a trap, and the thought of this made her cheeks blaze a fierce, humiliating crimson as the memory of the previous night’s dreams crashed back into her consciousness.

She could practically feel the phantom friction of his skin against hers, the heat of his mouth on hers, and the desperate, unfiltered hunger that had kept her tossing and turning in bed until dawn.

It was maddening— she was furious at him, furious at herself, and completely powerless against the gravitational pull dragging her toward him.

"You’re shaking," Rhys murmured suddenly, his voice a low, gravelly hum that vibrated right through her chest. Without warning, his calloused fingers gently parted her silver locks to touch the inky black roots at her crown. "Care to explain why your hair is turning the color of midnight, Nyx?"

"I—I don’t know," she breathed, her voice trembling as she tried to pull away from his touch. "I ju-just saw it, a-and I didn’t even do anything."

"Did you dye it?" he pressed softly, his gaze locking onto hers with intense scrutiny.

As he spoke, a sudden, violent surge of raw power—his internal fibers and energy— rippled upward through her body. The sensation was so overwhelming and intensely intimate that it hit her like a physical blow, nearly knocking the breath from her lungs and sending her stumbling backward.

Rhys reacted instantly, his hands gripping her hips to steady her. With effortless strength, he hoisted her upward, setting her down right on the edge of the marble sink and cupping her face in his hands.

Before she could protest, her legs instinctively parted, wrapping securely around his narrow waist to anchor herself against the dizzying heat radiating from him.

His hands moved with practiced, devastating ease, sliding beneath her large shirt to press flush against the bare, sensitive skin of her lower back. A soft, involuntary whimper slipped past her lips as his fingers drifted lower, tracing the curve of her hip before dipping intimately against her core.

The sheer friction of his touch sent a blinding shockwave of pleasure through her body, blurring her vision and making her arch helplessly into his chest.

"A-alpha!" She gasped, only to lock her lips together when the sound came out way more wanton than she would have liked.

She clung to his shoulders, her fingers digging into the fabric of his shirt as her mind dissolved into a haze of white-hot need. He growled lowly, pressing his forehead against hers, his breathing as ragged as her own as he prepared to push things further.

He let his fingers curl around the nape of her neck, and using it to propel her head upwards, he leaned down, going lower and lower, until—

"Nyx’ara, are you there?!"

The sharp, sudden rap at the bedroom door shattered the spell hanging above both of them and jolted them both back to reality.

Nyx’ara gasped, her eyes snapping wide as horror flooded her veins. She shoved against Rhys’s chest with all her might, scrambling off the sink and practically flying across the room. Her face burned hot enough to melt steel as she wrenched the heavy door open, and her breath caught in her throat the moment her eyes landed on the man in front of her.

Draven stood in the hallway, his silver eyes flickering between her flushed, disheveled appearance and the dark-haired Alpha emerging slowly from the ensuite bathroom behind her. His hands tightened around the several heavy paper bags filled with medicines, teas, and everyday essentials, a look of profound confusion crossing his sharp features.

"I watched you walk away looking flushed and figured that you might be unwell... so I decided to bring this to you," Draven drawled slowly, his gaze narrowing as he took in the palpable, electric tension hanging thick in the air.

Nyx’ara stood frozen, completely paralyzed by embarrassment, unable to find her voice or reach out to take the bags from his hands.

Behind her, Rhys stepped fully into the bedroom, buttoning his cuffs with an infuriating composure, though his jaw was locked tight. For a long, agonizing moment, the two brothers stared dead at each other— stiff, silent, and radiating the unmistakable, guilty aura of two apex predators caught completely red-handed doing something they had no business doing.

Rhys was the first to snap out of it. He leaned away from the wall behind him and stepped out of the room, his eyes never for once leaving his brother’s face even as he walked out.

Draven responded by immediately shoving the paper bags into Nyx’ara’s deft fingers, then he turned to his brother and rasped;

"I need to speak with you for a moment, Rhys. It is urgent."

At the sound of his voice, the other brother stopped walking, turned around, and cocked his eyebrows while he crossed his arms over his chest.

His face was a mask of indifference but even a blond man could see the almost unnoticeable twitching of his left eyebrow.

He stepped closer to his brother in such a way that they almost shared a breath, and then he asked coldly; "What is it about?"

"It is about Leilani’s murderer," Draven answered, then he turned to Nyx’ara and added;

"Our source just informed us that she was not killed by your stepsister, Elara, but by someone else. Your brother, Tristan, is also a prime suspect..."

"So w-what do we do?" Nyx’ara cut in, her voice breaking with panic and something akin to fear.

Her head shot up when Draven hooked a finger under her chin, and using it to force her gaze upward, he smiled at her and drawled;

"We are throwing a party."

"A p-party?" Nyx’ara could not believe her ears. Hell, even the idea sounded absurd. She frowned.

"Yes, a party," Draven answered without missing a beat, "...and we’re making sure to invite every single member of your family. Including your ex-mate, Flynn fucking Ravenscroft."