Chapter 0404

Lucas

Hannah was utterly useless.

How could anyone be that stupid to play games with us?

If she had just stopped crying for a single moment, I might have gotten something useful.

Still, I enjoyed shaving her head while she screamed.

If she wouldn't talk, I would keep going until she broke.

I pushed the door open and found Hannah sitting up in bed reading.

Alexander had insisted she remain in the house due to her condition.

We argued, but his authority overruled mine.

The room was small and sparsely furnished.

Just a bed, a wardrobe, and a dresser.

She used the bathroom down the hall.

"I assume things didn't go well with that woman from the dungeon?" Hannah asked, setting her book aside.

"I never said who I was meeting."

She pointed toward the window and rolled her eyes.

"The power of sight is remarkable."

She seemed more like herself, though she kept rubbing one spot on her neck.

Her attitude today was starting to irritate me.

"No, it didn't go well. She was a sobbing mess."

"So you shaved her head?" Her chestnut eyes met mine. "I saw her leave."

"She deserved to experience what she'd done to others."

Hannah nodded but kept her lips pressed together.

"You disagree?"

"I didn't say that." She muttered, picking up her book and flipping through pages, clearly ignoring me.

"You didn't need to. Your face says everything."

She slammed the book shut.

"Have you considered that cruelty isn't the best way to get information? Especially from someone in denial."

She kept her eyes on the book.

"I listened from the stairs while you terrorized her."

She exaggeratedly reopened the book and propped it on her knees, reading as if I weren't there.

"Hannah..."

"I know. This is what you do. You're a Hunter created to kill Lycans."

"Only now it bothers you?" I smirked, and she glared.

"Why are you here?" She fired back.

"You made it clear our bond is gone. Alexander wants me here until he figures things out since Theodore isn't at the hospital."

"You don't need to watch me anymore."

"Han..."

"I'm fine." She shrugged.

"I understand. You couldn't ignore the mate bond before, but now you don't feel it. Levi solved your problem. You can forget I ever existed."

I watched as another crack formed in her soul.

Her exterior seemed fine, but her soul told a different story.

Those cracks were multiplying.

One or two in the right place, and she would shatter.

"You're right. I thought it was the bond, but I couldn't get you out of my head. That hasn't changed. That's why I'm here."

Her eyes widened at my unexpected response.

"I spent hours in that hospital trying to understand why I couldn't leave.

I watched you twist from night terrors, wondering how to make them stop.

I thought of all the ways I'd make Levi suffer for what he did to you."

"I've watched your soul crack repeatedly, waiting for those cracks to meet, knowing they'll tear you apart.

I watched because I didn't want that to happen.

I hoped my presence might prevent it."

She slowly set the book down, her eyes lowered.

"You can't, Luc. You can't stop it because I was already broken."

Her tongue slid across her lips as she scowled.

"The fire you pulled me from wasn't my first attempt.

The men who sold me among their friends regularly took me to the hospital."

That was evident from her soul, but I'd never pressed for details.

"You could heal?" I frowned.

"I could, but before fire, I used poison.

It had different effects and was harder to heal from.

At first, I did it for a break from them.

Then it became a way to numb everything.

But my body adapted, grew used to it.

The doses became dangerous, and they watched me more closely."

She smiled.

"It took them too long to figure out what I was doing."