NovelEnglishChapter 53 Closer to the Edge
Henry's POV
Something was wrong with Aubrey.
*#% Finished
When | returned to her room with the anesthetic, she had already begun stitching herself up. | watched, frozen,
as the needle pierced her skin-her brows knitting in pain, but her lips twisting into something disturbingly close
to a smile. Pain and pleasure tangled across her face in a way that made my spine go cold.
There was no doubt she was hurting. | could see it in the way her lips pressed tightly together every tthe
needle sank into her flesh. Each bloody pull of thread made her tremble slightly.
She wasn’t numb-she was just enduring it.
That realization unsettledmore than | cared to admit. This wasn’t the Aubrey | used to know. She used to be
stubborn, fragile, proud-but still breakable. Now? Every trace of weakness had vanished. What was left was
sharp and unyielding.
And it all started after that night. The night | found her covered in bruises. What exactly had happened to make
her change so completely?
If I'd paid more attention... If I'd noticed sooner... would she still have ended
up
like this?
My chest tightened with guilt. A life sentence and mutilation almost felt like too light a punishment for those two
animals.
“If it hurts that much, just use the anesthetic.”
| handed her the syringe. | couldn’t stand watching her do this to herself any longer.
Her forehead was damp with sweat, and her eyes shimmered with the haze of pain. When she looked up at me,
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtit knocked the breath from my lungs.
“No need.”
She kept stitching, and | didn’t stop her. | just sat there, silently watching every movement of the needle as it
slipped through her torn skin. For a moment, it felt like the pain was mine.
Finally, a soft whimper escaped her tightly sealed lips-and | couldn't take it anymore.
| reached out and grabbed her arm, my voice flat and tense.
“If you need to bite something, bite me.”
Just stop torturing yourself like this.
Aubrey paused, catching her breath/Then she looked up, and there it was-an unmistakable flicker of amusement
in her tear-glossed eyes.
“If you're that worried about me, she said softly, “why don’t you kiss me?”
My thoughts stumbled. My body didn’t.
Before | could stop myself, | leaned down toward her pale lips.
13:57 Tue, 12 Aug 0
Chapter 53 Closer to the Edge
But just as | got close, she raised her gloved fingers and gently pressed them against my mouth.
She smiled-gorgeous and wicked, a little feral.
“You're being very obedient tonight, Alpha. Did you fall for me?”
I froze.
Fall for her?
Aubrey looked right atand gave a slow, knowing smile.
“If you don’t love me, then why did you try to kiss me?”
| frowned hard, at a loss.
Before | could cup with an answer,
she gave one
for me.
“Because you're unwilling,” she said softly. “You're used to being the one who pushes others away. But now
someone who once loved you more than life itself-doesn’t want you anymore. It’s a challenge to your pride. You
don’t like being abandoned. So, you want to drawback in. Isn't that right, Alpha?”
It was brutal. Too close to the truth.
But even as her words cut deep, | knew-this wasn’t just wounded pride. What | felt was deeper, darker, more
primal.
| wanted her. | wanted her beneath me. | wanted to break through that armor, see her cundone beneath
me. | wanted to see those piercing eyes mist over with desire-because of me.
The thought startled me.
I wanted her.
Not out of guilt. Not out of sbruised ego.
I wanted her.
But | couldn't say it aloud. All | could manage was a rough, strangled whisper.
“Letdo the last stitch.”
| pulled on a pair of gloves and took the needle from her hands. Carefully-painstakingly-I guided it through the
open wound.
Her body trembled. Even her breathing hitched slightly. | forced myself to move gently, not to let my hands
shake. | finished the final stitch and tied it off.
Blood bloomed softly over her skin, like red plum blossoms across snow. Her chest rose and fell rapidly, and I-
| couldn’t stop myself.
| kissed her closed eyes, still wet from pain.
13:57 Tue, 12 Aug 9
Chapter 53 Closer to the Edge
The air between us turned hot. Too hot.
| stared down at her lips, my throat tight, breath uneven.
Finished
But then she looked up. Not with longing-but with curiosity. Testing me. Measuring whether I'd dare lean in
again.
Damn it.
| tore myself away from her.
Her calm stare felt like a slap. | couldn't stand being the only one caught in this heat while she stayed
untouched. Unmoved.
But even back in my own room, her eyes still haunted me-those wicked, misted eyes.
| glanced down at the glove, where a smear of her blood clung faintly.
| stared at it for a long time.
And then, like | was possessed... | licked it off.
What the hell is happening to me?
30
Visit our social media platform to read fascinating stories every day and connect with the community!
