“Amm.”
Priya moaned, her body aching as she tried to move. With effort, she forced her eyes open, blinking against the dim light. Her gaze landed on Priyank.
Priyank was sitting beside her, but his eyes were closed, his posture slumped in exhaustion.
“Priyank…” Her voice came out hoarse, barely above a whisper.
He jolted upright instantly, eyes flying open, and within seconds, they brimmed with tears.
Damn emotions. He hated them-loathed them, even. But seeing Priya like this? He couldn’t stop them.
After so long… she was finally awake. His chest tightened with overwhelming relief.
“Angel.” His voice cracked as he sobbed. “You’re awake.”
Priya swallowed, her throat dry. “How long… have I been sleeping?”
“You were in a coma.” He pressed the call button beside the bed before looking back at her. “It’s been over a week.”
Within minutes, the doctor arrived and checked Priya over.
“She’s stable now. Her wounds will heal with time,” he assured them before stepping out.
Priya’s gaze flickered with uncertainty. “Everyone’s okay, right?”
Priyank nodded. “Yes… but there’s something you need to know.”
Her stomach twisted. “What is it?”
He hesitated, but only for a second. She deserved the truth-no delays, no sugarcoating.
“You lost your wolf in that fight,” he said quietly. “The curse was still in effect, but she helped anyway. Because of that… you’re human now. Just like me.”
He didn’t know how she would take it. He wasn’t even sure how to prepare for her reaction. But he refused to keep it from her. She needed to know.
A moment of silence stretched between them before she spoke.
“It doesn’t matter.” Her voice was steady, honest. “I got my revenge. You’re all safe.”
She meant it. He could hear the truth in her words. She had lived without a wolf for so many years-it didn’t change anything now. What mattered was justice. What mattered was that her parents’ deaths weren’t in vain.
Priyank exhaled sharply, guilt gnawing at him. “I’m sorry, Angel.” He clenched his fists. “I know you probably don’t want to see me after everything that happened, but I couldn’t just leave you like this. I swear… I’ll go as soon as you recover.”
Priya shifted, wincing at the pain, and attempted to sit up. When she couldn’t, she gave him a pointed look. “Are you not even going to help me?”
He snapped out of his thoughts and immediately reached for her, gently supporting her as she settled upright.
“You don’t need to blame yourself,” she murmured. “I’m not stupid enough to put it all on you. It doesn’t matter anymore, Priyank. But if you want to leave… I won’t stop you.”
He stared at her, dumbfounded. “Angel… you know I can’t live without you, but-”
“No buts.” She cut him off before he could argue. “If you can’t live without me, then stay. You are not the reason my parents died.”
His throat tightened. “Are you sure?”
Priyank held his breath, waiting-hoping-for her to take back what she said.
Thinking it all was a dream.
But she didn’t.
Instead, she just looked at him, her expression calm. Steady. As if her words weren’t completely unraveling him.
“You really mean that?” His voice was barely above a whisper.
Priya sighed, leaning her head back against the pillows. “Why do you keep asking me that?”
“Because…” He hesitated, running a hand through his hair. “Because it doesn’t make sense. How can you forgive me so easily?”
Priya blinked slowly, exhaustion creeping back in. But when she spoke, her voice was clear. “I never said it was easy.”
His stomach twisted. “Then why?”
Her gaze met his, unwavering. “Because I don’t want to live in the past anymore, Priyank.”
Silence stretched between them, thick with unspoken words.
“I really can’t tell you how much this means to me, Angel.”
Priya smiled. “You don’t have to tell me. But I am a bit angry that you kept things from me, and you definitely need to make up for that.”
“I’m sorry…”
“Sorry won’t cut it. Now, hug me, you idiot.”
Priyank didn’t need to be told twice. In an instant, he wrapped his arms around her, holding her as if she would disappear the moment he let go.
He buried his face in her shoulder, inhaling her scent-faint, weaker than before, but still ‘her’.
His chest ached. His heart pounded.
“You scared the hell out of me,” he whispered. “I thought I lost you.”
Priya exhaled softly, her fingers brushing against his back in slow, soothing strokes. “I’m here, Priyank. I’m not going anywhere.”
He clung to those words like a lifeline.
But deep down, the fear still lingered-the fear that one day, she ‘would’ leave. That the weight of everything would be too much, and she’d walk away for good.
Priya must have sensed his thoughts because she pulled back slightly, forcing him to meet her gaze. “Stop thinking so much,” she murmured.
Priyank let out a shaky breath. “I can’t help it.”
“Well, try.” Her lips quirked, and for the first time in days-weeks-he saw a glimpse of the woman he fell in love with.
She ‘was’ still here.
“Fine,” he muttered. “But only because you told me to.”
Priya smirked. “Good. Now, tell me what I missed. How’s Maya? Levi? Rish? Jackson? Lima?”
His expression darkened slightly. “They’re… holding up. But things haven’t been easy.”
Priya frowned. “What happened?”
Priyank hesitated. He didn’t want to throw everything at her all at once, but she deserved to know.
“Levi and Rish are trying to keep things together,” he admitted. “Maya… she’s not letting herself grieve. She hasn’t cried once since Elk-” He stopped, correcting himself. “Since ‘he’ died.”
Priya’s jaw tightened. “She’s still blaming herself, isn’t she?”
He nodded.
“She shouldn’t.” Priya exhaled. “Elk was a monster. What she did… it was the only way.”
Priyank swallowed hard. “Try telling her that.”
“I will,” she promised. “And I’ll tell Levi and Rish the same. They need to hear it.”
He studied her, his heart swelling with something he couldn’t quite name.
Even after everything, she still cared about everyone else first.
That was who she was.
That was why he loved her.
“Get some rest,” he murmured, brushing a strand of hair from her face. “You just woke up. You don’t have to fix everything right away.”
Priya hummed in response, but he could already see exhaustion pulling at her.
Still, before closing her eyes, she whispered, “You’re staying, right?”
Priyank smiled, pressing a soft kiss to her forehead. “Of course. I never left your side while you were lying here, so I won’t leave now either.”
Priya’s chest tightened at his words. She had been unconscious for over a week, yet he had stayed-through everything.
Her fingers grazed his cheek, feeling the slight roughness of his unshaven jaw. “You look exhausted.”
“I’m not,” he murmured, shaking his head. “The only thing that matters is that you’re awake. I can’t tell you how happy I am, Angel.”
Priya swallowed past the lump in her throat. “I lost my wolf… but I gained so much. You, Maya, Levi, Lima, Rish, Jackson… the truth about my parents. And I’m not the same person I was before.”
Priyank’s lips curved into a small smile, but there was something unreadable in his eyes-something raw.
Priya reached for his hand, intertwining their fingers. “And you,” she whispered, tilting her head slightly. “You’re still the one I want.”
His breath hitched. “Angel-”
If this were before, he wouldn’t have been able to believe that this was his Angel speaking like this.
“Shut up,” she murmured, a teasing glint in her tired eyes. “And kiss me properly this time.”
Priyank didn’t hesitate.
His hand cupped her cheek as he leaned in, his lips brushing against hers-soft, hesitant, almost disbelieving.
Priya pressed closer, her free hand curling into his shirt. The warmth of him, the ‘realness’ of him-it grounded her.
The kiss deepened, slow and lingering, filled with everything words couldn’t express. The pain, the relief, the love-everything they had been through, everything they had yet to face.
When they finally pulled apart, Priya’s lips tingled, and Priyank rested his forehead against hers, his breath warm against her skin.
“I love you,” he murmured, his voice hoarse. “I love you so damn much, Angel.”
Priya’s heart swelled.
She smiled, brushing her nose against his. “I know.”
“You don’t know enough,” Priyank whispered, his voice thick with emotion. His grip on her hand tightened as if grounding himself in her presence. “I could die for you, Angel. That’s how much I love you. My life, my everything-I’d give it all without a second thought if it meant keeping you safe.”
Priya’s breath hitched, her heart aching at the raw devotion in his words. She traced her fingers over his jaw, feeling the tension there. “Don’t say that,” she murmured. “You dying for me wouldn’t mean anything if I lost you in the process. I don’t need a martyr, Priyank. I need ‘you’-alive, breathing, here with me.”
His chest rose and fell in a deep, shaky exhale. “But after everything… after what my father did… I don’t deserve to be here with you.”
Priya’s brows furrowed, and she shifted, ignoring the dull ache in her body as she forced him to look at her. “That’s not your choice to make. ‘I’ get to decide who I want in my life, and I’m telling you right now-I ‘want’ you. I don’t care about your father’s sins. I care about ‘you’.”
His throat bobbed. “You really mean that?”
Priya sighed, shaking her head with a small smile. “How many times do I have to tell you before you believe it?”
Priyank let out a breathless chuckle, his forehead dropping against hers. “‘Forever’ wouldn’t be enough.”
Priya smirked, her fingers brushing against his lips. “Then I guess I’ll just have to spend forever proving it to you.”
His heart clenched. He couldn’t believe this-couldn’t believe ‘her’. That she was still here, that she still wanted him after everything.
Priya tugged him down, pressing another soft kiss to his lips-slow, deliberate, ‘certain’.
When they pulled apart, she whispered, “Now, stop being dramatic and lie down with me. I want to sleep, and I need my personal pillow.”
A genuine laugh rumbled from his chest. “Anything for you, Angel.”
Carefully, he climbed onto the bed, wrapping an arm around her waist as she curled into him.
And for the first time in weeks, he allowed himself to close his eyes-because for the first time in weeks, ‘everything finally felt right’.
Priya watched him as he slept, his face finally at peace, though the exhaustion and guilt still lingered in the lines of his features.
Her chest tightened. He had been carrying so much-more than he should have. And despite everything, he had stayed.
He wasn’t the same man she had first met. That man was cruel. But this Priyank-the one holding her now-was different. He had changed, and she liked this version of him.
She ‘loved’ this version of him.
And one thing was certain-she wanted to live her life ‘normally’ from now on.
She had enough of everything. Enough of the blood, the pain.
The killings, the choices she had been forced to make-they would stay with her forever. The things her wolf had done to protect her, the sacrifices that had been made… they would never leave her.
But she would move forward ‘proudly’.
Because she had survived.
And had her revenge.
Priya exhaled softly, nestling deeper into Priyank’s warmth, allowing herself to rest.
“Goodnight.”