Claimed By The Alpha, Marked By The Biker-Chapter 42: Drowning in Sadness

Kianna’s POV:

The ride back was nothing but the low hum of the engine and the sound of my own sobs echoing inside the car.

Maddox kept one hand on the wheel, the other hovering like he wanted to reach for me but didn’t dare. Streetlights strobed across his face, catching the shine in his own eyes.

"I’m sorry," he said, voice hoarse. "I never should’ve taken you there. I thought... I thought showing you would be better than letting you wonder. But I just broke you worse."

I pressed my forehead to the cold window, tears sliding sideways into my hair. "It’s not you," I whispered. "It’s me, It’s my terrible fate. Every time I let myself believe I can be happy... this happens. It gets ruined very fast...I ruined everything."

"That’s not true." His knuckles went white on the steering wheel. "I’m the one who started this chain reaction. I hurt you first and made you scared to trust. And now the one guy you finally let in... I helped rip him away from you." His voice cracked. "I hate myself for it, Kianna. I really do."

We cried together then, ugly and quiet crying, while the city blurred past. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

We were two people who had once torn each other apart, now sitting in the wreckage, mourning the same loss.

When he pulled up to the dorm, he killed the engine but didn’t move to leave. "You don’t have to go through this alone," he said softly.

"I know I’m the last person you want comfort from... but I’m here. If you ever need anything."

I nodded numbly, climbed out and somehow made it up the stairs.

The dorm was empty. Lesley had texted earlier saying she had a sleepover at Maya’s place to attend and will be back tomorrow morning.

Perfect, I didn’t want anyone to see me like this.I locked the door, turned off every light, and headed straight to the bathroom to get a hot bath.

Steam rose in the darkness, the only glow coming from the faint strip under the door. I stripped myself naked and sank into the scalding water until it lapped at my collarbones.

Then finally I let the sobs come, raw, animal sounds that scraped my throat. Memories of Mordred and I jumped in: how his hands roamed my skin, how softly he kissed me, and how cute he smiled every time he sighted me.

I remembered his last words to be before this betrayal. " You’re only safe with me."

Safe? Is this what safe actually looked like? The same hands that I couldn’t get enough of when he touched me, was now holding silver cuffs for strangers.

The same mouth that had kissed me senselessly was laughing while women touched him everywhere I thought only I was allowed.

I slid lower, letting the water cross over my ears, muffling the world. I’ll never forgive him.

Never.

Never.....

My body began shivering under the water as I let out a hurtful scream. I felt like going insane.

And the memories kept coming anyway: his rooftop kisses, the way he cooked breakfast shirtless, the way he shielded me from that bolt with his own body. Every beautiful moment is now poisoned.

My phone on the tub edge lit up again and again, Mordred’s name flashing like a strobe. I ignored it until the screen finally dimmed.

The crying turned to hiccups, then to exhaustion. My head spun and the room tilted. The water felt heavier, deeper, like it was multiplying, rising past my chin and my mouth. I was too tired to lift my arms, too tired to care, I just let myself drown into it.

Black crept in at the edges of my vision.

Good, I thought dimly. Let it take me, let it wash away all my sorrows.

For a few minutes, I couldn’t tell where I was anymore. Everywhere was dark.

Then the cold air hit my skin, I felt a strong arm lifting me from the tub as the water kept sluicing off my body.

I heard a panicking voice shouting my name from afar, Hands pressing on my chest, breath forced into my lungs.

Someone was sobbing my name like a prayer. Perhaps this must be my funeral, I’m finally dead? I tried to open my eyes but couldn’t, all the voices, screams and panics made my head hurt even more and it all finally went dead silent a few seconds later.

I woke up wrapped in blankets, wearing someone’s oversized hoodie that smelled faintly of paint and cedar.

The room spun and my head still hurts abit. A nurse, campus medic maybe, was checking my pulse, murmuring soft reassurances.

Lesley sat on my left, holding my hand so tightly her knuckles were white, tears streaking her mascara. "Oh my God, Kianna, you scared us."

And on my right is Lysander. I swear I’m not hallucinating.He was soaked to the bone, hair dripping onto the blanket with his eyes red-rimmed and wild.

His white shirt clung to him like he’d been dragged through a lake. He looked like he’d aged ten years in a week, hollow-cheeked, trembling and all.

I tried to speak, but my throat was raw. "Wh—what happened?"

Lysander’s voice cracked. "You stopped breathing. I... I broke the door down and pulled you out." He swallowed hard, looking like he might be sick. "I thought I was too late kianna."

Lesley squeezed my hand harder. "He carried you out of the tub, did CPR until the medics came. He saved your life, Kiki."

I stared at him, the boy who’d blamed me for everything on that rooftop, now kneeling at my bedside like a ghost who couldn’t decide whether to haunt or to heal.

My head throbbed and my chest ached. Everything hurts...And still the only thing I could whisper was a broken, confused question:

"Why are you here, Lysander?"

He didn’t answer. Just dropped his forehead to the blanket beside my hand and cried like the world had finally won.

What just happened to me? Is this a nightmare? Someone please wake me up already because everything is falling apart, and I’m the only confused one ... .as if I just woke up in a life I don’t remember anymore.