Chapter 17: Masks and Memories

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• The Alpha’s Forgotten Bride   Chapter 30: The Hounds Circle

  (Rowan’s POV)I barely had time to wash Lena’s poisonous scent off me before the hounds started circling.There was a knock at my study door—three firm raps. Controlled. Measured. The kind of knock that came from someone who believed they had a right to your time, your space, your decisions.I could guess before the name even slipped out of my mouth.“Elira,” I muttered before the guard even announced her.And I was right.The doors opened, and in glided Elder Elira, flanked by two of her fellow council members—Elder Brane, ever-silent but sharp-eyed, and Elder Triss, whose thin lips curled as if the air inside my study offended her.“My Alpha,” Elira said, her voice honey-laced and dipped in age-old arrogance. “I hope we are not intruding.”“You are,” I replied, not bothering to rise from my seat. “But go on.”Elira’s smile never wavered as she stepped further into the room. She always dressed in ceremonial robes even when it wasn’t required, as if the authority of the Elders needed

• The Alpha’s Forgotten Bride   Chapter 29: A Bargain of Blood and Chains

  (Rowan’s POV)I shouldn’t have come down here. That much was already clear.The moment I stepped into the South Parlor, I regretted it.Lena Creek sat draped across the chaise like she owned the damn pack. Pale legs crossed, deep crimson lips curled into a smirk, and eyes that were too calculating to ever be soft. She wore her ambition like perfume—thick, cloying, and impossible to ignore.“Rowan,” she purred, rising to her feet. “I was beginning to think you’d make me wait all day.”“You nearly did,” I muttered.She clicked her tongue and moved toward me, each step poised and theatrical. The maids stationed at the side bowed and stepped back, but Lena turned to them with a gracious smile.“Leave us,” she said sweetly. “This is… a private matter.”The guards glanced at me for confirmation.I nodded once. “Out. Everyone.”They bowed and disappeared quickly. The door shut with a quiet finality, locking us into a silence I had no interest in filling.She wasted no time.“I worry for you,

• The Alpha’s Forgotten Bride   Chapter 28: Flashes and Fractures

  Rowan’s POVI woke with a start.The heavy oak door to my room slammed open, bouncing against the wall with a loud crack that echoed across the stone floors. I reached for the dagger beneath my pillow on instinct, muscles tight and senses blazing—But of course, it was just Knox.Who else had the balls?He stood in the doorway, unbothered as usual, arms crossed and brow lifted like he hadn’t just stormed into the Alpha’s chamber like a damn thunderclap.“You trying to get killed?” I growled, sheathing the dagger without shame. “I was this close to sticking that blade right between your ribs.”He shrugged. “You wouldn’t kill me. You like me too much.”“I liked peace and quiet too, but you don’t seem to care about that either.”Knox grinned. “Figured you’d want to know your favorite visitor’s here.”I blinked, still foggy from sleep. “Visitor?”He tossed a clean shirt onto the end of my bed. “Lena.”The name snapped me fully awake like a slap to the face.Lena Creek.Daughter of Alpha

• The Alpha’s Forgotten Bride   Chapter 27: A Pup’s Promise

  Calla’s POVI slowly cracked my eyes open as a long yawn escaped my lips, I eventually fell asleep again but at least this time, there were no hot and wet dreams of the man I should hate more than anything. That– I was thankful for.The soft early morning light seeped through the white curtains, they created a nice pattern on the wooden floor. They were almost shinning. I blinked up at the ceiling, confused at first by the softness of the sheets and the silence pressing in. No beeping machines. No sterile hospital air. Just the faint birdsong and Asher’s gentle breathing in the next room.I was still in the Alpha’s house.The truth of it settled on my chest like a weight—both warm and terrifying. We had done it. We had moved in.I rolled out of bed and slipped into a loose cream shirt and black leggings, twisting my hair into a loose knot. My body ached, not from exertion, but from the gnawing nerves that hadn’t stopped biting at me since the moment Rowan’s guards had opened those ga

• The Alpha’s Forgotten Bride   Chapter 26: The Veiled Watcher

  Rowan's POVThe forest had calmed me, but not enough. It used to be enough, and now, It suddenly can’t shut down these voices in my head. I decided to call it a night and I returned to the estate under the cover of the early morning fog, my torn clothes sticking to my skin from all the sweats and panting, the ache of the shift still embedded deep in my bones. Shifting always has its own pain and joy.I didn’t want to go straight to my room. Not yet.The pack grounds were quiet. Not silent—the world was never truly silent—but this time it was the kind of quiet that made you pay attention to all the details and sound around you. The kind that raised the hair on your arms, that makes your nose extra sensitive to smell and the ears extra sharp to sound.I was halfway across the stone courtyard when I suddenly felt it.A prickling feeling. On the back of my neck.Someone was watching me. Definitely. It wasn’t a feeling I mistook often. I’d spent most of my life being hunted or hunting. Obs

• The Alpha’s Forgotten Bride   Chapter 25: The Pull of Her

  Rowan’s POVI slammed the door behind me like it would sever whatever invisible tether had wrapped itself around my throat. Like it would the tight hold of whatever spell or charms she had casted on me.It didn’t. Slamming the door was useless, and even walking away.Because I could still smell her.Still taste her in the air.Not her food—not the perfectly seasoned roast chicken or the rosemary rice or the honey-glazed carrots. No. It was her. Calla.Her skin was flushed pink from heat. Her scent—sweet, dark, dangerous—coiled around me like a memory I didn’t know I had. Like something that might have been a part of me once and now it was ready to take over my life and crush me to the lowest of all simp.And her slick…Goddess.It clung to the inside of my nostrils like they belonged there, like it was its refuge. It was thick and intoxicating that I knew for sure that I would definitely get high on them. My wolf, that fuckibg lunatic was still prowling beneath my skin, pacing behind