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CHAPTER 20
publish date:
2026-03-11 00:38:42
Latest chapter
ALPHAS of the PEAK 76
“I’m sorry, what?” Serena cut in, her features twisting into a look of genuine bewilderment. “He howled to you that we shared a den?”“Did you truly believe he would mask a scent that foul from me?” I dragged my claws through my hair, the old irritation sparking in my blood again.Serena’s sharp, barking laugh caught me completely off guard. “I cannot fathom that he would howl such a fiction. Listen, the one trail you never fake is mating with your former flame. What a wretched cur.” She made a sound of pure visceral disgust. “Ugh, forget my blessing—perhaps you shouldn’t bind yourself to him after all.”I ignored her jab, my mind snagged on her first reveal. “What are you saying? That he lied to my face?”“We never completed a mating,” she said, as if it were pack law. “To be honest, all the male did was whimper on my shoulder and scent the air for you.”I shook my head, unable to wrap my wolf’s mind around the idea that Harrison would weave a lie that massive—a lie that had ensured
ALPHAS of the PEAK 75
I shoved past him, my paws clicking against the stone steps of the porch. I had no intention of calling upon him for a single thing. In my mind, he was as cold and dead as Harrison, and I doubted the seasons would change that. Behind me, Harrison howled my name one last time, a desperate, broken sound, but I refused to turn.The heavy thud of the oak door sealing shut behind me was the only answer he deserved.Harrison could feel Grant’s amber eyes burning into his back. As much as he hungered to pretend he was the only soul on this stretch of pack road, he knew escaping the confrontation was impossible."Did you truly mate with her?" Grant asked, closing the distance between them with slow, measured strides. "Give me the truth of your scent."It was no shock that Grant smelled the deception. Harrison knew he owed his beta the truth, especially after finding him guarding Maddie’s den. It took only a single sniff to realize Grant was the one Maddie had sought after I’d retreated—a wise
ALPHAS of the PEAK 74
The mention of Harrison made my chest constrict again, and despite my best efforts to leash my spirit, a single salty drop tracked a path down my muzzle."Oh, by the Mother," Grant blurted, scrambling to throw his heavy arms around my shoulders once more, and I let him pull me into the steady heat of his frame. "What went down? What did that cur do? Do I need to challenge his rank?"I shook my head against the coarse fabric of his charcoal tunic, the scent of rain and pine clinging to him, but the barks wouldn't form in my throat.His tone grew urgent, a low rumble of command. "Maddie, howl it out. What happened?"I hungered to tell him, but simultaneously, I feared the memory. I didn't want to scent that betrayal again. I just wanted to numb the connection."Maddie—""The bond is severed," I finally choked out, my eyes snapping shut. "I cast him out. I told him I was done with the false trails, done with Serena, done with every thorn he’s driven into my paw. I told him—" I broke off,
ALPHAS of the PEAK 73
“Because you’re bound to her soul.”It was a blunt truth, one that carried far more weight than my own pride could shoulder. I snarled inwardly, loathing her for it. I hated Serena for scenting the one truth I still refused to howl, hated her for knowing my wolf’s heart so damn well. Seasons ago, I’d viewed that as our strength. Our unspoken pack-bond was the sinew that held us together, but as the moons turned, it became clear she tracked my mind better than I would ever track hers.“I hold no claim on her.”Serena shook her head, her eyes flashing with disbelief. “That is a false howl, and you know it.”Of course I knew it, but I wasn’t about to bare my throat. How could I? Releasing those words into the air would only sharpen the silver. They would have dragged me out of the numb, winter haze of denial—the only thing successfully keeping my beast from snapping for now.“Does the trail even matter anymore?” I growled, dropping my aching skull into my palms. “She barked it clearly: s
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Harrison recoiled as if bitten, though he regained his footing in a heartbeat. "The hunt is nearly over, Maddie. It’s a matter of days—at most a week—until Adrian crosses the neutral borders. I vow the charade ends then.""Unless it ends this very moon, it will be a lifetime too late." She shook her head, pulling her arms tight against her ribs. "I am sick to death of skulking in the shadows, watching you nuzzle her fur while you treat me like a stray. My wolf cannot endure it.""Why are you cornering me like this?" he snarled, finally snapping the leash on the restraint he’d fought to maintain. "Is this some petty territorial fit? What is the true scent of this, Madeline?""Yes, Harrison, I am territorial," she barked, though the word barely scratched the surface of her pain. "I’m jealous that she shares your den more than I do. I’m jealous that she commands your focus while you act as if my scent has faded. I’m jealous of the bond you two display.""There is no bond!"Maddie was wea
ALPHAS of the PEAK 71
When Adrian dropped a heavy hand onto Harrison’s shoulder in a gesture of pack-solidarity, the air finally returned to my lungs.“Congratulations, my brother,” my fake future sire-in-law rumbled. “Come, the moon is high, and the ceremonial brew is poured.”The stars were fading by the time Harrison finally broke away from Adrian and the endless circle of high-ranking Alphas. After draining countless bowls of bitter tea and enduring what felt like a thousand cycles of strategic posturing, he had reached his limit for one night. Claiming he needed to rest his wolf, he excused himself and immediately tracked Serena—his only confidant in Noor’s sprawling stone fortress.He discovered her in a secluded den, curled upon a fur-lined bench with a heavy woven pelt over her lap, watching the embers of a dying fire. She looked up as he crossed the threshold, a sharp grimace tugging at her mouth.“So?” she prompted, shifting her weight to grant him space. “What is the verdict on my life?”With a
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