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Chapter 44 – Shadows of the Forest

Penulis: Danielle Christien
last update Terakhir Diperbarui: 2025-11-05 06:57:26

The forest swallows me whole.

Branches claw at my arms as I run, breath burning in my throat, heart hammering against the cage of my ribs. The night presses close—cold, damp, alive with whispers. Every sound feels amplified: the snap of twigs beneath my boots, the rustle of leaves, the distant howl that doesn’t belong to Riven or Damien.

I shouldn’t have run.

But staying would’ve destroyed me.

“Aria!” someone shouts behind me—one of Damien’s guards, maybe two. Their voices echo through the trees like ghosts chasing my shadow. “You can’t run forever!”

They’re wrong. I can try.

The council’s words still ring in my head, venom disguised as order: Banish her or forfeit your title, Alpha. And Riven’s face—gods, that broken look in his eyes when he refused to choose. He would’ve burned the world for me, and that terrified me more than anything.

Now I’m out here, running from the fallout, from the mate bond, from myself.

The forest path narrows, the moonlight slivering through the canopy in
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