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Chapter 20

Penulis: Layo
last update Terakhir Diperbarui: 2025-08-22 13:22:59

VAEL

The taste of bitterness lingered at the back of my throat, but not enough to slow me. My side throbbed—a dull ache that reminded me the blade had grazed me—but I flexed my fingers, testing strength in every joint. Alive. Poisoned from the blade, yes, but still alive.

And then I turned my gaze to the window and I saw him.

Aurelian.

He sat on the stone floor, the dawn pressing light against his back so his hair caught fire in pale threads, his skin a ghost’s shimmer against the dark. His spine was straight, hands resting loose on his knees, as if in prayer or judgment.

He had not moved since I awoke. Not a twitch, not a breath out of place. His gaze held me as though he had been waiting for me.

And then, his lips lips curved into the faintest of a smile and the memory of them on mine rushed in and set fire through my chest.

I flexed my fingers beneath the sheets, suppressing the growl that rumbled low in my throat. It had to be a dream. There was no way he would have kissed me.
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  • Bloodbound To The Alpha Beast   Chapter 47

    AURELIAN The forest was too quiet. I realized it only when I sheathed my sword at my hip and turned from the lake, the cold water still clinging to my palms. The camp should’ve been stirring by now—early chatter, someone cursing over burnt porridge, boots crunching over pine needles as soldiers prepared for drills. Instead, silence pressed between the trees like a held breath. A thin unease crawled along the back of my neck. I took a step toward the path and the forest air shifted. Birds burst from the branches overhead in a sudden, frantic flurry, wings beating against the sky as if fleeing something unseen. My hand fell to the hilt of my sword. ‘Aurelian,’ Vethros murmured, too low, too calm. ‘You feel it too.’ The earth seemed to pulse beneath my boots. The air thickened, carrying the faintest tremor—like the breath of something massive moving between the pines. Then— A scream. High, sharp, human. I froze. Another scream followed, deeper this time, then shouts—

  • Bloodbound To The Alpha Beast   Chapter 46

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  • Bloodbound To The Alpha Beast   Chapter 45

    AURELIANThe smoke followed us like guilt.It clung to the horses’ manes, to the folds of my cloak, to every breath that tried to feel clean. The village had burned hours ago, yet I could still smell it—charred grain, wet ash, something sweeter underneath that I didn’t want to name.We rode slowly through the wreck, boots crunching over what used to be walls. The men spoke in low voices, collecting what could still be used—swords, flour, anything the flames hadn’t turned to shadow. One of them laughed when he found a dozen of wine half-buried in soot. The sound scraped something raw inside me.Before, I would have laughed too. I would have called it justice—the beasts burned Eldoria first, they started this, they deserved to lose something. But now, watching a man drag a blood-stained blanket from the rubble, I couldn’t tell what part of this still felt like victory.If I hadn’t seen what I’ve seen… if I hadn’t been his captive, felt the pulse of what lives beneath their skin, maybe I

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  • Bloodbound To The Alpha Beast   Chapter 43

    AURELIANThe sun had begun to feel too kind. It filtered through the cracks in the tent and painted soft gold over the ground, warming what little snow clung stubbornly to the grass. Every morning it rose over the camp like mercy, touching the ragged edges of human tents, the smoke curling from fires, the soft murmur of laughter. The world looked alive again, but inside me everything still felt winter.Days had passed since I woke in their care, and still I couldn’t stop listening for the sound of chains. Sometimes I’d reach for them by instinct, expecting cold metal, and find only my skin, bare and unmarked. It left me more uneasy than comforted.My people moved around me as though I were something fragile—half a memory, half a hope. They smiled too easily when I passed, eyes shining, voices lowering to whispers of the prince. They treated me like someone saved, not someone still lost.Vethros’s voice came and went like breath, never loud enough to drown the noise around me, but alwa

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