LOGINShare
Chapter 34: Cracks in the Foundation
publish date:
2026-09-13 13:05:19
Latest chapter
Marked by the forbidden mate Chapter 34: Cracks in the Foundation
CELLABy the third day, Aeden still has not eaten.I have tried everything Mira suggested, broth cooled to lukewarm, bread torn small enough to require no real effort, even the dried meat Simon swears every wolf in this pack craves after a hard fight, and every offering meets the same result, Aeden turning his face away or, worse, flinching so violently at the sight of my outstretched hand that the bowl nearly ends up on the floor between us."Just a little." I keep my voice low, the same careful, steady tone I have used since that first terrible night, kneeling now at a distance I have learned, through trial and painful error, is close enough to offer and far enough not to trigger whatever raw nerve still governs his reactions to anything approaching too fast. "You don't have to eat much. Just enough to keep your strength up."He watches the bowl the way a cornered animal watches a threat, not hunger, not even curiosity, only wariness, and when I set it down on the floor within his r
Marked by the forbidden mate Chapter 33: The Long Dark of the First Night
CELLANight falls slow over the estate, the kind of slow that makes every hour feel stretched thin, and by the time the last of the guards has finished their rounds and Mira has quietly closed the antechamber door behind her, leaving only the two of us and the single lamp burning low on the table between our chairs, I understand for the first time just how long a night can be when you are afraid to close your eyes.Aeden has not moved from the cot in hours. He lies curled on his side, wrists still bound though Mira loosened the rope enough that it no longer bites into his skin, his eyes open and fixed on some middle distance that has nothing to do with the room around him. I have watched him breathe for so long now that I have started counting without meaning to, the rise and fall of his chest the only proof I have left that whatever came back through that seam with me is still, in some fundamental way, alive."You don't have to stay awake all night." I say it quietly, more to fill th
Marked by the forbidden mate Chapter 32: What Mira Holds
CELLAThe east wing smells of dust and old cedar, rooms clearly unused for longer than anyone bothered to explain to me, and I stand in the doorway of the chamber Simon has chosen while he and the other guard finish securing the shutters, watching them work with a growing unease I cannot fully name yet."This won't do." I say it before I have finished deciding I mean it, though the moment the words leave me I know they are true. "Iron bars on the windows. A single door with a lock on the outside. This is a cell, Simon, whatever anyone wants to call it."Simon straightens from the shutter latch, his face carefully neutral in the way of a man who has been given orders he does not necessarily agree with but has learned not to question aloud. "Alpha's instructions were isolated and secure, Lady Cella. This room has held difficult recoveries before. It's the safest option available on short notice.""Safest for who." I step further into the room, taking in the bare stone walls, the single
Marked by the forbidden mate Chapter 31: What the Wolf Remembers
CELLAThe snarl that comes out of him does not sound like anything I have ever heard from Aeden before, not in anger, not in grief, not even in the worst of the nights when his control frayed thin around the edges of whatever the demon king's presence cost him. It comes from somewhere lower than his throat, something old and animal and entirely without the calculation that has defined every version of him I have known, and when I do not pull my hand back fast enough he lunges.I hit the scorched ground hard enough to drive the breath from my lungs, his weight pinning my shoulder for one terrible half second before Darian's arms close around him from behind and haul him backward with a strength that costs him visibly, both of them going down together in a tangle of limbs that has nothing gentle left in it."Aeden." Darian's voice is strained, urgent, pitched low the way you might speak to a cornered animal rather than a man. "Aeden, stand down. It's me. It's Darian."Aeden does not sta
Marked by the forbidden mate Chapter 30: The Weight of Holding On
DARIANThe seam feels different from this side.On the Veil side it was a wound in the world, dark and cold and patient. Here, standing at the very edge of the scorched clearing with one foot already back in the world I know, it feels alive in a way I was not prepared for, something straining against my palm the moment I press it flat to the narrowing tear, a slow deliberate pressure like a door someone is leaning their full weight against from the other side.I stepped through first. There was no time to debate it and no good argument against it. Elder Wren's voice from before we entered rings clear enough in my memory that I do not need her standing beside me to hear it again. The pin bought you an opening, not a permanent passage. Someone has to hold what is left of that opening from this side while Cella brings him through, and I am the only one among the three of us with the strength left to try.I do not know if strength is even the right word for what this requires. I brace bot
Marked by the forbidden mate Chapter 29: What the Veil Takes
CELLA"Say my name," Aeden says, and the roughness in his voice sounds like it costs him something just to ask for it. "If you're real. If this isn't the place showing me another cruelty. Say my name so I know.""Aeden Virell." I keep my palm flat against his chest, feeling his heart beating too fast and too hard beneath my hand, and I make myself hold his eyes even though the emptiness in them is close to unbearable to look at directly. "You were born in the human world under a name that wasn't yours to keep. You lost your first pack to my father's blade before you ever met me. You saved my life twice in a forest that should have been my grave, and the second time, I hated you for it, because I didn't understand yet what a mate bond meant, and I was cruel about the fact that you were an omega, and I have never once forgiven myself fully for how I treated you in those first days."Something flickers behind his eyes at that, faint, uncertain, like a candle guttering in wind it cannot q
Marked by the forbidden mate CHAPTER 4: THE MAN WHO SAVED ME
CELLA'S POVOmega.The word echoed in my skull like a death knell.I stared at the stranger, my mate, as he bowed and scraped before the armored guards, his voice taking on a pathetic, stumbling quality that made my stomach turn."A simpleton?" one of the guards sneered, circling him like a predato
Marked by the forbidden mate Chapter 3
CELLA'S POV"Don't let go," the voice came out again, but this time it was strained.“My eyes flew open. I couldn’t see who it was. Only a hand stretched out, keeping me from slipping.”I looked down, and all I saw was darkness beneath, and my heart sank as I swallowed hard.My fingers slipped, jus
Marked by the forbidden mate Chapter 2
CELLA’S POVThe moment my feet touched the muddy ground, I ran.Mud splashed up my legs as I moved, but I didn’t slow down. My heart raced, loud in my chest, and it felt like the nightmare again, except this time nothing was chasing me.This time, I was running because I chose to.After a few steps
Marked by the forbidden mate Chapter 1
CELLA'S POVI didn’t know exactly what I was running from, but I knew that if I stopped, I would die.My legs moved on their own accord, carrying me forward like I was being pulled by some invisible force.Then I heard a howl.I shook my head, refusing to look back. It couldn’t be real but it came
You May Also Like
Alpha Jax
C.J. Primer800.9K viewsThe Broken Warrior's Daughter
Cooper2.0M viewsThe Alpha and His Contract Luna
Evelyn M.M820.9K viewsThe Alpha's Slave Mate
Danielle Bush1.9M viewsDivorcing The Alpha: Now He Won't Let Me Go
Andrian Alex496 viewsAlpha Petrova
Crystal L453 viewsReject Me? I'll Become Royalty Instead
Nemore80 viewsBOUND BY ONE DEAL
DAPOL103 views
