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Chapter 21
publish date:
2026-08-17 05:09:20
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THE ALPHA WHO SCENTED MY SECRET Chapter 65
Wren's POVThe thought lodges itself in my chest like a blade before I can fully reason my way around it, cold and immediate and impossible to dislodge. Every memory of my brother rearranges itself around this new, terrible possibility, every careful glance, every moment of composure that never quite cracked the way it should have during ordinary grief. I think of the tears in his eyes two days ago, and wonder now whether they were genuine or simply another performance, one more layer in a lifetime of careful deception."Callum isn't Ember-blooded," Rhydian says carefully, though I can hear him working through the same horrible possibility even as he tries to reassure me. "There's never been any indication he carries the gift.""There was never any indication I carried it either," I say, my voice shaking, "not until the fire, not until everything I'd been told about myself turned out to be built on lies. What if Callum's always carried some smaller version of it, dormant, the way mine
THE ALPHA WHO SCENTED MY SECRET Chapter 64
Rhydian's POVWe set out for the Hollow Vale at dawn two days later, a larger contingent than we brought to Miller's Ridge, every lesson from that fight folded carefully into how we've prepared for this one, and still I feel the particular unease of walking toward ground none of us fully understand. Wren rides beside me in silence for most of the first day, her jaw tight, her eyes distant, still working through whatever she and Ysolde settled between them in that garden two mornings ago. I don't press her to speak, understanding that some processing simply takes the time it takes, however much I wish I could shorten the distance between us.The valley itself, when we finally reach its edge on the third day, defies easy description. Mist clings to the low ground in a way that shouldn't be possible given the warm, clear weather we've ridden through, and the trees along its border grow twisted, bent away from the valley's center as though something in that direction has spent centuries q
THE ALPHA WHO SCENTED MY SECRET Chapter 63
Wren's POVI find Ysolde exactly where I expect to, tending her garden in the pale early light, and the moment she looks up and sees my face, something in her own expression goes carefully, deliberately still. The morning mist hasn't fully burned off yet, clinging low around her ankles like something reluctant to release her, and for a moment the image strikes me as strangely fitting, a woman still half-shrouded in the fog of everything she's survived."You've heard something," she says. "Something about me.""Voss visited my brother last night. In his cell." I watch her face for any trace of surprise and find none, which unsettles me more than an honest reaction would have. "She claims the Hollow Vale doesn't require unwilling sacrifice at all. She claims you've been lying to us, deliberately, because you want the sacrifice to be yours."My voice shakes despite my best efforts to keep it level, and I watch her absorb the accusation without flinching, some old, practiced composure fal
THE ALPHA WHO SCENTED MY SECRET Chapter 62
Rhydian's POVI don't want Wren anywhere near her brother's cell, and I make that objection clearly the moment Sable finishes relaying the guard's report, but I also understand, watching Wren's face harden into the particular resolve I've learned means the argument is already lost. The candlelight from a moment ago still feels warm on my skin, a stark contrast to the cold, clinical fear now spreading over both of us."He's my brother," she says. "Whatever game Voss is playing, if she genuinely found a way to reach him inside our own prison, that's information we need immediately, and I'm the only one he's apparently willing to share it with."I watch her pull on her boots with quick, decisive movements, already committed to this course before I've finished voicing my own reservations, and understand that arguing further will only cost us time we don't have to spare."That's exactly what worries me," I say. "If Voss engineered this specifically to draw you into a room alone with him, w
THE ALPHA WHO SCENTED MY SECRET Chapter 61
Wren's POVRhydian finds me in our quarters well past the hour either of us should still be awake, strategy reports finally set aside for the night, and something in the careful, deliberate way he closes the door behind him tells me he hasn't come simply to sleep. The candle on the small table between us has burned low, wax pooling in slow, uneven rivulets, and I realize I've been sitting here long enough that the room has gone properly dark around me without my noticing."You've been distant," he says, crossing the room to where I sit by the window. "Not distracted. Distant. I've felt it since the council meeting.""I didn't realize it showed.""It shows to me." He settles onto the arm of my chair, close enough that I can feel the warmth of him even without touching. "Talk to me. Whatever it is."He waits, patient in the particular way he's learned to be with me, never pushing, always simply making room for whatever I need to say when I'm finally ready to say it. I study his face in
THE ALPHA WHO SCENTED MY SECRET Chapter 60
Rhydian's POVThe council reconvenes a week later, enough time having passed for scouts to properly survey the Hollow Vale and report back with details that only deepen the unease settling over this entire pack. I've spent that week watching Wren train with renewed intensity, some fresh urgency clearly driving her since Ysolde's warning, and I find myself both proud of her dedication and quietly worried about the toll it's taking."There's activity there already," Piet reports, having volunteered for the scouting mission himself despite his continued probation, an offer I accepted readily given how thoroughly he's proven his loyalty since the rescue. "Small groups, moving carefully, clearly preparing the ground for something. We counted at least a dozen individuals over three days of observation, though we kept our distance to avoid detection."I study his report with genuine pride at how far he's come since the mistakes that once nearly cost this pack everything, a man clearly determ
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