Lahat ng Kabanata ng THE ALPHA'S FIERY FATE : Kabanata 31 - Kabanata 34

KANE The candle has burned itself into a sad little pool of wax. I stopped counting hours a while ago. Time feels warped in this room, stretched thin and useless, like it knows better than to move forward. The raven has not moved from its perch on the table, red eyes fixed on me like I am the one who needs watching. Maybe I am. I keep shifting in the chair, trying to find a position that does not make my spine feel like it has been hammered flat. The wooden back digs into my shoulder blades every time I lean forward. I welcome the ache. Moving means looking away from her, and I cannot do that. Not even for a second. Nevaeh has not stirred since Elara left. Her breathing is still too quiet, too even, like she is practicing being gone. I have checked her pulse so many times my thumbprint is probably branded into the inside of her wrist. It is there. Slow. Stubborn. Like her. It refuses to disappear, no matter how much the rest of her seems to fade. The room smells of dying herbs,

KANE The door creaks open behind me, the sound slicing through the fragile quiet that had settled in the room. I don’t turn right away. My arms are still wrapped around Nevaeh, holding her close, her body fitting against mine as if it belongs there. Her head rests against my chest, right over my heart, and her fingers are loosely curled into the fabric of my shirt like she’s afraid I might disappear if she lets go. I feel the slight tension that runs through her at the sound of the door, the way her body stiffens for just a second, but she doesn’t pull away. She stays. That alone does something to me. Elara steps inside without knocking. Of course she doesn’t. She never has, and I doubt she ever will. She pauses just inside the doorway, her presence filling the space without effort. Her pale eyes take us in slowly, me sitting, Nevaeh half in my lap, the blanket tangled around us like a shield we didn’t realize we built. Her gaze lingers, observant, quiet. There’s no surprise i