Semua Bab The Alpha King’s Hated Mute Luna: Bab 81 - Bab 90

DRAKE’s POV The Southlands are too quiet.Every snapped twig beneath my boots feels like a warning. I keep low, eyes scanning through the dense fog tangled in pine needles. The cold is a living thing, clinging to my skin and burning in my lungs. I can still taste the metallic edge of blood and adrenaline from our escape.Damn you, Ezra. You should have just stayed dead.Carlos trails behind me, ten paces back, his movements tight and cautious. “We should’ve gone east,” he hisses, scanning the shadows. “Too many patrols this close to the mountain spine.”I do not answer him. We both know I have led us straight into danger but admitting it tastes too much like defeat and I have had my fill of that."They’re closing in on us,” he continues, his eyes shifting from left to right and I catch sight of his golden iris.Golden Eye.He earned that name lo

ALAYNA’s POV Ezra brings me to the meadows, he does not speak and I do not press him. The quiet feels right anyway and I take in the sight that stretches out before us like a sea of gold, with the tall grasses swaying in rhythm with the wind.The sun hangs low in the sky like a molten orb slipping behind distant hills, bleeding oranges and pinks into the clouds.I breathe in deeply. The air is soft and cool, a stark difference from the night when Drake burned down everything.I take a peek at him as we walk. His presence calms the storm in my chest, even if I still do not know what to make of this strange ache that lingers inside me whenever he is near.We finally reach a large boulder nestled among a cluster of smaller stones, half-covered in moss and warmth from the sun. Ezra helps me climb onto it and then settles beside me, our shoulders almost touching. I let my feet dangle, brushing the soft meadow below.

ALAYNA’s POV It is cold here in the forest. You would expect the air beneath the canopy to be warmer, but the chill seeps into everything. The temperature has been dropping over the past few days, and today it feels more biting than ever.I tug my winter coat tighter around me, burying my hands into the wool-lined sleeves as I step past the tree line. Snow crunches beneath my boots, a little louder than I would like and each sound echoes like a warning to every shadow listening.Suddenly I have to wonder if I made the right choice going into the forest by myself. For one, I am unarmed and two, I have no wolf. But I ask myself, what would a warrior do? When the silence stretches and doubt creeps in, that question lingers.Am I loyal, brave, and true? I want to believe I am. I need to.So I keep going. Here is too much at stake here. So even if I am out in the open, with no one to save me, I will stand, I will be

ALAYNA’s POV I awake from a dark dream to find myself being carried under the surface of the earth. My hands are bound at my back with a rope and in the first few moments of consciousness, I struggle violently but to no avail.Someone dumps me down on the ground and I fall forward on a hard black stone. Goddess, it hurts. I look down and realize that the pain is not merely from the fall. I had been shot in the shoulder as well. And amidst the pain, my vision finally clears and I realize that I am in an underground chamber and a pool of lava boils on my left. They fill the air with a depressing red glow and a foul stench. “How do you feel?” Quickly, I turn towards the source of the sound to see Drake kneeling before me. “I didn’t want to shoot you, Alayna, but you forced me to.” I spit in his face. This earns me a hard slap from Drake. A me

EZRA’s POVI pace the narrow stretch of floor outside the room of our tiny cottage, each step sinking into the wood as it creaks beneath my boots. The sound scrapes against my nerves, but I cannot stop. My hands are fists at my sides, shoulders locked tight with tension. Every minute that passes feels like a nail driving deeper under my skin.I drag a hand down my face, then clench both fists at my sides. I have done everything I could. I have given her my blood, I have fought until I could not see straight but none of it feels like enough.It never does when it is her lying in that bed.Carrot sits curled in the oversized armchair near the fireplace. The flames throw a flickering glow over her face, catching the stubborn tilt of her chin. Arms crossed tightly over her chest, she scowls at me like I have personally offended her.“Stop pacing,” she says flatly. “You’re giving me a headache.”I freeze mid-step and growl at her. But I do not move again.I just stand there, my feet should