Lahat ng Kabanata ng FORBIDDEN BOND: The Alpha's Desire : Kabanata 81 - Kabanata 90

(Kael's POV)The instant that door clicked, I spun around—yeah, again. I’d been pacing like a ghost with unfinished business. Hated every second, but it’s not like I could stop.Then Alaric walked in, and, honestly, the whole pacing drama vanished. I shot straight for him—didn’t even pause to think. He just dropped whatever he was holding and wrapped me up, like I was something holy he’d been wishing for forever.I held onto him like gravity was about to clock out or something.“Sorry I took so long,” he whispered into my hair, his voice dropping into that little velvet-soft bubble that was just ours—warm and sweet, packed with all the stuff he never really says but you just know he feels.I didn’t answer. Didn’t have to. Just let myself inhale him—woodsmoke, heat, that midnight rain smell that always settled me, even when I was still shaking from that ridiculous circus at the King’s court.He pulled back, brushed a wild strand of hair behind my ear. “Come with me,” he said, voice gen

Moonlight tumbled over the carved table, all reckless and bright, like someone had tipped a jar of liquid silver. It stranded in the Faded chessboard's crevices, making the pieces glimmer—frozen in movement, like dancers fixed in a secretive fight. That sandalwood, the smoky-sweet one, lingered somewhere, floating about the open windows. Thick velvet curtains, tossed aside, let in the Fading night.They sat there—two old friends, not saying much—and just relishing the silence. Occasional soft scrape: wood on wood.The King, with hair flowing freely, he looks kingly without so much as a turn of the switch, slumped forward in his black robe. His fingers were clasped together under his chin as he gazed at the board as if he might just see ghosts stirring the pawns. Across from him, draped in her rust-shawl and radiating that characteristic calm—like it was her own private umbrella—sat the woman he called Ma. In good conscience, blood had nothing to do with it.Grandma arched an eyebrow a

(Kael's POV)Without a word, I let him walk me back to our chamber. The halls of the palace were silent, but my mind was not. Fists were in my sleeves, in the soft tunic Alaric insisted I wear. I pulled back just as soon as the door was closed behind us, the second we were past the final guard post.He noticed.“Kael?” His voice was soft, the way it had always been with me. But it didn’t soothe the burn between my skin. “Are you okay?”“I just … I want to lay down,” I said, crawling onto the bed.He didn’t stop me. Not at first. But I felt his eyes on me, his footsteps slower, deliberate. I wiggled under the covers and turned my back to him. His silence made it worse.“You’re mad at me,” he finally said.I didn’t answer.“Kael,” he tried again. “Talk to me. Please.”I sat up, whipped around, eyes blazing even if my voice stayed quiet. “She touched you again.”His brows drew together. “Amora?”I didn’t say her name. I couldn’t. Not without tasting ash.“This is the third time,” I said,

The light of dawn had not yet spread over the towers of the palace when the door to the room received a gentle tap. Alaric had not moved in hours, sitting on the bed's edge with Kael cradled in his arms, staring down at his mate like he blinked, Kael would turn into nothing.Grandma came into the room, her temper calm but firm. She did not even need to ask if Alaric had slept. The fatigue in his eyes, the tension in his posture, answered for him."You have been called," she said softly, laying a hand on his shoulder. "Your father has called a court session. But I sent the messenger back informing him that you will not be available for the next two hours."Alaric didn't move at first. His eyes were on Kael, whose breathing had become relaxed and easy, no longer droplet-coated with sweat on his forehead."I asked you to rest, you didn't. Please dear, rest a while," Grandma tempted. "You won't help him any if you tire yourself out first.".It was a moment before Alaric nodded. He moved s

Kael moved like a ghost, barely there. No footsteps, just the hush of cloth against cloth as he folded things into that battered bag, the same one Alaric used to pack for him, back when packing meant hope and not escape. Only the basics this time. A tunic, some spare trousers, the oils that made his skin stop screaming, that balm for the deep ache twisting his insides. Everything else? Untouched. Left behind. Memories clinging to every corner, but none of them felt like his anymore. Not after this morning. Not after the words he’d caught—words that shattered whatever “theirs” used to mean.The room—God, it used to be a haven, moonlight dripping all over, and Alaric’s scent gracing it into the kind of place you could breathe easily. Now? Just a shell. Shadows in all the wrong places. Kael moved, stiff and cautious, pausing now and then to hang onto the table or bedframe, riding out that hot stab in his belly. But it wasn’t his body making him want to scream. It was something bigger, me