Semua Bab A Contract With An Alpha: Bab 121 - Bab 130

SELENEZarek stood there, stunned, shoulders squared like he’d been punched, jaw tight. I could see the war behind his eyes. Guilt. Hurt. That cursed doubt.He reached for me again.“Selene—”But I stepped back. “Don’t.”Brielle was already beside me, steady hands reaching out.“Come have a seat first,” she said softly, guiding me gently to the couch. She handed me a glass of water, but before it even touched my lips—Zarek snatched it from her.Checked it.Like she could’ve poisoned me.Like anyone could.I stared at him.“You don’t trust Brielle too?” I asked, my voice low, tight, shaking.He didn’t answer.I stood, slowly, holding my belly, rage blooming cold in my chest. I walked past them both without drinking.Zarek followed. Of course he did.“Selene,” he called as I entered the next room. His voice broke a little.I stopped, but didn’t turn.“Can you just let me breathe?” I whispered, hand pressed to the doorframe. “Evelyn just painted me like I’m the villain, and you believed

SELENEThe room was no longer silent.The echoes of the healer’s verdict rippled through every heart present, each shout, each gasp, a stone cast in the direction of Evelyn’s crumbling facade.She stood still only because I still held her arm. Her face was pale, almost grey, her lips trembling, eyes wide and unfocused as if trying to process the speed at which her world was collapsing.The elders were no longer watching passively. They were murmuring amongst themselves, exchanging glances full of disapproval and scorn. Warriors crossed their arms, silent but visibly disgusted. Betas shook their heads, whispering to each other, some with clenched fists at their sides.This wasn’t a scandal.This was betrayal on a sacred level.“You brought shame to the Alpha,” Elder Kael’s voice boomed suddenly, louder than the others, gravel-laced and full of fury. “You brought shame to all of us.”Evelyn flinched like the words struck her physically.She turned to Zarek.“I can explain. Please—just h

The world was nothing but rushing wind and darkness.Then—impact.Pain shot through Evelyn’s ribs as she slammed into something cold, unyielding. Water swallowed her a heartbeat later, its icy grip dragging her under. She kicked, thrashed, lungs burning until her head broke the surface. She coughed violently, the storm above spitting rain into her face.The river carried her, relentless. She clawed at jagged rocks, finally dragging herself onto a narrow strip of mud. She lay there for minutes, trembling, her breath sawing in and out. Her body screamed in pain, but she was alive.Eron thought he’d killed her. Good. Let him believe it.When her strength returned, she staggered into the woods, barefoot, soaked to the bone. The cold gnawed at her skin, but worse was the emptiness in her chest. She’d been exiled. Stripped of whatever power she’d scraped together. Selene had made sure of that.She didn’t know how long she walked before the scent hit her—sharp, metallic. Rogues.A low growl

Evelyn froze for a heartbeat, her pulse still racing from the encounter in Lucien’s office. The cool night air brushed against her skin, the torn nightgown hastily pulled back on, its thin fabric doing little to hide the flush on her cheeks or the disarray of her hair. Mira stood at the end of the hall, her sharp eyes narrowing as they swept over Evelyn, missing nothing. The Luna’s presence was commanding, her dark auburn hair catching the faint moonlight filtering through the keep’s narrow windows, her posture rigid with suspicion.“Where are you coming from?” Mira asked, her voice low but laced with an edge that could cut stone. Her gaze flicked past Evelyn, toward the closed door of Lucien’s office, and her lips tightened.Evelyn smoothed her expression into one of practiced innocence, her mind racing for a lie that would hold under Mira’s scrutiny. She tilted her head slightly, letting her dark hair fall in a way that obscured the faint red mark Lucien’s mouth had left on her thro

“But you did ask the maids to call Evelyn, I heard,” Mira said.Her voice cut cleanly through the quiet of the breakfast hall. She stood in the doorway, framed by the muted spill of daylight from the corridor behind her, auburn hair caught in a loose fall that made her look far less composed than usual—and yet, she carried herself with the same poised precision, every movement measured.Lucien’s hand stilled over his bread. For a moment, his gaze dropped to the table, the way a man might lower his eyes before a coming storm, though his voice, when it came, was as calm as ever.“Mira,” he said, not looking up. “Would you be jealous of Evelyn again? She is just a visitor we should care for.”She crossed the room with slow, deliberate steps, her heels tapping softly against the stone floor. The servants in the hall seemed to sense the tightening air and busied themselves elsewhere, retreating with trays and baskets until the only sound was the faint hiss of the hearth fire.“I hope she w