Lahat ng Kabanata ng The Alpha’s Pretty Mistake: Kabanata 41 - Kabanata 50

LiraI left Liam in charge. He didn’t ask where I was going, and I didn’t offer it. Some things didn’t need permission. Especially not from a man who’d stabbed his Alpha just because I offered to end his suffering.I took one of Kol’s black sedans and told the driver we were going for “private errands and my uncle’s.” He asked no questions. Smart man.The ride to Jarek’s house was short, but I stared out the window the entire way, watching the trees blur. My fingers tapped against the door, counting down. One. Two. Three. War had never tasted so familiar.When we arrived, I told the driver to wait. “I won’t be long.”I walked up the path slowly. Calmly. Like a niece paying her aging uncle a surprise visit. Not like the executioner I really was.I knocked.The door opened faster than I expected. And there he was Jarek.His face lit up. “Aria?”I smiled. “Hi, Uncle.”He looked relieved. “You’re okay... Thank goodness. How did everything go? How did Kol take it? You hadn’t reached out to

KolI sat still on the edge of the bed with my jaw clenched, muscles locked. I hated this. I hated the quiet. Hated the mask I had to wear in my own home. Hated that I’d clawed my way out of the dungeon only to land in another prison, just one with softer walls.Lira had left me with nothing but time, time to think, time to rot, time to hate.I stared at the closed door of the bathroom, where the sound of running water had just stopped. My wounds still burned, some from the dagger she and Liam left in my side, others from the shame of being alive and powerless. I couldn’t make a move without costing Aria or Jarek their lives. Lira had made sure of that.Every plan I thought of ended with someone I cared for bleeding on the floor.Just then, the bathroom door open. I didn’t turn.“Kol,” Lira said, sweetly. “It’s time to apply what Agatha mixed.”I didn’t answer. She stepped out in a towel. Her skin was still damp and her hair dripping water down her back.“Come on. Don’t be shy. I pro

AriaDays had passed, maybe three, maybe four. I couldn’t tell anymore. The stone walls didn’t change. The cold didn’t go away. But what was heavier than the silence or the darkness was Kol’s growing anger.He didn’t speak to me much anymore.Not since the elders’ meeting. Not since the world above us kept spinning while we were left here to rot like secrets in a tomb.I shifted closer to him with our backs against the same stone wall and our knees curled in opposite directions.“We’ll get out of this,” I said softly.Kol didn’t look at me. He didn’t even blink.“You don’t know that,” he muttered.“I do.”“No,” he said, this time with more weight. “You hope we will. That’s not the same thing. And besides, you’re just being delusional right now.”I bit the inside of my cheek. He was right. But I wasn’t going to say that.“We have to stay hopeful,” I tried again. “If we give up—”“Hope didn’t stop you from sneaking around with Jeremy.”I knew Lira must have told him something.I turned

LiraI was up all night, thinking about Aria and the time we spent before she left for school at the New Moon Pack. I remembered how I asked her how it was weird the way father was sending one of us to a whole different pack. She never really thought much of it. “Maybe dad has his reasons, who knows.” She had said.I asked her if she was scared about moving but she wasn’t. She was excited. The only thing that made her feel bad was that she was going to be leaving me behind. I wish she had said something then. I wish she had opposed our father. Maybe I wouldn’t have to do this— to become this monster.Now, I tried to sleep, but I couldn’t. They were asking questions.It started with murmurs in the halls, stray whispers between maids, sidelong glances from advisors who didn’t dare speak too loudly, but it was growing. Boiling. Like a rabid infection.Where was Kol? Why had no one seen the Alpha for days, heading to weeks since the meeting? Why did the Luna suddenly walk the halls alone,

KolAria had at last fallen asleep. She was huddled against my ribs with one of her hand grabbing my shirt, as if she feared to let go would mean she’d walk into a second nightmare. Her breathing was still, gentle and regular. The same girl who once stormed into my life like fire was now sleeping beside me like rain after drought.But I couldn’t sleep.I stared at the ceiling of my room, counting imaginary sheep. I replayed everything that had happened that day, from Lira’s sentencing, the uproar it caused to the look on Aria’s face when I chose mercy over vengeance.Except it wasn’t mercy. Not really. It was for her. All of it. If Aria hadn’t begged for Lira’s life, Lira would be dead by now. And maybe I would’ve slept better tonight.But she was alive. In the cells beneath this very estate. Breathing the same air, only a few walls away. And that knowledge, made me feel sick to the stomach.I turned slowly, careful not to disturb Aria, who had only fallen asleep after an hour of toss