Lahat ng Kabanata ng Against All Odds: Kabanata 41 - Kabanata 50

* Zeina *I hadn't realized how cold the room was until everyone else had left.The fire had long since burned to embers. I sat there, still curled into the corner of the couch, the strip of black silk wound tightly around my wrist like a brand. Like a reminder that no matter how much I bled or screamed or begged the gods, I was still someone's possession. Still tethered.But not for long.I told myself that like a prayer, again and again.Not for long.Cerberus's words echoed in my skull, "He'll use dreams." And that was what terrified me most. Because I remembered the dreams. Not just the ones he sent me, but the ones I made for myself, in that golden cage I used to call a life. I remembered the nights when I thought his voice was salvation. When I believed his arms could keep me safe. When I thought being chosen as his mate meant being loved.Foolish girl.I pressed a hand to my chest. It was steady now, but that calm was always a fragile thing. I could still feel the ghost of his

* Cerberus *The sun never truly rose in the borderlands between our domains, it bled through the mist like a wounded thing, casting red light over a valley steeped in ancient hate. We marched before the light crested, the wolves moving in tight phalanx through stone and root, their eyes glowing with anticipation. I walked to the center, Princess Zeina beside me, her bare feet now wrapped in hide, her shift replaced by obsidian-threaded armor that clung like second skin. A crown of woven silverbone rested lightly on her brow, not ceremonial, but war-wrought. She had claimed it herself.Donna and Beta Kael flanked us as we approached the veil, a shimmering curtain of dreamfire and dread that separated my domain from Robert's corrupted territory. The veil was a trap of memory, a place where nightmares were shaped into flesh. But Princess Zeina raised her hand and the flames parted like breath in cold air. She didn't tremble.The warriors behind us did not cheer. They did not howl. They

* Zeina *The day passed in ritual silence, a sacred hush that cloaked the lands like snowfall. Every wolf, warrior, and witchblood in Cerberus's territory knew what the full Wolf Moon meant, the old magic would awaken, and with it, the truth. The bond between fated mates, true or fractured, would either pulse to life or shatter forever.As the moon climbed the heavens, swelling and silvered, the ancient grove at the heart of the forest began to hum with ancestral power. It was a place untouched by war, protected by forgotten rites. Tall stones etched with runes stood in a wide circle, and beneath them, the ground shimmered with threads of moonlight. This was where it would be decided.Cerberus stood at my side, dressed not in armor but in the black ceremonial leathers of the Moon Guard. His hand lingered just above the hilt of his blade, but he wasn't here to fight. Not tonight.Donna waited near the circle's edge, her eyes fierce and loyal. She'd carried the offerings, spread the he

* Cerberus *The first day of Princess Zeina's trial dawned red. Not with blood, yet, but with the kind of light that made the world hold its breath. The sun climbed slowly, uncertainly, casting a copper glow that stained the palace spires and bled into the marble like old memory. Clouds hung heavy above the palace like silent judges, their bellies swollen with omens. It was as if the very air knew that something sacred, and dangerous, was about to unfold.The scent of stone, fire, and waiting pressed in around me as I stood at her right. The place where I belonged now, not as a soldier, not as a rogue, but as her chosen. The wolf who had marked her, however briefly. The one she had chosen when no one else dared stand with her.The throne room hadn't changed overnight, but it felt colder. Harsher. Every polished edge gleamed like a blade poised to strike. Every gilded column looked more like a cage. And the wolves watching from the balconies above? They were no longer courtly nobles.

* Zeina *Before the trial ends my eyes move to Alpha Robert, the one who betrayed me, now he has to step down as the Alpha of the West. Because originally the pack was mine.He had not moved. Not even when the court rose in storm and fire, when his lies curled like ash at his feet. He stood as if cast in iron, frozen beneath the weight of the revelation. Of my blood. Of my power.But I knew better. I felt it.The bond between us, twisted, cursed, unholy, still pulsed. Not as it once had, not in the violent harmony of fated mates. No. Because he had buried something inside it. A seed of darkness. A vow made not to me, but against me.And now, as the council turned toward him, as judgment fell like a sword from every mouth, I saw it stir.He grunted, a low, guttural sound, half-suppressed and ragged. His hand gripped his side, the veins along his neck bulging as his head lowered. A ripple of black shadow moved beneath his skin, like ink in water.Celine stepped back from him, horrifie