All Chapters of THE ALPHA’S RELUCTANT BRIDE: Chapter 81 - Chapter 90

The night stretched long and heavy, and the air outside the territory had that quiet before the storm feel. The kind that carried a warning that something had shifted. The moment Darius heard that Tessa was gone, everything in him turned cold, sharp, ready. He didn’t need time to think; instinct took over before reason had the chance to speak.He left the clinic and headed straight to the council grounds, his voice low but commanding as he called for the patrol leaders. Kellan followed close behind, his expression carved in stone despite the strain in his movement. Gamma was already there, double-checking maps and marking paths. The guards gathered quickly, some still half-dressed, others gripping weapons with trembling hands.“Seal the borders,” Darius said, his tone cutting through the restless whispers. “No one in, no one out. Tessa’s missing, and I want her found before dawn.”Gamma nodded, already sending messages through the link. “She couldn’t have gone far. The rain started le

The storm rolled in before dawn, swallowing the sky in sheets of gray. The rain came hard, drumming on the rooftops, seeping into the cracks of the old walls like it was trying to wash away everything that had been hidden. But it couldn’t. The weight of what Darius had seen the night before clung to him like a shadow that refused to let go.He had not slept. Not even for a second. His hands were still shaking from holding that pendant, Velise’s pendant, the one he’d buried with her.Now it sat on his desk, damp, glinting faintly in the half-light of morning.Gamma entered quietly, the smell of wet soil and ash following him in. His boots left prints across the floor, but neither of them cared about the mess anymore.“Alpha,” he began, his voice careful, “we checked the clearing. The ground there’s split open, like something tore through it from underneath. No tracks. No signs of her either.”Darius didn’t look up. “She was there, Gamma. I saw her. Heard her.”Gamma hesitated. “Tessa?”

The night came faster than anyone expected.By the time the last streak of gray faded from the sky, the packhouse was silent, wrapped in a tense calm that didn’t feel like peace. It was the kind of stillness that came before a storm.Ember sat by the window of the infirmary, her hands clasped together. The candles around her had burned low, their flames thin and shaking like they were afraid of the dark too. Across the room, Kellan lay half asleep, his breathing shallow but even.The day’s weight hadn’t left her. The hollow, the mark, Darius’s words. She could still see the faint glow under his fingers, the way it pulsed like something alive.She looked at Kellan and whispered, “Do you think he’ll be alright?”Kellan opened his eyes slowly. He didn’t answer right away. “He’s not alright, Ember. He just knows how to pretend.”She swallowed hard. “You saw his hand too, didn’t you?”Kellan nodded. “It’s spreading.”The silence stretched between them, heavy and uncertain. Ember rose and c

The rain didn’t stop till morning. It fell in steady sheets that soaked the courtyard and turned the paths to mud. The sound filled every corner of the packhouse, soft and endless, like a slow heartbeat that would not quiet down. Inside, the air smelled of damp wood, and the tension that hung between the walls was heavy and alive.Darius sat alone in his office. His desk was bare except for a cup of untouched tea and the faint stain of dried blood on his sleeve. He hadn’t slept. His mind refused to rest. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw Tessa standing in the storm with that calm smile. Every time he blinked, he saw the faint red glow crawling across his arm, a reminder that something inside him was changing, something he could not stop.He ran his hand over his face and leaned back in the chair. The sound of thunder was distant now, fading like a voice that had said too much. But the silence it left behind was worse.A soft knock came at the door.“Come in,” Darius said quietly.

The morning broke heavy and gray, the kind of dawn that carried no warmth or promise. The clouds hung low above the trees, and the air smelled of iron and wet dark. It was the kind of day that made even the strongest hearts uneasy.Darius had not slept. He sat at the edge of his bed with his head bowed, his elbows on his knees, and his hands clasped together. His thoughts were loud, too loud to quiet. Every time he closed his eyes, he heard her voice again.Reailks.The way Tessa had whispered it in the dark, as if the name was sacred. He had not told anyone yet, not even Ember, though she had noticed something different in him that morning. He could not bring himself to speak it aloud. Saying it would make it real, and he wasn’t ready for that.The door creaked open softly. Ember stepped in without a word. She had a way of moving quietly, as if she didn’t want to disturb whatever storm lived inside him. She was holding two cups of tea. Steam rose gently from them, carrying the faint