Все главы MATED TO HER ALPHA STEPBROTHERS: Глава 131 - Глава 140

ZADEI should have known better than to come here. Every time I stepped into my mother’s chambers, the air was somehow thicker, tainted with smoke and the metallic tang of sorcery she had no business wielding. But this time, something else hung there too. A stench. Not just of magic. Of rot.She was waiting for me, as always, seated like a queen on her throne of lies, her lips curling the moment I entered. “You came,” she said smoothly, like my presence had been a question rather than an inevitability.“You said you wanted to discuss plans,” I narrowed my eyes. “What plans?”The smile she gave me was sharp enough to cut. “Not with words alone. You should meet our new ally.”My stomach dropped. I knew before the shadow detached itself from the far wall, limping into the light. My hands fisted, claws itching free as recognition hit me like a blade to the chest.Ashar Vale.Alive. Scarred, burned, his skin a map of Heath’s fury from that night. But alive.“Impossible,” I rasped. My m

ZADEThe palace is in chaos. Guards running, Heath yelling and even going as far as punching a guard that asked the wrong question, Stephan pacing like a caged animal. Everyone demanding answers, no one with any to give. Brooks is gone.Just gone.How the fuck did mother make a move and I didn’t see it coming?“She went into the city. Just to shop,” Heath’s voice was sharp when he recounted everything that happened. “Driver was with her the whole time. Then he called, panicking. Says he looked away for two seconds and she was gone. Disappeared.”The words hung heavy in the air, but for me, they landed like iron in my gut. Stephan tried. I could see it in the way his chest rose and fell, in how his fists curled. He reached out for her through the bond, pulled hard like a man dragging rope, but nothing came back. Empty. “I can’t feel her,” he growled out. “I can’t feel anything. It’s like she isn’t even there.”“At this point, I’m so over this whole kidnapping nonsense,” Heath was v

BROOKSZade’s eyes found mine, and for a moment the world stilled. His face was bloodied, his chest heaving, but all I saw was him. My mate, my bond. The one who had promised I was safe with him.“Brooks,” he rasped, his voice breaking through the chaos. “Are you okay?”For a heartbeat, all the fear, all the rage, all the doubt inside me fell away. Hope flooded me, raw and blinding. He came. He was here.But then, her words came back to me again.“This woman,” I whispered as I gestured to the so-called Lady Natasha, my throat tight, “she says she’s your mother.” My laugh was hollow, desperate. “But that’s a lie, right? Tell me it’s a lie.”The look in his eyes was the answer. A flicker, pained, guilty. The ground dropped beneath me.“No.” My voice cracked. “No, Zade. Don’t tell me—”“I’ll explain everything,” he begged, words tumbling out like broken glass. “I swear, Brooks, I’ll explain—”Laughter. Cold. Cutting. From her.“There is nothing to explain,” Lady Natasha’s voice rang thro

BROOKSThe first thing I felt was the heaviness of my own body. Heavy. Sore. Like I had been dragged across broken glass and set back down in one piece, but not quite whole. My eyelids fluttered open to the faint glow of lantern light, the ceiling above me lined with gold-trimmed patterns I knew well. I was in my chamber. Home. Alive.Before I could make sense of it, movement rushed toward me.“Brooks.” Stephan’s voice, sharp with relief, was the first thing I heard. His hand was on mine in an instant, warm, steady, grounding me to the bed. On my other side, Heath leaned down, his face was so close that his hair brushed my cheek. He wasn’t calm. Unlike Stephan, he looked like a storm barely contained, his chest heaving as if he had been holding his breath for hours.“You’re awake,” Stephan said, his tone softer now. His thumb stroked over my knuckles as if reassuring himself I was real.“Alive,” Heath muttered, his jaw tight. “Barely. You scared the life out of us.”I blinked slowl

STEPHANI told myself I wasn’t going to check on him. That he wasn’t worth the steps it took to walk down the hall. That I didn’t care.But my feet didn’t listen.The door to his chamber was cracked open, light spilling out. I pushed it wider and stepped inside, finding him bent over a half-closed trunk. Clothes stacked, weapons tucked away. He didn’t even look surprised to see me.“I’m almost done,” Zade said quietly, not glancing up. His tone wasn’t sharp, wasn’t bitter… just tired. “If you’re here to drive me out faster, don’t worry. I’ll be gone tonight.”Something twisted in my chest. I crossed my arms, leaning against the doorframe. “Take your time.”That made him pause. His hands stilled over a folded shirt. Slowly, he lifted his head, meeting my gaze with guarded eyes.“Heath won’t like that,” he muttered, the corner of his mouth tugging up in something almost like humor.Despite myself, I felt a short huff of air escape me, half laugh, half sigh. “He’ll live.”For a moment,