All Chapters of Back Into The Alpha’s Arms: Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

ELEANOR I shouldn’t have come.I knew that the second I stepped onto Nightshade’s border, the second I felt the weight of my past crashing down on me like a curse I couldn’t shake. The air was thick with tension, wrapping around my throat like a noose, making it hard to breathe.There he was.Cedric.He stood just beyond the trees, his face carefully blank, his stance controlled. The afternoon sun caught in his sandy blonde hair, casting golden undertones over the familiar waves. His emerald green eyes—once warm, now unreadable—held mine in a gaze so sharp it could cut.I knew him.I knew the slight twitch in his jaw, the way his fingers flexed at his sides. He wasn’t as unaffected as he wanted to seem.Good.Tristan and Maurice stood beside me, their warriors positioned behind us like a wall of silent muscle. No one spoke. Not yet.For a long, stretching second, Cedric and I just stared at each other. I didn’t look away.I wouldn’t.“You look well.”His voice was steady, but there w

ELEANORThey say exhaustion dulls the mind. That when the body is pushed too far, the mind follows, slipping into a state where thoughts scatter and emotions blur.But that wasn’t true for me.The exhaustion didn’t dull anything.It sharpened the edges.Every step I took in the healing chambers, every flicker of candlelight against the wooden walls, every rustling of parchment and clinking of glass—it all felt too loud, too real. I should have gone to bed hours ago. But if I stopped moving, I would think. And if I thought, I would have to face the slow, creeping realization that terrified me more than anything.So, I worked.I reorganized shelves that didn’t need reorganizing. Checked supplies that had already been checked. I cleaned my workspace twice, then a third damn time, willing the movement to drown out everything else.It wasn’t working.I pressed a hand to my temple, exhaling slowly. My body ached. My head throbbed. My stomach—A quiet growl echoed in the empty room.I clench

ELEANORWhy in the actual fuck did I let him kiss me?!It was a mistake. A stupid, reckless, irreversible mistake.And now, I was paying for it.The Mate Bond was relentless. It clawed into me, threading through every thought, every breath, every movement. There was no escaping it, no relief from the way it coiled around me, refusing to loosen its grip. I felt it in the way my skin burned where he had touched me, in the ghost of his hands, his lips, his heat. It was maddening—an inescapable pull that left me restless, aching, desperate for something I shouldn’t want.I had spent years building walls around myself, keeping him out, keeping everything out. I thought I was strong enough to fight it. That I could endure the Bond’s pull without giving in. But one kiss—one fucking kiss—and those walls had crumbled like they had never existed. Every defense I had built, every line I had drawn—it had all shattered in an instant.I needed to fix this.I needed to erase the feeling of his touch

ELEANORSurrender is not a moment. It is a slow, agonizing death.A slow unraveling, the fraying of every carefully stitched thread, the quiet collapse of everything I have built to protect myself.I am losing.I have spent the entire day running from him, from the way my body betrays me when he is close, from the terrifying reality that no matter how much distance I put between us, it will never be enough.It is never enough.Because he finds me anyway.The garden behind the packhouse is empty, bathed in moonlight, the grass cool beneath my bare feet. I sit on the low stone bench, wrapping my arms around myself, as if I can somehow hold myself together.I cannot.The night air is thick with the scent of damp earth, the distant hum of crickets, the whisper of the wind through the trees. I focus on those things—on anything but the echo of my own heartbeat, on anything but the memory of his lips on mine, the way he tasted like fire and destruction, the way I almost let myself burn.Almo

ELEANOR I woke before dawn, the world still cloaked in darkness, the only sound in the room was the steady rhythm of Tristan’s breathing beside me.For a moment, I didn’t move. Couldn’t move.My body was still heavy, still humming with the remnants of last night—the heat of his mouth on me, the way he had unraveled me, worshipped me, made me come apart with nothing but his tongue and fingers. It had been intoxicating, overwhelming, unlike anything I had ever experienced before.The memory alone sent a pulse of liquid heat between my thighs.Because it wasn’t supposed to be like this.It wasn’t supposed to feel this good.I had been with Cedric for years, had shared a bed with him more times than I could count. And yet—nothing, nothing—had ever come close to what Tristan had done to me.And the worst part?He hadn’t even fucked me.Just his mouth. Just his hands. And it had been enough to make me see stars, enough to make me lose myself in a way I never had before.Heat crawled up my